HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
ISU's main performance venue is said to be haunted by Frederica Shattuck, a theater instructor whose personal wheelchair has been witnessed moving across the stage during rehearsals.
2415 Union Drive, Iowa State Center, Ames, IA 50011
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Performance ticket prices vary; lobby and exterior accessible without ticket.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Modern performance venue with full accessibility in the Scheman Building complex.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1969 · Iowa State University Performing Arts History · Home of ISU Theatre After 1979 Shattuck Theatre Demolition · Frederica Shattuck Legacy Site
Fisher Theater sits inside the Scheman Building at Iowa State Center, the performing arts complex on the ISU campus. The theater became the principal performance home for Iowa State University Theatre productions when the original Shattuck Theatre — named for longtime theater instructor Frederica Shattuck — was torn down in 1979 to make way for campus redevelopment.
Frederica Shattuck joined ISU's theater faculty in 1907 and remained connected to the university theater program until her death in 1969, a span of 62 years during which she was said to have attended every ISU Theatre production. She is credited with founding the Iowa State Players, the student theater organization that remains active on campus. Her dedication to the ISU theater program over six decades was exceptional by any standard, and her name was attached to the original Shattuck Theatre in recognition of that contribution.
When Shattuck Theatre was demolished, the ISU Theatre program moved its main productions to Fisher Theater. Local theater tradition holds that Shattuck's presence relocated along with the productions, migrating from the demolished building to the new one.
Sources
The Frederica Shattuck legend at Fisher Theater is one of the more specifically documented paranormal claims on the ISU campus. The core of it is concrete: Shattuck's personal wheelchair, left on stage as a memorial object, has been reported by multiple witnesses to move on its own during rehearsals — rolling across the stage floor in the direction of the audience seating area, as though its former owner were positioning herself in her usual spot.
The Iowa State Daily reported on the Fisher Theatre ghost specifically, drawing from accounts by student actors and production staff who had witnessed the wheelchair's movement. Inside Iowa State, the university's own alumni publication, documented Shattuck's 62-year attendance record and the transition of the theater program to Fisher after Shattuck Theatre's demolition in 1979.
The story is consistent enough across sources and specific enough in detail — a named individual, a particular object, a specific behavior — that it stands apart from generic campus ghost lore. Whether the wheelchair movement has a mechanical or environmental explanation has not been formally investigated. The legend has circulated in ISU theater circles since at least the early 2000s.
Notable Entities
Fisher Theater hosts Iowa State University performing arts events year-round. Attending a production in the same space where Frederica Shattuck attended every ISU Theatre performance for 62 years brings the legend into context.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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