GHOST TRACKER - Haunted Locations

GHOST TRACKER
Dennis Gonsoulin
Apache Pow Wow

There is more than just the latest movie showings going on at the Tyler Rose Hollywood Movie Theater.

Over the course of the past 12 years since the theater was built, numerous employees have reported unexplained happenings that point to what many believe to be paranormal activity or a hauntings.

"Someone experiences activity at least once a week," George Jones, Hollywood Theater general manager, said.

The reported activity ranges from strange noises, unexplained movements and shadows, to audible voices and full apparitions of figures.

"One time I was working at projection booth 12 by myself one night and I looked over my shoulder and saw a woman, then she disappeared almost immediately," Manager Tegan Lewis said. "Sometimes I'll be here by myself and see a shadow walking down the hallway."

While some of the employees have seen apparitions, others have felt them.

"I was down by booth four one night threading the projector, and I felt a cold hand touching my back, but I turned around and no one was there," employee Rachel Rogers said.

But perhaps one of the most chilling experiences reported was by another employee working inn a projection booth. He was working alone when he heard a voice say "get out and leave me alone," to which he replied "you get out and leave me alone!"

He was not alone in hearing voices late at night. Several other employees have reported that when working alone at projection booth nine, which is said to be one of the most paranormal-active places in the theater, they have heard a voice speaking to them from the door directly behind them, only to turn around and find no one there.

Jones himself has experienced his share of the unexplained.

"I was headed out to the back balcony one night when I passed by the door to the storage closet. The door handle was jiggling back and forth really fast. I figured some stupid employee had locked themselves in, but when I went to unlock the door, there was no one inside. That's why we just keep the door open all the time now," Jones said.

All this reported activity sparked the interest of local paranormal investigation team Tyler RIP, who held an investigation of the theater in April 2007. During the investigation, video equipment and motion detectors were set up at the sites of most of the reported activity. Prior to the beginning of the investigation, one of the team members saw an apparition of a figure wearing a yellow shirt and baggy clothing, the same entity seen by as many as three employees on separate occasions. Also during the investigation, a motion detector was triggered and went off, though no one was in the area at the time. This occurrence goes unexplained by the team.

But possibly the most clear evidence caught by the team was video footage of the door to the same storage area where Jones witnessed the rattling handle, opening and closing all by itself.

While it is a popular belief that hauntings are the location where someone died, it is unclear whether anyone ever died at the theater.

"Over the years we've had two people go into epileptic seizures here and be taken away by ambulances, but I don't know whether or not they died," Jones said.

While many remain skeptical about the idea of hauntings and supernatural occurrences, the countless stories from employees of the theater, along with the evidence of Tyler RIP's investigation, speak for themselves. And as long as the show goes on, the door remains open to paranormal experiences for theater employees and moviegoers alike.