The Capitol Theatre Haunting | Campfire Stories with MrBallen

welcome back to the campfire where it is raining uh and also a minute ago i was situated much closer to the fire and it was excruciatingly hot so we had to stop everything and move me back so i was just pouring sweat but uh we're all set up now and i have a great story to tell so it is a it's a classic ghost story uh but what really makes it stand out is that not only are the elements in the story really quite unnerving but also it's got a high degree of believability there are quite a few people in the story who independently witnessed and experienced the events of the story that i'm about to share with you right now but before we get into tonight's story if you're a fan of the strange dark and mysterious deliberative story format then you come to the right place because that's all we do and we upload two three even four times every week so if that's of interest to you please subscribe to our channel and hit the bell so you don't miss any of our new video the next time the follow button is at work go ahead and sneak into their house and fill all their clean socks with beach sand also please subscribe to our channel and turn on all notifications so you don't miss any of our weekly uploads okay let's get into tonight's story in 2006 there was a brand new police officer named dave murphy who was living in salt lake city utah and his first role was as a protective service officer which meant he was responsible for physical security at several county facilities and his first post was the capital city theater which is this this landmark you know icon in salt lake city it's this beautiful theater um it was built in the early 1900s and you know around the clock it required physical protection because it was you know a historic landmark and so on his first day of work in early august of that same year dave goes to the theater and when he gets there he's met by officer morgan matthews who is also a police officer who had been up to that point the the most recent uh security guard at the theater basically dave was going to be taking over for morgan and morgan was going to move on and do something about it so he was going to be taking over for morgan and morgan was going to move on and do something about it so he was going to be taking over for morgan and morgan was going else but there was going to be a period of time where morgan needed to train dave on how to go about you know being security at this theater and so dave he's a pretty friendly guy you know he's he knows he's new he knows he's green and he shows up to the theater ready to to not only learn the job but also get to know morgan who was who was older than him you know he's his boss but he's also more senior than him and so he meets morgan and pretty much right away dave picked up that morgan was really not interested in getting to know dave in fact really as soon as dave walked through the doors of this this theater morgan was like straight to business he there was no small talk it was like all right let's go i'm gonna i'm gonna show you around and i'm gonna i'm gonna teach you how to do this job and you know dave doesn't know morgan and again he's the new guy and he's he's not going to protest and so he said okay like show show me how to do this so the theater was three floors and then in addition to the three floors there was also a basement level down below and the actual theater was on the first floor but there was also some some offices on the first floor and the second floor and the third floor as well had some offices and administrative rooms and then down in the basement was storage there was some rehearsal rooms and some other things like that down there and so generally speaking dave's role or really like the role of a security guard at this theater was you get to the theater and the first thing you do is you secure it you literally check every single space you start in the basement you secure that you check every room lock every door turn off every light you go to the first floor you do the same thing second floor same thing third floor same thing and then when you've secured every room everything is locked all lights are off you know the whole place is locked down presumably this is the beginning of your shift you go back to the first floor where the control room is which is just a small room for security and inside there's all these monitors that you know show the different cameras that are all around the room and they're all locked down and they're all locked down and on the inside and the outside of the theater and you just basically sit there and watch the cameras you pretty much just wait and make sure nobody breaks in or any other sort of emergency like a fire or whatever and then at the end of your shift somebody else will relieve you and you go through the same process with them of go to the basement secure every floor up to the third and then you would depart and the new person takes over and so basically dave goes in and morgan explains this to him and then they go about securing the whole theater and when they're done they go to the control room and they're done doing that they just go to this control room which is again just this small room with cameras or i should say monitors that are attached to the cameras and like there's no small talk there's nothing it's just two dudes just sitting there for hours just watching these these silent screens and so dave is thinking like this is this is weird i get it that maybe this guy is not very you know into small talk or whatever but it's just odd that you wouldn't even talk to me at all and so he just says i'm going to go to the control room and i'm going to go to the control room and i'm going to go to the control room and i'm going to go to the control room and there was something going on with morgan but you know hey he's he's new he's not going to question it so that was day one it was day one on the job at the end of it you know dave leaves and that's that the next day dave comes back same routine uh again he does the the opening and closing sort of uh rounds of the theater with morgan so when they're securing the theater they're doing it together they barely talk during the the second day as well dave leaves that night and he's like you know i kind of got the hang of it this is going to be an awkward couple of weeks hanging out with with morgan here who just does not appear in any way interested in in interacting with me at all beyond just professionally so on the the third day this is the third day on the job dave when he gets to the theater he just really doesn't feel like doing the the rounds with morgan i mean it's already just so awful sitting there with