Chillicothe held its annual ghost walk this weekend. I go for the history stories and for a glimpse inside areas of buildings not ordinarily accessible to the public. Some visitors though are deeply into the ghost story aspect of the tour.
This year’s tour featured four locations.
Guests got to go backstage, onstage and upstairs to an abandoned ballroom at the Majestic Theater. This is America’s longest continuously operating theater and a fun place to see a show. It was used as a makeshift morgue during the 1918 Spanish Influenza, creating a certain sense of intrigue around the spaces where bodies were stored and processed during that crisis.
The tour also went into the former Odd Fellows Lodge which was on the second and third stories of a stained glass shop. This building has many cool features that are remnants of the fraternal organization that once met there. That group did a lot of good for the community but the tour guides seemed ill informed, some even suggesting that something inappropriate might have gone on in their meetings. Still, I enjoyed seeing inside the building.
The Chamber of Commerce was another stop. This nicely remodeled building is a hub for much good in the county and has been on the city’s Main Street for a long while. The thing I loved best about this stop was the new mural on their building. Click here to see it!
The fourth stop this year was the Franklin House which is a beautiful old home operated by the historical society. I really enjoyed our visit here and would like to go back someday for a more in-depth tour. The home features mostly original furnishings, gorgeous stained glass windows, and some truly lovely architectural features.
This is an annual event so mark your calendar far for next September. It includes a different variety of locations every year so you have a different experience every time.
The best stop on the Chillicothe Ghost Walk is always the Majestic Theater, a nineteenth century Masonic opera house in the historic downtown.
Practically speaking, these folks are the best in town at storytelling. They are entertainers who don costumes to tell scripted stories about what is likely the most documented haunted building around.
There are tons of stories including an encounter with a mid century theater usher who silently helped a woman to her seat in the early nineties. He wore an ornate uniform, complete with a fez hat and seemed surprised the theater goer could see him when she requested help to her seat. He disappeared and no one else saw him before he vanished. There’s a janitor who still cleans the floors and a diva who still occupies a dressing room beneath the stage.
A gentleman in a top hat was a curiosity for many years. He walks the middle aisle but appears to float as he approaches the stage. His feet are still moving like he’s walking but he hovers above the floor. They learned during a twentieth century renovation that the sloped floor wasn’t always sloped. It was originally flat. Mr Top Hat is walking on the original flat theater floor, the one he likely knew in life.
The most compelling stories come from World War I when the Spanish Influenza came to town. Camp Sherman, a local military training camp, was struck particularity hard. Thousands of cases left about 1,200 dead at Camp Sherman alone.
The city was quarantined and their beloved theater was transformed into a makeshift morgue. Bodies were stacked like lumber in the basement while the stage was used for embalming. Blood and other bodily fluids were drained into an alley just off the stage door, causing the alley to be named “Blood Alley.”
People still use that term today.
Meanwhile, someone would occasionally find that one of those bodies stacked to the ceiling in the downstairs dressing rooms was indeed alive. The spirit of one such individual is said to haunt a specific space in the basement. His spirit is so angry that this area is actually kept locked to prevent lookie loos from stumbling into trouble.
Here’s the door and the bricks of blood alley.
I will be completely honest with you. There is a place in that basement that I find too disturbing for words. But the best of this tour isn’t the ghost stories. It’s the access to the upstairs! You see, there’s a third floor ballroom with old signs, a few artifacts and some magnificent murals.
Hello. My name is Brandi and I am a nerd. Who cares about ghost stories when you have patina and light to admire?
This is one of my favorite images. Tbey have two of these old signs upstairs.
Never let anyone tell you Ohio wasn’t a bad place for people of color. These benches were used as seats during segregation.
Here are two of those murals. They were covered up for many years and forgotten by time until someone pulled back the paper to discover a beautiful face staring back at them.
The Majestic Theater is now operated by a nonprofit organization that has been hard at work making much needed updates. They still host events including concerts and classic movies. Just prior to the pandemic, I saw Pretty Woman and Snow White on the big screen. That was great fun. Find more info here.
Go see a show sometime and look for the man with the top hat or maybe the janitor mopping the restroom floors. By the way, they’ve identified that gentleman as someone who was a caretaker for the theater many years ago. A fellow who saw his spirit found him in an old picture at the theater.
Oh, and make sure your phone is fully charged. Something in that building sucked my battery down from 89 percent to nineteen in under 45 minutes. I was taking some photos but the phone was on airplane mode to preserve the battery life and I couldn’t justify the loss.
Whether or not you go for a show, take a stroll through their downtown which is currently experiencing an impressive rebirth and look for the theater. Read about my other ghost tour experiences at the old jail and at the Masonic Lodge. I’ll tell you about my experience at the fourth and final ghost tour location very soon.
Yesterday I told you about meeting a ghost during my visit to Crosskeys Tavern. The rest of the ghost walk was pretty uneventful where the otherworldly are concerned but I had a great time anyway.
Thought you might enjoy a few more pictures from the tour sites.
The Majestic Theater is one of my favorite places in Chillicothe but I’m always a little sad at how unloved it has been for many years. Thankfully, there is some activity afoot and plans are underway to at least triage the grand ballroom upstairs. Community theater performances, comedy shows and bands sometimes use the stage here. About once a month they show old movies for just $5 a ticket. Go, if you can. There’s never many people and it’s fun to see movies like Pretty Woman and others on the big screen.
Plans to go inside the Foulke Block didn’t work out but we still had a great tour of the outside here. I had no idea that there is a walkway and basement access to storefronts underneath the sidewalk.
I’ve been by this staircase many times but never gave it a second thought.
This is what’s happening underneath the sidewalk!
One of our tour guides indicated that there once were more of these walkways in town but they have succumbed to age and progress. I’m not sure if it was this guide but I like his style and he did a nice job.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the tour of the Odd Fellows Lodge. This group is sort of a mystery to me but I know Vinton County once had three lodges. They’re all gone but the Odd Fellows continue to this day in other communities.
I even got my picture taken standing on the gorgeous old altar of the Odd Fellows. If you’re an Odd Fellow, I’m guessing you will think this is sacrilege. My apologies but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity!
If you’re in the Chillicothe area the next time they have one of these Ghost Walks, my advice is to go. It’s just $10 a ticket and a fun way to pass an afternoon. I had to wait in line at three of five locations but the lines went pretty quickly. I think it took about four hours to do the entire thing and it was extremely interesting and a lot of fun. The event gives you a peak behind the scenes of places you might not otherwise notice.
