By Morgan Bryant
It is 8:46 PM, you are behind a curtain covered in shadow on a stage that is placed inside of the V.P Henry Auditorium at Lindsey Wilson College. The curtains are a deep blue, and the only light that is apparent is seeping through the cracks from the outer stage. You are fumbling with the various props, ropes, and portions of curtains that stick to your feet, aching to leave at a decent time. That is when you see it, or rather, that is when you see her, standing in the corner in a white dress, watching.
Ghosts are something that is, oftentimes, a hard subject to discuss due to their debatable nature. For some, ghosts are an important part of spiritual life, for others, it is a bunch of hullabaloo.
While it is important to note both sides, there are some that have undeniable proof of spirit entities, despite others sweeping them under the rug. Yet, when you have an old theater inside of an old building, placed on an old campus, there is bound to be at least something supernatural, right? One professor of the theater has reason to say yes.
Jeremy Cloyd, the assistant professor of theater at Lindsey Wilson College, is someone who is quite familiar with the workings of the V.P Henry Auditorium. From directing various plays and musicals, to teaching theater, he is the man to ask about happenings in the theater.
His knowledge of the theater expands past that of the secular side, such as the various lights and props that one can touch and feel, into the supernatural side of which only some lucky, or unlucky few, can see. “I’m a hippy who wears flannels and has a compost bin,” Cloyd said, “I live for this stuff.”
Cloyd expressed that the theater has been doing creepy things for as long as he has been here, which has been over 10 years. “It’s an old theater in the middle of nowhere,” he said, “Of course there's weird things that have gone on here, I just wish I could talk about it more.”
Now, one may wonder what Cloyd means when saying he wishes he could talk about the various incidents he, as well as many other theater artists, have experienced at the theater. Of course if you see something, say something, right?
"There are ghosts here, and I’ve experienced them.”
“Obviously, saying ‘we have ghosts here’ isn’t necessarily the best thing to advertise in a quaint little town for a college,” Cloyd said, “But there are ghosts here, and I’ve experienced them.”
Cloyd went on to explain the various incidents he has experienced during his time as a student at Lindsey Wilson College, as well as, being a professor. He talked about how, oftentimes, he will be cleaning up behind the stage in the darkness of the curtains, and he or others will look up and see a little girl wearing a white dress just standing and watching. “She doesn’t do anything malicious,” he said, “She just stands there watching. I wonder what she’s watching for, who knows.”
Other spiritual happenings do not just include some girl in a white dress. Cloyd also expressed that there were some more subtle messages from the spirits in the theater.
“You know the bathrooms in the bottom of this building [The L.R. McDonald Administrative building, where the V.P Henry Auditorium is held],” Cloyd said, “The door knobs will turn in your hand, or you’ll push and push on the door and it won’t open until eventually, it does, and there's nothing there.”
Now, it is one thing to hear about ghosts and door knobs from one person, but when you start hearing stories from multiple people, that is when one has to question the legitimacy of the stories told. That is where Timmy Gripshover comes in.
“There’s so much stuff here,” Gripshover said, “You could write a movie about it.”
Gripshover, a fifth year student here at Lindsey Wilson College is no stranger to the happenings of the theater. Working in the theater almost as long as the likes of Cloyd, he also is there to talk about the multiple appearances that occur.
"This place is straight up haunted. No if, ands, or buts, baby."
“That little girl is just the most common one,” he said, “This place is straight up haunted. No if, ands, or buts, baby.”
Gripshover is not one to simply regurgitate what Cloyd had said, he is more than capable to convey his own experiences with the strange happenings of what goes on in the theater.
“Oh I’ve seen dark shadow figures out of the corner of my eye,” Gripshover said, “The biggest one being the dark figure that moves about whenever people are not around. If you’re on the stage, it’s in the tech booth, if you’re in the tech booth, it’s in the basement. It follows you, it definitely follows me that’s for sure.”
Gripshover explained that one time after a performance in the theater, he desperately needed to use the bathroom, so he went down to the bottom of the L.R. McDonald Administrative building and as he was walking down to the men’s bathroom, he felt an intense feeling behind him.
“I just felt it coming closer and closer, I could feel it stomping toward me with a sort of evil as I began to run,” he said, “I threw myself into the bathroom, and as I looked down I could see the door knob jiggling and this pressure behind the door. I was petrified, I hoped and hoped I would make it out, so I went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and slowly opened the door. I could feel it behind the door, it was ready for me.”
Gripshover said that once he stepped out and felt the presence behind the door, he began running as fast as he could to the stairs, all the while he felt someone chasing on his tail. But, while he explained his sighting, Gripshover made sure to provide some words of wisdom to anyone encountering an entity.
“Never ever, and I mean never, look behind you,” Gripshover said, “If I looked behind me before I got to the top of those stairs back to safety, I honestly don’t know what would have happened to me.”
With all of what has been said, one could possibly explain the phenomena as the result of an old building being, well, old. From the doorknobs being faulty, lights casting shadows in the forms of both dark figures or girls in white dresses, there could be a multitude of explanations. But, from the variety of stories that Cloyd and Gripshover have told, it is hard to not believe some of their heartfelt words. Yet, Cloyd had his own response to people who doubt him and other theater artists around Lindsey Wilson College. “I know, I know, I’m a hippie that lives for this,” Cloyd said, “But this kind of stuff, it can’t be written off as paranoia. There are some people in this theater department that are staunch non-believers, and they sometimes get chills from the stuff. I, too, also get chills, but I really take that little girl's eyes seriously.”