The Horrifying History Of lan School, America's Most Abusive Boarding School

May 2024 · 2 minute read

If it wasn't clear by now, Élan students spent much of their time — 12 hours a day — being indoctrinated through punishment and humiliation. "General Meeting" was the most common of these methods, followed by "The Ring," as WJPQ, All That's Interesting, and the I am a Graduate of Elan School Reddit AMA explain.

At General Meeting, over 60 students circled around a single student and hurled abuses at the student, who was made to stand behind a broomstick. School staff supervised these incidents, which lasted over an hour, and yelled "Get your feelings off!" at abusers to get things going. The slightest offense could result in a General Meeting, much like The Ring. At The Ring, a single student faced off against multiple other students, simultaneously, in a fight club-like arena. The victim was called the "bully," and his or her attackers were instructed to keep beating until the student was "sufficiently injured." As one could imagine, this led to serious injuries and, on at least one occasion, a possible death that was attributed to a brain aneurysm, according to the Associated Press. Other corporal punishment included student police "expeditors" spanking other students with ping pong paddles and a form of beating called "cowboy kick-ass," where students kept getting slammed against the wall. 

As WJPQ says, Élan manager Joe Ricci even admitted these events to NBC. But like many other aspects of Élan, the school circumvented justice for over 40 years by saying that all such violence happened between students, and was not inflicted by staff. 

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