By Chip Dombrowski, Entertainment Editor

As Haunted Theatre returns, ghost hunters will investigate LTOB

At Little Theatre on the Bay’s second Haunted Theatre, teenagers in costumes and makeup might not be the only ones doing the haunting.

This year, organizers are turning attention to another set of occupants in the 85-year-old building: real ghosts.

Theater members are sharing their stories of strange occurrences, and two groups of ghost hunt-ers will be conducting investigative tours in search of evidence of other-worldly beings next week at the theater.

The first set of tours by Paranormal Studies and Investigations of Oregon on Wednesday will precede the opening of the Haunted Theatre on Thursday.

On Halloween, the last day of the Haunted Theater, Coast Ghost Paranormal Research Society will conduct its investigation.

While they may not be able to summon ghosts, Haunted Theatre organizers are taking steps to make it scarier than the theater’s first effort.

“We’ve learned a little bit from last year,” director Theresa Erskine said, without getting into specifics. “We’re trying to up the startling factor.”

As a result, the theater is encouraging parents of children 8 or under to screen the haunted house before taking the kids through it.

In preparation for the ghost hunters, Erskine surveyed participants in past LTOB productions about their possible encounters with the paranormal. She found a substantial number of reports, most of which fall into three categories: lights, sounds and incidents involving costumes.

While some of those reports came from older men and women, the largest cluster involved a specific demographic group: teenage girls.

Of course, anyone who has seen a horror movie knows that most supernatural creatures prefer to target this group.

At LTOB, the most common type of incident Erskine heard about was girls hearing voices when nobody was there. Others saw shadowy figures inhabiting the costumes.

But she didn’t think these or other events were anything to worry about.

“I’ve always felt there were old friends in the theater,” Erskine said. “God knows when I pass on, I intend to come back and visit the theater.”

During one of the paranormal groups’ preliminary investigations, Erskine had her own bizarre experience. She stood on the stage and “talked to the theater,” naming some bygone community actors.

“I invited those people who were so good on stage to come on stage with me,” she said. “The lights were going wild. It was really interesting.”

The theater’s light board seems to be a favorite target of prankster ghosts, Erskine said. Lighting technicians have found that if they step away from the board for a minute, they may come back to find the light settings are all different.

When that happens, Erskine said she recommends crew members take a look before “fixing” it.

“Maybe it’s a better configuration than what we have,” she said.

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