My name is Heidi, I am from a small town in Southern Oregon called Klamath Falls (Clam-ath). First, I would like to let you know that rotary phones are still operational, my parents still use one to this day.
Now to my ghost story, I spend a great deal of my non-working hours at two local theatres in my town. Theatre is my main hobby, however I am rarely on stage. I am what they call a techie, meaning sound effects, lighting, stage managing, and etc. One theatre is very old and very small, but it is my home away from home, and it is very haunted. There are several stories going around, but I will only tell you the two experiences I have personally had.
The very first play I was ever involved with was "The Importance of Being Ernest" and I took on the daunting roll of stage manager. Stage managers are typically the first at the theatre and the last to leave, so you often spend several hours alone there. On one night before the show I arrived at my normal time to set up, clean up, and prep food items for the show. Normally the next person to show up was a cast member who lived close by. He came to help me move the big set pieces and set the rest of the stage.
I heard the front door of the theatre open, heard footsteps come from the lobby, and saw a shadow pass by the back stage door. Thinking that the actor Jay was here, I popped my head out from back stage to say hi, but no one was in sight. I was puzzled but thought nothing of if, just assumed he when out for a smoke.
A few minutes later he and the light tech, Andy, showed up at the same time. I ask if they had been in the theatre, but both informed me that they had just arrived. I explained to them what I heard, and saw and Andy's replay was, "Oh, that must have been Ralph." I asked "Who is Ralph?" and the answer was "He is our ghost. He was the original President of the Theatre." I was a bit spooked for a short time after that, but soon realized that, Ralph was just like me and truly loved this small theatre.
My second experience with Ralph was almost two years later. I had been growing in resect at the theatre and they had given me the opportunity to direct my own children's play. I chose to adapt the book "Bannicula" into a short 30 minute play.
One morning before we preformed we decided to rehears a few problem scenes. I was in the light booth, all of my actors where on or backstage. I was waiting for my other techie to show up, but every person in the theatre was accounted for at the time.
To get to the light booth you have to either cross through the audience (where I can clearly see from the booth,) or go up as flight of old, steep, creaky stairs and walk across a also very creaky floor. Both make a very distinct sound that you know when someone is about to enter the booth.
On this morning I kept hearing someone walk up the stairs and pass by my booth door. I assumed it was that other techie but when I looked at my clock it was too early for him to even be there. He usually worked until about 45 minutes before the show. It eventually got on my nerves to feel like someone was watching me that I said "Ralph, I am glad that you are excited for the show, but I really need to focus, so could you please stop walking around and making so much noise?" It then stopped and the next time I heard the sound it was indeed the techie.
Later when I said that Ralph was very active, I was told that he loved children and the fact that we were doing children's theatre again probably made him very happy and he just wanted to let us know that he approved of what we were doing.
Those are my stories, I hope you enjoyed them, and I would love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I love your show, keep up the good work.
Sincerely, Heidi from Oregon
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