Founded in 1939, EHS was originally not a school, but a facility to provide care for mentally handicapped and emotionally disturbed kids. Although somewhat progressive at the time, it was essentially run as an asylum, with a strong focus on keeping the children contained and tranquil, and little to no focus on treatment or rehabilitation.
In 1960, a cigarette dropped by a careless orderly started a fire in the north wing. Several children were trapped in one of the upper dormitories, where the doors were kept locked during sleep hours. All eighteen of them died of smoke inhalation. The school closed down the next year.
In 1989 it was remodeled, renamed, and reopened as a magnet school for gifted/talented students, grades 6-12. Some of the original structure of the north wing was kept, including the dormitory where the children died (which is now a storage area). "Ghost stories" are common among students who learn about the building's past, but there have never been any credible reports of a haunting.
Recently the school was struck by tragedy, when four students snuck into the north wing attic and injected pigment. The students all overdosed and fell into comas. One week later, several unexplained murders occurred at the school, with at least one body discovered in the north wing. The remnants of the old north wing have now been torn down, and a completely new addition is being planned.
See also: Elsevier Heights