WHITMORE ACADEMY

Welcome to the Conservatory…

Peace be with you. I am ChopinFan99, and this page is about Whitmore Academy, in Whitmore, New York — a boarding conservatory for gifted musicians (and, apparently, for something else). The conservatory is beautiful: arched windows, vaulted ceilings, and a Steinway grand in the centre of the hall that has not had a tuner since 1996. It does not need one.

Six students have disappeared since 1988. The masters say they "transferred to conservatories abroad." Their sheet music was found in practice rooms, half-completed, the ink still wet. The piano in each room was warm to the touch. It shouldn't be.

"The music is not a performance. The music is a summoning." — Director Aldous, 1996

Quick facts

• Founded 1938 by Director Aldous Whitmore. He never retired. He never aged.
• Six student disappearances since 1988. (Zero since 2001. The piano "retired.")
• The conservatory gold leaf on the walls changes shape at 4:44 AM. It has been photographed. It is never the same two nights running.
• Room 3B has a piano with 89 keys. It should have 88. Nobody plays the 89th. You cannot reach it without a stool. The stool is always under the keys. The keys are always warm.
• The tuning fork in the music vault hums when no one touches it. It hums in B-flat minor. Always.

Latest updates NEW

• 11/20/98 — Added the "curtain" story. I shouldn't have.
• 10/14/98 — Guestbook LIVE.
• 09/02/98 — New sighting: the ballerina in the practise mirror.
• 07/18/98 — Added Missing page.