History Main / BoardingSchoolOfHorrors

** Played straigter in the ''Literature/DearCanada'' counterpart ''These Are My Words'' (which was [[WriteWhatYouKnow written by an actual residential school survivor]]). Though it's set in an era where the worst of the abuses had been toned down a bit, Violet's experience is still of a downright miserable place where she's cut off from her culture, has everything she owns taken away from her, and is basically forbidden from doing anything fun. This in turn causes the students to often take out their frustrations on each other because they have no other outlet, which of course only makes the experience even worse for all of them. And then she learns that for the upcoming school year, rather than school boarding facilities, she and the others will be forced to board ''in complete strangers' homes''. And all of this is ''legally compulsory'', meaning that even if their families are on the kids' side (which Violet's family by and large is), it doesn't matter -- they don't get to choose not to send the kids back. There also a few hints of other, even more serious things that happened at said schools in the not-so-distant-past, most notably in the fact that Violet's mother (whose parents were ''threatened with arrest'' for trying to keep her out of the school) became pregnant while attending one of these schools and refused to discuss the circumstances of the conception, seemingly implying at least the possibility that it [[ChildByRape wasn't consensual]].

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' features a school like this in a side story in ''Season of Mists''. It was quite a normal BoardingSchool in modern days, but since Hell had just been emptied and the dead came back to Earth during holidays when there was just one living boy present with a skeleton staff because he couldn't go to his absent father, all the people who died in relation to the place somehow returned there and made it into a Boarding School Of Horrors. The devil-worshiping bullies had attended the place just before UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, at the time when the place had apparently fit the trope.

* In Morton Rhue's ''Literature/BootCamp'', the boot camp "Lake Harmony" is this, its methods a mix between ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' (on the instructors' part) and the Experiment House from ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' (on the bullies' part)... and things still manage to go FromBadToWorse in the end. Given that it was based on Tranquility Bay, a "Teen Treatment" facility in Jamaica for troubled American teens that was infamous for the horrendous treatment of the kids sent there and the deaths that occurred, it's understandable.

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/BleakExpectations'': [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace St. Bastard's]]. A late Georgian school for boys with dead dads, mad mums, and a huge wad of inheritance money when they reach eighteen. It's run by a psychotic maniac who enjoys beating students senseless for violating the school's many ludicrous rules, and that's if he's feeling ''nice'' (if not, they're just taken outside and shot). Meals are infrequent, since he's too much of a tight-fisted bastard to bother getting food, so students must spend meal times convincingly miming their meals, or they'll be beaten. They're also forced to work in the mines beneath the school, watched over by hussars in case anyone tries to escape. Not that any student ever makes it out alive, because before they actually reach eighteen, they suffer "accidents". And this all played entirely for extremely dark laughs.

* St. Adelaide's in ''WebOriginal/EdeValley'' is this in a nutshell. The principal of the school is [[spoiler:conducting experiments on and mind raping many of the students in the basement.]]

** Played straigter in the ''Literature/DearCanada'' counterpart ''These Are My Words'' (which was [[WriteWhatYouKnow written by an actual residential school survivor]]). Though it's set in an era where the worst of the abuses had been toned down a bit, Violet's experience is still of a downright miserable place where she's cut off from her culture, has everything she owns taken away from her, and is basically forbidden from doing anything fun. This in turn causes the students to often take out their frustrations on each other because they have no other outlet, which of course only makes the experience even worse for all of them. And then she learns that for the upcoming school year, rather than school boarding facilities, she and the others will be forced to board ''in complete strangers' homes''. And all of this is ''legally compulsory'', meaning that even if their families are on the kids' side (which Violet's family by and large is), it doesn't matter -- they don't get to choose not to send the kids back. There also a few hints of other, even more serious things that happened at said schools in the not-so-distant-past, most notably in the fact that Violet's mother became pregnant while attending one of these schools and refused to discuss the circumstances of the conception, seemingly implying at least the possibility that it [[ChildByRape wasn't consensual]].

** Played straigter in the ''Literature/DearCanada'' counterpart ''These Are My Words'' (which was [[WriteWhatYouKnow written by an actual residential school survivor]]). Though it's set in an era where the worst of the abuses had been toned down a bit, Violet's experience is still of a downright miserable place where she's cut off from her culture, has everything she owns taken away from her, and is basically forbidden from doing anything fun. This in turn causes the students to often take out their frustrations on each other, which of course only makes things worse. And then she learns that for the upcoming school year, rather than school boarding facilities, she and the others will be forced to board ''in complete strangers' homes''. And all of this is ''legally compulsory'', meaning that even if their families are on the kids' side (which Violet's family by and large is), it doesn't matter -- they don't get to choose not to send the kids back. There also a few hints of other, even more serious things that happened at said schools in the not-so-distant-past, most notably in the fact that Violet's mother became pregnant while attending one of these schools and refused to discuss the circumstances of the conception, seemingly implying at least the possibility that it [[ChildByRape wasn't consensual]].

