Haunted Theatres Part 2

[00:00:04] - [Speaker 0]
Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 11 of lights on still scared. My name is Graham Milne.

[00:00:09] - [Speaker 1]
My name is Karen Swanston.

[00:00:11] - [Speaker 0]
And tonight, we look at haunted theaters part two. I've got one for you now from Edinburgh.

[00:00:49] - [Speaker 1]
Edinburgh. Edinburgh. There's loads of theaters in Edinburgh. Evans.

[00:00:54] - [Speaker 0]
Well, there is. There is. Lots of very famous stories online. This one's from the King's Theatre, which is up near Bruinsston.

[00:01:01] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, that's just opened up,

[00:01:02] - [Speaker 2]
hasn't it?

[00:01:03] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. And it'd been shot for what? Four years or so?

[00:01:06] - [Speaker 1]
Quite a while.

[00:01:07] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. So hopefully I'm gonna go up and have a wee look at that at some point and see what's been going on there. And I'm trusting the development wasn't too brutal. Actually the story I'm going to tell you now and there probably is far more than one I'm going tell you now is not from myself, from a gentleman called Ron Halliday who's a researcher and an author and he wrote a very interesting book called Enbra After Dark a few years back and had a great story from the Kings in it and basically I'm gonna repeat it now because it was a fantastic story. So as I say it was just the theatre had gone under has been undergoing a refurb for many years and I think if I remember correctly it concerns a gentleman who was there for a and it's a very short story there for a for a day out and for a theatre performance and at the interval he went to the bar but despite being there previously found himself lost which was quite unusual.

[00:02:10] - [Speaker 0]
I mean what I'm gathering from this was the guy had been there as a patron, knew the building pretty well, followed the same route as before and suddenly found that he wasn't in the same place. It was almost like he'd step back in time, was maybe seeing it from a different era when it was configured differently. I mean I'm not sure how many times it's been done up in the past but I'm assuming it must have at some point. So he headed upstairs and he came to a dead end which he found a little perplexing so he began to retrace his steps and I mean I don't know about you but I've done that a few times when I've been out the place and you get wait a minute where am I going? And we panic because something's about to start in five minutes you're sort of running about but you noticed a woman then walking towards him and she passed him on the stairs.

[00:02:57] - [Speaker 0]
The stairs aren't particularly wide so this woman was very close by him and as she passed him he was shocked when he looked down and noticed he was actually floating above the steps. So she was walking on steps that weren't there and the fact she was wearing a very old fashioned clothing and she passed right by him and he kind of just stood there and looked as she went right through the wall and vanished. So he ran downstairs and blurted out stories to companion who at first thought he was joking but he assured them he was not. But who the mysterious woman is remains unclear and he said or the quote was that he felt too embarrassed to ask others if they had had a similar experience. So who knows, it's a tale in isolation at the moment but it's a damn good one and I was tempted to approach the workies while we were doing at the theatre and sort of ask if they'd seen anything but I got a little shy and thought I better not.

[00:03:52] - [Speaker 0]
Casey thought I was strange. So I thought, that's not

[00:03:57] - [Speaker 1]
That's not to.

[00:03:58] - [Speaker 0]
That's not to. But I can imagine. Can you imagine working in the theatre doing up for two years? How brilliant an opportunity. Yeah.

[00:04:05] - [Speaker 1]
I'm sure that they were they were visited a few times.

[00:04:08] - [Speaker 0]
I bet they were. Yeah.

[00:04:09] - [Speaker 1]
I'm actually going to the King's Theatre in a few months' time. Oh. Paranormal activity.

[00:04:17] - [Speaker 0]
The show?

[00:04:17] - [Speaker 1]
Fantastic. So that would be a good one. Thing is though, would you know what's actually in the show and what's actually caused by the ghosts?

[00:04:24] - [Speaker 0]
Less art imitating life. Indeed. It could go horribly wrong. Wow. That sounds good.

[00:04:32] - [Speaker 0]
Do you know anything about the show itself?

[00:04:34] - [Speaker 1]
I've saw it in London, so I thought I will see it again up here.

[00:04:38] - [Speaker 0]
Is it scary?

[00:04:39] - [Speaker 1]
The special effects are very good. The acting, scary for other reasons.

[00:04:45] - [Speaker 0]
Sure is. I think I did see a clip of it, at least a promotional thing, and it looked like the audience were all shrieking and clinging

[00:04:53] - [Speaker 1]
to a lot of shrieking going on, I must admit. And I thought, what's going on? Yes. Very good.

[00:04:58] - [Speaker 0]
Well, look forward

[00:04:59] - [Speaker 1]
to hearing what happens there.

[00:05:00] - [Speaker 2]
Indeed. Indeed.

[00:05:02] - [Speaker 0]
Guest starring Sid James. Perhaps.

[00:05:08] - [Speaker 1]
Dear. Well, my next one, another famous theater down in London. They were I've got all the London ones. Yes. So this is Theatre Jury Lane.

[00:05:16] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, yeah.

