SPRINGFIELD – The air is crisp with the scent of fall foliage and freshly cut hay, ushering the spooky activities in the southern Willamette Valley: Haunted hayrides, spooky lagoons, and hair-raising late-night golf sessions.
These handcrafted haunted attractions are made to engineer fear, but at other locations around town, hauntings are as authentic as they come.
At least that’s what those who experienced the local haunts will tell you, like some members at the Odd Fellows, who believe there is something particularly “odd” about its lodge at 342 Main St.
“I know of a few members who have had a spooky encounter or two,” said Josh Dandurand, member.
In one story, Dandurand said a dance group member was walking from the hallway to the main room when they felt a tap on their shoulder. When they turned around, no one was there.
In another story, he said a member was alone in the restroom in the back hallway and heard a tapping on the door. No one was there, but when they said, “STOP!” The noise discontinued.
Member Don Martinson recalls an experience of his own.
About 16 years ago, Martinson and his family were in the lodge’s game room, relaxing.
“Next thing I know, my son shot up and said, ‘Somebody’s down there, Dad!” Martinson recalled. He walked down the hallway to where his son was pointing but saw no one.
“‘Who was it?’ Martinson asked. “‘The man in the picture,’” his son replied.
The “man in the picture” is Thomas Wildly, the founder of the Oddfellows, whose portraits hang unassumingly in the anteroom.
Dandurand and Martinson also remember when a roofer got spooked and left in haste.
“The roofer left and refused to return to the lodge, stating that they had seen something in the lodge and would not be returning,” Dandurand said. Martinson confirms he heard the man say he thought it was a spirit.
Springfield Eagles Lodge
Rick Gosser, president of Springfield Mckenzie Eagles Aerie 3579 at 1978 Main St., confirms paranormal activity in the lodge.
He knows from first-hand experience.
According to Gosser, one ghost is a trickster who knocks things off the wall and rolls the pool balls.
“You’ll set things down like in the kitchen, and when you return, they will be on another counter. It’s like they are pranking us,” he said.
There’s the prankster, and then there is the dancer.
“We have another one. She’ll only come out at night when it’s quiet. She’ll appear. She’ll walk around the dance floor, and if she hears a sound, she’ll run away and disappear,” Gosser said of the specter, who looks to be a young woman in her 30s adorned in a 1950s-era white dancing dress.
Springfield Elks Lodge
“Yes! We’ve got ghost stories!” exclaimed Mickie Cook, exalted ruler of the Springfield Elks Lodge #2145 at 1701 Centennial Blvd., before reciting some of the local lore.
“One day me and our secretary were counting lottery money, and we kept miscounting and goofing up,” Cook said. “We were laughing, and then somebody behind us laughed. It was LOUD. And we were alone. The hair on our arms stood up.”
In another strange instance, Cook’s husband was at the lodge when he called her on the phone. When he asked his wife a question, another voice responded.
That’s when Cook heard a phantom voice say a name in response to her husband’s question. The voice was coming from the side of the husband’s phone.
“Oh, yeah!” the husband replied, repeating the name the phantom had just relayed.
That’s when Cook asked who was there with her husband.
But he was alone. He didn’t hear the voice, but Cook swears she heard it clear as day.
Cook said there is “nothing vicious or mean about the ghosts” visiting the Elks Lodge. She suspects some of the apparitions are dedicated Elks members who have since passed.
Being such dedicated members, they may have wanted to stick around for the good of the order.
Springfield High Auditorium
“I have to plead guilty to being responsible for the ghosts of Springfield High School Auditorium. It wasn’t supposed to be anything other than fun,” Jonathan Siegle said in jest.
Siegle, who directed the school’s theater program from 1983-2009 and contracted with the District until 2015, remembers teaching students about the superstition of a “ghost light,” which refers to the light left on in a theater when it’s empty, usually near center stage.
In the practical sense, ghost lights are put on so that no one falls in the dark, but the superstitious reason is to keep evil ghosts away because, according to common theater lore, all theaters are haunted.
Siegle himself experienced strange things. One day, when he was alone, he said he heard someone banging on the wall. When he checked, no one was on the other side.
One of his most intriguing stories includes a former employee.
“In the early 2000s, a maintenance guy – a salt-of-the-earth, plain, decent, good guy, but superstitious – came into my office with a weird look. The man had seen something unnerving while sewing the curtain on the stage.
“He looked up and saw a figure in archaic dress, wearing some costume, walking down the auditorium aisle, up the stairs, and onto the stage – and disappeared.”
That ghostly figure had come to be known affectionately as “George.”
Students were also interested in the alleged paranormal activities, even forming a Ghost Hunters Club on campus. They ran around taking photographs, trying to catch “orbs,” which are small, floating orbs of light that some believe are spirits or energy forms.
According to former hunters, students captured the most unexplained phenomena in five main places: the lighting/sound booth, the loft, the lecture hall, the catwalk, and the stage left rigging area.
And in 2008, then-freshman Tobi Besio caught more than orbs on camera.
“I took a photo near the loft. A ghostly figure was leaning over the ledge, the metal railing up there. It looked like a person leaning over, looking down. The other photo that felt really exciting – I had a connection with this photo – was a photo of a little girl with long hair,” Besio said. He captured the photo near the sound booth in the back of the auditorium.
For each orb or paranormal activity students believed to have been caught on camera, Besio said the immediate aftermath often consisted of unexplained instances of phones breaking, corrupted cards in digital cameras, or all information being wiped out.
“I went to download a CD of the photo, and it crashed when I went to boot it up. Was it ghosties saying, ‘You can’t have these photos’? I like to think so,” Besio said.
Sarina Dorie is the arts columnist for The Chronicle.
Do you know about some more local lore? Dorie is interested in hearing your stories. You can reach her at [email protected] and at SarinaDorie.com, or drop a line below.