Netflix's True Haunting: All About the Chilling Supernatural Events That Took Place Inside Erie Hall By Jordana Comiter

True Haunting‘s “Eerie Hall” lives up to its name.

The five-part docuseries, which was released on Netflix on Oct. 7, explores two real-life supernatural events through a mix of dramatized reenactments and interviews with those who lived through the chilling experiences. The first three episodes give viewers an inside look at a story from the 1980s that follows a SUNY Geneseo sophomore named Chris Di Cesare, who claims he was haunted by a ghost in his dorm 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-blown apparition that he and his neighbor, Jeff Ungar, called “Tommy.”

Di Cesare appeared in the docuseries and reflected on how his experience impacted him in the years to follow, saying, “The last 40 years of my life have been in large part shaped by that time in Erie Hall.”

Here’s everything to know about the real-life events behind 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 placed in a new dorm, C2D1, where he lived with his roommate, Paul. Shortly after moving into Erie Hall, Di Cesare began hearing disembodied voices, as shared in the docuseries.

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 history with the paranormal, playing electronic voice phenomena alongside insights into their work.

During the meeting, Lorraine told Di Cesare that she wouldn’t shake his hand because she didn’t want to “know my future,” and he was then “thrown off stage” by Ed.

Nearly 11 days later, Di Cesare began hearing a disembodied voice calling out his name from his dorm room. It progressed over the next few days, eventually materializing into a full-body apparition.

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As Di Cesare shared in the docuseries, he wasn’t sure at the time if he was “going mad” or something was happening that he “can’t explain.”

“I thought, ‘I’m losing my mind,’ ” he recalled. “I couldn’t tell if what I was seeing or hearing was true. I didn’t know if this was reality or if I’m just caught in this never-ending nightmare.”

Di Cesare added, “Up until that point, no one could see it but me, and I didn’t know how to live with that.”

However, as noted 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, Di Cesare and Ungar recognized the severity of the situation on Feb. 14, 1985, and decided to test the validity of their claims by attempting to photograph the ghost.

Ungar then convinced Di Cesare to “call the ghost” by putting his arms out to “invite the ghost in,” per the outlet. As a result, the closet door opened and Chris came face-to-face with what appeared to be a face.

Ungar noticed Di Cesare was stunned and decided to take a photo of the closet. Although he captured nothing, Di Cesare told the outlet that the photo must have “infuriated the ghost,” because the spirit then came “right at” and “right through” him, leading him to “fall to the ground.”

Di Cesare told Ungar to photograph the “dead thing hovering above my bed,” to which Ungar told him that if he can see it, he should take his camera and get the picture. The photo revealed an image of a skeletal ghost on the side of Di Cesare’s bed, which allowed Ungar to later “label all of the bones,” as Di Cesare told the outlet.

The friends then began attempting to collect more evidence and information and document 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

On March 13, 1985, Di Cesare was physically wounded in the shower by “Tommy,” who left three deep wounds, including claw marks, on the runner’s back, per The Lamron.

According to the outlet, it was this encounter that tipped Di Cesare over the edge and led him to call out to the spirit, saying, “Who are you? God? The Devil? Show yourself!” In response, the spirit slashed him and sent him to the floor in pain.

Di Cesare told the outlet that Ungar found him on the floor and helped clean him up.

A priest seemingly exorcized the spirit after several months

Di Cesare told The Lamron that the occurrences began to lessen in both severity and consistency after the shower incident. They ultimately stopped in mid-April 1985, thanks to a priest who came to the dorm to bless it for the rest of his time in dorm C2D1.

While Di Cesare was free of the spirit, he told the outlet he still believes “Tommy” is lingering in the halls of Erie Hall.

Father Charles Manning appeared in the docuseries, sharing that he felt “bound by [his] priesthood” to help Di Cesare out after he began crying to him.

Manning then set up a time to go to Di Cesare’s dorm room, where he brought holy water and a book, titled Pastoral Care of the Sick. He recalled the room turning “unusually cold” and began to feel a presence. After doing the “prayer for the sick,” the room began warming up.

Di Cesare recalled praying, and upon the room warming, he thought, “Wow. This might have worked.”

He recalled feeling differently in the days to follow, saying, “I felt like the blessing had protected me. Like, whatever this was, couldn’t get at me anymore.”

Later in the docuseries though, “Tommy” appears to return and Di Cesare attempts to face (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 and his dad discovered a memorial in the woods for Sgt. Parker Boyd. After conducting some research, Ungar and Di Cesare learned that the plaque was dedicated to a combination of two different people, including Lt. Thomas Boyd, whose nickname was Tommy.

As they pieced the history together, they learned that Boyd was tortured during the Revolutionary War on the same tree that Di Cesare used to run by daily. Ungar said in the docuseries that he believed Boyd was reaching out to Di Cesare “for absolution” and was “looking for somebody to acknowledge the pain and torture he experienced.”

In the end of episode 3, Di Cesare said that there was “one more discovery that changed everything.”

Di Cesare later learned his connection to Boyd, as it was one of his mother’s ancestors who discovered the lieutenant’s mutilated body.

Chris is now a social studies teacher (and has published novels about his experience)

Though his time in the dorm room is long gone, Di Cesare has carried his experience over the years and shared it with others. He has released 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 in Erie Hall and why he took distance from many of his classmates “to think, to grow, to recover from what happened.”

In addition to sharing his story, Di Cesare has been working as a social studies teacher since 2007, according to his LinkedIn.