morgan because morgan just again does not seem interested in talking to him and also remember dave is here to learn and sort of you know take the torch from morgan and and take over the the security of the theater and so when dave went in on this third day he goes to morgan and he's like hey i'm gonna do the security rounds on my own you can just stay here in the control room i'll do it like i'll go do it for the first time i know what i'm doing and morgan kind of looked at him and he's like all right yeah go ahead you know when you're done come back here and just let me know what happened and so dave is like great i get like you know 20 30 minutes away from morgan and so dave is like great i get like you know 20 30 minutes away from morgan and so he goes to the basement and the the basement it was really creepy it's like this huge space in fact i'm pretty sure the the basement extended beyond the width and the depth of the theater it's like the sprawling basement with all these different like tunnels it almost seemed like it was the sprawling layout in the basement and many of the rooms were just not really in use so they're like these abandoned dark rooms there's there's no windows or anything that leads outside it's the the hallway when you'd go down there was two sets of stairs that went down into the basement there was the the west and the east stairs on either side of the theater and you'd go down and they'd be on the side of the building and there's this main central hallway in the basement that spanned the length of the theater and in the middle of that hallway was this old grand piano that didn't get used at all and so when you'd be patrolling in the basement it's dark and dingy and you'd have to walk this hall with this this creepy piano down there and so that's the basement and dave goes down there and he he's sort of like a little creeped out down there but he goes in all the rooms you know he's done this for a couple of days now and you know nothing happens there's there's nobody there um also it's worth noting that despite the fact that they had the security for this theater to prevent break-ins break-ins were not common this is not like we have security because there are lots of break-ins like nothing ever happened at this theater so you know dave he's doing the check of the basement nothing's here nothing's going on secures the basement which means everything's shut all lights are off he goes up to the the first floor because that was the basement does the same thing shuts off all the lights everything's locked goes up to the second floor same thing everything's locked all lights are off goes up to the third floor and he checks everywhere all the rooms have been secured all the lights are off there's only one room left and it's at the end of the hallway and it's the it's the the rehearsal room and it's the only room on the third floor that didn't have a door it was just an open doorway and basically you'd poke your head in and you would just see like mirrors against the wall and it's like a pretty big room and so dave this is his last room he just needs to check this one room and make sure no one's in there and then he's done and so he walks to the the doorway and he pokes his head into this rehearsal room he's looking around and he doesn't see anything and as he he steps out of the room so his back is to the hallway where he's just been as he steps back into the hall he hears this loud slam right behind him it's the bathroom door that's right behind him he whips around and he looks at the bathroom door and right away like a series of thoughts run through his mind number one he's thinking break-in like there's no way that sound just happened on its own someone's here someone has either slammed the door and gone in the bathroom or they have slammed the bathroom door and they're running down the hallway like they're making an exit they're making a run for it and so right away you know with this first thought dave he's looking at the door he's looking down the hallway he doesn't see anyone he is armed but he's like i gotta tell morgan i gotta tell him there's a potential break-in so he pulls out his radio he calls to morgan who's down on the first floor in the control room and he tells him i suspect a break-in like i just heard a door slamming up here get up here and so morgan down in the control room he quickly scans the cameras which it's worth pointing out these cameras they didn't really work that well unless a light was on in the room it was watching at least for the cameras that were like inside the the theater they only worked if the room was well lit so he's looking at the cameras and really he can't see anything at all and so he just abandons the camera and he starts running upstairs to go meet with the dave and figure out what's going on and so dave he draws his gun he's holding it in front of him just sort of waiting he's standing in the hallway he's looking at the bathroom door he's just like waiting because he doesn't really know what to do he's gonna wait for backup and the second thought runs through his mind about the slamming of the door on the outside of the door was this pretty pronounced hydraulic hinge on the bathroom door so this bathroom door was a pretty heavy door you could open it but it went if you tried to slam it there's that last bit of it closing where the the hydraulic hinge catches and it goes like as the air comes out of it it slows the shutting of the door it's it's like you can't slam this door there's literally a hydraulic hinge that prevents the slamming of this door and dave's thinking like the door slammed so loud he practically jumped you know it was right there like he didn't mishear it how could that door have slammed and so he's thinking about that and morgan he comes charging up the stairs he sees dave and dave sort of fills him in and morgan's like we got to go in the bathroom like that's that's where this this intruder must be and so the two of them guns drawn they they open up the bathroom door they go inside they flip the light on because it was dark in there and there's nobody in there i mean they searched the whole bathroom there's nobody there they check all the stalls because for a second they thought maybe somebody's standing on one of the toilet seats and we can't see them so they open up all the stalls nobody's in this bathroom but they're like okay whoever it was they must have made a run for it like dave you must not have seen where they went maybe they're hiding in one of the rooms upstairs or maybe they ran down like the east stairwell or something and so the two officers they leave the bathroom and they make their way down the hall poking their heads in each of the rooms