A Night at the Theater

Beardstown Opera House Investigation

Beardstown, population of approximately 8,000 people, lies on the banks of the Illinois River. Just a couple blocks away from the river the Beardstown Opera House was built in 1872, but its doors never did open. Mother Nature had other plans. She just about destroyed the place, which delayed the opening, to provide joy to all that entered.

However, the owners and volunteers were determined to rebuild it bigger and better than ever. And once the opera house was rebuilt, it played host to the thousands of people who were destined to see lives shows in the structure. These shows consisted of numerous circuses, theater troupes, vaudeville acts, community theatre groups and traveling evangelists-namely Billy Sunday on his Kerosene Circuit and lasted for over 140 years until the building fell into disrepair. During a period of time it was the largest opera house and the first theater to have been lighted with the electric bulbs west of Chicago.

One of the stunning architectural  features of the theater is its soaring grand dome towering 2 stories over the seating area. The first troupe to play the theater was General Tom Thumb, of P.T. Barnum fame. Its large freight elevator on the first floor was used to haul elephants and other animals to the second floor where the theater is actually located. The opera house also had a restaurant and speakeasy that was frequently visited by Al Capone. Tragedy also struck the theater in the early 1900’s when a young stage hand, high upon a ladder, tried to catch an apple that was thrown to him. The poor guy fell to his death.

In 2004, the opera house was purchased by the Beardstown Heritage Preservation Foundation, and the Foundation is restoring the building to its former grandeur. The building is currently being used for local productions, receptions/meeting and paranormal investigations.

Sean and D.W. spent the night in the Beardstown Opera House, and our investigation was led by Loren Hamilton, a very experienced paranormal investigator. Loren has been a paranormal investigator for over 10 years and does multiple investigations a month associated with the American Hauntings Tours. He has written one book on his experiences, with another in the works. Loren was also featured on the SyFy channel’s My Ghost Story Caught on Camera for his investigation of the Eldred House, in Eldred, Ill.

Our night at the Beardstown Opera House started with Loren and his partner, Jen, providing a tour of the building before letting us explore the maze of staircases, hallways and curious rooms on our own. Even without the standard paranormal activity, the structure is very creepy and unnerving, especially with a chill in the air-with no heat in the building. In addition to the theater on the second floor, there were also numerous dressing rooms and storage for the theater. The third floor above the dressing rooms is the site of the restaurant that was once housed in the building. The basement is now deserted, but it once housed the speakeasy.

Upon starting our investigations, we headed up to the stage area as this is reported to be one of the more paranormally active areas. We had quite active K2 readings up to orange for about and half hour; with the K2 responding to miscellaneous yes and no questions. The Ghost Box and K2 were also in sync, both spiking at the same time. On Ghost Radar, we also got the words: “circus” and “Sunday.” Sean finally discarded his ever-questioning skepticism when those two words appeared on the screen. It should be noted the in the over 2 years we have been using Ghost Radar, this is first time we have ever had the word “circus” pop up, or for that matter “Sunday.” Additional words that appeared on our Ghost Radar were “prepare” and “food.” At that point, we wandered through the rows of seats and hurried up the stairs off the main theater.  

Bare studs and holes in the floor held the area where the small restaurant used to be located, but it is now another storage room. Our flashlight responded with such accuracy to our yes and no questions. Our guides, who were sitting in the chairs below in the theater, could not believe the responses we got. D.W. also was able to detect a tingling sensation in his body right before the mag light turns on.

We descended down the leaning concrete stairs to the basement where the speakeasy was housed. Once there, beneath our feet was crumbling rocks and dirt and the rafters skimmed above our heads. As we set our equipment down on the gravel floor something happened for the first time ever — we heard someone breathing behind us. The K2 meter simultaneously lit up, reaching to the red light, the highest level possible. And, at the exact same time, the K2 and the breathing stopped in unison.

After flurry of activity, we took a rest on some couches in the back of main auditorium with Loren and Jen. They were pleased with the results we had been achieving. In the main auditorium we set up our mag light and digital recorder and just as we sat down to take a break, mag light came on and we heard an audible sigh. That made the second time that night. The next day, as we reviewed the digital voice recorder, we were so excited that we caught that sigh, our very first EVP! After further review, it seemed to actually be more of a gasp than a sigh. Before the end of the tour we decided to head back up to the stage.

On the Ghost Radar the name “Edward” appeared and we assumed that was the name associated with the stage hand’s death. For about 30 minutes we were able to carry on conversation with Edward, through the mag light. We also experienced a 10 degree drop in temperature in the area around the mag lite. Just 10 foot away from the flash light, the temperature was 10 degrees higher; 51 degrees vs. 41 degrees! As soon as conversation ended, the temperature in the area went back to 51 degrees. It was an exhilarating, but also draining experience. While up on the stage we also confirmed, through a series of yes and no questions, that he did indeed fall to his death trying to catch an apple.

After a while, things got grew silent in the building where there was no activity through any one of our devices or senses during the remainder of the night. Loren stated that the first few hours of a investigation are usually the most active, which could be attributed to amount of energy level being expended. Overall the evening was a huge success and we look forward to return trip to the Beardstown Opera House again.