Theatre Ghost Storys

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 5:33pm

Ok so the recent thread about Captain Belasco got me to thinking.............Does anyone here have an interesting Theatre ghost story or a story from a run of the Scottish Play? Or any story's about Belasco or The Belasco theatre??


Here is mine

When I was born my father was the manager or The Landmark Theatre in Syracuse NY, which was supposedly haunted. The story goes that in the 1930's a former star who was reduced to bit roles or best friend roles on national tours, slit her wrists before a show in the ladies powder room in the lower lobby. The room was boarded up shortly after to quiet the incident. In the late 70's the renovated the theatre and opened up the old room which they only found after looking at old blue prints, apparently they went as far as to put up a false wall to remove the room from exsistance. When the new owners reopened it in the 70's they brought in a psychic who could "see" blood all over the walls and felt immediatly cold. (I have been in this room and yes it is much colder than the rest of the theatre, the room even makes you feel funny and very cold). Since they opened the room it is said that the ghost wanders the balconys of the theatre and has been spotted by many an actress when the balconys are doubiling for dressing rooms. At nights when my father would be closing for the night he used to turn off the lights, except the ghost light, and wait for her to appear, she never did but then again they say ghosts don't show themselves to people who are looking for them. So thats my story and it's all true I swear.....share yours!

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 5:36pm

I once did a show at a theatre that we ALL suspected of being haunted. We would see shadows moving in teh light booth when no one was there, lights would turn themselves on and off.. the stage lighst would be ghosting for no reason.... duringa blocking rehersal, an actor said a line, made his cross, and as soon as he stepped off from where he was standing, a 2x4 fell out of the flies and landed RIGHT where he had been.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 5:43pm

SO I posted the first story and I forgot I went to one of the most haunted theatre schools on the east coast Niagara University. The theatre there is a former gym, fully converted of course. Back before it was a theatre the gym had an elevated running track and one of the students fell to his death from it. He now haunts the theatre. I feel bad for him. He must have done something bad though cause here is this former jock stuck in a theatre surrounded by the things and people I'm sure he was not too fond of! His name is tom and he likes to turn the lights on and off at will during class. He walks the cat walk during shows and can acctually be made out when we used a fog machine in a production of Julius Ceaser. Also the building attached is a dorm hall now that used to be an orphange that caught fire and killed a bunch of kids and a priest (catholic college). And one night at like 2 in the morning one of our tech students was doing some menial job in the lighting cubby and heard children laughing which would stop every time he stepped out of the cubby and eventually the laughing became screaming, ever since then no one is allowed in the theatre after hours alone by order of our TD. Interesting stuff and there are alot more storys but I don't know all of them.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 6:35pm

This stuff is so interesting. Thanks and keep it coming. I was in a theatre production back home that wa an old rural house that was also haunted and we saw a lot of the same strange things you are describing.

[shesings]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 7:16pm

People said that someone fell off the catwalk at our school and died ... but I think that was just seniors trying to scare the underclassmen, especially since our theatre had only been built around 10 years before I was there and everyone would have known who the deceased was. But its fun to be scared sometimes I guess.

Also I was on a tour and we had played in a lot of little old theatres. We heard a number of ghost stories while we were there, but I never witnessed anything myself. Too bad. Updated On: 9/28/04 at 07:16 PM

[nychick9876]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 8:09pm

at my highschool we have a phantom in our theatre. one night we stayed the night to practice late for competition. well us being the group of bored teens, we decided to play hide-n-seek. we were running through the deserted basement hiding from each other. a friend and i were hiding in one of the classrooms when the tv started blairing phantom of the opera music. we were freaking out. we've had other incidents with him/her as well like flashing lights and this weird light/ reflection that would dance across the ceiling!

[Skempp]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 8:13pm

I stage managed in an old theatre with lots of history. The Bijou had several ghosts, but Smiley (a long dead stage hand) would keep moving things, turning on lights, closing the curtain, etc. But, my favorite story was of the young actress who was murdered during the run of her show in the early 1920s. She would haunt some shows, standing in the shadows of one of the boxes, waiting for her cue. I'd seen her a couple of times, pale, in a white gown, half hidden behind a curtain.