as they go like looking for this potential intruder there's nobody on the third floor and so they begin making their way down that east stairwell and as they're going down their plan is just to go to the second floor and sort of we're going to search the building in reverse second first you know basement and see where this person is assuming they're still here and as they're making their way down that set of stairs dave and morgan they just stop like they're in between the third floor and the second floor they stop because they can now see the entire second floor is completely lit up i mean all they can see is just the the entryway to the hallway that sort of feeds out into the the second floor but already just from where they're standing there's tons of light coming down the hallway everything's on and remember dave on his way up to the third floor had systematically shut every door locked everything and and turned off all the lights and so morgan and dave they're looking at that and dave says to morgan like i i turned everything off like everything was off down here so clearly whoever just broke in has done this i mean what other explanation can there be and so the two of them now like really ready to potentially come face to face with someone who's broken into the theater they turn the corner on the second floor and they begin clearing the second floor and there's no one there they check all these rooms all every room is lit up all the doors are not just unlocked but they're wide open and think about this like they were just on the third floor they didn't hear anything downstairs all they heard was the slamming of that door and what like in the space of a couple of minutes this person silently ran to the second floor and opened everything turned on every light and they never heard any of it and like they're thinking that and so they're searching this whole second floor and they don't find anything and as they're going they're turning off the lights they're shutting everything and they're sort of like looking at each other like what's going on here and they finish searching the second floor nobody there they make their way to the first floor that's where the control room is they search the first floor nobody there and then they go down into the basement the the creepy basement and they search down there and there's nobody down there and so after securing the theater dave and morgan i mean they're stumped they really don't know what to make of this and so they go back up to the the control room and dave admittedly at this point even though there's now been some pretty obvious physical signs that someone had to have been here dave is starting to feel a little bit self-conscious that he has sort of led them on a wild goose chase here right like he's new and you know maybe he didn't hear a slamming sound maybe that was in his head and and maybe he did forget to to turn off the lights and shut all the doors on the second floor i mean that sounds ridiculous but maybe and he can see in his partner morgan's body language and just his tone which was already cold he was sort of feeling like maybe dave had overreacted here like maybe dave you know was wrong and this is his fault and so dave like he feels bad and he he wants to tell morgan he feels bad but at the same time like he knows what he experienced and morgan is like this is weird but i i basically think it was your fault and so you know these two still not getting along the tension between them basically meant they couldn't really talk about it and so at the end of this shift it was like they both just turned over with the next people and went home and they just chalked it up to like boy that was weird and so about a week later on september 4th dave arrived early to the theater for a shift and when he got there some of the staff that worked during the day at the theater like the administrative people and the accountants they were just still there closing up for the day and dave who was someone who sort of enjoyed small talk he he went inside and he began doing the initial scan of the entire theater go to the basement secure it make your way upstairs but on the first floor he couldn't actually secure it because there are these these staff members that are still here they have to leave before he can officially secure the first floor and so again because dave is a pretty extroverted guy he just found himself going to the first floor where all these these staff still were and he introduced himself as the new security guard and then he just sort of milled about on the first floor as they wrapped up and as dave was was in their space he overheard them talking and specifically he overheard the senior accountant of the theater a guy named blair fuller talking to two other employees about this ghost story and clearly this ghost story had happened to blair the way he was telling it and you know dave he was overhearing bits and pieces so he couldn't really hear all the details but clearly whatever happened to blair scared him and happened inside of this theater and remember dave he's had this really spooky experience just a couple of days ago with morgan the slamming in the door and never finding that intruder i mean they ultimately chalked it up to i guess somebody had broken in and we just didn't catch him but dave inside he's thinking i don't know that that was that was off it was not normal what happened but he didn't have an explanation and so feeling sort of i don't know what happened but he didn't have an explanation that was off that was not normal what happened but he didn't have an explanation and so feeling sort of inspired he walked over to blair right as he was getting ready to leave and he said hey excuse me i i overheard you talking about like a ghost story that happened here would you mind like telling me about it and blair was sort of caught off guard by this request like he's getting ready to leave and here's the security guard asking him to regale him in this ghost story but blair was like actually yeah all right yeah come on uh come into my office and i'll i'll tell you the story and so the other employees they all leave and blair and dave they make their way into blair's office and blair he tells dave like you know uh i've worked here for a long time but i i will not work nights here anymore because of this story i'm gonna tell you the story and he's like a couple years ago this is blair now a couple years ago i was working late i had some work to do and my office was actually up on the third floor and it overlooked the elevator bank so from his desk there was a window on his right on the outside of his office that looked out to the two elevator doors when the elevators were on the