The Vogue Theatre, located on the southern part of the Granville Mall, first opened its doors back in 1941. Initially, it was a standard movie house, though it occasionally hosted live performances. Over time, business declined, and the theatre was forced to close in 1988. However, in 1991, after a thorough renovation, it reopened with modern lighting and sound systems that restored it to its original splendour. Today, the Vogue Theatre is a popular venue for live music concerts.
But the theatre is known for more than just its artistic events; it also has a reputation for its mystical atmosphere. According to employees, the theatre is haunted by the spirit of a man with dark hair and a stern expression. He often appears in staff-only areas: on stage, in the projection booth, on the catwalks, and in the basement hallways. One of his most notable appearances is in the main auditorium, near the stage. Staff members have encountered this supernatural entity so many times in one particular hallway that they’ve nicknamed it the “Ghost Freeway,” because they get a chill down their spine every time they walk through it. Employees also recall moments when strange sounds were heard, as if someone was banging forcefully on a door. Read on at vancouver-trend for more on the mysteries of Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre.
Bill Allman on the Theatre’s Ghost
Bill Allman, a former manager of the Vogue Theatre, also has several unforgettable stories about encounters with the resident ghost. One occurred in the summer of 1994 when, while locking up the carpentry shop in the basement, he felt like he was being watched. He turned around and saw a three-dimensional shadow pass through the door. Terrified, Bill ran into the hallway but found no one there. Allman is certain he set a new speed record that day. A month or two later, a drum kit was set up on stage for the Beatles tribute band, Revolver. As Bill Allman was coming up the stairs to the stage from the lower level, he clearly heard a basic beat—a repeating kick drum and snare hit—coming from the drum kit. When he reached the stage and turned the corner, the playing stopped. No one was there. Allman wondered for a long time if his eyes and ears had been deceiving him that day. But later, recalling the incident, he remembered how loud and clear a drum kit sounds when it’s actually being played. What he heard was real. But, as Allman joked, it wasn’t the ghost of Buddy Rich, because the playing wasn’t that good.
A day or two after the drumming incident, Allman was on the stage again. From there, he saw the same three-dimensional grey silhouette he had seen a few months earlier downstairs. It appeared about seven or eight rows from the stage in the audience section. When Allman turned to get a better look, the shadow vanished. Unfortunately, he never managed to see the ghost as clearly as some others have.
A Ghostly Tour and a Performer’s Mysterious Encounter
About a year later, in 1995, the Vogue Theatre hosted a show called Unforgettable, a tribute to the music of Nat King Cole. A week before the show opened, Allman gave an informal tour of the theatre to a friend and his girlfriend (who considers herself psychically sensitive). During the tour, they visited the projection booth. A week later, Allman’s friend confessed that his girlfriend had seen a young man with dark hair and stern facial features sitting in one of the old chairs in the projection booth. The man turned his head toward them, and she felt an incredible sense of anger coming from him. Then he simply vanished. Allman and his friend hadn’t seen a thing.
Two or three weeks later, once Unforgettable was in full swing, one of the supporting performers, Shane Macpherson, witnessed a dramatic appearance of the ghost. On the night of November 14, 1995, Macpherson was performing a song-and-dance number to “Route 66” on the Vogue stage. Bill Allman was watching the show from the back, near the soundboard. Shane got to the middle of the song when he dropped his cane. He missed his dance steps and forgot the lyrics. Later, during intermission, Bill Allman went downstairs and found Shane in his dressing room. Naturally, the manager’s first question was what had happened. Shane replied, “I don’t know if you’ll believe what I’m about to tell you, but…”
Macpherson explained to Allman that during his performance, he saw a man walk into the auditorium from the fire exit near the first row, to the left of the stage. The man looked directly at Macpherson with a blank expression and then vanished into thin air. The shock of it caused Macpherson to falter in his performance. Macpherson described the man as young, around thirty, with dark hair and stern features, wearing light-coloured clothing (though not the light jacket described in other sightings). As Macpherson told his story, Allman felt his blood run cold. The description of the ghost seen by his friend’s girlfriend a few weeks earlier matched this man perfectly.
Another Strange Incident in the Projection Booth
The next day, theatre employee David Raun witnessed another strange event. While closing up the theatre for the night, he was walking in front of the stage when he happened to glance up toward the projection booth and saw a strange man standing in the doorway. Although the body was in shadow, the face was clearly visible: a clean-shaven man with sharp facial features, short dark hair, and dark eyebrows. As soon as Raun continued to watch, the ghost vanished into thin air, just as it had with other witnesses.
On another occasion, Raun was on the catwalks above the auditorium when he once again felt something unseen touch his right shoulder and pass by him. At that moment, the temperature dropped dramatically as he realized he was the only person on the catwalks at the time. The ghost has appeared repeatedly since then. In the summer of 1996, a box office employee, who was alone at the time, felt an unusual presence. When she turned, she saw a shadow figure ascending the stairs to the balcony level.
The Theatre Manager’s Theory on the Haunting
In 2000, Arnold Robinson, the bass singer for the vocal group The Nylons, had his own experience with the theatre’s mystery. As he was walking to his dressing room, he felt someone walking alongside him. He shared in an interview that he felt the presence all the way to his dressing room. Robinson even dared to say out loud that if the ghost wanted to hang around, it was welcome to.
In the early 2000s, two psychic mediums visited the Vogue Theatre. Both sensed that someone had suffered a serious fall near the fly gallery (the area with ropes and levers that support and move theatrical scenery) to the left of the stage. They couldn’t say for sure whether the accident was fatal or if the person was just seriously injured. However, Bill Allman maintains that this information has never been substantiated. In fact, he and some of his colleagues conducted research in the 1990s and found no records of any injuries or deaths at the theatre.
Regardless of how or why the ghost ended up at the Vogue Theatre, Allman’s theory is that it is likely the spirit of someone who once worked there. This is based on the fact that the ghost mostly appears in areas accessible only to theatre employees.
