Pfeiffer Hall: paranoia or paranormal?

For those of you who don’t know, Pfeiffer Hall is haunted, and according to Carin Silkaitis, associate professor of theater, it is “the only truly haunted place on campus (that’s been confirmed time and time again).”

Out of all the ghosts that people have encountered, only one is considered to be malevolent. “The others co-exist with us rather peacefully. They make themselves known here and there. More often than not, nothing happens in that building. But when it does, you won’t soon forget it, and it’s always at night. No one has had any experiences during the day,” said Silkaitis.

According to Stacey Adams, senior theater and musical theater major, and Lexii Gravis, junior theater and organizational communication major, often people have experienced the ghosts of Pfeiffer when they’re alone, but there have been times when groups of people have had experiences together, it really just depends on the situation.

For those who still don’t believe that Pfeiffer is haunted, “professional ghost hunters have visited Pfeiffer,” said Silkaitis. “They used full spectrum cameras, infrared devices, dowsing rods, etc…. and the spectral energy was off the charts.”

The Ghosts of Pfeiffer: The Little Girl

Before Pfeiffer Hall was built, it has been said that there used to be a farmhouse in which a little girl fell down the stairs and died. According to Gravis, “where the stairs are that go into the dressing room now used to be the stairs into the cellar (of the farmhouse),” which were the stairs that the little girl fell down.

One time, The Little Girl appeared in the presence of Jack Phend, retired technical director, while he was working in his office late one night. Phend was all alone in the building, or so he thought. Suddenly, he heard the water fountain turn on in the hallway. When he went to check it out, there was a little girl drinking from the water fountain. Phend tried to talk to her, but she didn’t respond to him and just walked away around the corner of the hall, so he followed her.

“He turned around the corner and at the bottom of the stairs, there was a pool of blood, so he called the police, and when they got there, there was no pool of blood,” said Gravis. The Little Girl was nowhere to be seen.

It is suspected that The Little Girl is the cause for the historic cold spot on the stage. “(One night) I walked across the stage and all of a sudden, I walked through a cold spot. Like 15-20 degrees colder than anywhere else on stage. I thought I could see my breath,” said Silkaitis. “It was impossible to explain, just a small circle of freezing cold air. Then it was gone.” According to Adams, “It’s important to note that the water fountain is in the same line as the cold spot on stage,” which raises the suspicion that The Little Girl stands on that spot.

Yellow Boots

Yellow Boots was a janitor in Pfeiffer who always wore — naturally — yellow boots. One day he hanged himself in the utility closet that also used to be his office, which is now in the men’s bathroom on the second floor of the building. As a ghost, he doesn’t really like his name, so if someone says it while in Pfeiffer, he gets upset — although no one knows exactly what happens if you say his name. “The only (ghost in Pfeiffer) who has a trigger is Yellow Boots,” said Gravis.

“If you knock on the little plywood (in the bathroom) you can tell where it’s hollow to where it goes to his office, and if you’re quiet he might knock back,” said McKenna Brannan, freshman music education major. Rachel Rodewald (’17) said she heard Yellow Boots knock back to her when she came back to tell stories at this past ghost night.

Wesley McQuaid, senior sports management and economics major, had a paranormal experience in the men’s bathroom on the second floor with what is suspected to be the ghost of Yellow Boots. While he was in the bathroom, the stall door slammed open, yet there was nothing there when he looked. He said that he saw smoke coming up from the stall while looking in the mirror.

“I looked back and there was nothing there,” said McQuaid. “I immediately reached for the door and as I opened it I felt something grab me on the shoulder and tug me slightly.”

Not only does Yellow Boots reside in the men’s bathroom, but he is also known to roam the halls of Pfeiffer. A student was going to her voice lesson in Pfeiffer, but she couldn’t find the practice room. (Yellow Boots) gave her directions, and then she turned around to say thanks and nobody was there said Adams and Gravis. 