[00:05:17] - [Speaker 1]
So yeah. So it's meant to be one of the most haunted builders apparently, or one of the most haunted theaters in Britain. Apparently. So so it's built in 1812, although theaters have occupied the site since 1663.

[00:05:32] - [Speaker 0]
Alright. Okay. So an old one.

[00:05:33] - [Speaker 1]
So it's quite an old one. Yeah. And there's loads of things, I mean, that's gone on over the centuries, like fires and accidents and theatrical traditions that have carried a rich body of folklore.

[00:05:46] - [Speaker 0]
Uh-huh. Okay.

[00:05:48] - [Speaker 1]
Unlike many haunted builders, ghosts are considered good luck rather than threatening.

[00:05:52] - [Speaker 0]
Okay. That's good to know.

[00:05:55] - [Speaker 1]
That is good to know. Yes. So I I think that's it. It's just the the way that actors and people in theatre work. They don't find them as scary a lot of the time.

[00:06:04] - [Speaker 1]
They find them as quite good luck. Yeah. So one of the most famous theatre ghosts is The Man in Grey, which makes a change.

[00:06:12] - [Speaker 0]
I was going to say that you beat me to the punch there. It makes a change.

[00:06:15] - [Speaker 1]
It's a change. You should have a lady in grey, but no, he's man grey. He's reportedly been seen for over two hundred years, so he's quite an old ghost as well. Many actors believe seeing him before opening night brings good luck and predicts a successful production. So they do see him as quite quite a good luck kind of mascot, I would say.

[00:06:37] - [Speaker 0]
And there since pretty much the theater was built More or less is in the studio.

[00:06:41] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. He's described as a tall and thin, wearing a gray riding cloak or cap, a tricorn hat, a powdered wig, riding boots, sword by his side, and a pale, it's brushless face. So he sounds quite a nappy.

[00:06:57] - [Speaker 0]
He's very well dressed.

[00:06:58] - [Speaker 1]
Very well dressed indeed, Yeah. Doesn't So his behavior is that he walks silently through the upper circle and always follows the same route, never acknowledges when witnessed

[00:07:11] - [Speaker 0]
Alright.

[00:07:11] - [Speaker 1]
And disappears into the same wall near the royal box. Okay. So that sounds like it's a residue Yeah. Of painting, doesn't he? He's just replaying it over and over again.

[00:07:21] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. But one of the best known sightings occurred during rehearsal for approximately 20 cast and crew members reportedly watched him walk across the upper circle before disappearing into the wall. So I felt that so many people saw him.

[00:07:38] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. I like that.

[00:07:40] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Something to it, isn't it?

[00:07:42] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. 100%. Because it's not my solution, that's for sure.

[00:07:45] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Well, I don't think. And during alterations of the theater, workers reportedly discovered a human skeleton with a dagger hidden inside of the very wall where the ghost walks into.

[00:07:56] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm. Okay.

[00:07:58] - [Speaker 1]
And according to theater tradition, the remains received a proper burial and sightings became less frequent afterwards. However, they were completely stopped. So he's still around, but not so much. But they don't know who he was. They never established skeletons at all.

[00:08:13] - [Speaker 0]
Right. Yeah.

[00:08:14] - [Speaker 1]
And one of the other ones is Charles Macklin, possibly 16 Now this this amazed me. Possibly born in 1699.

[00:08:26] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:08:26] - [Speaker 1]
And he died in 1797.

[00:08:28] - [Speaker 0]
Goodness. That's very old for that team.

[00:08:31] - [Speaker 1]
They do say perhaps he was as late as early as sixteen hundreds. Wow. So he could be over a 100 years old. But he was an Irish actor, playwright, and theater manager. And he was considered the greatest Shakespearean actor of the eighteenth century.

[00:08:46] - [Speaker 1]
And he revitalized the role of Shylock Shylock. By portraying him as a serious dramatic character rather than a comic villain. Mhmm. I suppose back before that age.

[00:08:58] - [Speaker 0]
Marriage of Venice? Is that Shylock?

[00:08:59] - [Speaker 1]
I think it is, yeah.

[00:09:00] - [Speaker 0]
Very good.

[00:09:01] - [Speaker 1]
So it helped influence the move forward for a more natural acting style.

[00:09:06] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:09:06] - [Speaker 1]
I suppose back then, it was all very Staging. Staging and very over the top. And he lived to, what they're saying, a remarkable age of approximately 97 to 98 years old, which makes him the longest living actor of his era. Now what is interesting with this man is that in 1735, whilst working backstage in Jury Lane, Macklin became involved in an argument with a fellow actor called Thomas Hallam. And the dispute was reportedly over a wig or stage property or a theatrical costume.

[00:09:40] - [Speaker 1]
So the accounts differ. It could be a wig, could be a bit of outfit. I don't know. But during the altercation, Macklin thrust his walking cane towards Hallam. The cane entered his left eye, and the entry injury penetrated the brain, and he died the next day.

[00:09:59] - [Speaker 1]
So Macklin was arrested and imprisoned whilst waiting the trial and tried in court. But he wasn't acquitted. And he wasn't convicted of murder, but he was convicted of manslaughter.

[00:10:16] - [Speaker 0]
Did he go to prison?

