Burlesque Haunts: Behind the Curtain at the Mauch Chunk Opera House
by: Femme Vivre LaRouge
Reports of apparitions and applause, spectral piano playing, whistling, and much more abound at the old opera house in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. For the past two years Jim Thorpe Burlesque, also known as Dragontown Burlesque, has held the Jim Thorpe Burlesque Festival at the historic Mauch Chunk Opera House, and from what I hear, there’s an audience around before the crowd ever arrives. Jacqueline Hyde, performer and Production Manager of Dragontown Burlesque, was kind enough to share her chilling personal experiences with me. For starters, she felt hot and cold spots in the upstairs balcony, and the sensation of ‘walking through webs.’ Then, backstage she continued to sense cold spots in the space and began to hear ethereal voices and movement near her. But the strangest interaction came the next day when Jacqueline was teaching a class on the stage. “I was facing the curtains and I saw as though someone was putting their hand on the curtain and running it up and down the curtain.” Although no one was visible behind the curtains, and there was no breeze to stir them, the movement continued, going up just as high as arm’s reach, and down to a similar point at the bottom of the curtain. Rather than cancel class, Jacqueline chose to address the entity feeling up the curtain: “When I asked it to stop because it was being disruptive the curtain went back to normal instantly.”
Nestled beautifully amongst the mountains of Pennsylvania, Jim Thorpe is a picturesque Victorian village of around 5,000. Voted one of America’s “Top 10 Coolest Small Towns,” the borough was originally named Mauch Chunk, meaning Bear Mountain. The opera house was built in the early 1880s, to accommodate both the town hall, and a farmer’s market. Becoming a fixture on the vaudeville circuit, the opera house hosted big-name performers such as Mae West, W.C. Fields, Al Jolson, and John Phillips Sousa. Then, in 1927, the venue was converted to a motion picture house, operating in that capacity until 1959. Serving as a common warehouse for many years, the opera house was rescued by the Mauch Chunk Historical Society in the mid-seventies and restored to its original glory. Now the opera house is in constant use for live performances and events.
The Jim Thorpe Burlesque Festival, produced by Brooke Au Buchon (aka Madame Corsetiere), has contributed to the preservation of The Mauch Chunk Opera House with the shows held there. Although the festival will be moving to a larger venue next year, Mrs. Au Buchon is also the Vice President of the Mauch Chunk Historical Society. As she has spent a great deal of time in the theatre, she had a few spooky stories of her own to share. While inspecting the seating prior to the 2011 festival, Brooke decided to take a peek in the old projection room. “It was brightly lit from a high window that faces the street, and contained nothing but an old desk and dusty scraps of wood and wire. As I turned to close the door behind me, the shadow of a person passed across the floor, as though someone had walked in front of the window. The window is far too high to reflect traffic from the street, and the top of the nearest tree is a full story down.” Dragontown Burlesque is named after Madame Corsetiere’s own business, Dragontown Corsets, and they also host an annual Halloween show, Boolesque. In 2010, while preparing for the show, Au Buchon went to wash her hands after moving some beer kegs. Alone in the venue, she made her way through the dimly lit theatre to the ladies’ room. “There are two doors you must pass through to get in, and they create a small vestibule between them. I entered the first door, and it closed behind me. I held the second door open, and fumbled for the light switch in complete blackness. Before I could find it, there was a very loud noise from the back right-hand corner of the room. It was the unmistakable sound of heavy furniture being dragged across the floor. However, there is no furniture in the room at all, and the area the sound came from is only occupied by a toilet cubicle. In fright, I turned back, still in darkness, and tried to open the first door. I couldn’t. It felt like someone was holding it closed, as I would pull and the door would crack open slightly under my weight, and then slam shut again. This only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Whoever was holding the door did finally let go, and I practically fell into the lobby.”
Many others have had otherworldly encounters at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, and the site has been investigated by several paranormal societies. One such group, the Blue Mountain Paranormal Society, invited the public to join their investigations, thereby raising money for the historic venue. The group detected shadows and phantom whistling, temperature fluctuations, and electromagnetic field changes. Investigator Beth Dennis responded to a tingling sensation by pointing her camera into the dark and filming where she could see nothing. She states, “The next day when I reviewed the video, I saw the outline of a gentleman wearing a hat.”
