31 Days of Halloween Day #18
On the road means trying to find things to keep my Halloween spirit alive. One stop that is a must through the Okanagan is to a slight step back in time, to the Towne Cinema (Vernon). Something about the whole venue feels a lil old time worldly. I mean where else can you get a slice of ‘za, a few drinks and a night out for under $45 bucks for a family of 4. This week some of my tops of my lists are playing, the Shining AND Halloween for the late show!
While this venue is currently a cinema, this building started as an actual stage theater back in 1928, was then utilized as a dance hall and a theater for a variety of productions, it was turned into a cinema for movies in 1928 by the Famous Players Corporation.
Once again, the stories of hauntings that have been told over the last 40+ years, gives fair reason to believe that theaters are just great places to come into contact with all sorts of spirits.
There does seem to be more than one ghost in this building because staff have reported different activities at different times, but to make things easier, they have nicknamed the most active entity or entities “Lloyd”. The rumor is that he was a projectionist at the theater and just simply doesn’t want to leave.
One of the past owners was even once confronted by a full body apparition, that of an older man dressed in a shirt, tie and light blue work jacket (reminiscent of the old uniforms) They were so shaken up by the occurrence they went straight to the police thinking someone had broken in after hours.
People have reported many strange occurrences, including mysterious footprints that appear on newly washed floors, hair being pulled, items being moved, doors being locked and doors being rattled. Some have even seen the apparition of a woman in 1940’s attire, or of a young man who appears to be lost. Staff members sometimes hear their name being called out of nowhere.
The lobby still has some oversized sign/poster display boxes, and often when the tech crew has faithfully mounted the new posters portraying up and coming movies, they arrive the next day to find that they have been unattached from the cases and have to be rehung once again.
One night after a private rental, the theater was being cleaned. The cleaning staff brought their equipment into the auditorium and stacked it to one side of the stage, as they always did and headed back out for one last trip.When they returned to begin cleaning they were shocked to find their equipment had been moved across the auditorium. It was reported by 4 separate accounts and witnesses’ during this cleaning session the auditorium suddenly came alive with the sound of dance music. Someone or something had mysteriously turned on the theater sound system, from the projection room. Glenn Miller played and filled the theater. On a recent occasion the concession manager was doing her nightly inventory and cleanup when the sound of a rattling door knob could be heard. She looked over to see the doorknob on the janitor room door turning and the door shaking as though someone was locked inside. The only other person in the building at the time was the manager, the worker called out his name, thinking he had locked himself in the room. The manager, hearing his name called, emerged from his office to enquire what it was she had called him for. She explained that there was someone locked in the janitor's room, but on inspection, the manager found the door unlocked and the room empty, no explanation has ever been found! Conveniently this was one of the manytimes the CC security cameras oddly just showed static and electrical interferences.
The most infamous spirit, is said to appear after the credits roll on the late show, he will walk down the aisle, inspecting the floor, down to stage left and stop hands behind his back, holding a pocket watch. He will check the time, look up towards the old projector room, then as quickly as he arrives will vanish.
Grab your popcorn, and Roll Credits
P.S some sleuthing turned up some fun occurrences that happened while a film crew was on scenes to make an indie film, and caught footages.
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