Charlie Stolfitz

Charlie Stolfitz is the gloomy director of a school musical at the Taft-Hartley Theater. After Barrett receives the leading role, an eerie voice begins threatening the cast from the rafters and frightened performers start quitting. Charlie appears to be struggling with a phantom, but Emily and Matthew uncover the truth behind a runaway parrot, hidden microphone, caped figure, and carefully placed scares. Charlie staged the entire haunting and filmed everyone's reactions to prove how quickly fear can make sensible people behave foolishly. His elaborate experiment nearly destroys the production it uses as bait. Once he confesses, the cast refuses to remain intimidated by a fake ghost, returns to the stage, and carries the musical through to a successful performance.