The spookiest time of the year is officially upon us. You may think of sports as an escape from the scariness — but you would be wrong.
The sports world has more than its fair share of haunts, and locations such as the Hockey Hall of Fame and the Skirvin and Pfister hotels are part of their cities’ most famed lore.
Not a believer? We get it. And sure, we don’t have cold, hard evidence. But you just might change your mind after hearing these stories from four of the most infamous spots in sports.
The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Canada
It’s not just the ghost of the Hartford Whalers that roams the Hall of Fame — although we really could get behind a “Brass Bonanza”-playing spirit. Visitors have long reported seeing a woman with long, dark hair, particularly in and around the second floor women’s restroom.
Formerly housed at Exhibition Place, an 197-acre mixed-use development to the west of downtown Toronto, the Hall of Fame moved to its current building at the Brookfield Place complex in 1993. Built originally in 1885, it formerly housed the Bank of Montreal — and that is where our sad story begins.
The spirit is believed to be a former bank employee named Dorothea. In 1953, the 19-year-old shot herself in the women’s bathroom at the bank. She died at the hospital the next day. There are many rumors and theories as to what caused Dorothea to take her life, but none has ever been confirmed. The Toronto Star discovered the presumed identity in 2009, after years of reports of a ghost named “Dorothy.”
According to Rowena Brook, the brand development manager of Haunted Walks in Toronto, bank workers began experiencing strange happenings shortly after Dorothea’s death.
“Starting in the 1950s, employees of the bank would have lights that would turn on and off,” Brook said. “Doors and windows would open and close on their own. They would hear these strange noises like footsteps when no one was around, or shrieking. Some employees would step away from their work for a moment and they would come back and find their desk in disarray.
“But the main thing they said is they would feel this distinct presence, like someone else there watching them. Just that feeling that there was someone else there. And the spot it was strongest was actually in the women’s [bathroom] on the second floor of the bank. It got to this point where the employees who were using that restroom were so uncomfortable being in there that the bank had to put a second [bathroom] in the basement because so many people were refusing to use it.”
The bank ultimately moved, but the strange occurrences remained. Employees and guests of the Hall of Fame have reported hearing similar noises and experiencing the same overwhelming sense of not being alone. Brook says an employee at the Hall shared with her a story of a young boy on a tour of the museum with his parents and other adults. At one point, he stopped in his tracks and began staring intently at a wall. Someone asked him what was wrong, and he responded by pointing and saying, “Can you see her?”
No one could see anything, or anyone. But the young boy was insistent he was seeing a woman with long, dark hair walk in and out of the wall. He couldn’t believe that no one else could see her.
Stories like this have made it one of the most well-known haunted spots in the city, and Haunted Walks begins one of its most popular tours outside of the building, with the permission of the Hall of Fame.
The Hall, which did not respond to our request for comment for this story, doesn’t necessarily promote its haunted history, but it did allow Haunted Walks to host a special Halloween event on the second floor in 2013. Brook remembers it well.
“Our special Halloween tour ended on the second floor, in a room not far from the restroom,” she said. “During the final part, one man left the group to go use the facilities. When he came back, he went to one of the guides, and he told them that he heard what sounded like a terrified woman screaming in the restroom next door.
“He was visibly shaken, and wanted to know if we had heard it and what was going on. I was standing right there with everyone else, and none of us heard a thing. We were so close to where he was, we would have heard something like that if it were a woman crying out like that. It really creeped all of us out to discover that he had heard that when no one else had. There have just been so many different encounters with her that I certainly believe that something is going on in that building.”
Frontier Field in Rochester, New York
In the mid-1990s, the Rochester Red Wings were one of the winningest minor league baseball teams in history. The Triple-A squad, then an affiliate with the Baltimore Orioles (and now part of the Minnesota Twins organization), had won 18 titles in its nearly 100 years of existence, and had won the division title most recently in 1993 and 1995. With a dedicated fan base, the county decided it was time for a new stadium for the beloved franchise.
Construction got underway for a new facility in downtown Rochester in 1996, and workers reported discovering bones on the grounds, underneath where the stadium eventually went. It remains uncertain if they were human remains or that of an animal, or if they even were there at all, but the rumors persist to this day, and are an oft-cited explanation for anything strange that happens at the ballpark.
And there are a lot of strange things that happen at the ballpark.