She sure scared the hell out of several actors.

[badkarma719]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 8:58pm

the theatre I am working at now has one
the lights randomly cut on and off the light board key is actually in the main office on another floor of the theatre

My mom teaches at my old high school, she says that she used to see a girl sitting on the fly bars durring shows, and sometimes people run down the halls at 3 and 4 in the morning
strage huh. but the school is almost 150 years old

[ckeaton]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 10:10pm

The theatre that I currently work at (Geva Theatre) in Rochester, NY is supposedly haunted. I've had a couple of run ins with her. Her name is Sarah, she was a nurse during the War of 1812. The building used to be a Naval Armory. During the war the building was used as an infirmary for sick soldiers... she wouldn't leave their side. In fact she died in the building, tending to them.

She sits in the back row, has been known to break glass things, and move around alot.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 10:11pm

When I saw Phantom of the Opera, someone pushed down the chandelier.

[Matt_G]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 10:16pm

I believe it was Blythe Danner who told a story about seeing the ghost at the Belasco during rehearsals for FOLLIES a few years back. If anyone knows where it's written, I would be interested in reading it again.

[marincrazy11]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 11:28pm

In the community theatre in my town there are hundreds of ghost stories, all involving the same ghosts. The story as I heard it was that on the site where our theatre is now there used to be a farmhouse and there was a family, a mom, dad, and daughter and there was a fire there that killed the mom and the daugther and it was believed to be and the father who died later of natural causes stills searches through the theatre for the person who killed his family. I have definatley heard creepy step-like sounds when I'm walking around in the dark on our second stage. My mom has also heard doors opening and closing and the sound of jingling keys when she was in the basement of the theatre when she was there all alone.

We also have bats. I've seen them during rehearsals and shows.

Also, one thats kinda sentimental. We had a man named Llyod who worked as maintanince for YEARS and he died about 5 years ago and bulit sets for us and spent pretty much every day and most of the day there and basically was the heart of our group. And my friend was there one day by himself working on a set and he heard someone open the door and walk through and he asked if anyone was there, thinking someone else was there, and the answer was "It's just me-Llyod." I think it's creepy but also very cool, because he is spirit is really still there.

[shesings]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 11:30pm

Millie - I think I was at that performance too!

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 9/28/04 at 11:32pm

hmm nothing like a good ghost story before i go to sleep. :-P

[beans]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 1:43am

The theater at my college in Denver was said to be haunted by the lady it is named after. She is said to hang out in the orchestra pit and thump or scrape the stage floor from below. Actors have mentioned hearing footsteps and scraping below them while doing work on the stage late at night.

The best fun was me and two buddies of mine would sneak into the building at like 2:00 AM about once every two weeks to go ghost hunting. I am a Christian, one friend is a filmmaker, and the other is a martial arts enthusiast. So we would go in and I'd take a Bible (for emergency exorcism, =>D) and my filmmaker buddy would take his camera, and my martial arts buddy would take his nunchucks. And we'd go sit in the orchestra pit and hang out for hours. It was tons of fun. No mysterious encounters unfortunately.

[TGIF]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 10:08am

Beans, that made me laugh! And thas not good because I am sittting in my schools library! I can just picture 3 people with a camera, bible and nunchucks! But really.. nunchucks? How will that help? haha, thanks for the good laugh.

Not a theatre ghost story but...At my computer at home every so often whoever was sitting at the desk would feel a puff of air, like someone was blwong on their face. My mother was convinced it was a ghost (my grandfather in particular) Then I pointed out that it was one of the monitors (or a part of the computer - dont know the name). She was disappointed, she wants to have an encounter with a ghost/spirit. I should have just let her keep on thinkin she was.

Posted: 9/29/04 at 2:15pm

Oh, my goodness...the ghost at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse....