Another organization that has examined the opera house is NEPA Paranormal, whose medium, Lauri Moore, came into contact with the ghost of an usher at the opera house. He seems to have been concerned about her safety as she navigated the balcony area in the dark. Although the usher was kind to Lauri, demonstrating an unearthly loyalty to his job, he did chide her for being late. The word ‘tardy’ was caught on the group’s Ovilus, or ghost box, a piece of equipment which amplifies vibrations so that they are audible to the human ear. When the NEPA team posed the question, “Who’s with us this evening?” the answer on both the EVP and Ovilus was ‘ghost.’
To listen to the EVPs obtained that night at the opera house, visit: http://www.nepaparanormal.com/page43.php
You can also listen to EVPs obtained by the Hazleton Paranormal Society: http://www.hazletonparanormal.com/mcoh.html and view videos from the investigation by A&E’s Psychic Kids and CT Paranormal Encounters And Research: http://www.cpeargroup.com/id103.html
Olive Thomas and the New Amsterdam Theatre
by: Femme Vivre LaRouge
In 1913, for his sixth annual production of The Follies, Florenz Ziegfeld moved the show to the extravagant New Amsterdam Theatre. The theatre’s Art Nouveau design, sweeping staircases, lush lounges, and large auditorium, plus fully-enclosed rooftop ‘garden theatre’ were a perfect fit for Ziegfeld’s decadent tastes. In its original days of grandeur, the playhouse was dubbed “House Beautiful” by The New York Times when it first opened in 1903. It was upon this stage that future film star, Olive Thomas, auditioned for and performed in The Follies of 1916. She also starred in the Midnight Frolic, a more risqué show that took place on the rooftop stage after hours.
The Frolic began in 1915 when Ziegfeld decided that he would rather continue to profit off of the after-show crowd than have them toddle off to another nightclub. The rooftop venue featured a glass dance floor that enticed patrons from the establishment below to sneak a peek up the dancers’ dresses. Although the Follies themselves were a couples function, the Frolic drew an almost exclusively male clientele. Chorus girls walked amongst the audience, dressed in costumes comprised mainly of balloons, which errant cigars eagerly popped. While the shows below served up a luscious palette of scantily costumed ladies, their decorum was always of utmost importance. On the rooftop, however, free and loose modernity roared its way into the twenties.
Featured in this advertisement for the Frolics, painted by popular artist Harrison Fisher, is a wanton Olive smoking a cigarette, with her hair falling loosely about her and her gown slipping off her shoulders. While a little artistic license was taken in depicting Olive as a redhead rather than a brunette, the ‘anything goes’ atmosphere of the rooftop garden is made pretty clear. It seems that stage door Johnnies often bought their jollies with expensive gifts for the rooftop chorines.
Harrison Fisher’s models, much like Charles Dana Gibson’s and Howard Chandler Christy’s, were known as Fisher Girls. In fact, Olive also ranks among the Christy Girls, and it was a competition held by Christy in 1914 that put Olive on the road to stardom. The competition, which she won, was to find “The Most Beautiful Girl in New York City.” It led to Olive’s modeling for several successful artists and catching the eye of the foremost aficionado of beautiful girls, The Great Ziegfeld. According to Mary Pickford (Olive’s future sister-in-law), “The girl had the loveliest violet-blue eyes I have ever seen. They were fringed with long dark lashes that seemed darker because of the delicate translucent pallor of her skin.”
Born Oliva R. Duffy in 1894, Olive married her first husband, Bernard Thomas, at the age of 16. After a couple of years, however, she left Pennsylvania and her husband for the bright lights of New York City. After that, Ollie’s life was a fast affair, and sadly, short. She divorced her husband and became one of Ziegfeld’s many impressive mistresses. The Alberto Vargas painting below, which she posed for shortly before her death hung in Ziegfeld’s New Amsterdam office for many a year, much to his current wife’s displeasure. The painting, ‘Memories of Olive,’ does not depict the innocent ingénue that the Hollywood press had been serving up, but rather a return to Ollie’s wilder image as a Frolic dancer. In late 1916 Olive had been signed to Triangle film studio and in 1919 she was signed by David O. Selznick for $2,500 per week. She made over twenty pictures and her last film, 1920’s ‘The Flapper,’ was the first film to use the term flapper.
