The Pioneer Hall in Port Chalmers, a small, 1939-built, well-used, and quite iconic community hall, also has a few spooky stories to share.
The building has hosted every kind of event, from market days to touring bands, community groups, weddings, and family celebrations.
The hall was donated to the community by a former Mayor and cared for by the Dunedin City Council until 2007, when the Council decided to sell the building. After much local protest and a 2008 petition, the hall was returned to use and loved by the community.
I was told a story back in the mid-2000s that I found very intriguing.
A family had hired the hall for a family function—a 21st birthday celebration.
The guy who relayed the story to me said that during the last bit of packing up at the end of the night, the clean-up crew noticed the lights in the hall had started to flicker. They hadn’t done this the entire night.
After the clean-up and everyone had left for the night, the man and his brother were left to turn everything off and lock up the premises.
They closed the front door and headed to their car, which was parked outside on the road. As they were about to drive away, the brother looked over at the hall and, through the window, noticed a small, moving orange light—a light like someone was still in the building, walking through the hall with a torch or lantern.
They both swore the building was locked and empty upon leaving, but they got out to check, thinking someone was still in there. The brother knocked on the door while the other man waited in the car.
Approaching the hall, the man could still see glimpses of the light through the frosted glass door, moving just as it would if being held, as someone was wandering the hall searching for something. Re-entering the now-dark building, there was no light to be seen. The room was dark and completely silent. Except for the tiny flickering light of a far-corner fire detector, the room sat in pitch-black darkness. All doors were still locked, just as they had left the place only a few minutes prior. Suddenly, in the kitchen, two loud bangs.
Like someone stamping their boots hard on the floor in defiance, the brother heard a glass “falling” loudly into the sink, jolting him to a sudden halt. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew all the glasses had been cleaned and either put in the cupboard or packed in boxes, sitting in the car’s boot. This was enough for him to hightail it out of there, not bothering to look in the kitchen.
So what happened that night? Was the incident simply a trick of the light? A reflection? Or perhaps someone still resides there, keeping a close and protective eye on the old Pioneer Hall in Port Chalmers.