The team moved to Frontier Field for the start of the 1997 season, and members of the grounds crew and custodial staff reported inexplicable happenings almost immediately, including televisions randomly turning on in rooms where no one had been for days, or lights turning on and off.
The team invited a pair of paranormal investigators to the stadium in 2004. After spending an evening looking around, they officially declared Frontier Field haunted. The team and the stadium capitalized on the distinction, and for several years hosted a “Fear at Frontier” event around Halloween.
Nate Rowan, the Red Wings’ director of communications, has never personally experienced anything he can’t find an explanation for, but does understand why others might feel uncomfortable at the stadium in the late hours of the night.
“I think there’s something inherently creepy about the end of the night at a sporting venue that’s supposed to have thousands of people in it cheering, having fun, drinking beer, and just having a good time, and at the end of the night, all the lights turn off, and you’re one of the lone bodies in a huge facility like that,” he said. “When there is an unexpected noise, it’s jarring because there isn’t supposed to be anyone there.”
And, after all, since the Red Wings had experienced such success prior to moving to the new facility, he thinks it’s only natural that fans would look for something otherworldly to blame for their recent struggles.
“The community is used to the team winning,” Rowan said, “so there are people who are like, ‘Man, we must be haunted, because we haven’t won since ’97.’ We’ve only made the playoffs twice since then, so obviously they think there has to be a reason like that for it.
“Our players don’t seem too concerned about ghosts at Frontier, but I have heard a lot of players say they won’t or don’t like to stay at certain hotels. There’s a hotel in Milwaukee, where most of the Brewers’ opposing teams used to stay, and there are a number of players who flat out refuse to stay there.”
Which brings us to …
Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Rowan is not exaggerating when he says there are several players who don’t want to stay at the Pfister Hotel when taking on the Brewers in Milwaukee. There are countless stories from players around the MLB about their strange encounters while guests at the swanky establishment.
In hopes of creating the grandest hotel in the city, Guido Pfister began work on the hotel in the late 19th century. He died a month before its opening, but his son, Charles, was determined to carry out his father’s vision. It opened in 1893, and was immediately successful. It has hosted every sitting U.S. president during its esteemed history. Charles Pfister, who never married or had children of his own, worked tirelessly for the rest of his days to ensure his father’s legacy carried on at the property. Charles even lived in one of the suites for many years and was the operations manager.
And some say he never left the hotel after his death in 1927. Guests have described seeing an older, portly, well-dressed, smiling spirit who resembles Pfister’s portrait still hanging in the hotel. He has been spotted looking over the lobby, as well as various other parts of the hotel, and has become something of an adored figure in the city, complete with his own parody Twitter account.
“I think when you know a little bit about Charles, it’s not a surprise that he’s the most-seen apparition,” said Anna Lardinois, local historian, writer and founder of Gothic Milwaukee. “All of the ghost stories we hear are really just about him still trying to delight people. When people report that they see him, it’s usually in conjunction with something in the atmosphere of the room changing, like lights brighten or dim, curtains open or close. And it really seems that he is still trying to just make the hotel experience as wonderful as it could be.”
Professional baseball players seem to have had the most experiences with Pfister’s ghost over the years. Lardinois believes this is simply Pfister trying to help out his hometown Brewers, and give them the ultimate home field advantage. She also wouldn’t be shocked if some of the incidents were actually players playing pranks on their teammates, but does think these opposing players bring out Pfister’s mischievous side.
“It is my understanding that it was very common to harass traveling teams during Charles Pfister’s lifetime,” Lardinois said. “Being at home meant not just knowing the field and the conditions, but you got to have spit-free food and you rested comfortably. Fans used to go to the hotels where the traveling teams were staying, and pound down their windows all night.
“It’s pretty well known that if you’re a Milwaukee Brewer and you stay at the Pfister, you’re going to sleep like a little tiny angel. But if you’re playing against the Brewers, it’s reportedly supposed to be a very rough night. And I find that to be evidence of Charles Pfister’s charm as a Milwaukeean.”
Players like Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Upton have publicly discussed having their clothes thrown around the room, furniture being moved or the radio randomly turning on. Stanton compared it to the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World in its creepiness. In 2013, Michael Young, then a member of the Texas Rangers, recalled an experience he had at the hotel in a story for ESPN the Magazine.
“Oh, f— that place,” he said. “Listen, I’m not someone who spreads ghost stories, so if I’m telling you this, it happened. A couple of years ago, I was lying in bed after a night game, and I was out. My room was locked, but I heard these footsteps inside my room, stomping around.
