The Scott Theatre
- Pre-Investigation
- Investigation
Pre-Investigation
The Scott Theatre is located in Ft. Worth’s Cultural District. It was built in 1966 and through the years has been host to a multitude of dance events, theatre productions, and famous people. The Scott Theatre is home to the acclaimed children’s theatre company “Kids Who Care”. Several members of our group have had long associations with this performing company and their talented founder, Deborah Jung. We were able to speak to several people affiliated with “Kids Who Care” and many Scott Theatre employees. For more information on Kids Who Care you can visit their website at www.kidswhocare.org.
Several websites list the Scott Theatre as one of the most haunted places in Ft. Worth. The source of the Scott’s alleged haunting has been attributed to the ghost of Kenneth Yandell or Kenneth Yandle, a young man who was said to have committed suicide in the basement of the theatre. According to local folklore, the dates of this event vary from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s. Some sites say that a janitor haunts the theatre.
The Scott Theatre is a large building with numerous general use rooms and offices on the second floor and two theatres on the first floor. At the stage level are dressing rooms and the green room, used as a lounge. In the basement are storage rooms, a costume shop, and an area called “the dungeon” directly below the stage. There are winding staircases that allow approaches to the stage from either side of the basement and the second floor. These are dark winding corridors and stairwells that connect all the spaces.
We had an opportunity to talk to several people who work on a regular basis at the Scott Theatre. Everyone had heard the story of Kenny and his suicide and believed that the unusual experiences could all be credited to him. We spoke to a lighting director who had witnessed a person walk across the stage late at night when no one else was in the building. Several people told of hearing footsteps on stage or in the stairwells just off the stage and finding no one there when they looked.
One female employee stated that she had found water running in the sink in the janitor’s closet in the upstairs office area. She was surprised, since she had seldom seen this door unlocked. She turned the water off and then stood in shock as the knob slowly turned and the water came back on. She immediately ran and found another employee and returned to the sink. She again turned the water off and this time they both observed the faucet knob turn and the water come back on. A third employee showed up but the faucet did not come back on.
We talked to a male employee who spends a lot of time in “the dungeon”. He stated that on several occasions he had felt very uncomfortable there. On one occasion he felt so uncomfortable that he had an overwhelming desire to leave. He fought it as long as he could, but finally he left. When he eventually came back he spoke to “Kenny” and explained that he had to be there for his job and would “Kenny” please not scare him any more. The worker says he still hears noises but that he has never again had this terribly uncomfortable feeling.
We collected reports of females having uncomfortable feelings while in the costume shop. We also had reports of objects falling off shelves by themselves. There was one report from young ladies working in the costume shop. They left and returned a few minutes later to find wet footprints leading in and out of the lighting closet next door. No one had been in there during their short absence.
We wanted to know if the stories about Kenny were true, so our crack researchers, Rebecca and Taylor went to work. After spending several hours in the Ft. Worth library, they located this article:
January 7, 1970 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Stage Hand, 24, found hanged in the Prop Room
Kenneth Walker Yandle of 2824 Sandage was found hanged in a prop room of the Scott Theatre early Tuesday.
The 24-year-old stagehand was found by a roommate (Stephen Zirblis) about 12:30am in the theater basement.
Medical investigator Dail McMillan said the man was hanging by the neck from a rope stretched across two ceiling beams.
The death was caused by asphyxiation due to hanging said Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Feliks Gwozdz. He ruled the death suicide pending further investigation.
Yandle had worked for the Fort Worth Community Theatre for three years, two as a volunteer. He became a salaried employee last August said Bill Garber, managing director of the theater.
Yandle, who had come to Fort Worth after four years in the Navy, was a student at Tarrant County Junior College.
So now we know that Kenny was a real person and that the story of his suicide was true. Armed with this information and the personal experiences of the people who worked there we were ready to begin our investigation of the Scott Theatre.
Investigation
The Stockyards Paranormal Investigation team conducted our investigation of the Scott Theatre on the evening of July 22, 2006. For details of the paranormal activity of the Scott, the history of the building, and a description of the layout of the building please read the PRE-INVESTIGATION portion of this report. Due to the large size of the building we decided to divide into two teams.
Several members of our team have spent time in the Scott Theatre and are familiar with it. We were also assisted by Blake, Pat, and Caitlin who are associated with Kids Who Care and have spent a considerable amount of time working in the building. The first group consisted of Rebecca, Terri, Lenka, Cory, and Blake. This group started in the “dungeon” area. This is the portion of the Theatre where Kenny Yandle committed suicide. Kenny is believed to be the spirit that haunts the Scott Theatre. The dungeon is reported to be one of the most active areas of the Scott for paranormal activity. Rebecca set up a video recorder in this area.
While in the dungeon area, Lenka was working with a set of dowsing rods. These rods crossed in this area and then remain crossed, seeming not to want to be separated.
They then proceeded to the storage areas adjacent to the dungeon. They then hit the costume shop and the other storage areas in the basement. In the dungeon, Rebecca got some interesting orb photos. Terri also got several good orb photos in this area. Cory said that at one point he felt touched, something like a spider web on the back of his neck.
