The idea of a theatre being haunted--a theatre where everything is bright and everyone full of life--must, for…
- Date of account
- Published 1917
- Source
- Haunted Places in England
- Reference
- Haunted Places in England · selected passage 40
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
The idea of a theatre being haunted--a theatre where everything is bright and everyone full of life--must, for the moment, strike one as preposterous
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention onlyThe idea of a theatre being haunted--a theatre where everything is bright and everyone full of life--must, for the moment, strike one as preposterous. Why, the mere thought of the footlights, to say nothing of the clapping of hands and thunders of applause from the Gods, conjures up a picture which is the very antithesis of ghosts. Besides, why should a theatre be haunted? To be haunted, a place must have a history--someone must have committed a crime there, such as murder or suicide; and surely no such thing has ever happened in a theatre! Imagine a murder, a real one, at Drury Lane, or a suicide, say, at the Gaiety! Why, the thing is monstrous, absurd!
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis material belongs to a folklore tradition. Story type, collector, community, transmission and literary editing matter when comparing it with other sources.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyLattice compares motifs and reported features without assuming that a traditional being is a biological species or that similar stories document one external cause.
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