Lincoln Theater Investigation

The Lincoln Theater located on North Main Street in downstate Decatur, Illinois is truly one of the most haunted theaters in the country. The theater was built in 1916 by Clarence Wait on the exact same site of a tragic fire in 1915 which destroyed the Decatur Hotel killing an unknown amount of people inside. It opened for it's first performance on October 27, 1916 and had seating for over 1200 people. The first performance was a comedy entitled Hit The Trail Holliday by George M. Cohan. It was opened as the Lincoln Square Theater but later was simply called the Lincoln. When crowds began to dwindle, the theater closed up for a time and today through the help of restoration, is again open to the public and ghost hunters alike.

Some of the many actors that graced its stage include Ethel Barrymore, Jeanette MacDonald, Tallulah Bankhead, Al Jolson and Bob Hope. Harry Houdini even performed onstage and used a trapdoor that can still be seen today to make one of his fantastic disappearances.

There are many ghosts associated with the theater including one seen and encountered around the stage called "One-Armed Red". Nobody recalls his real name but "Red" was apparently a stage hand back when vaudeville graced the stage. One night, he was working high above the stage in the metal grid work when he slipped and fell. He fell but tried to catch himself from hitting the stage, many feet below, by reaching out to stop his plummet but his arm became snagged between two beams and his arm was torn from his shoulder. He was allegedly found dead the nest day. Throughout the years many people have heard eerie sounds and footsteps inside a vacant theater. Reports of whispering and voices have also been heard as well as a strange figure seen in the balcony from time to time.

Other reports include sounds of footsteps climbing up the spiral staircase in the back of the stage. This was reportedly heard by several persons quite clearly while filming a segment for television. Troy Taylor, President of the American Ghost Society, was showing show reporters around and ventured up the staircase. About halfway up, they all clearly heard the sound of footsteps on the metal staircase following them. Thinking it was the other reporter coming up to join them, they shined their flashlights down to guide her up, but there was no one to be seen but the footsteps persisted. Needless to say, the other reporters didn't hang around much longer and left in a hurry.

The Ghost Research Society has investigated the building many times as part of an after hours event preceding the annual American Ghost Society Conference and we've never been disappointed. On one investigation while exploring the main floor of the theater a distinct shadow person was seen visually by Art Schramm and also photographed by Jason Tito. The image was shown to shadow person expert Rosemary Ellen Guiley who found it one of the most interesting shadowy images she'd come across to date. During that same investigation, the command center was situated in the main lobby and even though no one was around me at the time, I had a dime appear out of nowhere and strike me in the head. I found that rather amazing but cheap. If ghosts are going to start throwing money around, they should be more generous.

There have been numerous meter fluctuations near some of the radiators just inside before entering into the theater and quite a few EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) has been recorded including most recently in 2009, a very distinct voice saying the word "Magic" which I find fascinating considering the Houdini connection! In 2008 Guiley first used a device known as "Frank's Box". The idea behind this device is two-way real-time communication with spirits. While conducting an experiment on the stage area when asked if the spirits knew anyone there that evening it clearly said the name "Joey" for Joey Tito, videographer for the GRS. They then asked, do you mean the Joey here, it replied in the affirmative. This theater is definitely a ghost hunters paradise and never fails to produce something to make even the die-hard skeptic scratch their heads in disbelief.