The second group consisted of Dawn, Paula, Kevin, Caitlin, and Pat. Paula is a medium. At her request we withheld most of what we had learned of the building’s history and paranormal activity from her. So going into the investigation she knew nothing of how old the building was or anything about Kenny or his activities.
The second group started in the upstairs office area, where the incident of the water being turned on in the janitor’s closet had occurred. The group stayed in this area for about 20 minutes. No unusual activity was found in the photos or with the EMF meter. However, Dawn caught an EVP in this area heard to say “help us”. She picked up several other whispers in this area that could not be fully understood. There was also a strange noise that sounded like the squeak of a faucet turning. However we could not rule out that it was a noise that we created here.
The second group then moved to the dressing rooms. While there were no orb photos in this area, Paula did get a distorted image in one photograph taken of a door in this area. Also Kevin picked up an EVP in this area which seems to say “Let me out of here”. There were some unusual EMF readings just outside the janitor’s closet in this area. However there was a vent blowing in this area which could have influenced the reading.
Dawn picked up several strange noises on her audiotape in the dressing rooms. There are several instances of a strange popping or clicking noise in this area that we don’t recall happening while there. Additionally in the dressing rooms several people noted the smell of rainwater or a musty smell. There was no ready explanation for this.
The second group then went to the Green Room. While in the Green Room Paula told us that while we had been in the theatre she saw a production of “My Fair Lady” taking place on stage. She felt as though this production was taking place in the time period of the late 1960s or early 1970s. While in the Green Room we picked up two EVPs, oddly enough saying basically the same thing. The first one says “It’s cold again”. The second EVP is more difficult to make out, but seems to say “It’s cold again”. The first one seems to be a woman’s voice while the second one is more of a whisper. Dawn picked up an EVP in this room that while faint can be heard to say “come back”. Paula took several orb photos in this room.
The second group went from the Green Room to the work shop area. Paula got one good orb photo in this area. They then went into the theatre to meet up with the first group. While sitting in the theatre an EVP was captured that seems to say “Caitlin” in a long drawn out voice. Caitlin has spent a lot of time in the theatre and would be well known to Kenny or any spirits that inhabit the location.
The two groups met up in the theatre and discussed what had occurred so far and took a bit of a break.
The first group then went to work the areas previously worked by the second group and the second group worked the areas previously done by the first.
The second group started in the dungeon. While in this room, Caitlin got a couple of orb photos. We then focused on the areas adjacent to the dungeon. In the costume shop there are several EVP whispers which are so faint they cannot be understood. Also in the costume shop Kevin recorded an unusually high EMF reading. At about waist level in the middle of the room the EMF meter was reading 1.5 to 2.0. As the EMF meter was lowered to the floor it continued to rise until it was reading 10.8 at the floor.
The group checked the floor in areas close by and this high reading was not repeated. We speculated that there could be some pipes running under the floor in this particular spot, but we’re still not sure why this high reading occurred. This high reading was found in no areas other than the costume shop.
We then made our way to the stairwell leading from the dungeon to the area to the left of the stage. In this area we picked up what sounded like a woman’s voice on an EVP, however this voice is unintelligible. About a minute later we picked up another whisper but again we are unable to identify what is being said. We then proceeded to the stage area. Several of our investigators got good orb photos in the theatre and near the stage.
Both groups then met in the theatre to discuss the evening’s investigations. Paula began by giving us her thoughts and impressions of the theatre. Paula stated that upon her first entry into the theatre she got the impression of the play “My Fair Lady”. This play then changed into a production of “Paint Your Wagon”. She believed that the time period she was being shown was sometime in the late 1960s or early 1970s. She felt as though some spirit was trying to show this to her. She also had the unexpected sensation of the spirits of several young children. She stated that she sensed a lot of activity in the dungeon area. Paula further said that she had picked up the presence of a male she believed to be a janitor. (Kenny being a stagehand could easily be misinterpreted as a janitor, as a stagehand does any number of jobs including cleaning up)
Neither group reported any unexplained activity such as noises, apparitions, etc. Both groups felt as though there was a definite feel to the theatre. This feeling seemed to be especially strong in the dungeon area, the dressing rooms, and green room. Dawn said later that in this area she had a creepy feeling that she had not experienced on previous investigations. These are the same areas where most of the EVPs and orbs occurred. Large portions of the upstairs areas are painted white making identification of orbs more difficult. The tapes we made during this investigation have a number of unexplained noises. There was popping, bangs, squeaking etc. We don’t recall these noises during the investigations but cannot say for sure they weren’t manmade.
In conclusion we felt that the Scott Theatre was a wonderful, magical place. We plan on trying to conduct another investigation in the future. We were fortunate to be able to have access to the theatre as the Scott is not normally made available for this type of activity. If we are able to work there again we would like to focus on those areas where most of our activity was found. We would also like to work in smaller groups. Most previous activity has been reported to have occurred to groups of two or three individuals.
We would like to thank the Scott Theatre and Kids Who Care for helping us conduct this investigation. We would also like to encourage anyone reading this to attend an event at the Scott and see what a great place it is.
Pictures
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Picture Nine
Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVPs)
"Help us"
Mysterious whispers
What Kevin believes to be "Caitlin"
"It's cold in here"
"It's cold"
"Get me outta here"
