by Drama Club’s Haunted Auditorium Tour Turns Too Real
What was meant as a tongue-in-cheek fall fundraiser quickly became spine-tingling reality when Memorial High’s Drama Club launched its “Haunted Auditorium Tour.” Props included flickering lanterns, scripted ghost stories, and actors in spectral costumes–until the stage lights themselves began to flicker independently, and a disembodied voice whispered, “Encore?” through the intercom.
Patrons–mostly freshmen seeking extra credit–navigated the aisles by candlelight while volunteer “ghost guides” recited tales of a 1923 Maverick mascot rumored to still roam the rafters. The authentic-looking set-pieces rattled, trap doors creaked open without cues, and one student reported a phantom in the back row handing out “Boo-tiful” flowers.
The club’s director, Ms. Donnelly, initially hailed it as “immersive theatre,” until the local news crew captured footage of an empty swing gliding across the stage and a headless choir singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in reverse. Maintenance crews were called, but declared the auditorium “entirely serviced–structurally sound, but emotionally haunted.”
By the final showing, attendance soared–despite warnings that “real ghosts not guaranteed.” Ticket proceeds will fund next year’s musical, though the club is now debating whether to remove the trap doors–or embrace them. One cast member, wiping sweat and spectral ectoplasm, admitted, “We just wanted a fun scare. Now it’s a legit haunting.”
Whether the spirits stay on beyond Halloween, no one knows. But for one eerie season, Memorial High’s auditorium became the only school theatre where the applause came from beyond the grave. And sometimes, they still whisper, “Encore?”
