Have you ever heard creaks by your staircase when the house was quiet and still? Or come across locked doors, when you don’t remember locking them? Even a door slam suddenly? A few Dana Hall teachers have, especially at Bardwell Auditorium. The auditorium is notorious for being haunted by ghosts, as well as the faculty housing. The spiritual presence at Dana is so high that the theater department has commissioned a play, “Ghosted” written by Don Zolidis, based on the paranormal activity on campus.
Bardwell Auditorium is perhaps the most haunted building on campus. One morning, at around 6:30, Upper School Social Studies teacher Heather Panahi decided to get some work done in one of the Bardwell classrooms she was teaching in at the time. Over music playing and through a closed door, Ms. Panahi heard a loud shout coming from a man’s voice. She responded, turned off her music, and got up to answer the door. No one was there. She even walked around the building to see if they went somewhere else, but she was alone. “It was clear as day I heard this voice,” Ms. Panahi says. A former faculty member even conducted a spiritual cleansing of Bardwell when the presence was at particular high.
Upper School Theater Director Daniel Morris is quite familiar with the spiritual presence in Bardwell. Mr. Morris formerly worked at The Huntington, one of the most haunted theaters in the country. Interestingly, Mr. Morris was a skeptic before working at the theater. He became well-versed with ghosts at The Huntington, and came to Bardwell with expectations to experience similar activities. “I had a couple of mild encounters, but not as intense as The Huntington,” Mr. Morris says.
Mr. Morris was at Bardwell late one night, near a sound closet backstage, when suddenly “something from inside the room slammed the door closed. Could’ve been the wind, but it was a closed closet.” Mr. Morris left the building immediately after that experience, and the door has since been removed from the room.
Before coming to Dana, Upper School English teacher Julia Bucci believed lingering ghosts had unfinished business, or as the Buddhists say, “Hungry ghosts”—souls with unresolved issues. Once Dr. Bucci encountered spirits in her house on campus, she realized this isn’t necessarily the case.
Dr. Bucci and her family moved in with an understanding that campus housing has a reputation for ghosts. They noticed paranormal activity promptly upon move-in: footsteps along the staircase and randomly locked doors. A couple of house-sitters actually reported back being creeped out by the noises. Because of Dr. Bucci’s initial understanding of ghosts, she waved sage around the house, hoping to cleanse the ghosts of their troubles.
A medium came to the house to investigate, and actually revealed the sage wasn’t doing much. The medium concluded that there is one main spirit who lives there, a rather snobby gentleman who critiques Dr. Bucci’s taste in music and flower selection. He used to work in construction on the house, and has no unfinished business there, but rather enjoys Dr. Bucci’s company, and decides to stick around. This experience inspired Dr. Bucci’s award-nominated screenplay, The Ghosts.
Ms. Panahi experienced paranormal activity in campus housing for 20 years. Her apartment in Brownlowe had an extra set of stairs leading up to it, ones that are never used. At night, Ms. Panahi would often hear people walk up and down the steps. The noises were so clear that she went to check if something was happening, and no one was ever there.
Mr. Morris would also hear footsteps trekking up and down an old staircase in Bardwell that “leads to nowhere,” according to him. Again, there was nobody ever up there.
Upper School English teacher Karen Keely moved onto campus in August 2024. Before move-in, Dr. Keely heard reports from both current and former teachers about the ghost who lives in Morrill—a non-threatening, little girl. After five months of living there, Dr. Keely has yet to encounter the spirit. “It is possible that I am not sensitive,” she says. Dr. Keely’s dog Chloe, however, will occasionally perk up very alertly, perhaps in response to the ghost. “This may just be something dogs do,” Dr. Keely added.
Other faculty houses are reported to be haunted, and some faculty were unwilling to go on record with the Hallmanac about their paranormal experiences.
Ms. Panahi theorizes that the Upper-School building renovation disrupted a lot of the energy around campus, perhaps upsetting some of the local ghosts and causing more paranormal activity. Ms. Panahi says she has seen an apparition walk around the pond multiple times more recently, for example.
As you walk around the pond, past campus housing, or through Bardwell, keep an eye out for the spirits that have interacted with so many of Dana Hall’s faculty. Also, make sure to check out the student-directed play on February 7th and 8th, “Ghosted” inspired by the ghosts of Bardwell.