Folklore of Enid's Performing Past:

"Spirited" Stories Surrounding the Places and People of Enid's Oldest Theatres.

A Project for Mythology & Folklore, by Brady Henderson

 Stories of the Knox Building: Not Forever, but Just Long Enough to Make a Good Practical Joke

Late one night as he was sitting at home doing nothing of any importance, Douglass Newell, director of the Enid Symphony, received a frantic phone call.  Two friends who had been practicing duet music in the Knox Building had had a terrifying experience.  They told of a frigid whirlwind from no apparent source that had blown things about, filled the room with light, and then vanished.  As Newell listened to their strange tale he decided to go over to the building and see things for himself since they were still there on the fourth floor and seemed to desire some “support.”  As he drove to the building, the joker ever present in Newell, perhaps thinking that his friends were being a little silly, decided to have a little fun.

Douglass Newell in Symphony Hall.

 Upon entering, he summoned the elevator, went in, punched the button for floor four, and stepped out as the doors closed.  Hearing the sound of the elevator coming up, Dena and Steven left the kitchen where they had been holdup and went into the lobby where the elevator opened, empty.  In their already frightened state, this scared them half to death.  As they stood pondering, the lights suddenly went out, and they were left in almost total darkness. Both stood there, hearts pumping, when without warning they were touched on the shoulder by a cold hand, and a loud “boo” rang out.  Falling to the floor, they looked up to make out the figure of Newell, almost dying of laughter.  He had come up the staircase, stepped into the breaker room, and gone through the hall to sneak up behind them.  After some cursing, crying, and cool sayings of “I knew that was you,” all three prepared to go home and leave the spirits behind.

Dena and Steve would take the elevator down, and wait for Newell, who would half to take the stairs to “lock the staircase door.” Well, Dena and Steven did go down to the downstairs entry, where they waited anxiously for Doug.   He was not however, in the stairwell, but had actually taken the outside fire escape to the parking lot for one last humorous stab.  And so as Dena and Steven stood in the eerie moonlight of the foyer, they heard a honking horn and looked out to discover a black car rolling slowly by on the sidewalk, without a driver!  As it stopped, sure enough, Newell’s head crept up above the bottom of the window as he moved back into the seat from the floor position he had occupied.  Both Dena and Steve took a long time to forgive Doug for that night, but even they recognized a good practical joke when they saw one.

That is why to this day when strange things happen at the Knox Building, people wonder whether it is the work of eternal spirits locked by pain or passion, the ghost of a murdered repairman seeking vengeance on all those who invade his realm, or just Doug pulling more crap.

--Based on an interview with Steven Conrady, of Enid, Oklahoma, about 30 years of age, conducted by Brady Henderson on 9-31-2000; and an interview with Dena Haselwander, also of Enid, about 40 years of age, conducted 9-11-2000 by Brady Henderson.