The theater beckons us with its secret. The most daring ideas are brought to life on stage, and the power of acting captures the audience, taking them into a world of extraordinary dreams. Theater is work and great acting. And besides - a little magic and mystical reincarnations. But it is known: where there is mysticism, there are otherworldly forces …
In the play As You Like It, William Shakespeare wrote: “The whole world is theater. In it women, men - all actors. They have their own exits, exits …”This phrase of the great playwright in the theater of the Canadian city of Fort MacLeod is understood in their own way: some people return after death, but in the form of ghosts. This refers directly to the Theater "Empress", more precisely, to the "Phantom of the Empress", which workers, actors and spectators simply call "Ed's favorite."
The Empress Theater was originally the premier theater chain in Fort MacLeod. JS Lambert began construction in 1910 on what is now Main Street, during the city's heyday. The theater staged performances, played concerts, held lectures and showed films. In January 1910, the Lethbridge Herald reported that the new building would be "a first-class theater where every detail is modern." The construction of the theater was completed in 1912, at the same time it opened.
In 1937, Daniel Boyle bought the Empress and made several significant upgrades. He installed an image projection booth over a new one hundred-seat balcony he had made, fenced off the lobby, added toilets and other rooms necessary for the cinema. In addition to the new design, Boyle added decorative items, redesigned lighting fixtures, curtains and tulip-shaped neon bulbs on the metal ceiling.
From 1937 to 1982, the building remained the same; all theatrical performances and film screenings were held here. In 1982, the Fort MacLeod Provincial Historic Area Society took possession of the building and in 1988 spent over $ 1 million on the restoration of the Empress, restoring its former splendor.
It should be noted that historians do not have facts of any deaths in the Empress, but there is reliable information about the appearance of ghosts. Such phenomena were observed until 1988, but after the introduction of innovations, the activity of phantoms increased markedly. Jay Rusel, who from 1986 to 1990 was a member of the Great West Theater Company, the troupe that worked in this theater, spoke about one of the first facts of their renewed activity in the Empress.
Russell first saw a ghost in June 1988. At that time he was studying at the university, and in the summer he worked part-time in the theater. Due to a clerical error, he did not receive a paycheck, so he lived practically without money. When the whole troupe decided to have lunch, Russell, who had not joined the company, was left alone in the building.
The student recalled: “I didn't go because I was really poor. I had breakfast and decided that I would not spend the money; was going to stay. In addition, I got the chance to inspect the entire theater building. I went down the old wooden steps - they were creaky and at any time you could hear someone coming down them.
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There were several dressing rooms in the basement, but they were really tiny. We also had changing rooms, but a large area was set aside for them; we called it Boiler Room. It was big enough and we sat there as we waited for our exit. And next to it was a room that we called Swami Cooler Room. There was not a single light bulb and not a single switch in it.
In addition, the room had a large steel door. When I opened it, I saw an old organ. It looked like it was all broken. I entered the darkness, further it grew darker and darker; I stretched out my hand, trying to find this old instrument. But as soon as I touched it, I heard loud laughter behind me, as if someone was playing me. He (laughter) wasn't creepy; it was just a strong laugh. And suddenly the post on the door disappeared and it slammed shut. Then there were slaps, someone laughed and ran up the steps."
Russell sat in a completely dark room for an hour and a half until the troupe returned from breakfast. The artists heard him calling for help and pulled him out. And they all pledged that they were together and that no one left lunch.
Diana Segbor was born and raised in Fort MacLeod, like her parents. She held various management positions in the city.
“I've heard about ghosts since I was a kid,” Segbor recalled. "When we, as children, went to the theater, we heard them supposedly appear there, but I myself did not experience anything until I started working in the theater."
What events were discussed in those early stories? Segbor continued: “Several young children saw someone behind them in the mirror. They described him as an elderly gentleman with very hairy hands."
Diana Segbor's first test at the Empress happened in the early 1990s when she walked into a building that had just opened one morning to take inventory in the control room. “I crossed the foyer and entered the control room. Then I heard some steps going down the stairs and thought: I wonder if I'm in the theater alone, but maybe Mike (another theater worker) came here before me? Meanwhile, the sounds of footsteps were heard louder, until I heard them next to me, but then they stopped. I felt a change in the air - from normal, room temperature, it turned into downright ice. I put the notepad in which I was taking notes and went through the front door."
At the first meeting with the ghost, Segbor was very scared, but over time she got used to it and did not perceive it as something special.
The Empress Theater has an alarm system with detectors that respond to any movement. One night, Segbor received another call from the security company, but she decided not to call the police. That evening she was with a friend who could accompany her around the building.
Segbor said: “We turned on all the lights, but found nothing. Joyce's friend, who was with me, was humming a song. But as soon as I was about to open the door, a ghost whistled unexpectedly at the end of the song. Joyce turned and froze. She couldn't believe it! She asked: "Did you hear?" And I answered: "Yes, I heard that!" And we went out. Apparently he was next to us when we examined the building."
Stephen Delano, the coordinator of the summer theater at Empress, also shared his impressions about the adventures of ghosts: “He (the ghost) loves to play with curtains during performances. We also have large neon lamps in the shape of tulips on the ceiling of the theater. He likes to play with them - he turns them on and off during performances."