Red Eyes

All that is known about Red Eyes is that it haunts the lightbox in Pfeiffer, people experience it when they are alone and all that is seen are its two red eyes. It is not known if Red Eyes is a male or female. The story dates back to 2007 during the spring musical when the entire cast say they saw Red Eyes. At the end of the show, the cast was on the stage with their backs to the audience, and when they turned around, they all just saw two glowing red eyes in the dark light booth. After the show was over, the cast went up there and nothing was on, said Adams and Gravis. There was nothing there that had red light bulbs.

Adams had her own experience with Red Eyes last year while up in the light booth. She was looking through a filing cabinet when suddenly it lurched and almost fell on top of her.

“I just felt extremely uncomfortable, it was very cold and I felt like something was watching the back of my head,” said Adams. “I felt very unwelcome.”

A similar experience happened to Sam Dempsey, technical director. Dempsey was going up to the light booth when “a force pushed him (hard) in the chest and backed him down the stairs,” said Silkaitis.

The Clapper

Also known as The Man in White or The Man in the White Suit, The Clapper sits in the balcony and just claps while people are performing on stage. A former student was doing turns across the stage while practicing for a dance performance. As she was on stage, she saw someone sitting in the corner of the balcony clapping for her. She didn’t know who he was, though.

“She did a couple more turns and split seconds later, he was all the way in the opposite corner, still clapping,” said Silkaitis. “She froze, stopped dancing and then he was gone.”

The Piano-Playing Ghost

The Piano-Playing Ghost hangs out in the third-floor practice room, according to Adams. It has been heard that a student was in the practice room playing the piano late at night when suddenly, a ghost started playing the high note on the piano. The student asked that the ghost leave her alone, so it did.

A couple of weeks later, the same thing happened, but when she told the ghost to stop, it got mad and it “slammed the door shut, and it locked, and then it just started banging on the keys,” said Adams. “She was trapped in there for five to 10 minutes.”

The Woman in White

Other than that she’s also known as The Lady in White or The Victorian Woman, not much information is known about her. There have been sightings of her walking up and down the stairs in Victorian clothing.

The Woman in Row G

During one of the first plays ever put on in Pfeiffer, an old lady died in seat G-42. “Rather than stop the show and call the police, they decided to take her body and put it in the hall closet, which is now the handicap bathroom on the first floor,” said Adams. It has been said that the scent of her perfume still lingers in the bathroom and around her seat.

The Screamer

It has been said that a student was in Pfeiffer late at night after a rehearsal and had an encounter with The Screamer. He was on the phone with his mom, and she claimed that she couldn’t hear him because there was loud screaming in the background.

According to Adams and Gravis, the student was alone in the building and it was silent. The boy’s mother continued to say that it sounded like someone was shrieking into the phone. As soon as he left the building, his mom said the screaming stopped.

Another student was working on a paper late at night in Pfeiffer when she started to hear blood-curdling screaming coming from one of the upper levels. She packed up her stuff and left immediately.

The Swaying Figure

A group of students were in a rehearsal room on the second floor when they turned around and saw a “willowy black figure just swaying in the mirror,” said Adams. “They turned around to look at it and nothing was there.”

Lesser-known Ghost Experiences

McQuaid and some other students were in the back hallway of Pfeiffer behind the stage. As they were walking, they saw a blue light turn on in a room, so they decided to check it out.

“We looked around the opened door and saw a black smoky human-looking figure sitting in the chair changing the channels on a TV that just showed static,” said McQuaid. “The figure turned around and all that was there were two blank bright white circles looking at us,” said McQuaid.

He was able to identify the dark figure in a picture from the archives as a mysterious-looking construction worker who assisted in renovating Pfeiffer.

Last year, Rodewald said she was sitting on the left staircase backstage with another student when suddenly they heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, so they decided to stand up and let whoever was walking down pass them.

“We got up and no one came down,” said Rodewald. “We went up and looked to see if anyone was up there and there was nobody.”

Another time, Silkaitis was working in Pfeiffer late one night and was the only person in the building. She felt like someone else was there, though, like someone was watching her. Suddenly, she heard knocking coming from deep in the wall of her studio, so she checked it out, but nothing was there. When she returned to her office, “the feeling worsened, the strange deep knocking continued… I left without incident,” said Silkaitis.