There is a docuseries on Netflix called True Haunting, and this year it featured two true tales of hauntings. I am excited to share my interview with Chris DiCesare with everyone.
True Haunting: Erie Hall
Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to review a bit of an earlier post on what happened to Christopher while he was a student at SUNY Geneseo College. Chris DiCesare was a runner and had dreams of going to the Olympics, but shortly after moving into his dorm room, strange things began to happen. At first, he thought it was someone playing a prank on him, but as the hauntings became more aggressive, Chris’s studies and health began to suffer. This spirit was also attacking Chris’s roommate and friends. A priest was called in to do an exorcism, but surprisingly, this only made matters worse. It wasn’t until Chris’s dad came to spend the weekend that a discovery was made that may explain why that spirit chose Christopher. Was there a connection between Chris’s ancestry and that spirit? Let’s find out.
Gilbert: Chris, I am honoured to be able to interview you. I have known you for many years and always saw you as a person of integrity and honor. My first question is this: Before the event at college, were you aware of either you or anyone in your family having psychic/mediums abilities? I ask this because in my readings with clients who have had a paranormal experience, as we peel back the layers leading up to an event, I discover that they were highly intuitive.
Chris DiCesare: Yes. When I was sixteen, on January 29th, 1983, to be exact, after attending Sunday mass, my great-great-uncle John Rotundo saw me and made his way over to shake my hand. “It’s great to see you, Chris,” he smiled. Then an odd look came into his eyes. In that moment, I could see something swirling around his head – a thin, white, animated mist. A mist that looked an awful lot like the gold circles that were painted in many religious paintings that I had seen in art books. Everything decelerated.
“Howwww arrrre youuuu?” The words rolled slowly out of his mouth, and the world appeared to come close to a full stop around us and then kicked back into gear. Then, he nodded to me, as though nothing had happened, and moved on to greet the other members of my family. I remember glancing around to see if anyone else was reacting to what had just occurred. Nope. Eighteen days later, on Ash Wednesday, my uncle Johnny was dead. All I could think of was what the priests would say on that day – “Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust, you shall return.”
I let it be known that I wanted to be a pallbearer at his funeral. When the day arrived, I began to feel that we were both part of the same process, and his end, in some ways, was my beginning. During the reception that followed his funeral, a great-great aunt, named Rose Rotundo, walked over to me, then asked aloud: “Is this Christopher? I haven’t seen him since he was little.” She pinched me on my right cheek and then, in slow motion, said: “You’re jusssst as cuuuute as you uuuused to beeee.” I quickly excused myself and went directly to my mother, who was in the kitchen. I informed her that “it” had happened again! My mother looked around, then calmly suggested it was probably just a case of the nerves, that everything would be okay.
But, five weeks later, on March 23rd, my family received notification that my great-great aunt Rose was dead. I can still vividly recall my mother watching my face as we received the ‘unexpected’ news. I mentioned all of this to my Erie Hall dormmate, John Jeff Ungar, immediately after the Ed and Lorraine Warren presentation, the event at which she would not shake my hand because she said that she didn’t want to know her future.
Gilbert: At the end of the True Haunting series, we learn that an ancestor of your family had some connection to the spirit that was haunting you. Did you do further research into this connection, and do you feel that the spirit knew of this connection and that was why it chose you?
Chris DiCesare: Recognition of the familial connection did not present itself until a good twenty-five years after the haunting. Netflix shortened that time period, just a bit. Hahaha. I was neither a researcher nor an investigator during the haunting, nor at any point after it. I was simply trying to survive. In fact, I pleaded with Jeff, on several occasions, to destroy all of the photographs and EVP evidence so that they would no longer burden me or serve as a reminder of those dark days.
It was actually my mother who first made the discovery that her ancestors were the first to come across the remains of Thomas Boyd and properly bury them. Both the family lineage and the discovery were later verified through research done at Penn State University. Looking back over the past forty years, I have come to the conclusion that the ghost was not some malevolent demon, attempting to possess or harm me. Rather, it was a desperate and pained soul, looking for some semblance of peace or absolution. I do think that both my apparent ‘sensitivity’ and the ancestral link played key roles in its initial decision to focus on me with such intensity. At least four other people stated that they had heard the ghost call my name during the haunting.
Gilbert: Have you had other paranormal events happen to you, or have you closed yourself off completely to spirits contacting you?
Chris DiCesare: My experience – and it might be that of others as well – is that once that ‘door’ is opened, it stays open. The summer after the haunting, my family went on vacation to Virginia Beach and Colonial Williamsburg. While I was standing inside the large room where the Williamsburg Declaration was signed, my mother thought it would be a nice idea to take a picture of me there. As I waited for the picture to be taken, I heard the sounds of multiple grandfather clocks, all chiming at three o’clock.
As it was eleven in the morning, this was odd. Then, I heard a woman’s scream coming from my left. My best guess was that some historic reenactors might be putting someone in the “gallows” further down along the carefully reconstructed street. But that guess was quickly proven incorrect when I saw the ghost of a long-haired woman, in a flowing gown, pass through the room, in between my mother and me, while screaming with her hair on fire.
Several weeks later, the photos, which had been sent out to be developed, arrived. My mom was the first to notice the white circular clock faces, floating to my left. Then, she noticed the swath of white, wispy, cloudlike matter emanating off a figure that had been captured passing in front of me, to my right. As with the skeletal apparition photo, five months earlier, the picture elicited both fear and wonder. And, just as with the earlier photo, I wanted nothing to do with it.
Gilbert: What advice would you give anyone who is dealing with an aggressive haunting?
Chris DiCesare: I would give the same advice to a person, no matter what the crisis, whether it be addiction, bankruptcy, poverty, illness, or the loss of a loved one. And that is: To try to sleep at night, so that your mind and body can effectively heal themselves; to slow down and actually taste your food, and to appreciate that in that moment – regardless of the trauma – that you are still alive, and can still see the stars in the sky at night, and the sunrise in the daytime; To play a song from your youth, and then dance to it. Dance to forget, or dance to remember, it need not matter, just dance and feel the innocence of being a child again. Finally, do not isolate. There is always someone – out there in the world – who can help you. They might look different, sound different, or believe differently, just take that hand. Because, in that way, it might be you – someday – who is able to offer your hand to someone when they so desperately need it.
Gilbert: Are you working on any new books or films about your connection to the paranormal world?
Chris DiCesare: My latest – and likely last – book “The Ghost Boy of Erie Hall” (CITA Ventures, 2025) was just released in conjunction with the Netflix docuseries. It represents forty years of thought and experience, and I am truly proud of it. “True Haunting – Eerie Hall” is as remarkable and immersive as any form of expression that I can conceive of. It is available in over 400 countries and territories and has been translated into 39 different languages; there is no bigger stage.
All this from a moment where I lay alone, naked, and bleeding on a bathroom floor inside of a small upstate NY dormitory. It is a gift. With the greatest aspect of that gift being my 82-year-old father stating that I was the type of son that he could be proud of, and the fact that I will be able to see him, and hear him, say that … forever.
Gilbert: Thank you so much, my friend, for taking the time to do this interview with me. And, for the fans of Biff Bam Pop, make sure to watch True Haunting on Netflix. You can buy Chris’s book on Amazon, and if you want to see him in person, he will be at the New Jersey Paraunity Expo on November 8th.