I worked for their summer stock company, The Landmark Theatre Wing, for two summers during my college years in Syracuse, ('84 and '85)...those shows didn't perform on the stage, but performed in the upper balcony lobby. Can't say I ever encountered the ghost myself, but I had a couple of tech friends who swore it was very spooky late at night doing late night tech stuff up there.

Fond memory...thanks.

[AbsolutKnight]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 2:52pm

Hi all my first time posting...

I went to Clarkson University in upstate NY. I helped run the theatre group there. I dont think the place was haunted, but Wes Craven was a professor at the university. This is supposedly where he wrote Nightmare on Elmstreet and Children under the stairs. The building that the theatre is in, is on Elm Street in Potsdam NY, and so is the now frat house that children under the stairs is based on.

Becuase we had access to the building we used to take people into the basement becuase that is the basement that nightmare on elm street is based on. It was pretty scary down there, I wouldnt go alone. We used it as kind of a freshmen initiation into the theatre company.

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 6:31pm

eggshorton.....what shows did you work on there? Because my father used to direct the summer stock shows and you may have worked with him.

[cutiepie0882]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 6:44pm

I have two theatre ghost stories, one a story I heard and one a personal experience.
Story I heard: Well, we've all heard the legend of the Scottish play. Well, it was new to one actor in this show. He was telling everyone backstage about the legend except he always called it Macbeth never the Scottish play and the scene going on stage was a man "killing himself". Well, this scene had a real gun but it was never really loaded, it was constantly checked by everyone in the cast to make sure there wasn't a bullet in it. The man doing the scene checked it right before he went on stage and it was empty. However, the same time that actor said Macbeth back stage, the guy on stage shot himself with the "empty gun", the man on stage wasn't able to walk off at the blackout.
My own personal experience: Well, at the theatre I'm working at, my current job is as an ASM or Assistant Stage Manager.Well, I've heard stories of a ghost who lives in our theatre Gabby the Garbeau's ghost. Well, I never believed it, it's just a joke, right? Well, on preview night of our show, we have a fog machine that I have to work from backstage and sometimes, the light goes out on the machine indicating that it was overheated and couldn't be used. So, I didn't touch the button at all, I knew that would just make things worse for the machine if I did. But the actor on stage claims he felt fog on his face the scene I couldn't work the fog machine for. Creepy huh?

[wickedfan]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 10:02pm

Well, not a ghost story in theatres, but my house could be haunted. i would spend a day watching t.v. with the door closed and all of a sudden the door would just open all the way. Once our computer just turned on randomly and also our doors have closed shut many a time with no one there. Also creepy.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 10:05pm

not to mention on the second floor, when we're usually in the kitchen or something, we'll hear footsteps and just yesterday in the room next to the one our computer is in, i heard a television being turned on and off. I was the only one awake, so I knew there was no one there.

[musicalmjk]

Posted: 9/29/04 at 10:13pm

what show was going on when this happened?

Posted: 9/30/04 at 1:30am

Carl:

Woo...asking me to reach way back in my memory, aren't you...

Let's see:

First Summer:
Smokey in Damn Yankees, (directed by Brent Wagner from SU right before he took off to create the U. of Michigan musical theatre program...(likely not your dad)(grin))
Herman in Most Happy Fella, (and I'll be damned if I remember who directed)
and the only non-dancing Tommy Djilas on record in the Music Man...(ditto)

Second Summer:
The Nazi Tenor, (Tomorrow Belongs to me...ja), in Cabaret (same man who directed MHF the summer before)
and Biff Baker in 1940's Radio Hour, (I may have swapped summers in my mind on Music Man and 1940's Radio Hour....I've gotten older, you know...the mind goes...oh, and 1940's Radio Hour and Music Man were also directed by the same man, (not the same man who directed Cabaret and MHF...a different same man....)

Any of those your pop?

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 9/30/04 at 2:22am

well i dont know if this theatre is haunted or not it's more of a bat story. we were in the middle of performing titanic the song godspeed and a group of bats came flying down from the attic and flew across into the audience and back up to the stage..heard a couple screams from the audience. it was pretty crazy! this theatre is known for this happening sometimes i guess alot of bats live up in the attic!