** Played straigter in the ''Literature/DearCanada'' counterpart ''These Are My Words''. Though it's set in an era where the worst of the abuses had been toned down a bit, Violet's experience is still of a downright miserable place where she's cut off from her culture, has everything she owns taken away from her, and is basically forbidden from doing anything fun. This in turn causes the students to often take out their frustrations on each other, which of course only makes things worse. And then she learns that for the upcoming school year, rather than school boarding facilities, she and the others will be forced to board ''in complete strangers' homes''. And all of this is ''legally compulsory'', meaning that even if their families are on the kids' side (which Violet's family by and large is), it doesn't matter -- they don't get to choose not to send the kids back. There also a few hints of other, even more serious things that happened at said schools in the not-so-distant-past, most notably in the fact that Violet's mother became pregnant while attending one of these schools and refused to discuss the circumstances of the conception, seemingly implying at least the possibility that it [[ChildByRape wasn't consensual]].

** Played straigter in the ''Literature/DearCanada'' counterpart ''These Are My Words''. Though it's set in an era where the worst of the abuses had been toned down a bit, Violet's experience is still of a downright miserable place where she's cut off from her culture, has everything she owns taken away from her, and is basically forbidden from doing anything fun. This in turn causes the students to often take out their frustrations on each other, which of course only makes things worse. And then she learns that for the upcoming school year, rather than school boarding facilities, she and the others will be forced to board ''in complete strangers' homes''. And all of this is ''legally compulsory'', meaning it doesn't even matter if their families are sympathetic (as Violet's is) -- they don't get to choose not to send the kids back. There also a few hints of other, even more serious things that happened at said schools in the not-so-distant-past, most notably in the fact that Violet's mother became pregnant while attending one of these schools and refused to discuss the circumstances of the conception, seemingly implying at least the possibility that it [[ChildByRape wasn't consensual]].

** Played straigter in the ''Literature/DearCanada'' counterpart ''These Are My Words''. Though it's set in an era where the worst of the abuses had been toned down a bit, Violet's experience is still of a downright miserable place where she's cut off from her culture, has everything she owns taken away from her, and is basically forbidden from doing anything fun. This in turn causes the students to often take out their frustrations on each other, which of course only makes things worse. And then she learns that for the upcoming school year, rather than school boarding facilities, she and the others will be forced to board ''in complete strangers' homes''. And all of this is ''legally compulsory'', meaning it doesn't even matter if their families are sympathetic (as Violet's is) -- they don't get to choose not to send her back. There also a few hints of other, even more serious things that happened at said schools in the not-so-distant-past, most notably in the fact that Violet's mother became pregnant while attending one of these schools and refused to discuss the circumstances of the conception, seemingly implying at least the possibility that it [[ChildByRape wasn't consensual]].

** Played straigter in the ''Literature/DearCanada'' counterpart ''These Are My Words''. Though it's set in an era where the worst of the abuses had been toned down a bit, Violet's experience is still of a downright miserable place where she's cut off from her culture, has everything she owns taken away from her, and is basically forbidden from doing anything fun. This in turn causes the students to often take out their frustrations on each other, which of course only makes things worse. And then she learns that for the upcoming school year, rather than school boarding facilities, she and the others will be forced to board ''in complete strangers' homes''. And all of this is ''legally compulsory'', meaning it doesn't even matter if their families are sympathetic (as Violet's is) -- they don't get to choose not to send her back.

* Jill's and Eustace's school, Experiment House, in Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. Rather than the "abusively strict and draconian" type, however, Experiment House is the less-common variant of the trope in which the trouble is the complete ''lack'' of discipline; its faculty, fancying themselves modern and progressive, just pretty much never punish anyone no matter what they do, creating a hellish environment where bullies have the run of the place, able to do whatever they want without consequences.

* Jill's and Eustace's school, Experiment House, in Creator/CSLewis' ''Literature/TheSilverChair''. Rather than the "abusively strict and draconian" type, however, Experiment House is the less-common variant of the trope in which the trouble is the complete ''lack'' of discipline; its faculty, fancying themselves modern and progressive, allow bullies to run wild, creating a hellish environment for the rest of the students like Jill and Eustace.

* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' rounds out the Charles Dickens hat-trick: Ebenezer Scrooge spent his childhood years at one. Uniquely, ''A Christmas Carol's'' horror is on a more abstract, intellectual level: at Scrooge's school, his teachers strove to pound out any and all glimmers of imagination and fantasy and replace them with cold, hard, facts. (This is also in Dickens' ''Hard Times''). Said teachers are not presented as out-and-out villains (indeed, we never see them as characters in their own right), but as practitioners of [[DeliberateValuesDissonance then-accepted teaching standards]]. The Ghost of Christmas Past effectively punctures Scrooge's NostalgiaFilter over his school days and forces him to confront what it ''really'' did.
* The Stjärnberg boarding school in the Swedish novel ''Ondskan'' by journalist and action-novel author Jan Guillou, recently turned into a film. It was based on Mr Guillou's own boarding school experience in the 1950s. When he became a journalist in the 1960s, he managed to shut down that school by exposing its horrors to the general public.
** Funny story, he actually decided to become a journalist because it turned out to be the most effective way to shut down the school. Then he spent twenty years practicing his writing in journalism and in lesser novels like the Carl Hamilton series before he felt confident enough to write the book. We might call that dedication.

