Chapter 13
Victor Hall was constructed in 1936 as the male-only dormitory just one year before Colter Hall was finished. The overall design was more practical than elegant compared to other Mary Colter buildings, although it was still built to Colter’s strict design standards, with native rock, brown wood siding, and green window trim, it tends to blend in with the natural woodland surroundings. Being adjacent to the canyon’s train tracks, this dorm isn’t situated in the best location if you were looking for privacy and silent nights. The location was also chosen so that paying overnight guests wouldn’t be bothered by the off-duty park male employees. Another reason for the location was to keep the single males away from the single females while off the clock.
This old historic building has since been infamously nicknamed by village locals as “Victim Hall.” It has been the gruesome site of many drunken brawls, physical and sexual assaults, thefts, vandalisms, and even murders. Wild parties are constantly broken up by park rangers and occasionally trouble makers are arrested and even banned from re-entering the park. Yes, the Grand Canyon Village comes equipped with a jail, court house, and a strict judge. With all of the negative energy associated with this dorm, there is understandably quite a few alarming stories that have been known to keep some residents awake at night.
Quite a few of the male residents have encountered a malevolent spirit that has been known to enter their rooms at night and strangle them as they sleep, while pinning them to their beds. Many unsuspecting men have also been violently pushed around by an unseen force as they are strolling around through the aging halls and corridors. New employees have never heard about any of the paranormal activity that occurs within this building walls, so the newbies have no idea what they are walking into. Just looking at this building from the outside should give even the bravest guy the shivers.
You’re Never Alone
New park employee Daniel was hired as a seasonal employee for the summer season of 2014. Daniel was nineteen years old at the time of his hire and was from Thailand. In his homeland, Daniel told me that his family’s personal belief about the supernatural is that spirits are evil and are only on earth to cause harm to the living. He had considered himself lucky that during his lifetime, he had never come face to face with a ghost. One night after work, Daniel stopped by his dorm room to grab his personal hygiene items and a towel so he could take a shower, which was located down the hallway. The washroom door is normally propped open. After he finished his shower, Daniel walked towards the bathroom’s large mirror so he could shave and brush his teeth. As he was putting toothpaste onto his toothbrush, he swore that out of his peripheral vision he could see someone standing in the hallway watching him. He quickly turned his head to see who it was, but no one was there. Thinking he must have imagined it, Daniel shrugged it off and continued brushing his teeth. When he finished up inside the bathroom and gathered his belongings, he started to head towards the door leading into the hallway when he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw an extremely tall, black, featureless figure hovering in the hallway watching him. To his horror, this phantom began to glide towards him. Unable to breath or move, Daniel closed his eyes and prayed for it to go away. After what felt like an eternity, he slowly opened his eyes and the entity was gone. Daniel was traumatized about what he saw and could hardly wait for his time to end at the canyon so he could return home.
On the first floor there is a malicious entity that likes to torment men while they sleep. Well into the darkness of the night, after most of the residents inside Victor Hall have decided to get some shuteye, an angry male spirit has been known to stand at the end of unsuspecting victims’ beds and violently shake their mattress or rip their blankets off of them. Witnesses who have actually claimed to have seen this malevolent entity have stated that its face is pure evil and they could feel that it wanted to cause them harm, and when it fades away it leaves a horrid scent that is reminiscent of rotten eggs. Another terrifying experience residents of Victor Hall have claimed to have had is that while they are sleeping, something powerful will physically restrain them on their beds. Other men have stated that as they were struggling to break free from the entities grasp, it seemed to anger the wraith even more and it would forcefully throw them off of their bed onto the floor. One man that was living in a room by himself said that he ended up receiving a bloody lip from his encounter with this spirit.
When Things Go Bump in the Night
When autumn arrives at the Grand Canyon, most of the seasonal employees have returned from where they came and the park operates with a bare minimum of staff members to get by for the winter season. Year-round employees love this time of year because they normally don’t have to share their dorm rooms with anyone else and most of the loud partying has come to an end. Gene had been employed at the park for years and was ecstatic about finally having a room all to himself. Like most longtime residents of the Grand Canyon’s Village, Gene had heard more than once about all the ghost stories circulating around about Victor Hall, however he had lived in this building for many years and not once did he ever experience anything out of the ordinary—nor did he know of anyone personally who claimed to have seen a ghost. In January of 2014, Gene’s work schedule for the next day was going to start earlier than normal so not having a roommate to keep him awake, he decided to go to bed early.
Gene had been asleep for about three hours when a thundering boom came from the direction of his closet and abruptly awoke him from a deathlike sleep. As he sat up, he looked at the time on his clock and it read 2:48 a.m. He figured the guy living in the room next to his must have dropped something, so he laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. A few minutes later another loud thud once again came from his closet. Gene angrily jumped out of bed, opened the closet door, and began pounded on the wall leading to his neighbor’s room, hollering for him to stop making noise. When he thought the guy next door got the message, he stumbled back into bed, rolled over, and faced the wall. As he began to doze off, Gene heard someone walking around in his room.
At first he was too frightened to move, but when he heard the footsteps stop right next to his bed, Gene knew he had to protect himself in any way possible. But as he began to turn to confront the intruder, he realized he couldn’t move a muscle and was somehow being physically restrained to his bed by something powerful. Gene finally managed to turn his head to see who was restraining him and couldn’t believe his eyes. There was no one that he could physically see in his room, let alone next to his bed. As if to punish Gene for turning his head, whatever was pinning him down began to physically punch Gene, which was accompanied with a terrifying non-human growl. His ghostly assailant finally stopped after Gene felt a blow to his mouth that made him taste blood. Just as quickly as it started, it was over. Gene fought to untangle himself from his blankets, and when he finally broke free he flipped the light on as quickly as possible. He searched every inch of the room, looking for anything that might give him a clue as to what had just happened to him. He could still taste blood so he walked over to a mirror where he saw that his lip was split from where he was punched. Gene realized that no living person had come into his room. He now believes the stories that “Victim Hall” is haunted by an evil entity.