elevator's motor was really loud like when it would kick on it was just very noticeable and at night when nobody else was there there's no reason the elevator should be turning on and so blair was like you know i work nights a fair amount by this point and i'm sitting at my desk and i'm just sort of locked into my work and at some point i hear one of the elevator motors kick on and it's distinctive and so he's like i stopped put my stuff down and i looked out the glass window of his office out to the hallway into the elevator bank and he saw one of the elevators the the arrow that showed what floor the elevator was on was on the basement level but it was lit up like the car was moving and so slowly he watched as the the little arrow moved from basement to first to second the third floor so now it's reached his level and blair's like i'm the only one here like this is so weird like who's here and they're obviously coming to see me right and so third floor and he's like the doors open up and blair's he doesn't even know what to expect he's assuming it's going to be another employee or something but he's like it was empty and like right away blair's like i felt so uneasy like how creepy is that it's it's late at night and this this elevator's randomly arrived on my floor and nobody Nobody's in it. but Blair's like, it gets worse. I'm sitting there staring at this, this empty elevator car and the doors don't shut. They just stay open. And like 30, 40 seconds goes by and Blair's like, it's silent. I'm just like staring at this empty car. And then suddenly the alarm kicks on and it's this, this constant sound that indicates there's an obstruction keeping the doors from shutting. Like something is keeping the doors open, but Blair's like, there is nothing out there. Like there is no one, nothing like how in the world is it, is it being obstructed? And so for almost a minute, he's just sitting there and this alarm is, it's really loud and it's constant until the, the obstruction clears. And then at some point it will override it, but it's like, he can't do his work here. And so he, he gets up from his desk and he admits he was, he was scared and he walks into the hallway and he's looking around. He's, he's calling out in case, you know, somehow there had been someone here and he missed them like impossible, but he's calling out. Nobody's calling back. And so he, he walks through the, the open door into the elevator. And as soon as he does, the alarm stops and he turns around and he sees that the basement button, like the button you would hit to go down to the basement is now highlighted like as if he had pressed it, but he didn't. And he's like shocked because he didn't press it. And the alarm has also gone off and he's standing in the elevator car and then the doors, they just shut and he didn't get off. He just is. Now in the elevator and it starts going down and Blair is like, I was so scared. Like what am I doing on this elevator car? Why did I get in? Like, and he's going down, it's the second floor, the first floor. And it goes all the way to the basement. And Blair's like, I expected there to be somebody outside waiting. You know, somebody must've hit the basement call button and that's why it's going down there. Like how else could it be being called down there? But the doors opened up and again, there was, there was nothing out there. And so Blair at this point, he said he stepped out now into the very creepy basement I was telling you about before. That's like the sprawling maze. There's no natural light down there. There's that, that creepy piano that's down there. He steps out in the hallway and he said right away, it was like just goosebumps all over his body. It's like the hairs are standing up on his, on his arms. He doesn't see anything, doesn't hear anything, but he said he couldn't help, but feel like there was something watching him, something down there that just, it didn't feel right. And so almost like a child, he said he panicked and ran back into the elevator car and began hitting the door close button. And so he got the doors finally to close and he's, he's jamming the third floor to go back up to his office just to get out of here. And so slowly the car goes back up, gets to the third floor, it opens up and he, he makes his way into his office. He goes through the door and then he stops because his desk is right here. And next to his desk is this huge old filing cabinet and all the drawers have been pulled out and he didn't do that. And again, he's alone. There's nobody else here. The theater. And he just stops and he stares at the filing cabinet and he looks around the room. Nobody's there. And then one by one, the cabinet starts slamming shut one after the other until they've all shut. And so Blair's like completely horrified after just being frozen in fear for a second. He runs over to the, the, the filing cabinet and he begins pulling them out to see if they'll like shut on their own, but none of them were angled. Like they wouldn't shut on their own. Something caused them to shut. And so he just grabbed the door and he goes, he grabbed all this stuff and he left and he promised himself he would never, ever work there at night. And he told Dave that from that point to now, he hadn't come back at night. And he was like, actually right now I'm getting out of here as quick as I can. I can't believe you have to stay here. And Dave, you know, at this point he's heard the story and he can't help, but feel like, oh boy, like whatever I experienced feels similar to this. And so Dave, he opens up to Blair and he says, you know, it wasn't just because I was interested in your story. He's like, I've only been here for like a week or so. And already I've had an experience that I can't explain. And so he would tell Blair about the slamming of the door and all the stuff that he and Morgan experienced, which they couldn't, they couldn't explain. And Blair's like, yeah, there's something off about this place. You're not alone. Other people have shared their own experiences and it's like this place is haunted. And so Blair, ultimately, he leaves. And now Dave's like, great, like I gotta have a shift here, a nice overnight shift at this haunted theater. And so not long after Blair had gone, Morgan, Dave's partner, the cold partner who they really haven't opened up to each other at all at this point, Morgan shows up and Dave's like, you know what, screw it. Like I'm going to, I'm going to tell Morgan what I think is going on here. I'm going to tell him the story I just heard and tell him that like, is this place haunted? Like Dave immediately is like, Hey dude, I just, uh, I just spoke to Blair, the accountant and here's his story. And he tells