With Olive’s move to tinsel town came love and a second marriage, to Jack Pickford, Hollywood heartthrob and brother of leading lady Mary Pickford. The couple eloped to New Jersey in October of 1916 and Ollie in a later interview for ‘Motion Picture’ magazine, quoted “Jack . . . is a beautiful dancer. He danced his way into my heart. We knew each other for eight months before our marriage, and most of that time we gave to dancing. We got along so well on the dance floor that we just naturally decided that we would be able to get along together for the remainder of our lives.” And so they did, although for Olive, that was to be just shy of four years, and the relationship was certainly filled with excitement. By all accounts, their marriage was a passionate and volatile one, full of fighting and making up, interspersed with expensive gifts, wild parties, and reckless driving.
The couple endured long separations due to their respective film careers and the unfortunate interruption of World War I. Jack, a Canadian, decided to join the U.S. Navy rather than be drafted into Canadian service, but he managed to avoid any threat of danger by using his film star status to recruit amateur actresses into service for his superiors. This practice eventually landed him a dishonorable discharge, which likely didn’t bother him one bit.
And so, in September of 1920, Olive and Jack set out to Paris to celebrate a second honeymoon after their time apart. Lamentably, a raucous night out on the town brought an untimely end to the rendezvous, and Olive’s life. At this point in the story, things get a little fuzzy and the truth of what really happened that September 6 will never be known. The original doctor’s report and initial press reports do not match later accounts, nor did Jack’s testimony about the event quite add up. America was awash with theories as to Olive’s demise- that she had been indulging in drug use (as did her husband), that she had committed suicide upon finding out that Jack had been stepping out on her, that Jack had killed her for her insurance money, that it was simply an accident due to her drunken state and lack of familiarity with French labels… this list went on and on. What everyone did know for sure was that Olive died from ingesting mercury bichloride, a then-common, topical treatment for syphilis. Reports indicate that she was searching for something to soothe her headache and help her sleep when her hand alighted on the fatal blue bottle.
Why she swallowed such a large dose, however, remains a mystery. Although Jack woke and quickly forced her to swallow raw eggs in an attempt to induce vomiting and the first doctor on the scene pumped her stomach several times, she could not be saved. After days of pain, paralysis, and blindness, slipping in and out of consciousness, Olive was pronounced dead at the American Hospital of Neuilly. Her body, and her spirit with it, was transported back to the states for burial. But her spirit would not rest; instead, she returned to the scene of her first showbiz success, the New Amsterdam Theatre. In short order, patrons of the theatre began to sight her specter in its various lounges, as well as backstage.
Although the once-magnificent theatre became a movie house after the stock market crash of 1929 and eventually fell into disuse, and disrepair, Olive never left it. One of her most notable appearances came in 1952 when a caretaker who had previously been a Follies crewmember saw her, twice, and recognized her as the former Follies filly he had once adored. The shade generally shows up dressed in her beaded Follies costume, wearing a gold sash with her name on it- a demand that she not be forgotten. Finally, in 1993 Disney purchased the New Amsterdam for $29 million and began renovations, which delighted Olive’s apparition, and scared the daylights out of at least one night watchman.
She has since shown herself to multiple members of the cast and crew, sometimes whispering flirtatiously and always carrying with her the damnable blue bottle. She has been known to turn out lights and shake sets and sometimes floats about on the rooftop stage. Whenever the last living Ziegfeld girls would pay a visit, she always managed to make an appearance as well. If you attend a performance of Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam theatre, you might also get to see Olive.
For more information on the Olive Thomas haunting, see Tim Ogden’s book, ‘Haunted Theatres: Playhouse Phantoms, Opera House Horrors, and Backstage Banshees. A documentary about Olive is also available, ‘Olive Thomas: Everybody’s Sweetheart.’
Burlesque Haunts: Vegas
It’s June, which means tons of burlesque performers, producers, and fans, are heading to Las Vegas! In honor of Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend, we present to you- Burlesque Haunts: The Vegas Edition!