Due to the relatively safe, but still eerie cases of ghosts, Diana Segbor believes that the "Empress" may be inhabited by the spirit of a child or even several children: “Sometimes you can hear running footsteps down the hallway. The steps are fast, as if short-legged kids are running."
They also make fun of the theater seats. The hall has standard armchairs that fold down for aisles, but they are not spring-loaded. When the seats are up, they remain in the same position, and when they are lowered, they remain down too … usually.
“But here I was on the balcony and lifted the chairs,” says Diana, “and in one row, where I had just finished doing this, they began to descend as quickly as I lifted them. One by one. By the way, on the balcony, the actors noticed an elderly, strong-built gentleman with hairy hands, who sat in the same place during the performances. After a while the gentleman disappeared. When the actors later questioned the audience, none of them could say they saw anyone nearby. It was observed only by those who were on stage at that moment."
According to Diana, the ghosts of the theater are capable of other jokes. For example, return garbage to the same places where it was previously removed.
For the theater staff, the version about the ghost of the second owner of the building, Dan Boyle, seems to be the most plausible. But there is another suggestion, which Stephen Delano puts it this way: “It could be a doorman who has worked here since the early 1950s. He also had a second job, an auction sale.
But one night he was found dead, and why is unknown. Many people think that this is the ghost of that particular man. They say, working at the auction, he liked to drink hard in between, and then light a cigar. And so, when a ghost appears, literally everyone immediately smells the clear smell of alcohol, manure and cigars."
Diana Segbor believes that the ghost is most likely a doorman. When she described the large, hairy-handed man to her parents, her father agreed that the description was consistent with the appearance of the doorman, who was mysteriously murdered in an auction in the 1950s.
Sometimes a ghost appears on days when the ticket office is open. Visitors said they bought tickets from an elderly gentleman, and later it turned out that only a woman worked at the box office at the time. They also say that the ghost has guarded the performances, the building itself and the people in the theater for decades. Surprisingly, no one is afraid of him, moreover, he is very often called "Ed's favorite." Probably because he himself loves the Empress Theater with its auditorium, rooms, dressing rooms and utility rooms.
According to the generally accepted opinion, the most real "hotbeds" of ghosts are English theaters. In one of them - the old building of the Royal Theater in London on Drury Lane - a lot is going on.
For example, some actors claim that they are being pushed by invisible hands on stage. And the most famous of the local inhabitants is the Man in Gray. He has appeared in the theater for 200 years. A stranger, dressed in breeches, a frock coat and a cocked hat, walks along the aisles between the chairs, and then disappears … into the wall.
Sometimes the Man in Gray is seen sitting in one of the seats. For some reason, it is shown only to actors or avid theatergoers. The legend claims that the appearance of a ghost before the performance bodes well.
The story tells that more than a century ago, a secret room was found in the Royal Theater, in which a dried-up human body lay. A knife was stuck in his chest, between his ribs. Is it not from this body that a mysterious spirit emerged?
The ghost of William Terris, the leading actor of the Adelphi Theater, who lived at the end of the 19th century, is also considered a famous theatrical phantom. Adored by fans and critics, he caused fantastic envy of his mediocre colleague, actor Richard Prince. On December 16, 1897, Prince stabbed Terris with a dagger just as the great artist was approaching the stage door.
We heard Terris, dying in the arms of prima Jesse Milward, whisper: "I'll be back." Many argue that Terris kept his word. His ghost first appeared in 1928. One of the spectators noticed a translucent male figure standing against the wall and recognized in it a once popular actor - the theater-goer saw him in old photographs. Subsequently, the phantom often frightened belated passers-by, whose path lay past the Adelphi theater.
Often, an inexplicable knocking is heard from the actor's old dressing rooms, in addition, at these moments, rays of strange light are streaming from under the door. It was said that the ghost was met not only in the theater, but also at the nearest metro station, Charing Cross, where he was waiting for the last train. Detailed descriptions by eyewitnesses of his top hat, cloak and cane were true. Moreover, as soon as passers-by spoke to the phantom, he immediately disappeared.
But in one of the boxes of the Haymarket Theater comes the spirit of its former actor and director John Buxton, the favorite of Queen Victoria. Sometimes Buxton's old dressing room door opens and closes by itself. The ghost of Henry Field, who led the troupe in the 18th century, is also met here.
The Coliseum Theater is also famous for its ghost: it is visited annually by the ghost of a soldier who died in the First World War. It is said that he attended the performance on the last evening before his death. Since then, every year on this day, his restless soul takes a place in the mezzanine.
Another famous name is Margaret Rutherford, famous for her role as Miss Marple from the series based on the novel by Agatha Christie. At one time, she told about meetings in London's Haymarket Theater with the ghost of John Buxtone, who served as theater director until his death in 1879. During a popular music revue at the Haymarket, the director was horrified when he saw a man behind one of the artists, whom he initially took for a stage worker, accidentally confusing the exits from the wings.
The director wanted to give orders to lower the curtain and remove the delinquent from the stage, but he … melted into thin air. And then the director realized that the man was wearing a long black dress coat … the ghost of John Buxtone.
In 1908, physicist Sir Oliver Lodge hypothesized that ghosts are "the ghostly reflection of some kind of long tragedy in the past." Lodge suggested that powerful emotions can somehow be imprinted in the environment and subsequently perceived by people with sufficient sensitivity.
If so, then theaters are real "palaces" overflowing with human emotions - love, hatred, suffering and unbearable nostalgia.