In the middle of October, 2006, the Grade Seven students at Brewer Middle School took a field trip to a building that they had seen from a distance for most of their lives, but had never visited up close. The tour guides were various city officials and the future developers of the old paper mill. It was raining quite hard and the students were poorly equipped with flashlight, which added to the overall effect of the visit. What follows are the essays, as written, by roughly half of the students. The essays are presented as written by the students, hoping to preserve their turns of phrase, their usages and their idiosyncrasies as writers.

Abbie Yoder
As I walked into the creepy cold mill I thought 'Oh my, I can't believe I'm walking in to such an abandoned place.' For years I've wondered what it looked like. If it had huge machines or secret passage ways that lead to the unknown. It was all happening right then and there.

We went in a dark and frightening room with a dark deceiving feel to it. Everyone gathered around to hear the guides tell us about the room and what used to be in it. Stacks of paper still in boxes in every direction you looked. When I saw work tables I wondered who was the last to work there and why did they just leave the tools just lying around.

As I walked around the mill I here water drops from the cold and rainy day. As I get deeper and deeper into the darkness. I link arms with some friends in my group. Wishing I had brought a flash light.

We walk past all the remains of the mill and I'm thinking 'I bet a bunch of people have walked down these hall and rooms'. Then chills go down my spine and I'm thinking if anyone in my family has worked here. When I walked some more big holes where left from where machines once stood. It was like the body with all the skin and organs removed and all that was left was a bunch of bones waiting for some one to fill them in.

Further and further into the abandoned mill paint was rotting of the walls and it had a bad smell to it like a wet dog has. Up and down the stairs we went. Trying not to touch the walls because god knows what was making it rot, we go in different rooms, pass more big holes and see boots and clothes. I thought 'Why in the world would someone leave there clothes in the mill'.

We go further into the mill and we came across an elevator door. It was burgundy; well that is at least what it looked like because it was so dark. It had names carved into it. I thought 'who started the whole name carving thing?' and 'It's quite a good idea'. I totally agreed with Mr.Burby and the whole restraint called the red door and having it saved when they rebuild the mill into a new place.

Then we exited one building and went into another it looked small on the outside but it was huge on the inside. We walked down a ramp that had led us to enormous tanks. It was really creepy there where people who worked there for quite a long time. They spoke to us and then we where of on the bus. Everyone was clamming that they saw a ghost and at first I didn't believe them because I thought none of the workers had died there. But then it got me thinking is there such a thing?

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