Bugsy Siegel’s Fated Flamingo Hotel and Casino
Bugsy Siegel
In a city where change is the only constant, the Flamingo has lasted longer than most Las Vegas establishments can ever dream. It has now seen several owners, but the original was the notorious gangster, Bugsy Siegel, in 1946. The project cost three times its preliminary estimate, and also cost Bugsy his life. Construction was halted several times due to battles over building permits and the post-war lack of resources. While Mafia men were inititally ecstatic to expand their gambling empires, the mounting costs and Bugsy’s shady dealings while trying to get the job done turned them sour. During the building of The Flamingo not only was the Mafia becoming displeased with Mr. Siegel, a successful career hooligan and rumored lover of the likes of Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe, but J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI were closing in on him as well. Knowing full well that mob bosses were becoming impatient with Siegel, Hoover only fueled the fire by using Walter Winchell to plant rumors about Siegel’s money mishandling. It all came to a head in the summer of 1947, just six months after the grand opening of Bugsy’s beloved Flamingo.
Many guests at the original hotel, and even after extensive remodeling of the resort, insist that Bugsy still revisits his pet project. Numerous patrons have sighted Siegel’s ghost in his fouth floor Presidential Suite. In true gangster fashion, this was no typical suite. The walls were reinforced with naval steel, the windows bulletproof, and the room came complete with gun portals and a dead-end stairway and hall meant to confound would-be assasins. Furthermore, the room had only one entrance but no less than five exits, including trap doors, secret passageways, hidden stairwells, and even a secret elevator. Unfortunately, though, none of these devices helped him when he was gunned down in his moll’s Beverly Hills home.
Visitors at the Presidential Suite have often seen an apparition of Bugsy in the room, usually lounging by the pool table or milling around in his pistachio green bathroom. On quiet evenings Bugsy has been known to visit the pool and has been sighted at the wedding chapel, as well as the rose garden, near his own historical monument.
While Bugsy Siegel’s afterlife activity is more pronounced than most, Las Vegas is host to many specters. Some say that they have seen Houdini haunting The Plaza’s showroom and others have spotted the white-sequined figure of Elvis both at the Las Vegas Hilton and the old RCA recording building, where he has been known to respond to any mention of his name. Liberace has been sighted in his restaurant, Carluccio’s, overseeing the staff, and one employee even encountered the reflection of a bedazzling, floating cape while cleaning a large mirror! The employee, Oscar Ortiz, stated that Liberace is “a good ghost who’s watching to make sure his place is clean.” Some customers at Whiskey Pete’s have sensed Clyde Barrow hanging about near the display that contains the car in which he and Bonnie Parker met their demise. Yet, of all the famous phantoms in Vegas, the ghost we would probably all like to encounter the most is Whiskey Pete himself, an old miner, bootlegger, and filling station owner who sometimes fills up customers’ cars while they gamble!
Burlesque Haunts: Austin
by: Femme Vivre LaRouge
If you’re planning on heading down to Austin for the Texas Burlesque Festival this month (which we recommend) you may want to consider staying at The Driskill hotel for some extra kicks. Fans of all things vintage just might have an intimate encounter with history via one of the numerous ghosts known to haunt The Driskill. A “landmark of legendary Texas hospitality,” the place is so lavish and lush that some guests choose never to check out.
The Driskill was built by wealthy cattle baron Colonel Jesse Lincoln Driskill. Its architectural splendor was matched by its advanced technological luxuries and was the first hotel south or west of St. Louis to boast electric lighting. The very first long-distance call ever placed in the city of Austin was from the lobby of the Driskill, and the hydraulic elevator and elaborate bell system that enabled guests to ring for room service made it a luxurious place to stay in 1886. Thanks to the Austin Heritage Society and many concerned citizens, the structure was saved from the wrecking ball and remains not only a State Historic Landmark, but a luxurious place of lodging to this day.
