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Topic: Movie Theatre Ghosts
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Jeff Arellano
Senior Member
Posts: 685
From: Monterey Park, CA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted October 26, 2003 08:39 PM
AMC Montebello 10 - boy if this theatre could talk. When I worked here, there was so much that would happen. All the disturbances would occur on the east side (theatres 6-10) and most would happen around 6, 8 and 9.
Theatre 9 there was a stabbing about a month after the theatre opened. Blood was splattered on the wall, and quickly painted over by maintenance. This theatre is always cold, even when the temperature is a cozy temperature.
One night at closing, I was with a manager downstaris, we were the only two in the building. We turned off everything, walked upstairs to the booth. Turned off all lights in a mini room that is there by theatres 8 and 9. We proceeded to turn off all booth lights. We walked into the office. When we stepped out, all the lights were back on.
There are a few more......
AMC Covina 30 - this theatre is still young (opened in 1998) but there is a ghost there. Trailers and small objects placed on a projector ledge would mysteriously move to another. Lights would turn on or off. There was a man killed when building the theatre. He suffocated to death when he hit a gas line in a wall he was tearing down at the old Sears store. The wall is still there today, it is beind theatres 25-26. It is the rear wall today for the shops that were built onto the Sears store in the 80s.
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Jim Rankin
(Jim passed away in December 2006)
Posts: 123
From: Milwaukee, WI
Registered: Oct 2003
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posted October 28, 2003 02:51 PM
Fellow lovers of theatres, it may seem 'cool' to think that a theatre is 'blessed' by its own 'ghost,' but that is far from the truth, and indicates a definite danger to any in the vicinity of such a presence, as the previous posts clearly indicate that there are. Since there is no such thing as an "immortal soul" there are also no such things as 'ghosts' of them, but a far more serious situation exists! Please read my WARNING to another owner of a theatre who thought it 'neat' to be haunted:
To: Troy Taylor and Skip Huston, at the Avon Theatre, Decatur, Ill.:
Subject: Haunted theatre = endangered theatre.
I came upon your site through a mention in the weekly bulletin of the www.bigscreenbiz.com web site, and am very impressed with the professional way in which you created a thorough site that has a fine history section as well as attractions, etc. As a member of the Theatre Historical Soc. of America (www.HistoricTheatres.org) where your theatre is listed on their Theatre Links page, I am especially interested in the nature and success of your theatre. HOWEVER, there is a problem for you men and any who enter the obviously "haunted" theatre!
Your site's page: 'Hauntings', is very well written, and you may believe that you have a degree of cache as to having your 'own' ghosts on the premises and be able to charge for "Haunted Tours", but you should be aware that such hauntings may very well be real, as you surmise, yet not at all what you think them to be. They are, in fact, VERY DANGEROUS! You see, you are not dealing with any supposed spirit of the dead former owner or any other human, since the belief that people have immortal souls that exist as spirits after their deaths is not true, and therefore not from God. Where does such a belief come from, then? From God's arch enemy, Satan the Devil who is a powerful spirit creature, who was once an Angel, but rebelled from God and since 1914 has been confined to the vicinity of this earth along with his billions of fellow wicked spirit creatures who go about trying to influence people into believing that they are the "departed" ones. This deceit is deliberate in trying to get people to disbelieve God, since the demons, as these wicked spirits are properly known, are well aware that one cannot gain God's blessing unless one carefully follows the Truth of God in the Bible, and here is where our paradox lies: One cannot come to know about the wicked spirits unless he first comes to know the truth about God.
Why would such wicked spirits inhabit your theatre and what is their aim? Firstly, it really has nothing to do with what you or anyone else does there; it is a matter of caprice as to what a demon chooses to haunt. Since these are spirit creatures in the same form as Angels and God, they can move through any solid matter or no matter as they wish, and do not need to sleep, eat, or even defecate as we do. Since God through His Son, Jesus Christ, banished such evil ones from the heavens to the vicinity of the earth, these wicked ones have no more duties in heaven to occupy their time, so one might think it to be a matter of their boredom, but it is far, far more sinister than that! They want our death in some indirect way, since they are barred from killing us directly, as explained in the book of Job. Why a theatre? Well, it offers the chance to contact numerous people, and the chance to fulfill their wicked lusts, as when that person in the projection room felt groped. The Bible makes clear that when in millennia past, they were permitted to take the fleshly form of men, they immediately sought out illicit sexual contact with humans, and for this they were forbidden to take fleshly form again (that power was removed from them by God). So now they seek to disturb or even torment humans if they can, and that involves the implicit participation of a human. God allows them to approach any person, but He only permits them to continue their evil with a person if that one is willing. Anyone who prays to God to remove the "ghost" will be heard and God will remove such spirits from a person, provided that the person is sincere and honest in his will to be free of them. One cannot mock God and secretly like the attentions of the demons, and still expect God to act. There are many thousands of records of demonic attack upon people and their belongings, even to the extent of people seeing their Bibles thrown about a room, in places where the demons had long had a presence and the new occupants were not wanting their presence. In such situations, God watches the doings of the people to see if they are really sincere in wanting to be rid of the demons ('ghosts') and if so, He will eventually expel them.