* In the Inspector Linley detective novel ''Well Schooled In Murder'', a murder is covered up by the staff and all 600 pupils of a Boarding School of Horrors.

* In Morton Rhue's ''Boot Camp'', the boot camp "Harmony Lake" is this, its methods a mix between ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' (on the instructors' part) and the Experiment House from ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' (on the bullies' part)... and things still manage to go FromBadToWorse in the end. Given that it was based on Tranquility Bay, a "Teen Treatment" facility in Jamaica for troubled American teens that was infamous for the horrendous treatment of the kids sent there and the deaths that occurred, it's understandable.

* This is what happens to Lily Floris in the 1864 novel ''[[https://books.google.com/books?id=E_dBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false Quite Alone]]'' by George Sala. Initially left at a strict but reasonable boarding school, she later ends up dumped in one of these. The Pension Marcassin is a hellhole that makes Dickens' worst schools look good. Even the best students are ridiculed as completely without merit, the rules are set up so that it is impossible not to break them, punishments are sadistic and the food is ghastly. Lily isn't even a student for most of the seven years she spends there; her tuition money runs out and she ends up like ''[[Literature/ALittlePrincess Sara Crewe]]'', an indentured servant.

* ''The Stolen Spring'' by Hans Scherfig, has a quite straightforward example, set in a pre-war Danish society. The boys are regularly bullied by the teachers, and they bully back on each other and on other teachers. No wonder the whole story centers around the pupil who eventually ended up killing the most hated teacher of them all.
* In ''The Penderwicks,'' Jeffrey's mother Mrs. Tifton wants to send him to the extremely strict Pencey Military Academy so he can be like his grandfather, a famous general, but Jeffrey wants to be a musician and study at a music conservatory. Even worse, Mrs. Tifton's boyfriend Dexter wants to get rid of Jeffrey by shipping him off to the academy a year early, so he can spend more time with her.
* Played with in ''Brotherhood of the Rose'', by David Morrell. The protagonists aren't mistreated in the orphanage, but they are being groomed as patriotic CannonFodder for the US military.

* In the novels of Creator/LidiaCharskaya, boarding schools are often a nightmare for newcomers (students ''and'' teachers alike), with severe bullying and unfair punishments. When in ''Princess Dzhavakha'' Nina can’t cope with the bullies and wants to change the school, one of her few friends tells her that other schools are no better and that at least they are lucky to have nice teachers.

* ''Satan's School For Girls.'' Just look at the ''title''!

* ''Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory''. Although [[NonIndicativeName he never gets into the dorm itself]].
%%* The School in ''Unman, Wittering and Zigo''

* The Korean Horror Movie ''Destination Hell'' takes place in one of these.

* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'': Gloria Von Gouton was sent away to the Hagatha Home School for Girls as a child, which taught her how to act and dance. According to the Memory Vault "Gloria's Cruel Training", the headmistress whipped the girls at every opportunity, up to and including when they were performing onstage.

* WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} attended several boarding schools in his youth, almost all of which were horribly traumatic experiences. He rarely had any friends, he was frequently forgotten there by Mallory, and when he was 13, he was beaten so badly by two bullies, including being dunked in a toilet filled with piss, that he developed pneumonia and had to spend most of freshman year in the hospital. It's shown that from all of the things Archer has endured as a spy, this incident is one of the few that caused legitimate trauma for him, well into present day.

* ''Literature/DoomValleyPrepSchool'': Played for laughs. Doom Valley is a school for creating villains, and is quite proud of it's reputation as the #2 school in the world. Bullies are allowed to do almost anything they want that doesn't involve murder or causing a fellow student to be sent home due to injuries. Teachers are allowed to murder students, although they usually just give them detention where they could, and sometimes probably will die. Shadow monsters keep students out of the wrong dormitories by eating intruders. Teachers bet on which students will die, be crippled, or transformed and unable to stay at school. The school is a maze and being late for class will get a detention. Eldritch tentacle monsters are a frequent pest and will attack students. And combat class involves live practice dummies, rabid dogs, and a lava field. And this is just for the freshmen, it gets worse as students advance.

You are likely to find yourself in one of these places if sent OffToBoardingSchool by the CardCarryingVillain, often doubling as a DustbinSchool, SchoolForScheming, or AcademyOfEvil. Still, count yourself lucky; at least you're not in an OrphanageOfFear and don't have to deal with an EvilOrphanageLady. If you're unlucky, your summer is only apt to be marginally better — but see SummerCampy for that. In the best cases, expect it to overlap with ToughLove.

Not to be confused with an AllGhoulsSchool, where the pupils and teachers are [[MonsterMash stereotypical "horror" entities]], but are usually [[DarkIsNotEvil quite pleasant]]. A SuckySchool is a downplayed version; it's unlikely to threaten your life, but it ''is'' going to give you a terrible experience in other ways. But there are chances you may get to go home for the evenings. See also JuvenileHell, which is about young people being committed to youth prisons by the legal system, and which plays out similar to this trope.