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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Porterville Memorial Auditorium rumored to be haunted


The Porterville Memorial Auditorium is said to be haunted by
the ghost of a little girl.
Photo courtesy of Reverbnation.com.

In the small town of Porterville, on the campus of the local high school, lies the Porterville Memorial Auditorium. Inside the building is the Frank "Buck" Shaffer Theatre, named after the school's long time band director, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a little girl.

No one knows who she is, but it's said that she was playing up on the balcony one day when she tripped and fell over the railing and died. Now it's said that if anyone is near the railing that she will appear and play tricks on them to get them to fall over the edge and die just as she did.

Inside the Frank "Buck" Shaffer Theatre. You can see the balcony
where it's said the little girl fell from to her death.
Photo courtesy of Reverbnation.com.

Another story says that backstage in the left wing near where several portraits are hung up on the wall, that their eyes would follow you as you walked by them. Whether this is some sort of paranormal activity or an optical illusion isn't know but still interesting none-the-less.

Are the stories of the little girl on the balcony true? It seems that almost every theater has its own ghost, like it is a prerequisite or something. It is interesting to note though that if you look at an index of haunted places throughout the county, theaters seem to be at the top of the list (bars and taverns run a close second). Why is this? Some paranormal researchers theorize that ghosts somehow feed off of people's emotions. What better place to experience the gambit of emotions; from happiness, sadness, and anger, than a theater? But perhaps the little girl is a vengeful spirit, upset over her untimely fate and tries to lure others to suffer the same fate as her.

3 comments:

Dave said...

Never heard this. And there are no portraits hanging in the left wing. Worked there from 1993 to 2008, never once heard or saw anything of the like.

Anonymous said...

When I did my dance recitels here the story was the little girl was playing hide and seek with a friend and she fell down one of the holes that was left open in the stage. And she fell under the stage and died. That was the story 20 years ago.

Anonymous said...

idc what anyone says, i performed at that theatre over 50 times throughout my school years and you can hear a little girl laughing. we caught it several times while recording during choir practice. and up front there was a hall that had creepy pictures but this was back in 90-91.