Haunted hall is the perfect place for a Zombie Prom

Calvin Center in Youngstown is haunted. Real haunted.

It’s so haunted that Resident Undead, a paranormal research group from Pittsburgh, heard about it and sent a film crew to investigate. RU visited the building on Mahoning Avenue over the summer, and its researchers found it teeming with angry spirits. They documented their findings in a short film that can be found on ruparanormal.com and YouTube.com.

Legend has it that the ghosts of children who were mistreated in the former school built in 1902 still roam the halls and congregate in the basement.

One researcher was so spooked by the aggressive ghosts that she refused to return, according to the film.

By contrast, the arts groups that reside in Calvin Center aren’t scared. Their attitude seems to be: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

As proof, the Calvin Center for the Arts — the building’s full name — will host the first Youngstown Zombie Prom, a community Halloween Party, with food, beer, music, local artists and live performances. It will be from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Oct. 28

Calvin Center is an arts incubator that houses, among other groups, Robert Dennick Joki’s Rust Belt Theater Company. Joki says the building’s reputation as one of the most haunted spots in the area is justified. He had his own hair-raising experience there.

“Earlier this summer, I saw the shadow of a woman drift slowly across the room in the chapel,” said Joki. “I was the only one in the building, and it scared the hell out of me. I was convinced someone broke in ... and I spent the next hour walking around the building with a hammer.”

Zombie prom-goers are encouraged to come in costume, and a $100 cash prize will be awarded for the best one. A zombie prom king and queen also will be crowned.

Professional makeup artists will be at Zombie Prom to transform guests into the walking dead. The evening also will feature tarot-card readings, a musical performance from the Rust Belt Theater Company’s “Rocky Horror Show” cast at midnight and a few other Halloween surprises.

Admission is $5, and proceeds will benefit the Calvin Center for the Arts, which is at 755 Mahoning Ave., a few blocks west of downtown.

WRITER-DIRECTOR DEMPSEY PENS SCIENCE-FICTION NOVEL

Actor-director-screenwriter Michael Dempsey now has another title: author.

Dempsey, whose most-recent local stage effort was directing a brilliant production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at Salem Community Theater, has written a science-fiction novel titled “Necropolis.” It’s his first book.

The official book-launch party will be at 6 p.m Nov. 12 at Art Outreach Gallery in Eastwood Mall in Niles.

It will include a free film-noir photo portrait for each guest and something called sci-fi sodas.

“Necropolis” is a noirish crime thriller set in a future New York City in an era in which death is an obstacle that can be surmounted. In the story, a detective attempts to solve his own murder.

To order the book, go to necropolisthenovel.com, Amazon.com and other booksellers.

Dempsey wrote for network television in the ’90s, most notably CBS’s “Cybill,” starring Cybill Shepherd. He has sold and optioned screenplays and television scripts to production companies, and his plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles and other cities. He is a past recipient of an Ohio Arts Council fellowship for play writing. He returned home to the Mahoning Valley a few years ago.