The Ghosts of Richardson: The Theatre

Front View of Richardson Hall

Welcome to Richardson Hall, the most haunted building on campus. When the school first opened in 1921 it was originally called the Adams State Normal School, and was a college for teachers. Richardson Hall (named after Ira Richardson who was the schools first president that died in 1958) was the only building the school had when it opened, holding a gym, library, dorms, and more. Today, it's apparently the home of several notable ghosts, and our center for all things paranormal.

Richardson Theatre 

Facing the stage

Facing the main doors

According to the stories and our research, Richardson Theatre is the hotspot of paranormal activity. This is perfectly understandable because this theatre is the oldest on campus and is one of the only areas not to have been remodeled yet. It has two notable ghosts to its name, and both ghosts have said to be spotted multiple times. 

Inside the theatre, you of course have the audience section (both in front of the stage and then a small balcony above main seats), the stage, and then on either side of the stage (once you climb a few perilous ladders) there are two dressing rooms.  

The dressing room on the upper left is just a plain room. Though it's got nothing creepy and our EMF detectors didn't pick up any unusual spikes, it's not a place I'd want to linger in for too long. 

Creepy dressing room

Right Side Dressing Room

The one on the right manages to raise the creep factor- all over the walls are the titles and dates of plays that went on throughout Adams State history. The oldest date is 1926, and the newest is 1982.

Writing on the walls

Close Up

Then, if you go down beneath the theatre, you enter the old boiler room beneath the stage- home to the janitor, and our first notable ghost. The janitor (whose name is unknown at this time) lived in a small apartment above the boiler room with his daughter, who still works here at ASC. Around the seventies, the janitor died of natural causes in his room beneath the theatre. People have reported hearing boxes being pushed across the stage, seeing the door to his old room open and close on its own accord, and have heard footsteps in the rafters above the stage. 

Boiler Room

The Janitor's Room

Seriously Creepy Locker

Inside the chained off area

Stairs leading down to the basement

The main audience area, though, is where one of the most famous ghosts (not only of Richardson but of the whole campus) is said to have died. Around the early sixties, a young girl (whose name was not disclosed) had become too overwhelmed by the pressures of college, and she never returned to her dorm one night. The next morning, her fellow students found the young girl hanging from the balcony over one of the aisles. People have reported hearing music coming from a piano late at night (though no piano is located in the building because the theatre is out of use for plays), and many have reported seeing a young girl walking the halls, disappearing into the theatre, never to be seen again. 

We've heard some odd things, and seen some unexplainable phenomena, but until we can investigate further, this is all we have so far on Richardson Theatre. 

Jake checking out the rafters above the stage

Jake and Becca scouting out the audience, going down the aisle
beneath where the young girl hung herself. 

Oh, and just to add to the creepiness, here's a picture that Becca took while exploring the audience. Above the stairs leading onto stage, the reflection casts an odd image. We know it's a reflection from the metal basing, but after multiple pictures in the same spot, we were unable to reproduce this reflection. Keep in mind this picture wasn't altered.