Wayside Theatre Ghost

Many old buildings have creaks and groans caused as the temperatures change or the wind shifts. But, perhaps something else is causing these sounds. Some people have had unusual experiences in these places, whether they are connected with sounds or not, that indicate a presence from ‘another world’ could be felt. Wayside Theatre is such a place.

Wayside’s ghost is named George and according to one source, the story is as follows:

The story goes that the ghost that is said to haunt the old building was an old
caretaker, named ‘George,” who died during a small fire in the 1940’s or died
during renovation (could not confirm either report). The caretaker was an African-American who is said to haunt the stage and the balcony where most of the black people were permitted to sit at that time. Actors and actresses have also reported
the feeling of being followed as well as the feeling of dread or being watched in
the theater basement.

The most interesting phenomenon that occurs happens in the balcony at seat
CC-1 where George was reported to sit at every play. After closing, some of the
workers march through the theater making sure all seats are raised. However, employees of the theater have reported that when they arrive in the morning,
seat CC-1 is often lowered while all the other seats stay in their upright position (hauntedva.blogspot.com).

To try and confirm this presence, a paranormal investigation was made in 2008. After an evening performance, equipment was set up on the stage and the balcony, as well as in the Curtain Call. While nothing definite was detected, some in the investigative team felt that more than one entity was haunting the theatre. Investigator, psychic Booker stated, “I walked in [the theatre] and it was as if I was walking into a twister of energy” (Ash, L. “Wayside Inn’s spirits are Friendly.” NVD. 12 July 2011).

Later, Brooker offered his services as a fundraiser to Wayside as a way to be of assistance in helping reduce down the Theatre’s $90,000 debt and help keep the Theatre’s doors open (Mangino. “Psychic consultant ….” TWS. 20 Sept. 2011).

Additional information on the Ghost is found in an article by Linda O’Dell Ash and reads as follows:

It’s long been said that a former African-American movie usher named George
has been haunting Wayside Theatre in Middletown.

Door knobs turning by an unseen hand, eerie footsteps heard on the base-
ment steps, startling reflections on the control room booth window and other phenomena that made one more than a bit uncomfortable in the old building
were, up until 2008, attributed to a ghost named George.

What happened in 2008 disappointed some folks, but added a whole new
perspective on the topic of ghosts in the building.

Thomasin Savaiano, an actress who has appeared in many Wayside Theatre productions, says she delved into the building’s past through research and
talking to area residents and she could not come up with any one person
named George who was an usher at the movie theater that used to be in the
building.

“I actually spoke to – he is passed now – former Mayor Gene Dicks – whose
family took over the movie theater and ran the movie theater. There were no
ushers – they were the ushers,” Savaiano said during an interview in the Curtain
Call, the theatre’s concession area.

Savaiano’s research was conducted in 2008 in conjunction with the theatre’s
first paranormal investigation. The result of that investigation disappointed
some people.

The biggest thing to come out of that first investigation, Savaiano said, was
the fact that the building was not haunted by one spirit.

“Yes, it’s haunted, but it’s not haunted by the ghost we thought it was haunted
by,” she said.

In fact, John Rossi of Shenandoah Shadows, the paranormal group investi-
gating the theatre, said there’s more than one ghost in the old building.

“History debunked urban legend,” Rossi said. “People were kind of disap-
pointed.” Rossi said that, after several investigations and EVP sessions, the
one thing that became apparent to him was that the spirits there seemed to
be attracted to the actors and the audience.

“On the nights they were rehearsing or nights that there was a show, the
(paranormal) activity was pretty impressive. On the nights that this was a
dark house when there weren’t things going on, there might be a little (para-
normal activity), but there was nothing like when the theatre was going,” Rossi said.

“My belief is that we’re near the (Cedar Creek) battlefield. We’ve sensed
males with their bearing that suggest to us like soldiers, as well as we have
EVPs that were clearly female, sounds like an adult female. We have EVPs
that clearly sound like children. So there are a variety of things coming here,”
he said. “And I believe that when there is a show going on and the energy that
the actors are putting out and the energy – the receptive energy – of this ap-
preciative audience, it all combines together and I think it’s a huge beacon and
I think it draws them in the same way a lighthouse in the fog and it pulls them here.”

Both Savaiano and Rossi have had some interesting experiences in the theatre.
Rossi said one night he set up a camera panning the small lights control booth
located at the back of the balcony, above the stage.

“The manager kept saying that all of her switches and dials and stuff were
being moved to places that she knows she did not set. That night, (on the
video) you hear electronic switches being flipped in the booth,” he said.

Another time he put some toys in the booth and the camera picked up a light
that comes from off camera, pauses and seems to go into a toy.

“Seems to be a curious child playing with things,” Rossi said of the strange
events in the control booth.

Savaiano said that during an investigation, her team, which included psychics,
went into the theatre’s costume shop.

“Three of the gentlemen were all saying they were talking to this little girl,
and she liked this yellow dress and we all looked around and the costume
designer had a yellow dress hanging,” Savaiano said, adding that the little
girl told the men that she liked the room because it was a very feminine room.

