Theater+Hauntings


 * Page created by:** Michele Linn ( Wiki Team 4)

Indiana's Haunted Theaters
Besides the historical, hello, and nostalgic feel of Indiana's aging movie theater's, one can delve a bit deeper and discover other facets to these unique landmarks. Do you believe in ghosts? Does the thought of apparitions tapping you on the shoulder make your hair stand up? Two historical theater's in Northern Indiana, (The Elkhart Civic Theater and the Goshen College Theater), may be home to unwanted ghostly actors or stagehands lingering on and off stage.


 * Read the articles below to find out about these theater hauntings.**

Elkhart Civic Theater-Bristol Opera House Hauntings
Probably not, but it never hurts to be on the safe side.That's the feeling of John Jay Shoup, artistic/technical director of [|Elkhart Civic Theater], located in the Bristol Opera House.Halloween is a favorite time for all manner of media to focus on the 123-year-old opera house in search of other-worldly phenomenon."You take it for what it is," said Shoup, on a break from set construction for the next ECT show, "Inspecting Carol." "They say that no theater is built without a ghost to go with it," Shoup noted. "We've had one as long as I can remember, but recently we've discovered a few more." The "one" is known to all who've participated, on stage or off, in an ECT production. Most call him Percy, but John takes a more formal tack."A couple of years ago a local TV station did a number of segments at Halloween," he recalled. "They came out here and brought a psychic and a witch ... and their Ouija board."It was because of the last that Shoup discovered Percy preferred to be addressed by the actor/director as Percival, a distinction he is careful to maintain.The mystical game board also introduced at least four other entities: Beth, a little girl thought to look through the curtains on stage left; Helen, a middle-aged woman who is John's protector in the building (in case Percy gets ... angry); Frank and Tad. The last two were named but have never made contact.Percival is the one real person who actually lived in the building. "I heard he lived in Bristol with his family," Shoup said. "His house burned down and the owner of the opera house let them stay here until they had another place to live." Shoup doesn't know who owned the opera house then."Percival was a handyman and liked to tinker, so when tools are missing for a while or power won't work, we know it's him," he said. "We also think he likes the right aisle ... and to hang out in the women's dressing room."Several ghost-hunting groups have checked out the opera house. One, from Fort Wayne, came equipped with special cameras that developed something spooky."They all took the same shots at the same time and they all got the same orbs (spots of light) in the picture," Shoup reported. "I was talking to the group, and there was an orb on my chest."Probably because he puts in long hours at the opera house, Shoup has had more "up close and personal" connections with its ghosts, although he is by no means the only one.He recalled a lost billfold that required him to get a new driver's license and photo ID prior to a trip. When he returned, he found his billfold on the arm of a seat in the front row. An hour later, a flashlight flew off the director's table and hit the floor.Another night, "I was working on sets for 'Secret Garden.'" Shoup said. "The opera house was popping and creaking. I said 'Look, I have to be here until 11 p.m. Let me work and I'll be out by then.' The noises stopped. Then it was 11 p.m. and I was still working and the noises began again. I put down my screwdriver and left."Another ghost, not named, reportedly hangs out by the stage left paint room and touches people on their way around that upstage corner.Even during a production, the spirits don't rest. "I was doing a scene with Wayne in 'Lend Me a Tenor,'" Shoup recalled, referring to the late Wayne Overmyer. "Something definitely grabbed me and pulled me to the right."Rehearsing the annual holiday review one evening, several cast members on stage saw a dark figure standing in the last row. A search found nothing.Working on costumes in the second floor library, the seamstress got up to leave, and the machine began running again. Shadows, figures and lights flickering and flashing are only a few of the experiences cast and crew members have reported seeing or feeling.A reason for the increased "activity" was explained to Shoup."We were told the opera house has a portal in the subbasement that allows spirits to come in. The energy and excitement in the building attracts them," he said.Whatever the reason, life at the Bristol Opera House is never dull.And if you're the last one out of the building at night, Shoup said, don't forget to tell them all goodnight. || Published: Monday, October 30, 2006 -- The Truth, A1 Last updated: 10/29/2006 10:53:37 PMBy [|Marcia Fulmer]
 * Bristol, Indiana -- Do you believe in ghosts?
 * Taken from the Elkhart Truth at [|etruth.com] ||

There are also several reports of hauntings in UK theatres. The UK, having several historic theatres is perhaps even more prone to reports of hauntings than the US. The [|West End] is the site of most reported hauntings, The Aldwich Theatre, for example has long had reports of strange fragrances of different flowers, where as at the Fortune Theatre, a woman dressed all in black is often seen in various areas of the theatre, often in boxes.

Goshen College Theater Hauntings
//Alice makes herself known with noises// Published: Monday, October 30, 2006 -- The Truth, A1 Last updated: 10/29/2006 10:53:34 PM By [|Marcia Fulmer] Entertainment Editor Taken from the [|Elkhart Truth] A theater doesn't have to be a historic structure to be a ghostly home. In fact, the Goshen College Umble Center, built in 1978, is less than 30 years old years old and its ghost is -- not alive but definitely well. According to Doug Liechty Caskey, chairman of the theater department, the ghost is a female and her name is Alice. She is the grandmother of longtime GC professor Roy Umble. The center is named for Alice's husband, John S. Umble, and both their photos hang in the building. "Alice is a benevolent spirit," Caskey said. "I don't know anyone who has actually seen her, but she makes herself known by sounds -- up high in the fly loft or in the catwalk." The director recalls one evening after a dress rehearsal of a large cast show. Students were spread around the theater, up high and down low, listening to him give notes on the performance. "We all heard a noise in the catwalk area," Caskey said. "Then the lights took a funny dip. I asked who was in the light booth. There was nobody." He recalled with a laugh that those sitting up high in the auditorium quickly scrambled to lower seats when he said it was Alice. "Our tech director, Jerry Peters, is a skeptic," Caskey said. "So he'll find a logical answer for the light flickers, but he has no answer for the sound." Like Elkhart Civic Theatre artistic director John Jay Shoup, who also attended GC in the early days of the Umble Center, Caskey believes no theater is built without a ghost to go with it. And, even though safety standards require a light to be left burning on stage when no one is in the building, it is not a coincidence that it is commonly called a "ghost light." "Students can take the scientific approach," he said. 'Or, like me, believe that there is another spirit dimension around us which I do not associate with things that are evil or 'out to get us."
 * GC theater has its own ghost**


 * Other Theater hauntings in Indiana:**

Review the links below for other Indiana's haunted theaters.

http://www.prairieghosts.com/rivoli.html http://www.rivolitheatre.org/

The Rivoli Theater of Indianapolis

http://www.arts-info.co.uk/pages/ht_northamerica.asp http://www.indianarep.com/About/Location.asp

Indiana Repertory Theater of Indianapolis

http://www.arts-info.co.uk/pages/ht_northamerica.asp http://www.fwembassytheatre.org/aboutus.htm

The Embassy (Emboyd) Theater in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Theater Online Ticket Information = http://bit.ly/ZzGk2H

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