Elsinore Theatre

Built in 1926 to look like the castle from Hamlet, this Tudor Gothic theater opened with a Cecil B. DeMille premiere. Shakespeare would have appreciated the drama.

The Elsinore Theatre opened on May 28, 1926, a gothic castle of a building designed by architect Ellis Lawrence and named for the Danish fortress in Shakespeare's Hamlet, a play that famously features its own paternal ghost. Built for over two hundred thousand dollars, the theater served as Salem's premier entertainment venue during the golden age of silent film and vaudeville, hosting performers including John Philip Sousa, Clark Gable, Jack Benny, Gregory Peck, and Bonnie Raitt over the decades. Owner George Guthrie operated the theater for twenty-eight years before selling to the Foreman Brothers in 1954, after which the grand building slowly deteriorated. By 1980 it faced demolition before the Save Elsinore Committee intervened, completing a restoration for the sixtieth anniversary in 1986, with a major second restoration finished in 2004.

The most frequently reported spirit is George Guthrie himself, who many believe never truly left the theater he built and loved. Performers rehearsing on stage have looked out into the darkened auditorium and seen him sitting in the theater seats, watching them with the critical eye of an owner who once oversaw every show. Night shift workers have witnessed his shadow drifting across the stage when the only illumination comes from the ghost light, the single bare bulb left burning on stage overnight in theatrical tradition. Guthrie's spirit is also blamed for moving props during rehearsals and dropping small pebbles on performers' heads from the rigging above, pranks that staff have come to accept as the old owner making his presence known. A permanent icy draft on the stage, present regardless of the building's heating, is attributed to him.

A second haunting involves the upper balcony, where the ghostly outline of a young woman has been reported by guests over the years. According to theater legend, George Guthrie's daughter fell to her death from this balcony, and her spirit has been seen as a dark figure playing near the railing where she died. Researchers haven't been able to confirm the historical details of this death, and some consider it an unverified legend that has attached itself to the building over time. In the men's restroom, a third entity is attributed to a young boy who was murdered in or near the theater. The most disturbing reports from this area involve blood stains that mysteriously appear and disappear on the bathroom mirror, witnessed by multiple patrons over the years.

Beyond these specific entities, visitors to the Elsinore have described feeling a cold chill and a sense of unseen presences, along with whispering voices that seem to come from the walls themselves. Some skeptics have attributed these sensations to the building's aged infrastructure, noting that wind passing through cracks in the floor and walls would echo and amplify in a space specifically designed for acoustic projection. The theater has attracted the attention of prominent paranormal investigators, including Amy Bruni of Ghost Hunters and Greg and Dana Newkirk from Kindred Spirits, who have shared their findings at events hosted by the theater. The restored Elsinore now attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually, many of whom come as much for the chance to encounter George Guthrie as for the performances on his stage.