him the story of, you know, the elevator and the slamming, uh, filing cabinets. And afterwards, Dave is sort of like gauging Morgan's reaction to this because he doesn't, he doesn't really know what Morgan even thinks. I mean, the guy has been a closed book the whole time, but Dave notices at the end of this story that he's told Blair's story, that he's just retold that Morgan, it looks like something's on his mind. Like he, he does want to say something to Dave. And it's not like, Oh, that's silly. That's not real. It's like, he's got something he wants to share. And so at this point, Dave, he's watching Morgan and Morgan hasn't said anything yet. And then Dave's like, Morgan, I can't explain what happened with that slamming door. Like that wasn't me. I didn't mishear that something happened here. And then I didn't, I didn't turn those lights on or I didn't forget to shut the doors on the second floor. That wasn't me either. And you know it like what happened, like what's going on? And so at this point, Morgan, he looks at Dave and like Morgan, it's clear he wants to preserve his credibility as, as the senior guy, the boss, you know, maybe that's why he's being so hard. He's like, you know, I got a, I've got a confession to make. Uh, I have never felt good in this building. I've always felt uneasy. In fact, just the other day I was here alone, you know, you weren't here. And I heard whispers, you know, right behind me when I was in the control room and it was really just creepy. You know, there's no, nobody else there. It sounded like someone was right in my ear. And I got up and I sort of followed the whispers and they led me to the basement. And when I got down there, I could have sworn I smelled smoke to the point where I was about, I was about to call the fire department. I literally thought there was a fire, but I searched the whole basement and there was nothing. And so between that and, and obviously what happened to us and just honestly, my, my general unease of being in this building, I, I'm convinced there's, there's something going on here and it's, it's not natural. And so finally Dave and Morgan have like found common ground. They're suddenly able to share their theories and what they think about this and that about this theater. Like they're, they're connecting over this and quickly they realized like, even though it seems like considering, you know, the senior accountant Blair has his story and he's a credible guy, it seems like maybe there are others that have sort of spooky stories about this place that might validate our stories and our feelings. But like we're, we're police officers. Like we don't want to go to our higher-ups. We don't want to go to our higher-ups. We don't want to go to our command and be like, Hey, guess what? We found some ghosts inside of this theater. And so they're like, we got to find some other way to sort of test our theory that something really is wrong here. And so they both come to this conclusion that what they should do is just invite a neutral third party to just come visit them. They're like, why don't we grab one of our friends and just have them come here and just sort of bill it as like a chance to explore this historic, you know, theater after hours, like make it seem like it's just a cool thing they get to do. Cause they're friends with us, like the police officers. And so Dave is like, great idea. And he's like, I got just the guy, his buddy, Greg, it's his best friend, Greg. He's in town. He's like, let me call Greg. He won't suspect anything. He will come here. He will love the tour. And I tell you if there's anything weird, he'll call it out. But if there isn't, he won't call it out. He's, he's a perfect neutral third party. And so they ended up calling old Greg. And I think it was like the next day, uh, when, when both Morgan and Dave were on shift at this point, they, they've locked down the theater and Greg, you know, he shows up and he's really excited for this like after hours tour of this theater. You know, he'd grown up in Salt Lake city. This is like a landmark. This is cool. And so Greg, he comes in and again, he, he has no idea that really he's, he's sort of a guinea pig. He's, he's being led into a potentially haunted building to see if he believes it's haunted without any prompting. And so they tell Greg like, Hey, so what we're going to do is we're just going to take you through basically what we do on our security rounds. We'll lock every room, starting with the basement, we'll work our way to the top. Normally what we would do is we would systematically shut every door, lock every door and turn off every light during these rounds. But we've already done that. So you'll basically just see a whole bunch of locked doors. You know, we'll poke our heads in a few and then you'll see the theater and so on and so forth. And so Greg's like, cool, let's go. And so they leave the main lobby where they've met him and they make their way downstairs to the basement. And even though, again, they're sort of following their protocol of, of, you know, walking down the theater basement first floor, second, third, they've already done it once. Everything's shut, everything's locked. And they, they make their way into that big hallway that runs the entire stretch of the theater in the basement. And they're walking and up ahead is that creepy piano. And Greg is like, Oh, this is so cool. Like I've never been down here. And at some point, Dave and Morgan, who are ahead of Greg, they notice up ahead, one of the doors in the basement is not just unlocked. It's wide open. And again, everything has been locked. Everything has been shut at this point. so like right away they dave and morgan are like we're dealing with whatever's going on in this place like in some ways this is perfect because greg is here and so without telling greg what's going on they just say hey greg like stay back for a second and greg's like what what's going on and dave and morgan they draw their guns and greg's like what is happening here so dave and morgan they draw their guns and they start walking towards this open door and they're in the hallway walking towards the door that's on their left so they can't see into it yet they need to turn and look into the door to see what's in there and they're walking up and as they're getting closer and closer to this door which is just wide open it's a small like storage room or something as they're getting closer and closer the door just suddenly slams shut like super loud and the instant it's shut the doorknob begins to rattle like someone's in the room yanking the doorknob up and down and so dave and morgan they're like oh my god someone's in here greg is about to run out of here