Spirits In The Night

This time of year always reminds me of the chats I've had with First Ave. staffers about the First Avenue ghost. Here's a few testimonials.

Molly McManus, bar manager, who first saw the ghost in the fifth stall of the women's room on a Tuesday night in 1991, around 2 a.m. as she was making the rounds after bar close: "I opened the door to that stall, and saw a woman hanging up there. She was wearing a green army jacket, and had long hair. It wasn't anything gory or anything, she was just hanging there with her neck to one side. What I thought was that it was a real tragic incident. I thought someone had hung themself. I thought, 'Oh, God, what am I gonna do here?' It was more that than anything. I was just freaking out. And then I looked back, and there was nothing there.

"I didn't run, but I was really shaking. I finished up as soon as I could, and got out. I didn't tell a lot of people about it right away, because it was so weird. But after that, I would never, ever be in the building alone. Daytime, nighttime, never.''

Valerie Cenedella, bar manager: "That is definitely a hot spot. Every night, the women's bathroom was just this huge challenge for me. You would walk through there, and with all the mirrors, you'd see things. Things would catch your eye, and if you ever were brave enough to stop and look, there would be nothing there.

"I'm not always susceptible to that kind of stuff, but there was something definitely there. It was physically tangible; you could just feel it. It was like, 'Okay, I'll be gone soon, just don't hurt me.'''

Matt Gerhard, longtime staffer: "There are millions of stories,'' like the time in 1983, when Gerhard and another employee were guarding the film equipment overnight for the production of "Purple Rain,'' and all the lights in the place went berserk for 30 minutes.

Oscar Arredondo, longtime staffer: "One night after close, this single balloon made it's way around the club, up from the dance floor and past the women's bathroom, and settled next to me at my table with this circular gust of icy air. It was like someone was leading it by a string. Normally, I was skeptical about most of the stories that other employees told me. But the weird thing about this was the cold air, because it was a warm summer night.''

Conrad Sverkerson, longtime stage manager: "I've been there some pretty odd hours, and I've never seen anything. But that doesn't mean anything. There have been some pretty credible people who have worked here over the years who have seen some pretty strange things. You wonder what's going on.''

Rod Smith, longtime deejay: "I've seen a couple of the manifestation things, and I've never seen it manifest as anything other than a woman.''

John Casey, bartender/musician, on the ghost of his friend Mark Sandman, leader of the Boston-based trio Morphine, who died of a heart attack onstage in Italy on July 4, 1999, but came back for an apparent encore on Aug. 27, the night after Morphine was to have performed at First Avenue:

"We (the John Casey Band) were finishing up our set in the Entry that night, around one o'clock, and I dedicated Blind Lemon Jefferson's 'See That My Grave Is Kept Clean' to Mark. Half way through the song, I saw something dripping from the microphone. At first, I just thought is was my sweat.

"It was just one of those nights where the words, and the music and the pacing were just seamless. All night long. Oh, it was a good night. It was one of those reasons why you do it. It was at another level, almost. I don't know what the deal was.

"Just as I saw the dripping coming off, (guitarist) Eric (Christopher) yelled over at me, 'John, are you bleeding?'

"I was like, 'What the hell are you talking about?' And Eric kind of gestures to the pool of blood - I hate to call it blood, I don't know what it was - but it was forming in front of the mic stand, and it was becoming about the size of my head. It had a pretty wide circumference. It was bizarro.

"I didn't get creeped out until I put two and two together and thought, 'Holy s—, it's Mark.' It was powerful. I felt it. It's hard to explain that feeling that I had, but at that moment, I thought I was going to start flopping around that stage like a crappie.

"I touched it at the end of the night. It was warm and red. We watched it coagulate on the mic and in front of the mic stand as we were tearing down. A lot of folks saw it. We were all freakin' on this. Right after the gig, we had floor guys with mag lights coming in, inspecting the walls and floor, trying to get to the bottom of it.

"It might have been something else. You know, something left over from a GWAR or Impaler show. But it just seems like too much of a coincidence. It was symbolic, if nothing else. I don't know. It was really creepy.

"I don't know who it was, or what it was, but I do know that there was some very mysterious mojo in the house that night ... First Avenue once had a seance, and the psychic reported that there are over 40 spirits living inside the club. Sometimes, when I look at the Entry stage, I think God, maybe Mark is still with us.''