By Josie Wawrzyniak
At 10 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2011, members of The Blue and Grey newspaper staff entered Brodbeck Music Hall to conduct an investigation of paranormal activity in the building. Ghostly encounters, unexplained noises, moving shadows and apparitions have long been used to establish the reputation of the building as the most haunted structure on the Hood College campus.
Not all of the staff members chose to participate. “I walk past it on my way to class. That’s the closest I want to get to it,” said one.
The building’s reputation is well-known. Stories about Brodbeck have appeared in print for many years. “The Spirits of Frederick,” a book by Alyce T. Weinberg about the hauntings and ghosts of Frederick County, Maryland, has a short article about the building and the activity in it. The Blue and Grey recently reprinted a story it published in 2005. (See “Hood Hosts a Haunting,” in the Oct. 27, 2011 issue.)
Ask any member of Hood’s staff about paranormal activity in Brodbeck and most will relate a personal experience or tell of one experienced by a friend or co-worker.
Chief Richard Puller of Hood’s Campus Safety Office has received many reports of activity in the building, mostly concerning incidents in the basement.
In the spring of 2011, a contractor installing a new heating system in the basement was asked if he saw any ghosts. He immediately stopped working and stared at the interviewer, appearing as if he had just seen a ghost. Welcoming the opportunity to talk about his experience, he described an incident from the previous week. When he left work one day, he placed his work boots on a chair. He arrived the next morning to find them on the floor. The building was locked. Other workmen denied moving the boots. Thinking he may have been mistaken about where he had left them, he deliberately placed the boots on the chair when he left that night. The next morning, they were on the floor.
A professor with an office on Brodbeck’s second floor says he checks the door to the third floor to verify that it is locked when he leaves but finds it unlocked when he returns the next morning. For safety reasons, entrance to the third floor is forbidden and the doors to the third floor must be locked at all times.
Hood Facilities Division’s Jimmy Haines describes an incident he experienced during Snowmageddon (February 2010). He was clearing snow near Brodbeck. The blizzard was severe; no one was outside and no one was in Brodbeck that night. Yet, through the snowfall, a mysterious light was visible inside a third floor window. Its presence could not be explained. The third floor is reputed to be the most haunted area of the building.
Another member of the facilities staff tells of an incident he experienced while working fort Hood College as a safety officer. One of his routine duties was to lock Brodbeck’s exterior doors for the night. His route required that he lock the first door then walk inside the building to lock the remaining doors. One night, he heard sounds from the area of the stage. He thought someone must be in the building. “Is someone there?” he asked. No answer. He heard the sounds again. They sounded like footsteps but there was no one there. After this, he locked the doors from the outside.
With stories like this clearly in mind, the newspaper staff met to enter the building. Campus safety officer Douglas Young met the staff and unlocked the door. Officer Young knows much about the haunted history of the building. The spooky activity is old news to him. He speaks of it matter-of-factly; as if it’s a common occurrence.
He shows us the light switch in the music hall. “Mind you, sometimes they go on and off by themselves,” he says.
“Do they come out when the lights are on?” asked a staff member.
“They’re here all the time. We’ve seen them in the daytime. Two of our guards watched [a] little girl walk from here down to the chapel, and then she just disappeared. That was in daylight.” He tells of eyewitness accounts of orbs that move from the music hall’s balcony down toward the stage. “We’ve got countless orbs in here,” Young adds.
“Sometime during the night,” he says, “walk around the exterior of the building and look at the windows. Sometimes you’ll see a red dot.” A member of the newspaper staff admits that she has seen it, too.
“What’s the red dot?” asks another staff member.
“We don’t know,” Young replies. “Sometimes you’ll see a woman walking by a window carrying a candle.”
“Have fun,” he says as he leaves.
We set up our cameras and prepare to conduct a séance with an Ouija board. With only a dim glow from a fluorescent flashlight, we begin. The following is excerpted from the event:
“Is there anyone with us here today?” The pointer begins to move. It stops at the letter “H.” Questions to clarify this are unanswered.
“How many people are with you?” The pointer moves to “zero.”
“Are you male?” The reply is “female.”
“How old are you?” “Eight” is the reply.
“What year were you born?” The response indicates “1891” but the pointer continues to move. It stops at the letter “D.” An eight-year-old of that era may not know her birth year might know the year of her death, hence the “D.”
“What is your name?” The pointer again moves to “H.” Could this be an “H” representing a name? Hannah, Henrietta? The ‘talking board’ then stopped communicating, ending the séance.
Later, around midnight, a staff member heard a female laughing. Two students, Nicole Beller and Monica Devomanaharan, who were in the building practicing for an upcoming performance also heard the laughter. Both told of unusual activity they witnessed during late night practice sessions in the building.
Beller, once urged by her boyfriend as a way to overcome a touch of stage anxiety, came with him to the building one night to practice singing on the stage. She and her boyfriend both heard footsteps emanating from the third floor.
The last two Blue and Grey staff members left the building at 2 a.m., the early morning of All Hallows Eve. Was the reputation of Brodbeck Music Hall as one of Hood College’s most haunted structures upheld or disproven? Has anyone ever proven that spirits of the departed continue to roam the sites of their earthly existence after they have passed on? The final truth may lie in personal belief. There are those who believe and those who do not. The fact concerningBrodbeckMusic Hallis that unusual activity seems to be present in and around the building. Is this only a manifestation in the minds of those who know the building’s reputation or are the spirits of those who once lived before us dedicated to reminding us that they do exist? In the end, we must each decide for ourselves.
(The Blue and Grey staff wishes to express its gratitude to the Administration and to the Campus Safety Office of Hood College for granting us permission to perform this investigation and for their cooperation with making this article possible.)
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