Broadway Ghosts

[broadwayalto01]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:05am

Hey everyone..

I read this really great article on PLaybill...
http://www.playbill.com/features/article/93486.html

It tells stories of Broadway Greats that have died and still haunt theatres on Broadway... I know about Olive Thomas and David Belasco. Does anyone else know any other ghosts on Broadway??

[jasobres]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:14am

Brrrrrrrr! I got the woolies reading that article.

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:16am

Carol Channing

[jasobres]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:18am

She ain't dead!

[broadwayalto01]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:19am

I think this stuff is so interesting.. Ghost Stories are so much fun !!!

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 12:06pm

Boo!

[vbplayer]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 3:37pm

Carol Channing..........HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Aigoo]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 3:41pm

Hee hee. Oliver "hanuts" the theatre.

Hanoots. Tee hee.

[maybethistime]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 4:01pm

Just a little 'heads up'...

Ziegfeld was married to Billie Burke, not Billy Burke. She played Glinda in the MGM 1939 musical version of 'THE WIZARD OF OZ'.
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 04:01 PM

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 4:09pm

the opera house closes down. the pipe organ blares.. dun dun dun dun dun duuuuuuuuun and bam! the phantom of the opera is there! sorry, just the opening paragraph of the article reminded me of the opening scene in POTO.

[nmartin]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 5:18pm

They're right. Carol Channing haunted the Lunt-Fontanne for a few months several years ago.
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 05:18 PM

[hypertruffle]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:30pm

Whoa, a pit ghost. Cool...I guess...

[FosseBoi]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:38pm

I posted this a while back...

I also found it interesting.

[TheatreDiva612]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:45pm

that is really interesting....and the ghost lights that theatres leave on all the time....we have one at my old school.

[Nina]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 7:38pm

Considering some of the "Talent" currently on Broadway, the wee hours of the morning, when the ghosts take the stage, may be the best time to see a great performance.

Every old theater has it's tales of ghosts. I've experienced a couple of chilling moments when thinsg occured in a dark, desreted theater late at night. I imagine every performer that ahs been around a whole has ghost story to tell.

[billygoatgirl300]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:21pm

Cool article some of them are pretty scary. Are there any other ghosts on Broadway?

My music teacher for one summer worked at this theater that used to be a barn. Anyway one afternoon she and some people she were working downstairs where the props were. They heard footsteps coming from the upstairs. No one was there except for them, so one of them went up to see what it was and a few moments later they came downstairs and said nothing was there.

That isn't the scary part, another time some people she knew had to get some costumes, which were in the loft of the barn. While they were there a man in cloths from the Revolutionary War walked straight through the costumes further down from them. He walked down the stairs and went through the wall on the other side.

I may sound dumb saying this but what is a ghost light?

[grizzabella]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:41pm

Thanks, Broadwayalto01! That was a great post and a way to cool off a very hot night! There are lots of stories about theatre ghosts, but these were new to me!

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:52pm

I used to work at the New Am, and while I never saw Olive myself, I do remember Dana telling me about her, and I have a pretty good idea of the identity of the watchman who spotted her! The story of his sighting spread through the theater like wildfire. :)

I believe it was the same watchman who once took a co-worker and me on a little excursion up to the abandoned roof area. It was dark, quiet, cobwebby, dusty, scary, and dangerous...all three of us got the willies just being up there!

I also remember Olive messing with our computers. She scared the crap out of my boss one night by knocking on his office door. He'd open the door and no one would be there! After it happened a few times, he went to the security booth and found out that the security guard was the only other person in the building and had been at his post the whole time...

BOO!

[billygoatgirl300]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 9:09pm

Thats a really cool story Lasso. I have another one to tell.

Once my mom and her friends were helping out at a local college theater. Anyway they were told to never go into the basement by themselves, so if they had to go someone went with them. Well one of my moms friends went downstaris and later came up really freaked out about something and her friend isn't scared about anything so whatever is down there must be pretty scary.

[Mamie]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 9:51pm

I've always been convinced the Lyceum is haunted by all those fine folks whose portraits you see hanging along the stairways. They probably get down out of those frames at night, open the bar, and have a party and put on their own show. It's the only time they don't have to worry about people opening candy boxes, eating chicken, and cell phones going off...

[Amneris]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:04pm

If I could "dig up" a photo I took at the Winter Garden from 2 years ago AFTER everyone left the theatre.. I could probably get big cash for it... a few of my friends and I were let in by the stagedoor guy to go on stage and take pics... well, I took a photo of the orch from the stage...when I scanned my photo on my old computer, 5 figurines of people were in various seats including 1 STRANGE thing in a seat in the mezz... I showed the stagedoor guy at the theatre and he refused to tell my friends a story about something that happened there ages ago... but we found out apparently someone hung themselves from a rafter during a performance.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:36pm

Amneris, any chance of you posting that picture in this thread or possibly sending it to me?

[actor465]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:15am

That is damn scary.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:31am

I'd like to see it too, Amneris.

[jasobres]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 8:55am

I thought I already told you that Carol Channing ain't dead yet! (Bernadette ain't eye-ther.)