“In this particular instance they were talking to her and they said she was
saying she loved to watch us rehearse on the stage. We were in rehearsal
for the Christmas show, which was the original musical version of “A Christmas
Carol” … I was the only person in the room in the show and I was the only person
in the room who had ever been to rehearsal of the show and I was the only person
in the room who had any clue what the show was. I said, ‘Ask her … we sing a lot of Christmas carols … there’s one we sing in the beginning, over and over again, what
is that song? Ask her what it is,’ and all of them, one started humming it really badly,
but saying the right words, came up with ‘Good King Winceslas,’ which is exactly
what the opening is.

“… I know there is no way the three gentlemen in the room with me would have
any idea … and not even that, they were quoting lyrics from the second verse,
‘Bring me pine logs,’ the less commonly known verse of the piece. That to me
says something. It just does, plain out. There’s no other way they would know.”

Prior to the interview, Savaiano met with Rossi and Michael Brooker, a psychic
medium visiting the area from the United Kingdom. Saviano is theatre liaison
with Shenandoah Shadows.

Rossi was there to show her a video taken during a November 2010 investigation
in the Curtain Call. In the video, a shadow of a man can be seen moving about
the room as two women are chatting.

Brooker agreed that he felt there is more than one entity haunting the theatre.
“When I walked in I said to John (Rossi), this place is truly alive and active with
energy,” Brooker said. “There is no one (entity). There is number and change-
able number … “Being in here and feeling what I do, it doesn’t surprise me in
the slightest and I think anyone that is remotely interested in, on whatever level
or degree, in the supernatural or paranormal would do themselves a very big favor
by … popping in … and experience this for themselves,” Brooker said.

“I walked in and it was as if I was walking into a twister of energy, he said.”

While Brooker was on stage in the darkened theatre, he said he could sense
the presence of several males on stage and, looking up, he could see the painted
walls of the electrical room located in the back right corner of the balcony. There
was someone in that window, he said.

Savaiano noted that the theatre has had numerous reports of people seeing a
lady in this window. But once up in the balcony, a closer look reveals that a dark
curtain covers the window, blocking the view into the room.

Rossi says he had another paranormal experience on the balcony. He said that
during one investigation he had a thermal imaging camera, which shows temperature changes, focused on the balcony.

“Up about four rows, center, all the chairs were the same temperature except this
one chair,” he said, and then explained that the chair in the cold spot was next to
where a psychic had been sitting “conversing” with a spirit while he was filming
from the stage below.

Additional information about the Ghost is found in another source: [hauntedva.blogspot.com] that reads as follows:

The Wayside Theatre has obviously seen better and more profitable days. Yet, the theater continues to crank out numerous plays a year to its patrons who forgo the silver-screen in order to view a live play instead.

The story goes that the ghost that is said to haunt the old building was an old
caretaker, named ‘George,” who died back during a small fire in the 1940’s or
died during renovation (could not confirm either report). The caretaker was an
African-American who is said to haunt the stage and the balcony where most
of the black people were permitted to sit at that time. Actors and actresses
have also reported the feeling of being followed as well as the feeling of dread
or being watched in the theater basement.

The most interesting phenomenon that occurs happens in the balcony at seat
CC1 where George was reported to sit at every play. After closing, some of the
workers march through the theater making sure all seats are raised. However, employees of the theater have reported that when they arrive in the morning,
seat CC1 is often lowered while all the other seats stay in their upright position.

There is a good chance that this George could still be roaming through the
theater, seeing that it’s not unusual for spirits to remain in places where that
person had a strong bond or presence.

And, there is even more:

History: In the 1800s, buildings where Wayside Theatre is now located included
a store, a tavern and a hotel in the 1800s, according to the theatre’s website. The building currently housing the theatre was built in the 1940s after a fire destroyed businesses that were there prior. This structure once housed a movie theatre, a pharmacy, a store and a beauty shop. Businessman Leo Bernstein purchased the building in 1963 and opened Wayside Theatre.

Paranormal Investigations: Shenandoah Shadows, a Northern Shenandoah Valley paranormal group, is conducting investigations at Wayside Inn.

==================

FROM: hauntedva.blogspot.com

The Wayside Theatre has obviously seen better and more profitable days. Yet,
the theater continues to crank out numerous plays a year to its patrons who forgo
the silver-screen in order to view a live play instead.

The story goes that the ghost that is said to haunt the old building was an old
caretaker, named ‘George,” who died back during a small fire in the 1940’s or
died during renovation (could not confirm either report). The caretaker was an
African-American who is said to haunt the stage and the balcony where most of
the black people were permitted to sit at that time. Actors and actresses have
also reported the feeling of being followed as well as the feeling of dread or
being watched in the theater basement.

There is a good chance that this George could still be roaming through the
theater, seeing that it’s not unusual for spirits to remain in places where that
person had a strong bond or presence.

For a Video taken in November 2010 in the Curtain Call can be viewed by going to: ShenandoahShadows.org.