Rose Theatre

Lights, Camera, Ghosts???
Just like any other theatre in America or anywhere on earth for that fact, The Rose Theatre at Semo is just like the rest. With stories of hauntings and mischievous pranks being played before any performance I have had my share. Now I have always been the type of person who has believed in ghosts and well I have also always been able to sense them. My first experience with "Mary" and "Old Man" happened way before I was a student here.

I had taken a summer theatre class one year when I was younger. I was in charge of publicity and while working on it my friends came in to tell me that we were gonna take a break. I nodded and told them I would meet them in the theatre when I was done (since I only had a little more left to do before i was done.) When I did finish I walked into the theatre and found nothing. So I walked up on stage looked in the wings and of course the scene shop and still found nothing. I turned and looked up into the house and saw a man sitting in the audience, thinking it was my friend Brandon I yelled at him to wait up for me. I did nothing more than blink when I realized the man was gone. Freaked out I bolted up the stairs and out the door to see my friends all sitting around looking at me like I was crazy.

Later in the day I asked one of the college kids that was helping with the class if the theatre was haunted he looked at me and said yes, then he went to tell me about the story of "Mary" and "old man".

Mary was a girl who was murdered on the lands before the theatre was built. There is a mysterious spot on the ground in the back row of the theatre that grow a little more year by year. That is where most of her sightings are well... besides of course back stage.
The old man is the man who owned the land before the theatre was built but refused to sell it. When he died they bought the land and as stubborn as he is still stays in the place he once lived. Now you know the history back to my experiences.

Fast forward to 2004, I am now a freshman at Semo and a theatre kid at that. With the memory of the old man out of my head and the ghost of Mary nothing but a ghost story told to freak me out, I was in rehearsal for a production one night when the memories of what happened came rushing back.

My friend (who ironically is named Mary) and I were waiting for our cue to go on stage, when she said it was cold, jokingly I mocked to her, "Well you know why that is right?" We had a good laugh about it but I wished I hadn't said anything because from that night forward was a creepy experience for me.

Well after our run through we were taking notes when I looked up to the top of the house and saw a woman in an old time pink dress staring down at us and as quickly as she came she vanished. Freaked out I just walked out of the theatre not saying anything to anyone.

The first day of performance had to be the creepiest experience. My friend and I arrived a little early to sign in and then head up to the lobby to hang out with some other kids. Well we had both signed in when we heard a loud thud. I thought I was hearing things until she managed to peep out," did you hear that?" So I went to investigate.

I couldn't find anything or anyone to be around and couldn't find the source from which the thud came from. Still thinking about it being a guy who would do something like that my friend and I went to talk to him.

He said he hadn't been down there since class earlier that morning and the girl working in the box office along with some other students said he had been in there the whole time.
I thought they were still playing jokes on me until the show was suppose to go... our speakers as well as monitors all blew and lights kept flickering on and off. Now Mary is known to be a bit mischievous but I never thought it would be this creepy.

I am now a firm believer in the two ghosts of Rose Theatre since I have had my own experiences with them. So if you ever visit the Rose Theatre and are all alone don't be surprised if someone or something tries to scare you.