The Art of Haunting

Fun with “Otis”

With the Sammons Center temporarily closed due to the pandemic, recent activity at the 111-year-old building has been limited to the renovation project.

Still, before closing in mid-March, dance, theater, music, and other arts-related activities were not the only happenings at the Sammons Center. Unexplained events have occurred at the landmark building since at least 1988 — strange voices, odd noises, doors opening mysteriously when a young woman walks by, and even the elevator attempting to take unsuspecting guests to the non-existent fifth floor. Author and paranormal researcher Mitchel Whitington, who will appear in a live virtual event at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 29, documented the Sammons Center’s peculiar events in his book, Ghosts of North Texas.

Some speculate these baffling, yet harmless, events are the work of a ghost. People who have reported seeing an apparition, now nicknamed “Otis,” describe it as a young man wearing overalls, a jacket, and a workman’s cap. Could it be the spirit of a worker reported to have died in a machinery accident in the 1920s? The renovation team has not reported any sightings of an unfamiliar employee or of sensing a presence, so perhaps “Otis” feels at home with the crew.

No need to worry when the Sammons Center officially re-opens, though, because our ghost also loves the arts!