This story actually has no ties to any of my other ones as they usually do, but its still pretty interesting and chills me to this day. I was in fourth grade and we were living in Salem, the Capitol of Oregon, and its a town that's pretty rich in history, especially the historic old downtown section that houses the Salem Opera House (I think that's its name), and that's where this takes place.
We were doing a week long tour of the city and this day was Music Day, and we were studying music history courtesy of the music hall. After learning about Beethoven and Mozart (basic fourth grade stuff), we all gathered in the main auditorium to learn the history of the hall. As soon as the lecture was over, the topic of a "ghost" that haunts the hall was brought up and I don't remember the story well but it pertained to someone who used to work there dying a sad death and thus sticking to the hall.
Well, we all got pretty into that as kids would, but as we lined up to leave one kid pointed out to the stage and yelled "look!" Turning round, sure enough you could see the curtain pull aside and there was a black figure, hunched over as in a peeking round the corner stance, and it swished a bit then the curtain fell aside and it was gone. As you could imagine, a nervous atmosphere came about and amidst the chatter, another boy pointed to the upper decks and sure enough there it was again! In a minute it was gone, and as the adults scrambled to keep everyone under control we were hustled out.
Outside everyone was still hyped up but the adults denied everything that happened and hurried us out-still another hour left in the itinerary but it didn't matter.
My teacher, Mr. Sherman I remember, avoided any and all conversation and inquiries about the event, as did every other teacher who was there and even some who weren't, and the rest of the week, a day or two was left, never happened, and future field trips to the hall also never happened.
I can't believe I almost forgot this story, its so fun.
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Thank you for returning and defending your experience, you feel it is true and are figting for it. Bravo, well done. While I can not vouch for the cancelation of 'Art Week' I can address parts of your experience.
You have countered some of our points concerning this as a possible prank by stating (quoted so there is no misunderstanding...)
"One,the amount of tine between sightings-upper deck and lower stage-was too short for the same exact thing to be there and then there."
Now you described the sightings like this...
"Turning round, sure enough you could see the curtain pull aside and there was a black figure, hunched over as in a peeking round the corner stance, and it swished a bit then the curtain fell aside and it was gone. As you could imagine, a nervous atmosphere came about and amidst the chatter, another boy pointed to the upper decks and sure enough there it was again!"
One of two things may have happened here... Either a single individual was pulling a prank, and knowing the Opera House well, was able to move from the stage to the upper deck while the tour group talked about what had been seen on stage... With no one looking at a watch does anyone know how much time between sightings ther actually was? Or a more beliveable scenario is that there were two individuals... One wanting to pull a prank and the other a Opera House working looking to see if the tour was gone so they could continue working. Either way that is two resonable explinations, both of which are non-paranormal.
As I said One of these 'sightings' could have been of a working checking to see if the coast was clear and the other may have been a Spirit... But without more evidence there is no way to tell.
Again I can not speak for why Art week was canceled... Nor for the reactions of the Teachers... Though I will say this, if I had been a Chaperon on that trip and I thought someone was watching the 4th graders I was responsible for I would have been nervous (which explains the teachers actions/reaction) and reported it to somebody... If that report led to the event being canceled... Well then perhaps there was a good reason for concern...
Respectfully,
Rook