History & local legend
The former Saint Alice Parish School at Hampden Road and Sansom Street in Upper Darby is associated with an apparition in an upper auditorium window. Students’ stories placed the figure high above a room that had served many ordinary purposes during the school’s life.
Jay Fitzpatrick, an altar boy in the late 1950s, remembered the auditorium as a place for Sunday services and midnight Christmas Mass. It also served as the children’s lunchroom and an occasional movie room.
Another former student, writing in 2014, described feeling watched while walking alone through the school even during daylight. The feeling was strongest around the auditorium and the bathrooms outside it.
Sources
- Ghosts of Delaware County, Saint Alice’s school legends and accounts from former students
- Archdiocese of Philadelphia, announced closure of Saint Alice Parish School in 2006
- City of Philadelphia Historical Commission document identifying architect and Hampden Road school-church
- Federal education directory identifying school at Hampden and Sansom
- OpenStreetMap, Saint Alice School named point