Ever important to Austin’s social scene, the hotel is located right on the infamous 6th street, and during Prohibition it housed the finest hideaway in all of Austin. The Driskill has been dubbed ‘the living room for Texas politics’ and indeed, not only have the politically powerful gone there to meet and drink, but the Texas Senate convened at the hotel for about a year during the construction of the State Capitol. Rumor has it that the Texas Rangers even hatched the plan that would be the demise of Bonnie and Clyde while sitting in a suite at The Driskill. It’s also considered by many to be Austin’s most haunted building as well as the most haunted hotel in the state of Texas.
Due to a tragic accident on the stairs, the first resident ghost of the hotel arrived in 1887 while the Texas Senate was in session. The daughter of a senator, the little girl was back within the week and has never quit playing and bouncing her ball in the 1st floor lobby and the 2nd floor ladies’ room. The Driskill is still home to its namesake, Colonel Driskill, as well, whose face you can gaze upon in the lobby thanks to a portrait painted in 1890. Don’t worry, he won’t be showing his face any other way, although if you smell a cigar and no one’s smoking or an unseen force becomes interested in your bathroom lights, he may be nearby.
But don’t get Colonel Driskill confused with Colonel Peter Lawless, who also haunts the hotel. A resident of the Driskill hotel for around 31 years, the retired railroad man stayed on thereafter and has been seen by several, usually checking his railroad watch while waiting for the elevator. A woman driving a bus recently had to slam on her brakes at the intersection of 6th street and Brazos when a man wearing “old time clothing and carrying a watch on a chain” appeared in front of the bus, only to disappear again. If you happen to see him, he’ll probably just turn and walk off through a wall, although hauntedtexas.com notes that he is an unusual spirit as he will look at and acknowledge the living.
There is one room of the Driskill that has been known to steam up as an invisible roommate takes an imaginary shower and you may even find some scribbles on your notepad. Guests in another room have had their luggage rearranged while they slept and once a cheeky phantom decided to choose Annie Lennox’s outfit for the evening while she was showering. In a friendly fashion, the alternate outfit was hung neatly in the closet. The same ghost has a reputation as a ladies’ man and has been known to make advances on single ladies.
The most mystifying room, though, is 525, which went unused for years. Legend has it that two brides, 20 years apart, had committed suicide in the bathroom, but whatever the reason, the bathroom door was bricked up until 1998 when renovations brought about a smattering of paranormal activity. The paint peeled from the walls, the air conditioning defied science, and most alarming, the tub turned out to be full of water with seemingly no way of it getting in there.
The ghosts of The Driskill really seem to be a kindly bunch and for some of them, the party just never ended. Banquet manager Arthur Cicchese once heard inebriated laughter erupting from the elevators at 6am and then a whole group laughing around him in the hall after the elevators had both opened, although none of the merrymakers was visible. As the author of Ghost Stories of Texas, Jo-Anne Christensen, puts it, the Driskill embodies “the true ‘spirit’ of southern hospitality.”
If you still haven’t had your fill of ghosties, head on over to The Tavern, rumored to have been a speakeasy and brothel during Prohibition. Located on West 12th Street and Lamar, The Tavern is home to ‘Emily’ who is enjoys the peaceful mornings at the bar and has been known to change channels on the television and occasionally break a glass. The staff doesn’t seem to mind, though- they’ve named a liquor cabinet after her! Emily has also been seen standing in the window with a little girl who may or may not have been her daughter, and staring out across the road, to the gas station.
Or, you could just camp out at the Capitol hoping to see the mysterious lady in the red dress. Whatever your itinerary looks like, April in Austin is sure to be spectacular, and maybe even a bit spooky.
Burlesque Haunts: Atlanta
Founded in 1837, the great city of Atlanta has had plenty of time to collect ghosts. There are a number of ghost tours offered, including one on segway! Or, you can simply go out to the theatre or the club in hopes of having a ghostly encounter.
