As you look up above Big Sky High School, past the flagpoles and glass windows, you’ll see a roof.
But if you look past the roof, past the filters and pipes, you might get a glimpse of the famous Big Sky swimming pool.
The pool on the roof is a Big Sky legend that goes back far in history. Yet it’s not the only high school roof pool in town. If you go across town to Sentinel, climb past the first floor, past the second floor, and search the halls of the third, you may find their fabled pool. If you move to Hellgate, climb up the ladder to their roof, and look around, you might also find their pool.
So yes, the swimming pool on the roof is a Big Sky legend, but coincidentally, it’s also a legend at all the other MCPS High Schools. Is this because they all have a pool?
When Christine Hiller-Claridge, assistant principal at Big Sky known as HC, was asked if she could confirm or deny the pool, she stated, “no comment.” According to Jack Young, another Big Sky assistant principal and sports director, he “can confirm there is a pool on the roof.”
While trying to dig for answers, I found the pool is just one of the many MCPS legends.
Another related to Big Sky is that it was created to be a women’s prison. This isn’t true, but according to Sabrina Beed, assistant principal of Big Sky, she’s heard that “it was made by a person who also designed prisons.”
Although Big Sky may not have been a prison, according to Jennifer Keintz, a teacher who has taught at both Big Sky and Sentinel, it’s still haunted.
At Big Sky, she said, “There’s definitely somebody in the library.” A few years ago, Keintz, a couple of teachers, and a couple of students, went to Big Sky late at night to search for ghosts.
“So we had a kid with a camera,” Keintz said, “as well as a spirit box going, a device that cycles through radio frequencies to communicate with spirits.” The box said to turn off the camera, so naturally, they turned off the camera.
“I’m like, what the hell,” Keintz said. After a minute, they turned the camera back on, and heard the box come back, with, ‘I said, turn it off.’
Kientz also stated that she’s convinced Wayne Nance, the serial killer of Missoula, still scours the basement of Sentinel.
Nance, better known as “the Missoula Mauler,” was a serial killer in the Missoula valley between 1974-1986. He is known to have killed six people, but according to Keintz, there were likely more.
“We’ve determined that he is still there (Sentinel) for sure. He committed his first murder while he was still in high school,” Keintz said. She believes he stays at Sentinel because that’s where he felt powerful.
Nance also liked to sneak into the basement during the day to read. “In 1974, there was an occult literature class that he took, which, given the time period, was quite weird,” Keintz explained.
“We went into the basement, we looked, and there was a box of books that was all taped up that said do not use.” They opened the box and found it was the occult books from the class, Keintz said.
Whether it’s ghosts or secret pools, according to Beed, “when people hear a piece of something from someone, sometimes it sticks.” Beed says the rumor of the pool has been around forever, and teachers have kept it alive. She thinks that siblings also play a part, as younger students hear things from their older siblings, twist it, and spread it.
Legends keep people interested in the world around them. Without the pool, Big Sky’s roof would just be a pile of pipes and concrete. Without the intense story of Big Sky’s origin, it’d be just like every other school. And without ghosts, every old object would just be a piece of trash. Legends prove that people have creativity and that things can be interesting. By looking at something through the lens of a story, you can see all sorts of things you otherwise wouldn’t. So yes, believe that there’s a pool on the roof of Big Sky, because, after all, where else would the swim team practice?
