Hamlet makes an appearance
Hamlet stalks the stage at Blair Hall Theater at Sinclair Community College. Over the years, a number of students and faculty have allegedly experienced supernatural happenings in Building 2, according to Theater Manager Terry Stump.
“One stage manager nicknamed the ghost Hamlet,” says Stump. “She found him to be mischievous, playing tricks on her.”
Blair Theater was built in 1972, one of the original seven buildings constructed for the Sinclair campus in Dayton. Unlike some of the other buildings, it was never renovated.
According to legend, the building rests on the old Dayton hanging grounds, where cattle rustlers and other unsavory characters were executed.
Stump himself says he hasn’t experienced anything paranormal in the 17 years he has been working at the theater. He says it is normally the student stage managers who report seeing and hearing strange things in the building.
“It’s a creepy place at night,” Stump says. “It kind of freaks people out, especially when they’re the last to go and have to turn off the lights.”
In one notable incident, Stump recalls, performers were using dry ice to simulate fog for a show. The white vapor would flow around where students were standing. During the rehearsal, one of the students claimed there was a spot nearby where the fog was displaced as if someone was standing there. When students moved through that area, they said they felt a chill.
Once a student found a prop cabinet mysteriously unlocked. At other times, members of the stage crew thought they saw a figure up on the catwalk or crossing through the pit.
“It’s one of these corner-of-the-eye things, where you swear you see somebody looking at you or standing there,” says Stump. “They [the students] moved quickly out of the theater sometimes.”
Stump believes that most of the theater’s hauntings can be explained by noises that carry from other parts of the building.
“You hear a lot of different noises, and every once in a while you see a glint reflecting off a light,” he says.
Stump points out that the theater is located directly beneath a dance studio, and that jumping dancers could account for the strange pounding noises that are sometimes reported in the theater. He says that sound travels easily through the building’s cement walls.
“The orchestra doors slam below,” says Stump. “And it sounds like it’s right behind you.”
Still, the theater’s reputation as a haunted place remains. The story of the Blair Theater ghost has appeared in the “Haunted Ohio” series and Karen Laven, author of “Haunted Dayton” has visited the school to interview students and take pictures. In some of her photographs, the author found ghostly orbs floating about the theater.
The theater’s spookiness may even extend into the lobby. Stump says that one person claims that the locked revolving door in the vestibule broke open and spun around by itself. On one occasion, while walking through the lobby, Stump found a religious group holding a prayer circle to try and exorcise the ghost.
Other people have reported seeing a ghostly couple dancing on stage. Stump says that these reports are weird, as the theater has never seen any ballroom dancing. It is uncertain what relation, if any, this apparition has to the student managers’ ‘Hamlet.’
If Blair Hall Theater is haunted, Stump doesn’t seem fazed. According to Stump, the theater hosts 60 to 80 events each academic year, serving from 10 to 14 thousand patrons annually.
“It’s spooky, I guess,” says Stump. “He [the ghost] hasn’t bothered me yet, and he’s not going to do me any harm now.”
Ghosts horsing around in Building 13
Twisted tales are emerging from all across Sinclair Community College, especially from Building 13.
Tim Ryan professor of design has worked in Building 13 since the building was reconstructed in 1992. Ryan is convinced that Building 13 has experienced occurrences of paranormal activity, although not recently.
“If you’re referring to the story of Joshua, then yes,” Ryan said.
Ryan explained that before Building 13 was apart of Sinclair Community College, it was the United Color Press building.
“When Sinclair reconstructed Building 13, they gutted the inside and kept the basement and main pillars,” Ryan said.
In that very basement, United Color Press used mules to lift heavy printing equipment and materials. During the great flood of 1913, several mules drowned, according to Ryan. Among those mules was the lead mule — Joshua.
“I’ve heard from other faculty members, that are no longer here at Sinclair, that they have heard Joshua’s name being called out,” Ryan said. “But that goes on to if you believe in animals’ souls becoming ghosts.”
The story of Joshua the mule has slowly died off, according to Ryan, but some faculty members let his tale live on by playing jokes on each other.
“Some of the faculty will put Joshua’s name on other faculty’s computers and joke around with it, but the tale is kind of dying off,” Ryan said.
However, Lieutenant Scott Fowler believes the story of the ghost in Building 13 came about a different way.
“I always heard that someone fell into one of the boiler room’s coal burning furnaces,” Fowler said.
Although both may have opposing stories, both men agree that Building 13 may have a ghastly guest.
Pat McClelland, galley coordinator for the Burnell R. Roberts Triangle Gallery, has never witnessed any paranormal activity during his tenure at Sinclair.
“Although I’ve heard stories, I’ve never seen anything,” McClelland said. “But it is interesting to talk about.