‘School Spirits’ Cast Share Their Own Experiences With the Supernatural (Exclusive)

As School Spirits prepares for another spooky and scary season, the cast chatted with PopCulture.com about experiences of their own with the supernatural.

Season 3 of the mystery teen drama premieres on Wednesday with the first three episodes on Paramount+.

Set in the fictional town of Split River, Wisconsin, School Spirits follows Maddie (Peyton List), a teen girl stuck in the afterlife, investigating her own mysterious disappearance. Season 3 plunges Maddie and her friends “into a deeper, darker mystery as the veil between worlds grows dangerously thin, delivering twists that challenge everything they thought they knew.”

Ahead of the third season, PopCulture asked the cast if they have had any supernatural experiences or believe in the supernatural. Nick Pugliese (Charley) admitted he’s “not necessarily convinced” but shared a story from when he was younger.

“When I was really young in my childhood house, whenever my parents were running the bath, I would start screaming bloody murder,” he said. “I just thought everybody was gonna die. I just remember the feeling that everybody was gonna die, and I was maybe two, three, four when that was happening.”

“And then, when I was an adult, my family told me that the person before us died in the bathtub,” Pugliese continued. “The previous owner died in the bathtub. So that was maybe something little Nick was seeing, but I don’t know if I’m fully convinced. I also don’t need to be.”

Sarah Yarkin (Rhonda), who did a joint interview with Pugliese, confessed she was convinced “just by that story alone.” She said, “I wish I believed in something. But I also don’t wanna say anything definitively because it’s like, who knows what happened in this room? You know what I mean? I could get really hurt by something if I say, ‘I don’t believe in you,’ and there’s a ghost in here right now. Think about it. I don’t know. It’s just something I don’t wanna really think about, and I am too ashamed of all.”

Meanwhile, Wally actor Milo Manheim revealed he’s the “lamest cast member” for his answer, explaining he hasn’t felt a presence yet, but people on the cast have been encouraging him to. “And I’m like, ‘That seems like a thing that a ghost is gonna have to show me. I don’t think you can talk me into this. If I feel it, I’ll feel it.’ But, no. I’m more of an alien guy myself,” he continued. “But sorry for the lame answer. I play a ghost; I haven’t had a ghost experience. Not a true actor, for real.”

However, he did recall doing press for Season 2 when they stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel in LA, “and it was the whole thing about Marilyn Monroe’s ghost is up there or whatever.” Manheim continued, “I remember I was talking about that. But I was leaning into that one. I was like, I would be in the same room with Marilyn Monroe as well.”

As for List, she revealed that they’ve “worked at one of the most haunted locations that any crew has ever worked at, and the crew all had stories. It’s our hospital set on the show, and it’s like a rite of passage to work there, as it’s like on a Bingo card as an actor to be like, ‘Okay. I work at Riverview.’ Everybody in the cast. I just had dinner with a couple of us last night, and it was a huge topic of discussion. Really did seem to stick with people.”

“And the crew have stories of being locked into a room, not being able to get out for a long amount of time,” she continued. “So I don’t know. I’m open-minded to that. I would not go into any room alone in there. They’re like, ‘You should go up to the 4th Floor. You should walk around alone.’ I was like, ‘I’m good. I’m staying right here. I really don’t wanna open any doors today.’”

She’s not the only one that has an experience at Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Ci Hang Ma (Quinn) shared that while they didn’t film at the location, “there’s been so many stories from cast and crew, different TV shows that filmed there, that Riverview, haunted stuff goes on there.” And Miles Elliot (Yuri) added that Spencer MacPherson (Xavier) “said that happened. He felt it.”

Although MacPherson didn’t confirm or deny the goings on at Riverview Hospital, he did confess he’s “had a couple tangos. Just things you can’t explain, like unseasonably cold, seeing your breath in LA in the summer, things like that. I believe in that. Absolutely.”

Kiara Pichardo (Nicole) feels like “something’s there with the spirits” as she’s “experienced a few things.” She recalled living in a haunted apartment in New York, and she “may or may not have seen a ghost walk. But when we were kids, I barely remember, but I remember screaming.”

Whatever it may be, Elliot feels like “you have to believe in something else out there.” He continued, “I mean, I totally believe in it. I don’t know if I’ve had any ghosts.” That being said, Ma said they will “definitely not say Bloody Mary into the mirror or if I was offered to rent a haunted house, I would not. I’m still not doing that.” And Elliot is the same way.

“I stay away from it,” he said. “If someone was like, ‘You wanna do a Ouija board?’ I’d be like, ‘Absolutely not. I do not wanna touch that.’ But I know it exists, but I think it’s for them. But it’s real. The stuff’s real.”

Like Manheim, Rainbow Wedell (Claire) revealed that while she believes in spirits and the supernatural, she has not been fortunate “enough to have experience yet, but I still hope to.” The supernatural can come when you least expect it, which is why it’s so scary, but it’s what makes it fun sometimes. At the very least, School Spirits is already spooky and scary as it is, so perhaps it’s not such a bad thing if Manheim and Wedell haven’t experienced anything.

Fans can have their own supernatural experiences when School Spirits Season 3 premieres on Wednesday on Paramount+ with the first three episodes, followed by weekly drops.