but he's so scared he just kind of gets up behind the two officers and doesn't even know what to do and so dave and morgan they move up on the door one's covering the other they try the door they try to open it but it's getting shook all around they can't open it and finally one of them kicks the door and it slams open nothing there there's no one there there's there's no way anyone could have been right there a millisecond ago shaking the doorknob and then vanished as quickly as they had there was nowhere to go there's nothing in this room it's a vacant small room and so dave and morgan they're seeing this clearly they have their flashlights out and greg the neutral third party who was brought here basically for this reason he is just beyond terrified he has seen exactly what in essence they were hoping he would see and he starts saying this place is haunted like there's no two ways about it like i've never seen that before this place is haunted and dave and morgan they're like i don't know like let's let's just make sure no one's in here and they go in they do a little sweep just to make sure no one's in there and and there's there's nothing but while they're in there greg the friend who's you know he's on edge he's frantic he's sort of standing in the room behind them and at some point he's oh what's that in the corner and they all turn and they shine their light into the corner the corner of the small room and there's there's nothing there but greg's like i just saw like a figure sitting there with a hood over their head they were they were right there and so dave and morgan are like all right dude we'll tell you why you're here here yeah we think this place is haunted and you pretty much just proved it let's get out of here and so the three of them they leave the basement they go to the control room greg is like yeah bye he bails and dave and morgan i mean they are they're shook i mean they didn't really think something that big was going to happen but now it's like undeniable i mean they both now have seen and with a third party like they've seen something happen that is not explainable and they just don't know what to do however even though dave and morgan are like oh my god dave and morgan didn't know how to handle this they had sort of started a chain of events that the city was now going to respond to and so over these past couple of weeks as these strange things were happening in the theater dave and morgan were they were documenting them but they weren't really saying what actually happened they were just indicating that you know these strange things they saw they would chalk it up as like a potential break-in but then no person was ever caught and so the city they're seeing all these reports come in or at least a higher number of reports that suggest the theater keeps getting broken into and so they decide like we're going to install a higher level of security in the theater and what they did is they decided to replace all of the cameras that were old and again only really worked if there was a light on in the room they replaced them with infrared cameras that would be able to see what was in a room even if lights were off and so on installation day which was september 15th so this is you know a month and a half after dave is first begun working at this theater and now you know several strange things have happened in the theater that both dave and morgan have witnessed on this day installation day the new cameras are put in and morgan he was actually working alone that day and so he gets to work he does his typical check of basement first second third floor he locks the place down and then he goes to the control room and he just watches the camera monitors but now it's different because the camera monitors despite you know showing all these these rooms that are dark and locked off because the cameras were infrared he could now see the rooms it was like they were all lit up it was like he had night vision for all these these rooms and so morgan he's just sitting there just scanning the different cameras and at a certain point as he was doing a sort of mental loop of looking at each camera he got to the the monitor that showed the inside of the theater which was on the first floor not far from the control room and the camera was looking from behind the stage out towards the seats it basically was a fisheye of all the seats and he saw what looked very clearly to be like a person or what appeared to be a person sitting in the theater and you know the camera was kind of zoomed back out and morgan's primed for weird things to be happening in this theater and so he sees this and right away he begins to zoom in like on this this figure in the middle of the theater and so he zooms in and he zooms in until he can get as close as he can get and it is very clearly what appears to be a man who's wearing this this hood that's covering his head and he's sitting there looking down and morgan he's staring at this figure and he's already scared i mean he's alone in the theater he's seen all sorts of horrible things and he's just locked on this monitor not even sure what he should do i mean protocol would be you go investigate because this is somebody who's broken in but morgan's not thinking that he's thinking ghost and so he's looking at the camera right at at morgan it's got these dark sunken eyes like red glowing through its eyes and it's looking at morgan and morgan he's horrified and then inexplicably this this figure rises up out of its seat and disappears into the ceiling and morgan as soon as he saw that he quit he said enough is enough i'm not doing this anymore he literally packed up his stuff and left that was it for him two weeks later dave is at the theater he's obviously heard this this tale from morgan directly he told him what happened and why he quit and so two weeks later you know dave he's working at the theater now he's working alone too because he doesn't have a partner and he didn't begrudge morgan for it he sort of got it himself he was on the fritz of quitting himself like this was just too much being in this theater but he's working alone and you know he did the typical get to work you know you check all the floors and stuff and he's like i'm not doing this anymore you secure everything and he's sitting in the control room and he's watching the cameras and at a certain point he thinks he hears music like piano music and he can't really tell where it's coming from and you know even though he's been in this theater and seen all these strange things like he didn't immediately think oh this is like paranormal this is this is a ghost this is this is a haunting he actually thought oh is there like music playing outside that's