During my high school days in Toledo, Ohio, I found my niche in the drama club. Our school was known for its haunted high school auditorium—a place full of whispered stories and eerie legends. While the spotlight wasn’t my comfort zone, the backstage hustle suited me perfectly—constructing sets, orchestrating lights, and fine-tuning sound cues.
Legend has it that our haunted high school auditorium harbors a tragic tale. Oscar, a construction worker, met his untimely end while toiling in the catwalks above the audience. One fateful day, the floor crumbled beneath him, sending him plummeting several stories down into the seats below.
Eagerly anticipating the theater’s grand opening, Oscar had even secured tickets for the inaugural night. Yet fate had other plans, and he never graced the stage he helped build.
One late evening, amidst the quiet hum of the deserted auditorium, my friend Johnny and I lingered. Engrossed in perfecting the new soundboard, we were oblivious to the eerie presence lurking around us.
As we meticulously programmed the sound cues and adjusted the lights for the upcoming musical, “Anything Goes,” a strange phenomenon unfolded before our eyes. Footprints materialized in the sawdust-dusted stage, as if an invisible entity had left its mark.
In stunned disbelief, we watched as the phantom footprints meandered across the stage before dissipating into the darkness. Intrigued yet unnerved, we ventured closer to inspect the mysterious imprints, finding no tangible explanation for their existence.
Though we shared our spine-tingling encounter with a select few, skepticism prevailed, prompting us to keep our ghostly rendezvous under wraps. Despite lacking empirical evidence, Johnny and I couldn’t shake the lingering feeling that we had crossed paths with Oscar’s lingering spirit.
To this day, I still wonder if the haunted high school auditorium is home to more secrets than we ever knew.
