The Haunted Carolina Theater
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely Players.”
Something about the monologue in Shakespeare’s As You Like It rings especially true when you’re staring down the slowly decaying grandiose house of The Carolina Theater. It’s as if you’re awaiting the Players to manifest on stage, their eternal bond to the theater keeping them tied to a production that, at least for them, never ends.
The Carolina Theater, once a place of glory and beauty, fell victim to time, its only savior being the ongoing efforts to restore it to when it opened in 1927. While a fresh coat of paint and an extensive renovation will draw in crowds once more, there’s one thing preserving the look and feel of The Carolina Theater won’t do—rid it of its paranormal presence. That’s not to say it should, as one spirit has been a fixture of the theater for many years.
Despite ongoing construction, the iconic Carolina Theater remains alive with phantoms, each spectral inhabitant a reminder of the decades that the theater served Charlotte’s lovers of the arts.
Who is the ghostly resident of the Carolina Theater?
There’s at least one otherworldly entity that everybody knows by name. Get to know Fred, a mischievous manifestation who loves to get his hands on all theater equipment. Fred is just one of several fascinating aspects of the Carolina Theater. Keep reading to learn more about the hauntings of the Carolina Theater. To discover Charlotte’s most haunted locations in person, book a Charlotte ghost tour with Queen City Ghosts!
The Theater Comes to Charlotte
It was as if the weather intentionally broke for the grand opening of The Carolina Theater in Charlotte, North Carolina. Five days prior, 10 inches of snow fell upon the city, and temperatures read a frigid 40 degrees. On March 7, 1927, the skies were free from winter’s oppression, and crowds gathered in a comfortable 60 degrees.
The extravagance of the city’s newest theater drew in a crowd who gathered to watch A Kiss in a Taxi, a silent-era film released only two weeks prior. Though all eyes eventually fell on the movie, attendees couldn’t help but ogle the lavished features, like the wrought iron chandeliers and beautiful murals. A renovation in 1938 only added to the spectacle and enhanced the experience, with the murals replaced by acoustic tiles and new seats and theater equipment catering to the rise of “talkies.” It was a sight to behold, and soon, The Carolina Theater became a popular fixture of North Tryon Street, playing host to Elvish Presley in 1956 and drawing astounding numbers for showings of The Sound of Music nine years later.
Of course, something so striking has a dark side cast in its shadows. For much of the theater’s initial run, it was segregated, and Charlotte’s African American community wasn’t welcomed. This practice remained in place until 1963, when the city’s theaters slowly started desegregating, first by allowing very limited groups in with required reserved seating. Within weeks, restrictions were dropped, and everyone was permitted.
Could the damage have been done already, and The Carolina Theater inadvertently cast a cloud over itself through unscrupulous practices? What unfolded in the years to come was either a sign of the times or some form of punishment.
Time Takes Hold, and a Fire Threatens The Carolina
Though The Carolina Theater had such a strong opening and remained rather popular through the ‘60s, as new movie theaters opened nearby, providing access to suburban households, the fanfare surrounding the extravagant theater diminished. The old-school house couldn’t compete with modernized, convenient alternatives, and with little room to maneuver its style, it was forced to shut down. On November 27, 1978, the theater shut its doors for good as the credits rolled on the final showing of either Bruce Li’s Fists of Bruce Lee or Bruce Lee’s Fists of Fury, depending on who’s telling the story.
As if remaining stagnant for so many years wouldn’t be problematic enough, The Carolina Theater also had to survive the human element. Almost two years after closing down, ne’er-do-wells set a fire on the main stage. The flames threatened to take the theater for good, reducing it to a memory of its former glory. It’s said that the fire curtains saved the theater, preventing the fire from spreading.
One has to wonder, though, if it was the curtains or the work of someone watching over the theater for generations.
Fred, The Carolina’s Resident Apparition
Ask those in the know about The Carolina Theater’s spirit, and they’ll immediately start to talk to you about Fred. He’s a legend in the theater’s circuit, a specter known for mischievous but never harmful deeds. Who Fred is remains one of the theater’s biggest mysteries, but his story began years ago.
Lore has it that a stage director (or lighting technician named Bill Freeman, depending on who you hear it from) of The Carolina Theater often found things he organized in disarray the following morning. Was he simply misremembering, and it was he who inadvertently sabotaged himself? His answer came one random evening as he stood alone in the theater. Or, he thought he was alone, at least. While surveying the house, he saw a man in a white Oxford shirt sitting on the top balcony overlooking the stage.
A skeptic, the stage director knew it couldn’t be a spirit. That is until the name “Fred” flashed into his mind. From that moment, whenever something seemed awry in the theater, all one had to do was ask Fred to stop. If the lights were flickering for no reason, a simple “Knock it off, Fred!” would return things to normal. It was enough to sway the stage director’s beliefs, at least when it came to the Carolina Theatre.
The Unknown Ghosts of the Theater
Fred is a well-known spirit among those familiar with The Carolina Theater, especially those involved with the ongoing renovations. He’s far from the only soul trapped within the confines of the once-decaying building. Some have stated feeling a female presence on the balcony and hearing someone named Clarissa going on and on about shoes.
What’s most intriguing about the presence of any specter in The Carolina Theater is the lack of any reported deaths or suicides on the building’s grounds. Fred has a special affinity for the theater and its mechanics, which suggests he must have had an early tie to the venue. Clarissa, on the other hand, has yet to show her link to the grounds. Perhaps she was merely an avid lover of film or stage performances, and she chose The Carolina Theater as her final tie to our realm.
It may still be sometime before the theater opens its doors to the public once more, but there are plenty of ways to brush up on the history of the old theater. Check out our blog for more Charlotte haunts, and follow Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Book your Charlotte ghost tour today to experience to try and catch a glimpse of Fred.
Source
:
https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/charlotte/year-1927#march
https://carolinatheatreclt.org/theatre/history/
https://www.oldhouses.com/25100
https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/689
http://scottymoore.net/charlotte.html
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/article177872726.html
https://www.charlottemagazine.com/stage-fright-the-haunting-of-carolina-theatre-in-uptown/
https://www.charlottemagazine.com/stage-fright-the-haunting-of-carolina-theatre-in-uptown/
