HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A student reportedly fell to her death from the stage grid in the 1970s; the legend inspired a short film and drives ongoing paranormal accounts in the auditorium.
9449 Church Rd, Dallas, TX 75238
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active public high school; auditorium accessible only during ticketed performances or school events.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Modern school campus with paved paths and accessible entrances
Equipment
No Photos
1970s Stage Grid Fatality (folk-historical) · Ghost Light Film Production · Lake Highlands Neighborhood, Northeast Dallas
Lake Highlands High School sits in the Lake Highlands neighborhood of northeast Dallas, part of the Richardson Independent School District. The campus includes a full-scale auditorium that has served drama productions for decades.
According to theater teacher accounts published in the Lake Highlands Advocate in October 2023, a student identified only as Elizabeth fell to her death from the stage grid — the catwalk structure above the auditorium floor — sometime in the early 1970s. The account does not specify a confirmed year or the precise circumstances of the fall beyond the stage grid location. The LHHS school newspaper, The Fang, has documented the legend in further detail, quoting both teachers and students.
The story gained broader attention when students produced a short film titled Ghost Light, based directly on the Elizabeth legend. In theater tradition, a 'ghost light' — a single bare bulb left burning on stage overnight — is said to placate spirits of the theater; the LHHS production drew on that convention and the school's specific folklore.
The school has not made the legend an official attraction or marketing point. It circulates primarily through student theater culture, teacher oral tradition, and local journalism coverage each October.
Sources
The haunting tradition at Lake Highlands High School centers on a figure called Elizabeth, documented in teacher accounts published by the Lake Highlands Advocate in 2023. According to theater staff, lights in the auditorium turn on and off when no one is at the board, props are found in positions they weren't left in, and cold spots concentrate on and around the stage — experiences that theater cast and crew have associated with Elizabeth's presence for at least a generation.
The school newspaper, The Fang, has published extended accounts of Elizabeth's story, including teacher and student testimony. The pattern of reported phenomena aligns closely with what theater workers call the 'ghost light' tradition: an unattended stage is considered vulnerable, and leaving a light on overnight is a widely observed superstition in American theater culture. LHHS students adapted that tradition into a short film titled Ghost Light, treating the Elizabeth legend as the school's specific instance of a broader theatrical folklore.
The Advocate's 2023 coverage frames the accounts as the theater teacher's own recollections rather than documented historical record. No contemporaneous news coverage of the 1970s fall has been cited in any of the available sources, and the legend should be understood as transmitted school oral history rather than a formally verified incident.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Attend a ticketed school theater production at the Lake Highlands High School auditorium — the same stage where the legend of Elizabeth, the theater ghost, has been passed down among students and staff for decades.
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