Haunted Happenings tour offers visitors grand opportunities at legendary haunts

As a guide leads guests through twists and turns of the harrowing hallways, it’s time for Haunted Happenings at The Grand. The Grand Oshkosh, a performing arts center that has been standing for 140 years, has seen many events come and go. But what many guests don’t know is that ghosts apparently have been keeping them company. The Haunted Happenings event, which has been running for years, explores those legendary tales.

 “With Covid shutting it down, this is the second year of the Haunted Happenings event,” Jim Scovronski, House Manager of the Grand, said.

This event takes place in mostly off-limit areas that the public normally cannot visit. In addition to this, the lights are out and guests are led by a rope-light trail that leads from place to place. 

“The lights are out for the atmosphere,” Scovronski said.

The tour guide takes the tourists to the stage downstairs to the most active and the biggest dressing room within the opera house. Lastly, it’s off to the balcony, where guests learn about the history and some of the other spirits people have seen.

 “We have a woman named Rose, and she sits up here to watch the show. It’s said that when you hear her laugh, she is either laughing with you because you’re so good at the show, or laughing at you because you’re so bad,” an anonymous employee said.

When the basement comes around, the guests will have a chance to use the dowsing rods themselves to talk to the little boy spirit. The guests get two questions to ask, the dowsing rods can only answer yes or no questions, but guests must also ask respectful questions.

 “I’m being very serious when I say this, do not talk about death, how they died, or what it's like in the afterlife;  it is very disrespectful and the spirits wouldn’t talk for a week and a half the last time someone asked,” the anonymous employee said. 

When it comes to the spirits, the Grand includes a little boy, a dog, an old stage manager, and many more. These spirits love any kind of attention from the guests, whether it'd be speaking to the spirits or being around, even giving the spirits tobacco or candy.

“The little boy ghost loves attention and will go anywhere that everyone is. He also can be a bit mischievous,” the anonymous employee said.

The little boy ghost is one of the most active in the Grand; he apparently loves having all the attention from the guests and will even speak to the guests and the workers with the dowsing rods. Once the tour hits the stage, guests might get a whiff of smoke, which is the old stage manager making sure everyone is safe and happy within the Grand.

“The man smelled smoke and made sure again that everyone knew that there should be no smoking in the theater,”  the anonymous employee said. “He had come around the stage and found that the smell was coming from the right side of the stage, where the old stage manager's chair was.” 

The stage manager liked to smoke in the chair on stage right. It was said that it was the stage manager's spot and that the spirit would still sit there even though it was years after the man had died. The spirit would still sit there, even in death, to make sure everything is going the way it should. The way the stage manager makes sure every guest within the Grand is safe and happy is by talking with any guest, making sure they are having fun, and not feeling down.

“The stage manager was talking with this little boy, making sure that he was okay because he was crying. He made sure that the child was happy with his experience here and not upset,”  the anonymous employee said.

However, the stage manager had also warned the workers of the Grand by pointing out that part of the theater's ceiling was caving in and would soon collapse. The guests that came to see the ghosts really enjoyed multiple parts of the tour and walking around the unseen places of The Grand, learning about the spirits that roam the historical landmark.

 “I absolutely loved going through and learning about all the spirits and learning about the history behind them,” ghost-seeker Kimberly Brandt said. “My favorite part was being able to go into the basement area and being able to go into the dressing room, just everything that isn't open to the general public day to day.”

by Kayden Brandt

Published on October 30, 2023

Oshkosh West Index vol 120 issue II