like leaking into the theater or something and so he just gets up and begins to walk around and explore figure out where this music is coming from and at first he thinks it's sort of coming from somewhere near the actual auditorium and so he gets into the auditorium but you know at that point the music is getting quieter and so he turns around and he walks back towards the control room and as he's getting closer to the control room he realizes the music is definitely coming from the basement and again it's it's piano music like it's it's clearly a piano and it's like ragtime upbeat music and you know dave is thinking there's there's a piano downstairs right in the middle of that hallway and he's like this is this is horrifying but i gotta go down there i gotta go down there and see what this is like this is my job i'm supposed to be you know security and so he draws his gun and he makes his way over to the top of the east stairwell that goes down into the basement and as he's going down these dark steps the basement's pitch black down there you can't turn the light on until you're all the way down there he's going down the stairs he's got his flashlights he's got a little bit of a of a light at the bottom and he's like oh my god i'm gonna go down there and he's like oh my god i'm gonna go and with each step on the way down the music the loud upbeat ragtime music is getting louder and louder and louder it's like unbelievably loud as he's reached the bottom of the stairs and he reaches right at that point where he needs to break the corner and look down the hallway to actually see the piano and now he knows that that's where the music has to be coming from someone's playing the piano and so he's got his gun he's got his flashlight and all at once he turns and breaks the corner and looks down the hallway and shines his light on the piano and the second his light lands on the piano all he sees is the the covering for the keys slam shut over the keys and then it's just deathly silent in the hall there was no one there there's there's no one in the hallway it's just silent and for Dave this was sort of like his moment like like Morgan had two weeks earlier he goes up to the control room and he calls a supervisor and he's like "Dude!" "Do not ever put me back in this theater like I'll work here tonight but after this never put me back here or I will quit" and so his supervisor in you know hearing how serious Dave was he's like "Okay I'll find somebody else" and that was Dave's last shift at the theater and after that for the next two months there was like intermittent coverage of the of the theater other police officers would go and they'd fill in but nobody was full-time manning the theater until two months later this is now in November of that year a veteran cop whose name was Josh Thomas who actually happened to be a friend of Dave's he was assigned to be the new full-time security guard for the Capitol Theater. And so Dave knew that, sort of felt bad for the guy, but he didn't have a chance to talk to Josh about his experience or Morgan's experience. He just found out that Josh was going to be the guy that was going to be the new security guard. And so on Josh's first day, when he was there by himself, actually, he didn't have the opportunity to train with anybody else. He's by himself at the Capitol Theater. It's his first day. On that day, Dave, who, you know, he doesn't do that job anymore, he was still a cop, he was on patrol, just generally near the Capitol Theater. And as he's driving around, he suddenly hears this frantic call come over the radio asking for backup at the Capitol Theater. And he knew that Josh, his friend, had been assigned there. You know, that's definitely him. And as it happened, he was closest of all the other police in the area to the theater. And so Dave, despite, you know, not really wanting to talk to him about it, not really wanting to go back in the theater, it's his buddy, it's his job. And so he flies over to the theater. And when he gets there, he finds Josh. And Josh is, he's outside of the theater. And he's wide-eyed. He's clearly terrified. Remember, Josh, at least from Dave and Morgan, they didn't share any details with him about their experience. They kind of intentionally kept it to themselves. They didn't want anybody to know really what had happened. And they sort of were trying to keep it discreet. And so Josh is sort of like an independent guy who's just wound up at the theater. And he looks just terrified. And Dave, he walks over to Josh and he's like, hey, what's going on? Like, you called for backup. Like, what's happening here? And Josh, he's like, I don't even know what to tell you is going on inside the theater. He's like, I was in there doing my rounds and I was in the basement and I was standing in front of the elevator bank and, you know, I'm alone in the theater. And suddenly the motor for the elevator kicked on. And I didn't press the button. I didn't call for it. And I'm just like stumped. I'm looking at the arrow as the, you know, the ticker is going from the third floor and it's making its way down to the basement. And he's like, I thought maybe, you know, somebody else, another officer had come to work with me or something. But he's like, the elevator car came down, the doors opened and there was nobody there. And like right away, just something felt off. I'm standing there, I got goosebumps. Like, I just felt like something was off. And then the alarm sounded on the doors. Like basically something was obstructing it. Like it wasn't, it was shutting 'cause something was in the way, but there was nothing there. And honestly, I just panicked. Like I had already felt from the time I got there that like something was weird about this place, but it just felt like someone's like playing a prank on me or something. And I just, I called in for backup. And Dave, you know, he's thinking that had it not been for his own experience in this theater, this story, like the idea that that was enough to warrant an officer to call for backup was pretty, pretty ridiculous. Like this is, you have not described a break-in, not a break-in at all. You've described an elevator car opening up in front of you, sort of unannounced. But Dave, he knows the history of this place. And he's like, all right, Hey, I'll go in there with you. We'll check the place out. Like, we'll make sure, you know, it's safe. So the two of them, they go back in the side door. They go down to the basement. They searched the whole basement. There's nothing there. They secure it. They go to the first floor and they search the sort of periphery of the first floor. And they start by walking down the runway towards the actual stage. And they're