Story By: Chad Alan

 

"Stage Fright"

 

Rapids Theatre - Niagara Falls, NY

 

Opened in 1921 as the Bellevue Theatre, the building served as the 1st luxury movie theatre in Niagara Falls.  Before being bought and rehabbed in 2007, the building housed many night clubs, as well as, a disco bar during the time when people wore really funny looking clothes.  The building itself doesn't look like much from the inside but the new owners have done more than just put a fresh coat of paint on the walls.  What was not expected was the high level of paranormal activity that every single member of the staff has experienced.  An Actress who worked at the theatre committed suicide by hanging herself from the backstage rafter after finding out her husband had died in the war.  Based on the stories being reported, she has never left.  A Woman's voice and whistling has been heard by many of the staff members, along with apparitions being seen in all parts of the theatre.  Doors open and close by themselves and the sound of high heels following you is quite common.  And what haunted bar wouldn't be complete without a ghostly bar tender that works up in the VIP area?  This should be a great night for EVPs.

 

TAPS co-founders Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson started the investigation in the creepy basement and air ducts.  The place looks unsafe and lost in time.  A whistle caught their attention and this was followed by what sounded like a female voice.  As they crawled through the narrow walkways they heard some movement followed by the sound of a bottle being kicked.  The female voice was heard again by both Jason and Grant and they tried their best to get some type of communication going but could not get an intelligent response.  They turned their focus on a fire door that is said to open by itself during the night.  They felt there was no way, that when shut, the door could open by itself.  As they headed to the main bar area, Grant noticed a shadow figure walk across the stage.  They both chased it down but whatever it was disappeared. 

 

Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango focused their investigation in the main bar and stage area.  Keys jingling got their attention and they could not find the source.  Was it a ghostly janitor walking the building or playing tricks on the team?  They headed to what was the old orchestra pit, now covered by the new stage.  A whistle grabbed their attention followed by some faint talking which the viewer could hear.  They described it as three men having a conversation.  They made sure the rest of the team was not anywhere close to them and they were not.  They contacted Britt Griffith and Amy who were at the other end of the building and they too were hearing voices, but their voice was more like a woman singing.  Britt and Amy headed outside to make sure nobody was around, and at 3:30am, nobody was answering the bell for a nightcap.  They did catch this conversation on their audio recorder and when they played it back it was definitely two different men talking but what was being said could not really be made out but it was still pretty interesting. In this same instance their video recorder caught some very strange shadow movement not far from where they were standing. 

 

Amy Bruni and Haily Hawes, daughter of Jason Hawes, headed up to the VIP balcony bar.  It wasn't long before each began hearing a woman's voice and noises like the sound of heels clicking on the stage, something reported by the client.  A shadow figure caught Amy's attention then disappeared behind the bar.  The shadow figure appeared again by the coat room.  When they played back the audio of their experience in the balcony bar their recorder did catch a woman speaking but it was barely audible and they decided there wasn't enough proof to share with the client.

 

One additional video piece that they showed the client was someone or something very clearly passing by the bar area.  Jason and Grant kind of played it down but it's the kind of experience that sends shivers down the spine.  The night was filled with interesting experiences for the team and they had no problem admitting that the Rapids Theatre was a paranormal hot spot.  I would highly recommend heading to the Syfy website and watching this episode if you missed it.

 

Be sure to check out our exclusive interview with Barry FitzGerald, Amy Bruni, Kris Williams, and Adam Berry at this year's Reality Rocks Expo!

 

Ghost Hunters airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Syfy.  Check your local listings.  HD channels offer different times for the show.

 

(Image courtesy of Syfy)

 

Contact Chad Alan at [email protected]