With Halloween approaching, I thought it would be fun to talk about ghosts. And not just any ghosts, but the ghosts that haunt Britain’s historic theaters.
These old theaters are rife with ghosts and psychic phenomena. Curiously, a lot of those ghosts are known individually as the Grey Lady, though they each have a different origin story.
There are reports of Grey Lady ghosts in the Theatre Royal York, the Theatre Royal Brighton, and the Theatre Royal Bath, to name just a few.
For this post, I’ll concentrate on the Theatre Royal Bath, which is arguably the most haunted theater in Britain. That distinction may be well deserved. From what I can tell, the whole place is crawling with ghosts and poltergeists.
A Sweet-Smelling Spook
The Theatre Royal Bath’s Grey Lady smells of jasmine and appears in 18th century gowns, her hair adorned with feathers. The story goes that she committed suicide, though there are three different accounts as to why.
In one account she killed herself after her lover died in a duel. Another story has it that she was in love with an actor, and she would sit in one of the top boxes to watch him perform. When he didn’t return her love, she killed herself.
The third version also involves unrequited love between an actor and a theatergoer, except the lady was the actor and it was the theatergoer who spurned her.
Consistent in all three accounts is the Grey Lady’s suicide. In most versions the lady hanged herself behind a door. However, at least one variation has the lady jumping to her death from a high window.
The Grey Lady manifests itself as a smoky apparition, either solid or wispy, and is sometimes seen in the corridor of the theater’s dress circle. However, the ghost’s usual haunt is the top left box, facing the stage. It doesn’t seem to bother anybody, but people who have seen the Grey Lady say the apparition has a melancholy air, making its viewers feel depressed and miserable, as if she transferred her despair to them.
A Pub Poltergeist
That’s not all the spooky stuff going on in the Theatre Royal. There’s the Phantom Doorman lurking by the entrance, believed to be the ghost of a man who once worked at the theater. Only cast members have seen him.
And the Garrick’s Head public house, adjacent to the theater, has its share of strange phenomena, too.
The Garrick’s Head bears the name of famed 18th century actor David Garrick. The pub is in the building that was once the grand home of Richard “Beau” Nash, a famous dandy in Georgian England.
Nash is best known for his role as the Master of Ceremonies and undisputed social leader of Bath when the spa town was a fashionable destination in the 18th century.
Like the Theatre Royal, the pub is also apparently haunted by the Grey Lady. There are reports of other paranormal activity in the pub as well.
Every year a blood stain mysteriously appears in the exact same spot on the pub’s floor. And once, in the 1990s, a cash register was reportedly hurled several feet across the bar by an unseen force.
An Airborne Apparition
Before we leave the topic of theater ghosts, a unique specter relatively new to the Theatre Royal deserves to be mentioned.
In 1948, a dead tortoiseshell butterfly was found on stage while the company was preparing to mount a children’s pantomime. Shortly after the deceased insect was discovered, the show’s manager and producer, Reg Maddox, dropped dead of a heart attack on stage while lighting a scene.
You might think there would be a scary ghost story to follow. However, people believe Maddox haunts the theater in the form of a benevolent butterfly, which is not very terrifying.
Seeing the winged insect fluttering in the rafters before a pantomime means the performance will be a hit. In addition, tortoiseshell butterflies seem to show up out of nowhere, to greet visiting stars or encourage performers.
In fact, every time Reg the butterfly ghost makes an appearance, he is greeted with affection.
After all, how scary can a butterfly be?
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For additional information and anecdotes see:
- “The Butterfly, Grey Lady and other Ghosts… Waymarking.com
- “Theatre Royal Bath,” Mysterious Britain and Ireland, November 21, 2018
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay