CuriousIdent
Not yet SO old Great Old One
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2004
- Messages
- 1,510
- Location
- Warwickshire, England.
For the past 15+ years I have been involved on and off with a local amateur theatre group, complete with late 1960s purpose built theatre. I say on and off because I was away for a decade between work commitments and cancer treatment. I’m back now.
My other half has recently started working as a volunteer stage manager, there. Whilst I've returned as a punter a few times, like I say, it's been a decade since I last trod the boards there, and since she's started becoming more involved and responsible for the place (opening/locking up etc) she's started noticing a few creepy things which in truth I'd kind of forgotten about in my years away.
It's always been inferred that the place is haunted. And while admittedly it is difficult to give absolute credence to such notions in an environment which is, after all, prone to drama and histrionics there still remains a level of common believability in so many people having experienced something vaguely creepy over a number of years.
Purpose built theatres are (in my opinion) inherently creepy places.
Mostly without any form of natural light.
Often somewhat jerry-rigged electrically.
Full of audible hums and other odd noises in the background, largely because of that.
Places where sound often echoes and travels in unusual ways.
And of course places designed to create fakery as part of their very remit.
And I mean a theatre ghost just sounds such a brilliant notion doesn't it? All part of the drama, the history, the folklore of the place.
But there does seem to be enough people I've spoken to across the years who have experienced something. Felt, heard or seen *something* they couldn’t explain. Enough to make me consider that there might at least be something in it.
Common experiences have included the following:
1) The women's toilets for audience members is located downstairs, near the foyer and entrance to the theatre. The door to these loos is on a pneumatic hinge. A common customer complaint is that it's actually quite heavy to open if you happen to be elderly (and many of our regulars are). But from time to time that door has a habit of randomly flinging itself open.
Multiple theatre managers have had it looked at. The whole mechanism has been replaced more than once. But this seems to persist.
Sometimes it springs open. Sometimes it slams shut.
The taps in these loos also have a habit of turning themselves on of their own accord and cubicle toilets flushing of their own accord as well. As a result every once in a while you get a small amount of flooding in there, which has to be sorted out.
Now, to be fair, this is the Victorian/Edwardian end of town. The current building is from the 60s, with the site having been renovated twice from fire damage in the 1950s and 1960s. But the plumbing and sewers in this end of town are kind of ancient. Much of this could plausibly be explained by random water pressure fluctuations from ageing infrastructure.
That said on more than one occasion that I know of in the past 15+ years a cast member has used those toilets during a Sunday afternoon or a late evening rehearsal, when nobody else is on that floor of the theatre and while using a cubicle heard the door open and somebody open the cubicle next door. Including being certain that they’ve heard the latch being used. Certainly enough for them to believe that somebody had come in, and tried to and strike up a conversation.
They've started talking away, assuming it to be another cast member, only to get no answer. And upon exiting the cubicle they find the stall next door to be completely empty as they go to wash their hands.
Couple that with lights that have a tendency to go out *while* you're using the cubicle (again, I cannot claim that our electrics are *great* but they are serviced relatively regularly) and some of our number just won't use those toilets unless they absolutely have to.
My other half has recently started working as a volunteer stage manager, there. Whilst I've returned as a punter a few times, like I say, it's been a decade since I last trod the boards there, and since she's started becoming more involved and responsible for the place (opening/locking up etc) she's started noticing a few creepy things which in truth I'd kind of forgotten about in my years away.
It's always been inferred that the place is haunted. And while admittedly it is difficult to give absolute credence to such notions in an environment which is, after all, prone to drama and histrionics there still remains a level of common believability in so many people having experienced something vaguely creepy over a number of years.
Purpose built theatres are (in my opinion) inherently creepy places.
Mostly without any form of natural light.
Often somewhat jerry-rigged electrically.
Full of audible hums and other odd noises in the background, largely because of that.
Places where sound often echoes and travels in unusual ways.
And of course places designed to create fakery as part of their very remit.
And I mean a theatre ghost just sounds such a brilliant notion doesn't it? All part of the drama, the history, the folklore of the place.
But there does seem to be enough people I've spoken to across the years who have experienced something. Felt, heard or seen *something* they couldn’t explain. Enough to make me consider that there might at least be something in it.
Common experiences have included the following:
1) The women's toilets for audience members is located downstairs, near the foyer and entrance to the theatre. The door to these loos is on a pneumatic hinge. A common customer complaint is that it's actually quite heavy to open if you happen to be elderly (and many of our regulars are). But from time to time that door has a habit of randomly flinging itself open.
Multiple theatre managers have had it looked at. The whole mechanism has been replaced more than once. But this seems to persist.
Sometimes it springs open. Sometimes it slams shut.
The taps in these loos also have a habit of turning themselves on of their own accord and cubicle toilets flushing of their own accord as well. As a result every once in a while you get a small amount of flooding in there, which has to be sorted out.
Now, to be fair, this is the Victorian/Edwardian end of town. The current building is from the 60s, with the site having been renovated twice from fire damage in the 1950s and 1960s. But the plumbing and sewers in this end of town are kind of ancient. Much of this could plausibly be explained by random water pressure fluctuations from ageing infrastructure.
That said on more than one occasion that I know of in the past 15+ years a cast member has used those toilets during a Sunday afternoon or a late evening rehearsal, when nobody else is on that floor of the theatre and while using a cubicle heard the door open and somebody open the cubicle next door. Including being certain that they’ve heard the latch being used. Certainly enough for them to believe that somebody had come in, and tried to and strike up a conversation.
They've started talking away, assuming it to be another cast member, only to get no answer. And upon exiting the cubicle they find the stall next door to be completely empty as they go to wash their hands.
Couple that with lights that have a tendency to go out *while* you're using the cubicle (again, I cannot claim that our electrics are *great* but they are serviced relatively regularly) and some of our number just won't use those toilets unless they absolutely have to.
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