looking in all the seats. There's nobody there. They get up onto the stage and Dave, he sort of breaks off to the left, search the left-hand side on the stage. And Josh, he starts going over to the right-hand side and they'd split up for the first time since being inside. And it's, it's tense, right? Like they both know this is just sort of weird what's happening, but they're not actually talking about it. They've just broken up and it's quiet in the theater. And at some point, Dave, who's over on the left side of the stage, he's, you know, 30, 40 feet away from, from Josh, he hears Josh say something like, "Hey, dude, knock it off. I get it, it's creepy." And Dave looks over at him. He's like, "What? Like, what are you talking about?" And Josh, he whips his head around and he's like, "Oh," he's like, "I just heard whispers in my ear. I thought you would come up behind me and were trying to scare me." It's the two, they come together. And so Dave, he's standing on the stage, looking towards the back of the stage. And Josh is facing Dave and the seats. He's basically, he's looking in the direction of the seats. And the two of them are looking at each other like, "Wait, what did you hear?" Like, Dave's like, "What'd you, you heard whispers?" And Josh is like, "Yeah, like right in my ear." And like, they're talking for a minute about it. And then suddenly Josh, who again is looking past Dave, basically into the empty theater, he just freezes. And he's like, "Dave, there's something behind you." And Dave, he turns around. And at first he doesn't see anything, but then he notices in the back of the theater, there is this hooded figure that's standing in the very back row and its head is down. And both Josh and Dave are staring at this figure. And the figure suddenly looks up and looks right at the two men. It's got those sunken eyes, the red eyes piercing through. And it just turns and bolts out of the theater. Now, even though this was immediately terrifying for both of them, you know, David for obvious reasons, and really Josh too, like he doesn't know what to make of this. They both instinctively treat this like a break-in. A person's here, they've broken in, and so they chase after this person, and they're looking everywhere, and they search the entire theater. And wouldn't you know it, they don't find anything. And so after, you know, officially locking down the theater after this strange encounter, Dave doesn't leave. He goes with Josh back to the control room, and Josh is really shaken up. And, you know, Dave, he's sort of seen this before. He doesn't want to be here, but he's been through this before. And he just sits down with Josh and he tells him the truth. He's like, you know, here's why I asked to be reassigned, here's why Morgan quit, here's the story that Blair the accountant told me, and oh, by the way, I've heard rumor that this place has loads of stories about it, that lots of people over the years have encountered, effectively, ghosts. And actually, after this experience with Josh, Dave, who really had decided that like this chapter in his life was just kind of over, like after getting reassigned, he had sort of just moved on from the theater, like I'm never going back there, I'm not gonna think about it. But after what happened with Josh, Dave decided to take sort of the opposite approach. He decided to do a little digging and sort of see what is the real history of this theater, see if there's, you know, maybe a reason behind why there is, you know, apparently this haunting here. He did some digging and he discovered in the 1940s, so many, many years ago, there was this horrible fire at the theater. And although of the 600 plus people who were in the theater at the time, even though virtually everybody got out, there was one person, a young man who was an usher who worked at the theater, who actually had been trying to save people. He had gotten out and kept going back into the theater to try to get more people out. And at some point he got trapped in the basement and that's where the fire was. And he ultimately died. He was the one fatality in this fire. And so Dave and many others believe that the ghost that haunts that theater is in fact this usher's ghost. And that the reason they smell smoke and the reason that like doors are slamming and things, things to do with doors are involved is because like this, this boy died, this young man died because he was trapped in the basement. But ultimately it's just a theory, but I'll say in addition to the four perspectives that I just gave you in the story, the four people that all had encounters with something, Blair, Morgan, Dave, and Josh inside of this theater, like they are not alone. You know, since 2006, when these events happened, there have been dozens of other people that have gone into that theater and they have left with stories of things that don't add up. Stories that sound like they were inside of a haunted building. And so whether or not you believe that it's up to you, but the stories are out there, the accounts are out there and it's a fascinating place. So you gotta go check it out for yourself. - A quick note about our stories. They are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. If you want to learn more about our stories, you can find them on our website, which is at the end of this video. And if you're interested in learning more about our stories, you can check out our website at the end of this video. And we'll see you next time on "Mr. Ballin." - The "Mr. Ballin" podcast, "Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories," is hosted and executive produced by me, Mr. Ballin. Our head of writing is Evan Allen, produced by Jeremy Bone and Cole Lacasio. This episode was written by Karis Pash Cooper. Research and fact-checking by Shelly Hsu, Samantha Van Hoose, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway, Camille Callahan, Alex Paul, Ben Faciano. Support by Antonio Monata and Delaina Corley. Artwork by Jessica Clogston Kiner. Theme song, "Something Wicked," by Ross Bugden. Thank you for listening to the "Mr. Ballin" podcast. And just a reminder, every new and exclusive episode we put out on the "Mr. Ballin" podcast, you can also now watch on the "Mr. Ballin" YouTube channel that very same day. And trust me, some of these stories you truly have to see to believe. Again, my YouTube channel is just called "Mr. Ballin." If you want to listen to episodes one week early and ad-free, you can subscribe to SiriusXM Podcast Plus on Apple Podcasts or visit SiriusXM.com/podcastplus to listen with Spotify or another app of your choice. So, that's gonna do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time, see ya. I'll see you next time. you