My first security job was at a beautiful building which quickly became my favorite in the city. It was built in the late 1920's showcasing a mixture of Beaux Arts and Art Deco architecture with incredible vaulted ceilings and pain staking detail in every single piece of building material of which it was made. Prior to me working there I had no real appreciation for design and architecture and I have this building to thank for my awakening. It was here that I learned that a structure could have a personality and could be loved just like anything else. It had several quirks unique to it which I grew to appreciate over the years I worked there.

For example:

There were two elevators which at one time serviced ground to the sixth floor but were deconditioned at some point and were too difficult to remove so the cabs just sat there behind closed doors never to be seen again. The elevator pits had approximately 8 feet of water in them which was mixed with all kinds of unidentified fluids which gave it the appearance of a semi solid surface on which one could stand. The water was slowly rusting and compromising the integrity of the components keeping the cabs in place, but at least there is some water in the shaft to catch them.

It also had a stairwell to nowhere that started on the third floor via an unmarked and otherwise unassuming door which led down to the second floor where it terminated next to an old deconditioned dumbwaiter. On the other side, a simple wall in the corner of an office hid this feature which could only be known by someone with a master key.

The elevator machine rooms in the penthouse were prone to overheating and as a result the windows were left open year-round in order to provide adequate air flow. This had the undesired side effect of hosting Peregrine Falcons which lived in the mechanical space and it was not uncommon to find pieces of dead birds on which they preyed.

In the basement was a large abandoned bank vault complete with a 55-ton door. Many guards over the years amused themselves by pushing the door which moved with little effort thanks to its enormous well-oiled and balanced hinges. It had become a storage room but was eyed regularly by potential tenants who wanted to turn it into a restaurant or party room. The problem with old vaults is that they aren't designed with adequate ventilation for multiple occupiers and adding ventilation isn't possible because bank vaults are designed to be impenetrable. The vault also couldn't be removed because it was holding up the building. That became wasted spaced and a burden on the leasing team.

The service elevator had a secret floor which could be accessed via turning a key. The floor was between ground and two and was indicated on the elevator panel as 1.5. The inner elevator door would open but a heavy fire door awaited you on the other side and had to be opened manually. It led to a catwalk over the vaulted ceiling in the lobby and was littered with old magazines, newspapers, and dust. In order to explore this space, you needed to prop the fire door open with a piece of wood to keep it from slamming shut on you and trapping you there. At one point while working a midnight shift, we took the entire security team in the elevator to explore the catwalk as a bonding exercise. Unfortunately, the electrical contact which indicates that the fire door is secured was rarely used and as a result became dirty and wouldn't close. This stranded us there for about 30 minutes until we were able to clean the contact by boosting one of our guards up to blow on it and clean it with his fingers. We kept our experience quiet enough that we were able to avoid issues from management.

But none of these things compare to my favorite quirk which existed on the seventh floor.

The sixth floor acted as a platform for which the thinner upper half of the building was built as it tiered upwards on the north side. This left a large space on the south side of the roof which was occupied by an ornate boardroom which was designed to make you feel small. The boardroom was connected to the building via a hallway and upon entering the lobby you were faced with two large wooden doors which stood 12 feet tall. On either side of them were smaller wooden doors which led into a false wall that surrounded the boardroom and wasn't original. The hallway was made of marble and lined with wrought iron grates which traced the entire perimeter. At some point, all of the windows of the boardroom were bricked over completely with cinder block and fake lighting was installed inside to make it look as if they were still there. I assumed this was to hide the mechanical structures which were erected on the roof on either side of the boardroom to host a generator and some cooling equipment. The inside of the boardroom had otherwise been untouched since the 1920's and was still used regularly with its high 20-foot ceiling and exposed wooden beams decorated with ornate patterns. The boardroom was incredibly beautiful but It was also incredibly creepy.

I was told tales on my first shift about the building being haunted. Everyone seemed to have their own story about something that had happened to them while on patrol. I was told that most of these experiences happened on or near the seventh-floor boardroom. One guard told me that while patrolling at two in the morning she found one of the doors to the boardroom partially open which was unusual and upon investigating she found several televisions turned on inside broadcasting visual snow. When she reached for the door knob, they apparently all turned off by themselves and she left - quickly.

Honestly, it's difficult not to feel creeped out in the middle of the night while walking around an old large building but after a year with no unexplained experiences of my own I was beginning to think the ghosts just didn't like me that much.

On a weekday nightshift I was patrolling the building from top to bottom via the stairwell, same as always. On the seventh floor I exited the stairwell and headed towards the boardroom to make my rounds. I heard a loud bang as if someone had dropped something big and heavy on a desk but cleaners populate the building afterhours and it is not unusual to hear them. Just before I exited onto the roof, I could hear the bang again but louder. The banging didn't bother me, I knew that there were people in the building but I did wonder what was getting banged around. I exited onto the roof to check the external mechanical rooms and upon reentering I heard another loud bang. At that point I decided to go find the cleaner because I was wondering what nice thing he was destroying. As I turned away from the boardroom to walk back towards the stairs there was another loud solid bang but that one came from behind me in the boardroom.

I turned around to look at the boardroom and dream up a reasonable explanation but didn't really come up with any. I knew that the boardroom should be empty and that the building was too dense for the sound to be traveling from another floor. I could see that the two large doors were closed but that the smaller door on the right which lead into the façade was slightly ajar. I walked towards it with some hesitation and reached for the open door. BANG! A loud solid bang came from the door itself as if someone had kicked it from the other side but there was no movement from the door. I was shook and my mind raced as it struggled to make sense of what had just taken place.

Just then I realized what was going on. On my team we had a prankster named Eli. He loved to tell jokes and would do anything in the name of humour. I had just called in my 20 to dispatch a few minutes prior to arriving on the seventh floor and he probably heard me call it in and came up to scare me, it was working. I developed a smile as I thought about how much joy he was probably getting out of this situation and how he was going to be bragging about it for months. I knew of some other jokes he had played on guards and he told the stories regularly, you could tell that he was actually telling the stories for himself.

I pulled out my flashlight and lunged for the door ripping it open like a maniac. I was halfway into a laugh when I realized that Eli wasn't there, in fact nothing was there. I stared down a dark empty unfinished hallway for a second confused. And as my confusion faded into fear, I turned around and nope-nope-nope'd the fuck out of there.

I don't know what was making that banging sound but it wasn't Eli because me and the rest of the team wouldn't have heard the end of it. I never had any other experiences like that during my time working there but the hair on the back of my neck always stood up when I got to the seventh floor and I patrolled little bit quicker.

What did I learn? - Sometimes things happen around you that you can't explain, it doesn't necessarily make them paranormal but everything should be approached with an open mind. Just like a black and white photo is actually made up of millions of tiny grey pixels, who's to say that life doesn't have a spectrum? Remember to always question everything you believe in but also everything you don't believe in.