True Haunting’s “Eerie Hall” lived up to its name.
The five-part docuseries, which premiered on Netflix on October 7, delves into two real-life supernatural events through a mix of dramatic reenactments and interviews with those who lived through the terrifying experiences.
The first three episodes provide viewers with an inside look at a 1980s story about a SUNY Geneseo sophomore named Chris Di Cesare, who claims to have been haunted by a ghost in his dormitory room.
In the fall of 1984, Di Cesare returned to the New York college, where he was studying on an athletic scholarship, and moved into Erie Hall’s C2D1 dorm. Shortly after moving in, the cross-country star began hearing a disembodied voice calling his name—a haunting presence that eventually manifested into a full-fledged apparition that he and his neighbor, Jeff Ungar, dubbed “Tommy.”
Di Cesare appeared in the docuseries and spoke about how his experience influenced him in the years that followed, saying, “The last 40 years of my life have been in large part shaped by that time in Erie Hall.”
Here is everything you need to know about the real-life events that inspired True Haunting’s “Eerie Hall.”
Chris began hearing a disembodied voice after a meet and greet with campus speakers
In the fall of 1984, Di Cesare returned to campus and was assigned to a new dorm, C2D1, with his roommate, Paul. According to the docuseries, Di Cesare began hearing disembodied voices shortly after moving into Erie Hall.
Di Cesare previously told The Lamron that it began after he attended a meet-and-greet with Ed and Lorraine Warren, who came to campus to discuss their paranormal history, including playing electronic voice phenomena and sharing insights into their work.
Lorraine told Di Cesare during the meeting that she wouldn’t shake his hand because she didn’t want to “know my future,” and Ed “threw him off stage.”
Nearly 11 days later, Di Cesare heard a disembodied voice calling his name from his dorm room. It progressed over the next few days, eventually becoming a full-bodied apparition.
As Di Cesare explained in the documentary, he wasn’t sure if he was “going insane” or if something was going on that he couldn’t explain.
“I thought, ‘I’m losing my mind,'” he explained. “I couldn’t tell whether what I saw or heard was true. I wasn’t sure if this was real or if I was trapped in a never-ending nightmare.
Di Cesare went on: “Up until that point, no one could see it but me, and I didn’t know how to live with that.”
However, as reported by The Lamron, the spirit eventually spread to his roommate, who later fled the room entirely after concluding that there was a “dead thing” in the dorm.
Chris and his neighbor attempted to “invite the ghost in”
According to The Lamron, on February 14, 1985, Di Cesare and Ungar recognized the gravity of the situation and decided to put their claims to the test by photographing the ghost.
Ungar then persuaded Di Cesare to “call the ghost” by extending his arms to “invite the ghost in,” according to the outlet. As a result, the closet door opened, and Chris saw what appeared to be a face.
Ungar noticed Di Cesare was stunned and decided to photograph the closet. Although he didn’t capture anything, Di Cesare told the outlet that the photo must have “infuriated the ghost,” because the spirit then came “right at” and “right through” him, causing him to “fall to the ground.”
Di Cesare instructed Ungar to photograph the “dead thing hovering above my bed,” to which Ungar replied that if he could see it, he should take his camera and capture the image. The photograph revealed a skeletal ghost on the side of Di Cesare’s bed, allowing Ungar to later “label all of the bones,” as Di Cesare explained to the outlet.
The friends then began attempting to gather additional evidence and information while documenting the encounters through photography (thanks to a psychology professor lending him a camera) and journal entries.
Chris claimed “Tommy” physically attacked him in the shower
According to The Lamron, Di Cesare was physically wounded in the shower on March 13, 1985, by “Tommy,” who left three deep wounds, including claw marks, on the runner’s back.
According to the outlet, this encounter pushed Di Cesare over the edge, prompting him to call out to the spirit and ask, “Who are you? God? The devil? “Show yourself!” In response, the spirit slashed him, knocking him to the ground in agony.
Di Cesare told the outlet that Ungar discovered him on the floor and assisted in cleaning him up.
A priest seemingly exorcized the spirit after several months
Di Cesare told The Lamron that after the shower incident, the occurrences began to decrease in both severity and frequency. They eventually stopped in mid-April 1985, thanks to a priest who came to the dorm to bless it for the remainder of his stay in dorm C2D1.
While Di Cesare was free of the spirit, he told the outlet that he still believes “Tommy” haunts the halls of Erie Hall.
Father Charles Manning appeared in the docuseries, saying he felt “bound by [his] priesthood” to assist Di Cesare after he began crying to him.
Manning then scheduled a visit to Di Cesare’s dorm room, where he delivered holy water and a book titled Pastoral Care of the Sick. He recalls the room becoming “unusually cold” and sensing a presence. After the “prayer for the sick,” the room began to warm up.
Di Cesare remembered praying, and as the room warmed, he thought, “Wow.” This may have worked.”
He recalled feeling differently in the days that followed, saying, “I felt as if the blessing had protected me.” Like, whatever it was, it couldn’t get to me anymore.”
Later in the docuseries, “Tommy” reappears, and Di Cesare attempts to confront (and free!) him once and for all.
The ghost was believed to be the spirit of Lt. Thomas Boyd
During a run near campus with his father, Di Cesare discovered a Sgt. Parker Boyd memorial in the woods. After some research, Ungar and Di Cesare discovered that the plaque was dedicated to two different people, including Lt. Thomas Boyd, whose nickname was Tommy.
As they pieced together the history, they discovered that Boyd was tortured during the Revolutionary War on the same tree where Di Cesare used to run every day. Ungar stated in the docuseries that he believed Boyd was contacting Di Cesare “for absolution” and “looking for somebody to acknowledge the pain and torture he experienced.”
At the end of episode 3, Di Cesare mentioned that there was “one more discovery that changed everything.”
Di Cesare later learned of his connection to Boyd, as one of his mother’s ancestors discovered the lieutenant’s mutilated body.
Chris is now a social studies teacher (and has published novels about his experience)
Di Cesare’s time in the dorm room is long gone, but he has carried his experience with him and shared it with others. He has published several memoirs and novels, including Surviving Evidence: Memoir of an Extreme Haunting Survivor, C2D1: An Examination of the Extreme Haunting and How the “Ghost Boy” of Geneseo Came to Be, and, most recently, The Ghost Boy of Erie Hall.
In the docuseries, Di Cesare reflects on his time at Erie Hall and why he separated from many of his classmates “to think, grow, and recover from what happened.”
In addition to sharing his story, Di Cesare has been a social studies teacher since 2007, according to LinkedIn.