New American Shakespeare Tavern
The New American Shakespeare Tavern is home to The Atlanta Shakespeare Company, which holds the distinction of being the first American company ever to perform upon the stage of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre in London. The Shakespeare Tavern, where the troupe took up residence in 1990, is a beautiful theatre and English pub, with a full menu to match. The venue produces a variety of historical shows, including the vaudeville-inspired farce, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Salome, whose Dance of the Seven Veils created a craze that was very influential to the earliest days of modern dance and burlesque as we know it. Although the Tavern itself is not old, perhaps the span of history that passes across its stage draws its ghostly visitors. Employees, performers, and patrons of the tavern have all witnessed voices and shadows without a source. Some have even seen apparitions, such as a dark figure that likes to stroll along the stage’s catwalk at night and a female entity that prefers the women’s dressing room and has a tendency to move things around to suit her liking. There are also reports of flickering lights, a foreboding, clammy upstairs room, and the sighting of an old man dressed in 19th century clothing. The most eerie incident, though, happened in 1993, during the tavern’s production of Henry IV. While in his dressing room, preparing for the show, the actor playing Falstaff was gravely surprised to see a little boy in a blue velvet suit standing beside his dressing table.
Fox Theater
Atlanta’s Fox Theatre is a magnificent historic structure, built for the Shriners in the early 1920s and originally named the Yaarab Temple Mosque. To generate funding for its costly construction, the building doubled as a luxurious movie palace under the supervision of mogul William Fox. A lavish and well-maintained venue, it would cost over $300,000,000 to build today. It did fall on hard times in the 1970s, but the Rolling Stones actually helped to save the building from demolition. Although the Fox’s so-called ‘phantom of the opera’ is really the live-in caretaker and resident guru, there have been multiple sightings of a confederate soldier pacing the halls.
The Masquerade, a nightclub and venue operating in Atlanta since 1989, also has a long history, and not all of it’s pretty. Built in the early 1900s, the building originally served as a mill and saw the accidental deaths of many young women working there under terrible conditions. The building has also suffered structural collapses and fires over the years. After hours the back stairs are sometimes filled with strange noises, phantom screams, and footsteps; sometimes heavy amplifiers are pushed over by phantom hands, as well. A tall, dark man has been spotted walking around the club and there are rumors that a vampire even inhabits the building. Others claim that vampires merely frequent the club, and some (like the Atlanta Vampire Alliance) just like to hold meetings there. The club is divided into three floors- bands perform on the Heaven level, customers lounge in Purgatory, the mid-level, and the dance party rages on the lowest level, Hell. In the month of October there is also the addition of a horrific haunted ‘torture chamber’ behind the club.
If that isn’t enough of Atlanta’s ghostly nightlife, check out The Compound Night Club, former headstone factory and slaughter house. Although no apparitions have been sighted, The Atlanta Ghost Hunters were touched, kicked, scratched, and spoken to upon their investigation!
The lobby of the Majestic Theater
Burlesque Haunts : Dallas
Story: Femme Vivre LaRouge
For October’s edition of Burlesque Haunts, we wanted to share some local haunted theatres with you so that you might visit them in this the spookiest of seasons. Of Dallas’ many spirited sites, we’ve decided to feature The Majestic Theatre, Sons of Hermann Hall, and Lizard Lounge.
The Majestic Theatre, a Texas Historic Landmark and Vaudeville original, opened its doors for the first time in 1905, burned down in 1916, relocated, and then moved once again in 1921, to its current location at 1925 Elm. It boasts performances by the infamous Mae West and the magnificent Houdini. To keep up with the times, it eventually began to show movies as well, but always hosted live entertainers of the Cab Calloway caliber. Closed for nearly ten years, the theatre reopened in 1983, restored and renovated, to become the beautiful space which now houses a variety of presentations and performances. Several sites describe the theatre’s common ghostly occurrences of backdrops being moved by an invisible force, strange smells, and phone lines lighting up although they are not in use. Such phenomena have been attributed to the venue’s benefactor, Karl Hoblitzelle, if for no other reason than that he simply loved showbiz so much he did not wish to leave it behind.
