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Articles from the Old Site / Re: So...do ya think you're theatre is haunted?
« on: Sep 26, 2007, 10:45 am »
In St. Louis, MO there is a fairly famous ghost story that surrounds the Lemp Family. The Lemp Family were brewers of beer, and were a major rival of Anheuser Busch. Both Brewerys sit on top of caves, the caves were used to store beer at a cool temperature.
During prohibition, although it was illegal to SELL alcohol, it was not illegal to manufacture it, and to the Busch plant continued to brew beer, knowing that the ban would be eventually be lifted. When the act finally was repealed, the Busch company had stockpiles of beer and all of their equipment was still in working order. The Lemp brewery tried to reopen but could not . . .because the machinery had not been used and was in disrepair, and the brewery complex which had once been worth 7 million dollars was sold for about 500,000 in 1922. Since then 7 members of the Lemp family comitted suicide in their family home and the brewery, and the Lemp mansion remains one of the top 10 most haunted places in America.
My story occured at the Brewery, which as you can imagine is in a complete state of disrepair. It covers an area of 5 city blocks with different buildings, and actually the Repertory Theater of St. Louis uses one of those buildings for it's extensive prop storage.
I was doing a "found space" production of Dracula, and the mood of the place certainly fit the show. I was ASMing and my best friend was PSM, so we were having a good time, but were thoroughly creeped out. We were, of course, the first ones in and the last ones out.
After the show one night, we were resetting and it had come time to turn off the lights and lock up. The main circuit breaker was on one end of the massive space, and the door was on the other, with a single light switch next to it to turn on something like a porchlight outside. So you had to turn off the lights, walk through the hall in the darkness, and then turn off the porchlight and lock the door. My friend and I were set so we went to the circuit breaker, turned it off, and started walking with our flashlights on. I saw something, not out of the corner of my eye, but a human sized white mist that was emitting it's own light, and I told my friend to run. As we came near to the other side of the space, the floor gave way and I fell through the floor and was stuck at waist level. My friend and I, who were both still in a complete panic, managed to get me out of the hole in the floor, flip of the last light switch, and shut the door. The door would not latch unless it was locked, so I held on to the door knob and held it shut while my friend fumbled for the key. The door began to shake wildly as I held it, and I put all my weight against it. She finally found the key, locked the door, and we both sped away in her car. I was covered in dirt, scraped and bruised, but was overall ok.
During the run we had several odd occurrances, board failures and malfunctions, various random objects that were thrown at us in the darkness (including a car antenna), and strange writing that appeared on the walls of the dressing rooms in red chalk. Also, loud banging sounds could be heard during actual performances . . .my parents actually heard that one and I remember sitting in the back of the room, watching the show and running sound, and as these loud booms started my mom looked back at me and all I could do was shrug my shoulders.
Those of you students at Webster who share your prop storage with the Repertory theater of St. Louis, I believe I was working in the first building on the left as you enter the brewery complex. The prop storage is on the far side of the large dirt courtyard.
During prohibition, although it was illegal to SELL alcohol, it was not illegal to manufacture it, and to the Busch plant continued to brew beer, knowing that the ban would be eventually be lifted. When the act finally was repealed, the Busch company had stockpiles of beer and all of their equipment was still in working order. The Lemp brewery tried to reopen but could not . . .because the machinery had not been used and was in disrepair, and the brewery complex which had once been worth 7 million dollars was sold for about 500,000 in 1922. Since then 7 members of the Lemp family comitted suicide in their family home and the brewery, and the Lemp mansion remains one of the top 10 most haunted places in America.
My story occured at the Brewery, which as you can imagine is in a complete state of disrepair. It covers an area of 5 city blocks with different buildings, and actually the Repertory Theater of St. Louis uses one of those buildings for it's extensive prop storage.
I was doing a "found space" production of Dracula, and the mood of the place certainly fit the show. I was ASMing and my best friend was PSM, so we were having a good time, but were thoroughly creeped out. We were, of course, the first ones in and the last ones out.
After the show one night, we were resetting and it had come time to turn off the lights and lock up. The main circuit breaker was on one end of the massive space, and the door was on the other, with a single light switch next to it to turn on something like a porchlight outside. So you had to turn off the lights, walk through the hall in the darkness, and then turn off the porchlight and lock the door. My friend and I were set so we went to the circuit breaker, turned it off, and started walking with our flashlights on. I saw something, not out of the corner of my eye, but a human sized white mist that was emitting it's own light, and I told my friend to run. As we came near to the other side of the space, the floor gave way and I fell through the floor and was stuck at waist level. My friend and I, who were both still in a complete panic, managed to get me out of the hole in the floor, flip of the last light switch, and shut the door. The door would not latch unless it was locked, so I held on to the door knob and held it shut while my friend fumbled for the key. The door began to shake wildly as I held it, and I put all my weight against it. She finally found the key, locked the door, and we both sped away in her car. I was covered in dirt, scraped and bruised, but was overall ok.
During the run we had several odd occurrances, board failures and malfunctions, various random objects that were thrown at us in the darkness (including a car antenna), and strange writing that appeared on the walls of the dressing rooms in red chalk. Also, loud banging sounds could be heard during actual performances . . .my parents actually heard that one and I remember sitting in the back of the room, watching the show and running sound, and as these loud booms started my mom looked back at me and all I could do was shrug my shoulders.
Those of you students at Webster who share your prop storage with the Repertory theater of St. Louis, I believe I was working in the first building on the left as you enter the brewery complex. The prop storage is on the far side of the large dirt courtyard.