Paranormal group deems Twin City Opera House haunte

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Paranormal group deems Twin City Opera House haunted
August 31, 2009
BY BRIAN MCKEE
Zanesville Times Recorder

McCONNELSVILLE — The Twin City Opera House, standing on the McConnelsville Square since 1890, has been the subject of stories, legends and local lore about being haunted.
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And a paranormal group may have found proof to back it all up.

"A Web site said that it was haunted, and we decided that we would go and investigate to see if it really was haunted," said Eric Glosser, director of Central Ohio Ghost Squad. "The fascination of investigating a theater made us think this would be an interesting subject for an investigation."

Many Opera House employees and visitors have reportedly seen a ghostly white figure of a man in a white suit in the theater. It has been noted that long ago, a former manager of the Opera House always wore a white suit.

That manager's name was Everett Miller, and many people assumed that Everett liked the Opera House so much that he just couldn't leave it, even after death.

"We have captured disembodied voices (Electronic Voice Phenomena) over 200 times on digital voice recorders. When asking for a name in the basement of the theater, a voice answered Everett," said Glosser.

In the 1960s, the Opera House had lots of frightening paranormal activity reported. A janitor ran out of the Opera House, severely frightened, quit his job, and refused to ever enter the building again. Objects were moved, ghosts appeared in the main aisle, the main drapes of the stage would close over the movie screen in the middle of a movie, rattling noises were common and toilets would flush themselves constantly.

The owner of the Opera House at that time asked a Catholic priest to do a blessing. Afterward, paranormal activity in the building greatly decreased but never completely went away.

On two different investigations, in the catwalk area over the stage, COGS investigators captured a little girl's voice on recorders. The voice said that she was "Elizabeth" and that she was 10 years old.

Over the years, as far back as the 1960s, many visitors to the Opera House, as well as employees, have told stories of seeing the ghostly figure of a young girl hovering over the stage.

"We have also captured old-time jingles, sung by women, like back in the '50s or '60s, in the ballroom. We have also captured growling on our voice recorders, but could not be heard with our own ears, in the basement area. We have had multiple sessions such as these on different investigations," said Glosser.

"Many people have observed the 'black shadow person' in the basement including two of our investigators. This summer we captured the black shadow person on our DVR system on two different cameras. We have had a piece of our equipment move by itself across the floor, which was witnessed by a book publisher from Michigan and four investigators," Glosser said.

He said the group was so fascinated with the Opera House that they worked it out with manager Adam Shriver to allow paranormal tours to be given.

"We have had 10 groups in from Michigan, Kentucky, Virginia and others from all over Ohio. We investigate it a few times each year ourselves," Glosser said.

When asked if he truly believes the Twin City Opera House to be haunted, Glosser replied, "It is definitely haunted, for all of the facts I stated above."

Not everyone sees ghosts in the Opera House, however.

"Thankfully, I have never experienced seeing a ghost in the Opera House. I don't want to see one either," Shriver said. "I am often here, late at night, closing the place up. I don't want to see any ghosts."

Yet, despite his own lack of seeing anything paranormal in the Opera House, Shriver gladly welcomes various paranormal investigation groups.

Today, in addition to movies, the Ohio Valley Opry, a bluegrass, country, and gospel music show, is held at the Opera House on the third Saturday evening of each month. Live performances also feature many bluegrass groups, which are a very popular attraction at the Opera House.

"If there are ghosts in the Opera House, hopefully they like bluegrass and country music," said Shriver.