Youngstown Playhouse

One of the oldest continuously operating community theaters in the country, the Youngstown Playhouse has reported a dark figure that appears seated in the balcony during performances, a half-seen face in the light booth, and a white figure that passes through closed doors. A former security guard described feeling something follow him to his car after a night shift.

A former security guard at the Youngstown Playhouse described the feeling of being watched while making rounds through the empty theater at night. That part is not unusual for old buildings. The unusual part is what happened when he left. As he drove away, he felt distinct pressure against the back of his car seat, as though someone's knees were pressing into it from behind. The feeling persisted until he was some distance from the building. Whatever was in the Playhouse that night, it followed him to the parking lot.

The Playhouse started in the early 1920s, when four women from Temple Rodef Sholom in Youngstown began reading plays together for fun. The group formally incorporated as the Youngstown Players on February 16, 1927, and their first stage was a converted horse barn at 138 Lincoln Avenue on the North Side, fitted with 165 seats and a 25-foot stage. Two fires at that building forced a move. Supporters raised ,000 in 1940 to renovate an abandoned movie house, the Ohio Theater on Market Street, for live performance. In 1959, they moved to the current 45,000-square-foot facility off Glenwood Avenue, with a 400-seat mainstage and a 75-seat black box theater.

During World War II, Broadway director Arthur Sircom ran the artistic program and turned the Playhouse into a nationally recognized training ground. Ed O'Neill got his start here. So did Joe Flynn of McHale's Navy, Elizabeth "Biff" Hartman, and Broadway producer Michael J. Moritz Jr. It is one of the oldest continuously operating community theaters in the country.

The most commonly reported ghost is a dark figure that appears seated in the balcony during rehearsals and performances. Actors on stage have looked up to see a humanlike silhouette sitting motionless in the upper seats, watching. The figure has been seen repeatedly over the years, and nobody has identified who the shadow might have been in life.

A second presence is tied to the light booth above the balcony. Stagehands working alone in the booth have caught glimpses of a half-seen face peering at them from the darkness when the booth should be empty. The face appears briefly, then vanishes. A white figure has also been observed sliding through closed doors in the building, moving between rooms as though walls are optional.

Staff report other things throughout the building: sudden drops in temperature in the hallways and backstage areas, whispering in the wings when no one else is present, ghostly music playing after hours in a building that should be completely silent. Objects get moved from where people left them.

No one has attached specific identities to any of the Playhouse ghosts. The building's long history across three different locations makes it hard to trace the hauntings to any particular death or tragedy. The PANICd paranormal database lists the Playhouse as an active location, and investigators visited the site in June 2019. The Playhouse produces a full season of shows every year at 600 Playhouse Lane, and the balcony figure, if accounts are to be believed, keeps showing up to watch.