“I’d heard all these stories about this hotel, so I was wide awake at that point. And then I heard it again, these footsteps on the floor, so I yelled out, ‘Hey! Make yourself at home. Hang out, have a seat, but do not wake me up, OK?’ After that, I didn’t hear a thing for the rest of the night. I just let him know he was welcome, that we could be pals, that he could marinate in there for as long as he needed to, just as long as he didn’t wake me up.”
Skirvin Hotel in Oklahoma City
Baseball players have the Pfister, and basketball players have the Skirvin. Perhaps the most famous haunted hotel across sports, this Oklahoma City landmark has more than its fair share of believers.
Just ask Tim Hardaway Jr. or Eddy Curry or Metta World Peace and his then-Los Angeles Lakers teammates or just about anyone who has played on a team facing the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Some players even refuse to stay there, and book and pay for their own lodging when in town. Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving is so convinced of supernatural activity, he’s currently producing a movie about it — and many players have blamed it for their lackluster performances at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Jeff Provine is the author of several books about Oklahoma City and the state’s haunted history, as well as the founder of OKC Ghost Tour. Despite his résumé, he calls himself skeptical by nature, but acknowledges there have just been too many strange happenings at the hotel to simply be a coincidence.
“I border on cynicism naturally, but I’ve talked to so many people over the years who have no reason to lie,” he said. “They all have very specific details as to what they’ve seen. Something is definitely going on there.”
After the oil bust of the 1980s, the Skirvin closed in 1988 after decades of prominence. Once the epitome of wealth and status in Oklahoma, it sat empty for 19 years before reopening after a large renovation project in 2007. Ghost stories began emerging during its closure, as it sat there, a massive abandoned building in the heart of the state’s capital city, ripe for trespassing and rumors.
Many refer to the ghost of a woman named Effie as the primary spirit to walk the halls. As legend goes, the hotel’s founder and owner W.B. Skirvin had an affair with a maid named Effie, who became pregnant with his child. In hopes of avoiding public disgrace, he locked her in a room on the 10th floor throughout her pregnancy so she wouldn’t be seen. After giving birth, she was so despondent by her situation that she jumped out the window, with her baby in her arms, and plunged to her death. Guests have reported seeing a female ghost with long, dark hair, as well as hearing a baby’s cries at all hours of the night.
But there isn’t evidence such a woman ever existed, and, as Provine is quick to point out, Skirvin’s wife died three years before the hotel opened its doors in 1911 so a relationship with another woman wouldn’t have been much of a scandal. In fact, Skirvin reportedly had a reputation for being known as a womanizer and a heavy drinker, and there were said to be salacious activities happening on the hotel’s then-top floor.
“I think it goes back to the days of Prohibition, which started in Oklahoma in 1907 when we got our statehood,” he said. “The Skirvin was the luxury hotel of Oklahoma City, and had all these rich and famous folks coming in, and of course they wanted to keep them entertained. The story was that if you wanted to get a drink in downtown Oklahoma City, you could go to the top floor of the Skirvin Hotel.
“They had all these parties up there, and it wasn’t exactly a secret. From time to time, the police had to go raid it, and when they did, they’d have to run past the front desk, and up the 10 flights of stairs. The front desk would call up everybody on the 10th floor and let them know the police were on the way. And if there was anything they wouldn’t want them to find, [they would] just toss it out the window. They would send people out to pick up young ladies from around Oklahoma City to come party with these guys, so I believe these legends stem from this type of activity at the hotel.”
Some visitors have reported seeing spirits that look like Skirvin, or his daughter, Perle Mesta, who became the American ambassador to Luxembourg under President Harry Truman in 1949. Other visitors don’t see anyone specifically, but feel like they are not alone.
“There was one guy who said he saw the foot of his mattress in his room depressed, as if someone was sitting on it,” said Provine, who includes a stop outside the Skirvin on his walking tour. “But there was no one there. And then, it started moving up the bed, like it wanted to sit right next to him or cuddle with him. He went and stayed somewhere else.
“And there was someone else who woke up in the middle of the night because he heard the bathroom door slam shut. He was spooked but he decided to check out the bathroom, and in it, he finds the light on and the bathtub filled with water, just to the point of spilling over. There have been so many stories like this that just have no rational explanation.”