It is critical to note here that NO human of any persuasion has any power at all over the Devil and his demons! There is no such thing as an Exorcist nor Exorcising, contrary to what the fiction of Hollywood or the behavior of the apostate churchmen would like us to believe. Neither are there any legitimate ways to scientifically discern the nature or presence of 'ghosts.' The demons are not susceptible to any device of mankind, and they will therefore respond or not as they wish to any such "investigations." Indeed, any who continue in such investigations will jeopardize their health and safety far more than they realize. There are many accounts of people being disfigured, stripped naked, blasted with sound that only they could hear, and other horrors enough to warn us that they seek to trap us and make us their 'play things' unto induced death, as when some have thrown themselves from rooftops to stop the attentions of those demons with whom they consorted. When Skip felt cold and wisely decided to leave the area, he was doing all that he could short of calling on God out loud to help him flee the demons. While it is possible for the demons to simply go elsewhere, it is not likely when people show interest or curiosity in them. That is regarded as an invitation, and with time they will seek to do more than cause light or sound apparitions. They may decide to act as "poltergeists" and throw objects, which can and have caused injury to people, not to mention damage to their structures and belongings. The only way to avoid such happenings is to show no curiosity in the 'ghosts' and to repeatedly pray to God to remove these evil beings from your vicinity. Note that there is no such thing as a 'good demon' and thus no attempt on your part to communicate with them will do anything more than bring you more firmly into their grip and manipulations and lies, for they are the followers of Satan, who the Bible describes as the "Father of the Lie."
So, you see, gentlemen, that it is not just a matter of frivolous cache that you might attain at the theatre in the pursuit of profits, but definite jeopardy to all who are at the theatre until such time as you beseech God long enough to convince Him that you are sincere in your wish to be rid of wicked spirits. For more information on this threat, go to: http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/2001/9/1/article_02.htm
where you will find a complete discussion of the subject in condensed form (note the Page Back, and Page Forward arrows at bottom). After all, it is your lives and those of others that are at stake, both for now and eternity. I pray that God's blessing in this matter be with you, and that you take this warning seriously before something tragic happens. No amount of profits from 'Haunted Tours' is worth anyone's injury or death.
Sincerely yours,
Jim Rankin ( jimor@lycos.com )
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Christopher Crouch
Member
Posts: 292
From: Anaheim, CA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted February 13, 2006 04:42 AM
Every movie theatre lays claim to at least one ghost. I’ve worked at ten different theatres and each had the prerequisite haunting story. More often than not, the story involves some murder or tragic passing that occurred in one of the auditoriums, decades earlier, thus, resulting in a restless spirit haunting the area in question. Of little surprise, these tales rarely hold any credibility and fall apart under the slightest scrutiny. However, they provide for some interesting stories and small talk during down times.
This past spring, I reopened a theatre that has one of the most unique, and bizarre, ghosts you’ll ever run across. A toilet ghost! Yes, out of all the places to haunt, this “spirit” has chosen a dingy toilet, located in the projection booth. In fairness to theatre folklore, the ghost is alleged to frequent several locations: the auditorium in which he was “stabbed to death”, a dark storage room filled with old equipment, and that horrible toilet. A rather full afterlife; catch a movie, poke around some discarded clutter, and the occasional bowel movement.
Now, I understand the auditorium. He “died” there. I also understand the storage area. It’s a space that has plenty of spooky atmosphere. Additionally, both these areas are dark and subject to strange noises (it’s a wood frame building that tends to carry sounds). But, the toilet?! What makes this unique location even more surprising is that people are actually frightened of the toilet area. Yup, there are people working at this theatre, adults mind you, that are uneasy around a porcelain bathroom fixture. One of my assistant managers is so spooked by the toilet that she insists on leaving the curtain (aka makeshift restroom door) open and all the booth lights on. I have to laugh at the idea of a haunted toilet, but I will admit there is an uneasy feeling about this area; which brings us to my own “ghostly” experience.
As is the routine for Mondays, I arrived two hours before anyone else, to take care of various paperwork and business affairs. In order to save time, I set about prepping projection almost immediately. After turning on the breakers and threading projectors, I made my way back to the office for a wonderful morning of corporate BS. Then, just as I sat down in my chair, I heard the projection room toilet flush. Naturally, I went to investigate, as I was supposed to be alone.
Stepping in to the hallway, I noticed nothing unusual, and, on looking in on the source of the mysterious flush, I found the toilet refilling. The toilet had flushed, it was no sound carried from a neighboring business. And, as expected, there wasn’t a soul to be found. Puzzled, but hardly scared, I wrote it off to being an old toilet malfunctioning and headed back to the office. However, as I rounded the hallway corner, I noted a faint floral scent (“floral” is not a common scent upstairs) and saw that the storage room door was wide open. Perhaps, it had been open when I walked out, left so from the previous night, but I hadn’t noticed it before; it’s rather difficult to miss this door being open and we usually keep it deadbolted. On investigating the storage room, I found the usual collection of old projectors, boxes, and amplifiers; no ghost, but that same floral scent, only much stronger. Again, I wrote the matter off, locked the door, and made my way back to the office.
A couple hours later, we opened for business and it was time to start the movies. My first showtime was auditorium one, the “haunted” auditorium and one closest to the ghost toilet. As mentioned previously, I had turned on all the equipment shortly after arriving. Yet, as I approached projector one, I found all the breakers and amps turned off. The projector was still threaded and, on looking over the other projectors, I found they were all turned on. Odd, as I don’t see how I could have forgotten to turn on the most obvious projector (it’s right next to the entry door) and, particularly odd, as I don’t understand why I’d thread a projector and forget to turn on the breakers/amps. Hmmm..
Do I believe? Not really, but the occassional odd happening, and accompanying "the ghost!" conclusion, lightens up the workday.
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