Locks were changed at the Chilkat Center after someone who apparently possessed a key to the front door tried to pry into the building’s auditorium.
KHNS manager Kay Clements said a cot that had been leaning against a wall was down on the floor, next to a coat in the building’s scenery room, suggesting someone had been sleeping there.
“Strange things are going on that we haven’t been able to pin down, but it’s obvious someone is getting in and using the building,” she said. “Things have been moved around.”
A church robe also is missing from a locked closet near the building’s lobby.
KHNS manages the building for the Haines Borough.
Clements speculated the center has possibly become someone’s refuge from recent bitter cold weather.
“It would seem that way,” she said. “Nothing’s vandalized, other than the door, which makes you think” they just wanted a place to stay.
The intruder is believed to have entered the building after 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25. Police are making extra patrols there.