For more information and a listing of upcoming shows, visit: www.liveatthemajestic.com
Another legendary local venue is the Sons of Hermann Hall, located at 3414 Elm and Exposition. Also a Texas Historic Landmark, the music hall was opened in 1911 by the Dallas chapter of The Sons of Hermann, “the nation’s oldest fraternal benefit society.” The order was named for a German tribesman and military leader who defied the Romans’ oppression of his people, successfully defeating three Roman legions in the year 9A.D. These battles are said to have been a decisive factor in Germany and the British Isles’ freedom from the Roman regime. The venue, voted Best Place to Take a Non-Texan by the Dallas Observer, has seen a great number of musicians over the years. Swing and blues dance lessons are a regular event, as well as The Smoke, Dallas’ longest running 60s mod dance party. Staff at the hall has witnessed a good deal of ghostly activity while carrying out their closing duties, but they’re not the only ones to experience phenomena. Phantom footsteps, a child’s laughter, doors opening and closing, and the sounds of someone bowling when the alley is empty are just a few examples. Paintings have also been known to spontaneously fall off the walls and the sounds of furniture being moved across the completely empty second floor are a common occurrence. Of the figureless voices that have been heard at the hall, only one has been identified; the original caretaker, Louie Bernardt, can still be heard yelling at kids to stop their horseplay, just as he did in life! Another interesting episode happened during the filming of a Walker, Texas Ranger episode, when some of the crew watched a couple dressed in the fashion of yesteryear walk through the hall and down a corridor, only to disappear. Furthermore, the Metroplex Paranormal Investigations team sponsored a ghost hunt at the Sons of Hermann in 2007 and ended up with almost fifty photographs of orbs that had not been visible to them during the tour.
Visit www.sonsofhermann.com to find out more about all there is to enjoy at Sons of Hermann Hall.
Perhaps the most famously haunted venue in Dallas is Lizard Lounge, known as The Church on Thursday and Sunday nights. This club/venue was originally called the Grand Crystal Palace Theatre and opened around the turn of the 20th century. Rumor has it that several workers were killed during the construction of the building and this may be where its haunted history began. Or, maybe it is the spirits of actors who took the stage in the club’s years as an ostentatious theatre. Serving up its current cocktail of primarily industrial and electronic culture since 1992, it is located in Dallas’ historic Deep Ellum, at 2424 Swiss Avenue. The venue also hosts a wide variety of events and acts, including local burlesque favorites, such as The Lollie Bombs. These days the main haunt is a man dressed all in black who is said to look a bit like Zorro sans the sword and dallies around in the audience area. There are more dramatic stories about the establishment’s days as a playhouse, in which one actress suffered a hair dryer being thrown at her head by an invisible hand, the light bulbs of her vanity simultaneously bursting for no discernable reason, and her iron melting into a puddle.
For a list of upcoming events see www.thelizardlounge.com
If you have any leads on burlesque haunts that we haven’t yet published, let us know! Happy haunting!
With summer travel season upon us, we decided it was the perfect time to start this Monthly Feature that we’ve had in our pockets for a while now. We will feature a new Burlesque or Pin-Up Haunt every month. Have a local legend of haunted theaters, celebrity burlesque ghosts, or the like? Shoot it over to editor@pincurlmag.com we’d love to hear from you!
Burlesque & Pin-Up Haunts
The Palace Theatre – Columbus, Ohio
By: Divertida Devotchka Photo: George Faerber
The Palace Theatre in Columbus, Ohio opened in 1926 and was originally a vaudeville house, the construction of which was personally overseen by Edward Albee, a well-known vaudeville impresario. According to the Palace Theatre’s website, from the 1930s through the 1950s, the theatre was the most active venue for live shows in the city of Columbus. Many of the biggest names of the era graced its stage, such as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Jack Benny, Glenn Miller, Harpo and Chico Marx, and last but certainly not least, both Mae West and Gypsy Rose Lee. In 1989, the theatre was purchased by the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts, known as CAPA, which also owns and operates several historic theaters in the city.
Internet research on this venue does reveal several anecdotal supernatural experiences there, but according to CAPA publicist Rolanda Copley, no one is aware of a haunting in their theatres. Some Columbus residents disagree with this assessment. Nellie Kampmann has done extensive research on paranormal activity in the Columbus area and her book, The Haunted History of Columbus, Ohio will be printed next fall by The History Press. Kampmann’s take on the theatre is quite different from that of their publicist.
“I’ve never been able to warm up to the place myself,” Kampmann said. “I am psychically sensitive, and there’s always been something about it that has felt very cold and unwelcoming to me. It didn’t surprise me when I found out that it had a reputation for being haunted.”
