The Ghost of The Opera House
Believers in spirits have stated that a ghost will drift back to what anchored it to earth. As the local legend in Van Buren goes, a young actor with the King Opera House during the early 20th century fell in love, and had planned an escape via train at the Van Buren depot while trying to run away with the daughter of a local doctor. Some friends of the doctor saw the couple at the train station, and phoned the doctor to inform him of what was going on. The doctor instantly ran to his horse and buggy to retrieve his daughter from the train station. Before the evening ended, he ended up whipping the young man to his death. The daughter ran off, never to be seen again.
Janice Cochrane, a previous owner of the opera house and writer/director of an original play based on the legend, told the state Parks & Tourism Department that the actor's ghost was first seen by a musician and set designer during the first production of the reopened theater in 1979. Other sightings, including one by the director of another play, have been cited as recently as 2000. At least one director is said to have also visited with the spirit.
The ghost is said to materialize, dressed in a top hat and Victorian style coat with a long cape. Cochrane has stated that once after all the actors left from a rehearsal of her play, and only she remained, that she felt as if someone else was in the theater with her. The feeling she described was that it was almost as if the hairs were standing up on the back of her neck. Though Cochrane said she felt like the ghost was present, whether the King Opera House is haunted or not may never be known.
Read more about this topic: King Opera House
Famous quotes containing the words opera house, ghost, opera and/or house:
“The opera house sparkled with tiers
And tiers of eyes, like mine enlarged by belladonna,”
—James Merrill (b. 1926)
“The ghost of the heart of manred Cain
And the more murderous brain
Of Man, still redder Nero that conceived the death
Of his mother Earth, and tore
Her womb, to know the place where he was conceived.”
—Dame Edith Sitwell (18871964)
“The real exertion in the case of an opera singer lies not so much in her singing as in her acting of a role, for nearly every modern opera makes great dramatic and physical demands.”
—Maria Jeritza (18871982)
“Strictly speaking, one cannot legislate love, but what one can do is legislate fairness and justice. If legislation does not prohibit our living side by side, sooner or later your child will fall on the pavement and Ill be the one to pick her up. Or one of my children will not be able to get into the house and youll have to say, Stop here until your mom comes here. Legislation affords us the chance to see if we might love each other.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)