Theatrical ghosts linger among the living because of unfinished business.
Max Baco
Kicker News
The LSPU Hall is one of the most well-known places in St. John’s. It’s also said to be one of the most haunted places in Newfoundland.
It was built in 1789. It started as a church and, over the years, was destroyed by fire and rebuilt three times. The LSPU (Longshoremen’s Protective Union) bought the building in 1912. In 1976, the union sold the building to the Resource Centre for the Arts.
It has since transformed it into what is now an iconic performance venue in St. John’s.
Even though the Resource Centre owns the building, they kept the name LSPU Hall to reflect its heritage.
The building’s long history may play a role in the ghost stories and urban legends that now circulate through Newfoundland’s folklore.
Dale Jarvis, a professor in the department of folklore at Memorial University, said history and legend often intertwine over time.
“There are certain historical things that are verifiable,” Jarvis said.
“Stories get attached to these events that eventually become legendary.”
For those who work inside the LSPU Hall, those stories aren’t just legends – they’re lived experiences.
Suzanne Mullet is the centre’s general manager.
She said sometimes, when the building is empty and she’s alone, she hears the faint clacking of keyboard keys.
“I think it’s the building making sounds,” Mullet said.
Still, the noise always seems to start when she’s alone. When no one else is around.
“I don’t have anything to verify what it is,” she said. “But it sticks with me.”
Ren Follett, the box office manager, recalled an experience in her first year of working at the LSPU.
One night, after the workday had ended, Follett stepped out to lock the office door behind her.
“I think you saw Fred.”
“I always turn around to look at the door and look at the light to see if it’s locked,” said Follet, referencing the light on the access panel.
But that wasn’t the only thing that caught her eye.
“When I turned around, I saw someone sitting at the box office desk.”
A light from outside the office shone just enough to see the desk through the glass door.
The pool of light surrounded the desk and the rest of the room was swallowed in darkness.
There, illuminated by that single spill of light, was what Follett described as a young man in his early twenties — skinny, long-haired and wearing what she said was a neutral expression.
He seemed to be quietly scrolling through something on the computer.
“Maybe it was just a trick of the light,” Follett said. “But I feel like I saw him very clearly.”
When Follett later told a coworker what she had seen, the response was simple. “I think you saw Fred,” the coworker told her.
Fred Gambert was a young local musician who worked at the LSPU Hall. In 1995, he drowned in the waters off Flatrock.
He was only 23.
Fred is just part of the Hall, says Mullet.
“It’s always been said that Fred’s spirit lives here,” said Mullet.
“They have unfinished business or there’s something left undone that they need to complete.”
According to Mullet, staff believe the ghostly figure, who is sometimes seen sitting among the audience during performances, is Fred.
She recalled one incident she won’t forget.
When the TV show The Other Side filmed an episode in the building, one of the producers went up to the theatre alone while Mullet and the crew waited downstairs by the dressing rooms.
“He went upstairs and just sat in the space and took notes and stuff,” Mullet said. “He said that when he was up there, he saw a guy hunched over, writing out stuff in a notebook.”
The producer wrote down what the figure had been jotting, and the details in those notes were strangely specific.
“The references of the notes were very linked to (Fred’s) life,” Mullet said. “He mentioned mac and cheese, and Duckworth Lunch, (a place) where we used to hang out all the time.”
When Mullet later showed the notes to her boyfriend who had once known Fred, he immediately recognized them.
“He was like, ‘I think that’s one of Fred’s songs,’” Mullet said.
“I don’t think he wanted to die,” said Mullet about Fred’s early departure from this world.
Fred can be seen on a mural just below the hall on Duckworth. He’s wearing a Who shirt.
Jarvis said spirits linger among the living because “they have unfinished business or there’s something left undone that they need to complete.”
Several stories have been told by people who’ve seen and experienced unusual things in the building.
Another story Mullet shared is of a dance company that once performed in the theatre.
As the dance troupe was getting ready for a performance, they saw a ballerina backstage also getting ready. But, the group wasn’t doing a ballet performance that evening.
The hall is also said to be home to a priest. The holy man wants people to leave the former church because they are trespassing on holy grounds.
Staff have also shared stories of strange activities in the dressing rooms — doors that open and close on their own, things found moved from where they were left and loud sudden bangs that seem to come from nowhere.
Jarvis says even if steps were taken to clear the building of these spirits, the stories wouldn’t stop.
“Stories are separate from the spirits (themselves),” Jarvis said. “I think the stories would continue to live no matter what happens.”
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