Post by Joanna on Oct 1, 2014 18:31:51 GMT -5
The Silver Ghost of PSU
PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Could Plymouth State University be haunted? For centuries, tales of ghosts and hauntings have been a cropping up in places all around the world. The origins of these stories can be difficult to trace and stories tend to change as they’re passed from one generation to the next, but there is always one consistency in each of them: there is something supernatural out there.
This applies to PSU’s Silver Center for the Arts. For years, the so-called “Silver Ghost” has been rumored to haunt the halls and theaters of Plymouth State’s performing arts center. For years, stories have been passed along about strange experiences, cold spots and sometimes even actually sightings of this ghost in and around the Studio Theater and costume shop. “When I first got here there was talk about her,” said Theater Department Chair, Paul Mroczka. “She’s been described as having black hair, dressed all in white, around 19-years-old.”
The Silver Center opened in 1992 and contains three different stages: Hanaway Theater, Smith Recital Hall and the Studio Theater, the last (and oldest) of which has been rumored to be a frequent haunt of the Silver Ghost. “Most of the time people have described running into her in the Studio Theater,” said Mroczka. “She seems to be attracted to certain female performers … some people attract these things, I’m not one of those people.”
Many theaters throughout America have rich histories of ghost sightings, certain Broadway theaters particularly. This is rumored to have something to do with the fact so many people come through theaters, either as performers or spectators, and in the afterlife, those who had a passion for the theater arts just could not bring themselves to leave. On the other hand, there have also been those who say people with careers in the theater just have overactive imaginations.
There are those with their fair share of these experiences in the Silver Center. Danee Grillo, the Silver Center’s Costume Shop Manager, described an experience with former student Nicki Mandiola. “In the prop room, there was this tree with fake greenery on it ... there are two doors to the room, the other one being locked all the time, and there are no windows. Nicki was talking about the ghost, and as soon as she was finished saying whatever it was, one leaf out of the pile of leaves began shaking and moving really fast. None of the other ones were moving at all.”
This is just one of the many experiences related by students and staff in the theater department. There are those who are certain there is something there, and there are those who are undecided. “I have not experienced the Silver Center Ghost personally … I’ve felt like maybe there was something there. Whether it was a ghost or not, I can’t say, but it was certainly sketchy,” said Sophomore Theater Major, Leo Curran. “I don’t see why ghost’s wouldn’t exist ... just by sheer lack of knowledge it seems completely plausible that ghosts could exist.”
There are also those who deny that any such thing is possible. “When you’re afraid of the dark in general, your mind will compose what it wants to see sometimes,” said Junior Musical Theater Major Nick Kalantzokas. “I think when you’re in a state of anxiety of fear your mind can play tricks on you ... I don’t believe in ghosts.”
Whether students believe in the supernatural or not, one can’t help thinking about the different stories they have heard through the years and wonder what other mysteries could be out there.
Source: Benjamin Hunton, TheClockOnline, October 1, 2014.