Maddie Nears isn’t the only ghost to feature in School Spirits. There are several other spirits roaming the halls of Split River High. But who are they, and what led to their respective demises? Here’s how every died in School Spirits Seasons 1 and 2, spoilers included.
Here’s How Everybody Died in School Spirits
School Spirits hasn’t specified exactly why all these spirits are hanging around Split River High, instead of moving on, though suggested that unfinished business or unresolved issues are a significant factor.
Charlie
Charlie is protagonist Maddie’s gay ghost bestie, the first person she truly trusts in the afterlife, or purgatory, that is Split River High’s haunted corridors. He died in the 90s, after a plate of french fries triggered his peanut allergy, to a fatal degree.
His boyfriend Emilio was convinced that if Charlie came out, his life would be better, and outed him to his parents, thinking that, at some level, they already knew. Charlie was incensed and broke up with Emilio, then decided he would “drown my feelings in a plate of french fries.” Unfortunately, the french fries had been cooked in peanut oil, leading to his demise.
Dawn
Dawn is a student who died in the 1970s, and has a very spacey, hippy-style air about her. Half the time she’s in her own little world, though she does eventually cross over during the series, after the spirits conduct their own type of seance.
She was in the AV studio, waiting for her two friends, and headed into the store room to get some recording equipment. While she was in there, she heard her supposed friends viciously mocking her. They turned towards her hiding place, and she knocked a drink into an electric socket, which made the light bulb flicker. She reached up to remove it, so she wouldn’t be discovered, and was electrocuted.
Everett Martin
Everett Martin, or Mr. Martin, is a former Split River High educator who has made it his business to aid the school’s ghosts, hosting regular discussion groups where they’re encouraged to share their feelings on the afterlife. According to him, he died in 1958 during a chemistry lab blaze, which was the fault of another student.
However, documents suggest that the parents of Janet, who also died in the fire, think Mr. Martin started the blaze. The spectral students also discover he’s been collecting information about their respective deaths, which makes him look even shadier.
Janet
We don’t see much of Janet during Season 1 since, as far as the spirits know, she’s moved on. But, in the Season 1 finale, we discover she’s out and about roaming the mortal world. She died in 1958, in the school chemistry lab fire that also claimed the life of Mr. Martin. Season 2 suggests she and Mr. Martin were working on something together, a partnership that continued after their deaths.
Maddie
Maddie is the protagonist of School Spirits and is a regular student, with a regular life, including a bad boy boyfriend, Xander, who the show trots out as a suspect in her death. She actually has no memory of her demise, which baffles both her and her fellow spirits. She just woke up as a ghost in the school’s boiler room.
The final episode, however, reveals that Maddie isn’t actually dead. In the boiler room, she interrupted Janet and Mr Martin in the boiler room, who she could somehow see. Janet rushed at her, forcing Maddie out of her body and stealing it for herself.
Quinn
Quinn is a member of the Split River High marching band and, along with seven other members of the band, she died when their bus hit a patch of ice in 2004. Most of the band is locked into a loop of, well, marching, and ignore the other spirits. Rhonda, however, manages to break Quinn out of the loop, by yelling at the top of her voice. Her knowledge of shorthand proves invaluable to the gang.
Mina
Mina is very safety conscious, patrolling the area above the school’s stage to prevent accidents, checking everything’s secure. When we first meet her, she quizzes Maddie on whether she’s taken the ‘safety course’, and grumbles about how, despite being there day after day, it’s a thankless task.
Why? Because she was killed by a falling stage light and while she’s more communicative than other spirits, she’s still locked into this same task. At least she is until the gang give her some flowers, giving her the recognition she’s craved.
Rhonda
Back in the 1960s, Rhonda was killed by her guidance counselor who, as the acerbic spirit put it, “.. guided me straight to the light.” She’d been accepted to Berkley University and was bringing her letter to her counsellor, Mr. Manfredo. “He just cared about me,” Rhonda tells Maddie.
However, it appears he was fixated on her, viewing their friendly relationship as something more. “He thought we were one thing.. I disagreed,” Rhonda explains. He saw her impending departure as a betrayal and, going by her flashback, he killed her with his bare hands. He was caught and died in prison. Rhonda goes on to become one of Maddie’s best friends, though she remains sarcastic and cynical.
Wally
Wally Clark is, at first glance, your stereotypical 80s jock, right down to his default outfit. However, there’s more to him than meets the eye, and he becomes Maddie’s post-mortem love interest, He was a college football player, but was killed during a football match, by a particularly nasty tackle. “Never made it off the field,” he quips in the first episode. It’s not much of a consolation but, as a consequence of his mid-match demise, the school board renames the stadium to the Wally Clark Stadium.
Yuri
Briefly appearing during Season 2, Yuri is a student who, like most of the marching band, seems to be trapped in a loop, though the show has yet to disclose how he died. He’s forever at the pottery wheel; Wally thinks he’s been there at least fifty years. However, it appears he’s actually not looping, he’s just really, really into his work. He’s been pretending he only speaks Russian to avoid being forced to participate in Mr. Martin’s meetings.
If you want to delve further into the main characters’ respective deaths, then stick around for Season 2 Episode 3 and Episode 4. The characters discover they can use certain important objects to enter ‘scars’, traumatic nightmarish version of their deaths.
And that’s how how every died in School Spirits Season 1 and 2.