According to Kampmann, the theatre’s ghost made its first appearance at a reopening party after CAPA renovated the theater. “The festivities included a séance to contact Harry Thurston, the magician rival of guest of honor Harry Blackstone, Jr.’s father. Instead of reaching Thurston, something unexpected happened. One side of the medium’s face suddenly sagged, and she had difficulty speaking,” said Kampmann. “The ghost that she was channeling claimed to be the spirit of a stroke-ridden man who had died in the theater.” Some believe the man had been murdered, but no one is sure exactly what happened. It is said that many people experience a “suffocating presence” in the balcony where the man was reported to have died.
Kampmann said that the cleaning staff has also reported strange happenings. “They use a vacuum cleaner that straps on like a backpack in order to give them more mobility when cleaning the stairs. One day, one of the cleaners was vacuuming when the vacuum stopped,” Kampmann said. “She checked to see if maybe she had accidentally yanked the cord out of the socket. It was still plugged in. Then she checked the on/off switch and found that it had been turned to “off.” She flipped it back on and went back to vacuuming.” This same sequence happened again, and the cleaner turned the vacuum back on and continued working. “Five minutes later, the vacuum suddenly stopped again,” Kampmann said. “She looked around and decided that the theatre was clean enough!”
Want more burlesque haunts? Marilyn Monroe’s Ghost
With summer travel season upon us, we decided it was the perfect time to start this Monthly Feature that we’ve had in our pockets for a while now. We will feature a new Burlesque or Pin-Up Haunt every month. Have a local legend of haunted theaters, celebrity burlesque ghosts, or the like? Shoot it over to editor@pincurlmag.com we’d love to hear from you!
Burlesque & Pin-Up Haunts
The Ghost of Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood
The Roosevelt Hotel was made infamous in the late 1920’s as a mecca and safe haven for Hollywood stars and starlets. The first ever Academy Awards was hosted in its Blossom Room and Shirley Temple took her first tap dancing lesson on its stairway. Yet what is the reason that most tourist come to check in at the Roosevelt in the summer? A chance to see the ghost of Marilyn Monroe; who is said to appear the most during the summer months between her June 1st birthday and her August 5th death.
At the height of her fame, Marilyn resided in room 1200, a poolside suite, and the legend of her ghost at the hotel centers around a mirror that was in that room. The claims of seeing her apparition in that mirror were so prevalent, that the hotel could not accommodate all of the booking for room 1200, and decided to move the mirror to the lobby, where more hotel guests could get a good look. Miss Monroe isn’t the only ghost reported to still frequent the hotel; it is said Montgomery Clift (appeared in The Misfits with Monroe) also prefers to hotel to whatever is on “the other side” and still frequents his old room- room 928.
Oddly enough, the Roosevelt Hotel is not the only place sightings have occurred. There are two more locations that have much interest and intrigue for Marilyn fans and ghost hunters alike. Her Brentwood home, the only home she ever owned and the site of her overdose in 1962, is also said to be a hot spot for frequent visits by the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. The house is located on Helena Drive, but the current owners to not take kindly to strangers flocking to their residence. They have surrounded the property with a high fence, and do not take lightly to folks snooping around. Apparitions, mists, and shadows are the reports from the few who claim to have been allowed to investigate. There are also claims of passersby and tourists seeing apparitions of her appearing on the front porch as well.
The final claims are from visitors to her crypt at Westwood Village Memorial Cemetery. Everything from sightings of Marilyn floating over her tomb and seeing her walking along the wall, to tiny green orbs darting around has been reported.
Tips for your trip: Due to the insane popularity of this ghost story, there is a lot of wacky information on the interwebs including a claim from one of Marilyn’s “ex-husbands” that the late Anton LaVey, Founder and former High Priest of The Church of Satan, guided him through a Dark Moon ritual that result in her resurrection. People are nuts about Marilyn. Stick to the Roosevelt Hotel for your ghost hunting trip. It’s your best bet as it has a ton of claims about all sorts of famous ghosts and it is the safest location to go snooping, as it is very public. When you make the pilgrimage to the Roosevelt, you’re going to want to check out the mirror located by the elevator on the first floor.
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