This story a part of the True Ghost Stories page on Obiwan's UFO-Free Paranormal Page. Please do not copy or distribute without permission from Obiwan and/or the original author!
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 09:18:00 -0800 (PST)
To: guestbook@ghosts.org
yourname steve
email s.redmer@usa.net
a couple of years ago i got a job at the local movie theater as an usher. it was a cool job i guess, i was in high school and all of my co-workers were too, so i made some friends and had a good time. my second day on the job, one of the managers told me about "Mr. Bumps".
it seems that this Mr. Bumps guy haunted the projection booth and 8 out of the 9 theaters. me, being the new guy figured that they were just trying to scare me and blew it off. about 2 weeks later i landed a better paying job and quit.
but....
last year i returned to work at the theater as a projectionist. i had all but forgot the stories i had heard about Mr. Bumps, and happily accepted the job.
the booth itself is actually kinda spooky, what with lights and shadows dancing every which way while the movies are running. my first night i noticed a crack in the wall in the stairwell leading up to the booth and it sort of made an outline of a man's face.
anyway i worked there without incident for about a month. i was told that "bumps" as he was known, liked to "initiate" new people, but for whatever reason, he let me be. for at least a little while.
on thursday nights, new reels are shipped to the theater and the projectionist has to stay there practically all night and build them up. i was sitting at the desk waiting for the last movie to end so i could clean the projector, when i heard the familiar "flap, flap, flap" of the tail of the movie spinning around. i jumped up and ran as fast as i could down to the projector to turn it off. there's a second stairwell leading up to the booth, and as i ran past it, i noticed someone standing at the base of the stairs. everyone had left the theater except for me, so i backed up and took another look. nothing was there.
i sort of shrugged it off and checked my watch. it was like 3:30 am. i told my friend to come over around 4, and i'd give him a sneak preview of one of the movies i had previously built up. so, i strung it up and went down into the theater to wait for him. as i sat there, it felt like there was someone standing directly behind me. i figured that it was Sam, and he had come early. but i turned around and there was no one there.
but the door that i had propped open was now closed. i figured that he was just trying to scare me, so i went looking for him.
i got to the doors to the theater and met him coming in. he had brought two young ladies to my delight, and i proceeded to give them a tour of the theater, telling them about Mr. Bumps and the stuff that had happened earlier. they told me i was crazy in so many words, so i led them up to the booth.
the whole way up i was saying to myself "please, bumps, don't fail me now." we got up there and started talking about it, but i couldn't convince them. finally i told one of the girls to run down the aisle between the projectors, hoping Mr. Bumps would be standing at the foot of the stairs again. she finally agreed and took off. she passed the stairs and turned around grinning. she began to walk back, saying that she didn't see anything and that i was full of it when she walked past the table. two movie reel cases sat on the table. those things weigh like 50 lbs apeice. just as she passed the table, the cases were dumped onto the floor. she ran back terrified, shaking and crying and everything else. i sorta just stood there, smiling.
i looked down the aisle and said "thanks buddy."
Mr. Bumps and i always got along pretty good. crazy as it sounds, i used to greet him when i'd get to work each day. if i was in a bad mood, i'd ask him not to mess with me and usually he'd comply. but he definately made a believer out of me. not to mention Sam and those poor girls who came to visit me that night.