[00:10:18] - [Speaker 1]
It wouldn't appear so. What? No. He didn't appear to go to prison at all, and that's what I thought for. Hold on.

[00:10:24] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:10:24] - [Speaker 1]
Why didn't he go to prison? If he's the defense successfully argued that Macleod never intended to kill him, and the fatal injury was as a result of sudden argument and extraordinary accident. And because murder couldn't be proven, he escaped the death penalty. But it also looks like that he escaped a lengthy prison sentence as well because he went on stage shortly afterwards. So it looks like he has literally got away from murder.

[00:10:52] - [Speaker 0]
That's insane.

[00:10:53] - [Speaker 1]
But his ghost apparently still walks the backstage and occasionally seen near the corridor where Hanuman had the fatal injury. And some model stories claim that he quietly watches the rehearsals. And others suggest he occasionally helps actors remember their forgotten lines.

[00:11:11] - [Speaker 0]
That's helpful. Oh,

[00:11:16] - [Speaker 1]
dear. Which which you would think that the the guy who actually died there would be haunting, not him, but then perhaps it was a guilty conscience.

[00:11:23] - [Speaker 0]
Well, that's what I thought. I thought the guy who died tragically would surely be the ghost or the other guy.

[00:11:27] - [Speaker 2]
Think so,

[00:11:28] - [Speaker 1]
wouldn't you? Very interesting.

[00:11:30] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:11:31] - [Speaker 1]
And one of the the most famous one is a Joseph Grimaldi.

[00:11:35] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, is he the clown?

[00:11:36] - [Speaker 1]
He is the clown. Yes. He's the father of modern clown. Yeah. One of apparently Britain's greatest theatrical performance, and it is where the word Joey comes from because of his name.

[00:11:49] - [Speaker 1]
So he did have a difficult life. Bless him. Although he's famous for making people laugh, he did endure a considerable amount of personal suffering. Mhmm. He experienced crumbers back injuries, severe joint damage, arthritis, physical pain, difficulties walking in later life.

[00:12:07] - [Speaker 1]
I don't think he was that old. I think he was about in his sixties actually when he passed.

[00:12:12] - [Speaker 0]
Okay.

[00:12:12] - [Speaker 1]
So he did endure quite a bit as well. He did suffer from personal tragedies including the death of his first wife during childbirth, the death of his only son following alcoholism, and he suffered from long periods of depression. And his quoted commonly associated with him was, I'm grim all day, but I make you laugh at night. So yep. But the ghost of Grimaldi is kind, protective, and playful, apparently.

[00:12:39] - [Speaker 1]
He gently taps you on the shoulder, playfully kicks before performances.

[00:12:45] - [Speaker 0]
Kicks people.

[00:12:46] - [Speaker 1]
Kicks people. I wouldn't say that's playful.

[00:12:48] - [Speaker 0]
No. Really depends whether he's kicked as well. It could be

[00:12:50] - [Speaker 1]
very He's a comforting present backstage and quietly encourages nervous performers.

[00:12:59] - [Speaker 0]
That's the reason these theatres are Maybe there's a kind of professional etiquette going on.

[00:13:04] - [Speaker 1]
So, yeah. So when you where there is also a smell a sudden smell of lavender that's associated to him or old furnishing floral perfume. And this fragrance suddenly comes on without any obvious source of the perfume at all. So apparently, it's associated with him. Could be because at one point, it's alleged that he suffered from incontinence.

[00:13:33] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, so it was to mask the old

[00:13:35] - [Speaker 1]
So they say it was the part that might mask that. But then it could be for several reasons why he smelled of lavender. Mhmm. It could be because, you know, it was just like powdered wigs and stuff like that.

[00:13:46] - [Speaker 0]
That's true.

[00:13:47] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. So yeah. So he didn't get a good he wasn't he didn't have a good life by the sounds of it. But

[00:13:54] - [Speaker 0]
I said another person, I mean, this is somebody, again, we'll have to look into because I can't remember when he actually passed away. But I know a lot of a lot of actors, comedic actors, kinda revered him and looked up to him and or at least some of his performances.

[00:14:11] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. So yes. But he's not a nasty ghost by the sounds of it, apart from the kicking. He's playful, protective, responsive.

[00:14:20] - [Speaker 0]
I love that. Playful kicking. He gave him a playful kicking.

[00:14:24] - [Speaker 1]
Playful kick. So is Jury Lane.

[00:14:29] - [Speaker 0]
Very good. Well, I'm going back to Aberdeen again, as one does, to talk about a theatre called the Tivoli. The Tivoli was one of those theatres, again, really old style one, was designed again by Macham. It was opened in Gild Street which is near the bus station if you've ever been down Aberdeen near the harbour. It was opened in 1872 by the Aberdeen Theatre and Opera House Co, Ltd and was originally named Her Majesty's Theatre but became the Tivoli later on.

[00:15:00] - [Speaker 1]
Anyway,

[00:15:01] - [Speaker 0]
it's been done up a few times and when it was redone in about 1909, reconstructed by Macham and that's when it was called the Tivoli as we know it. It was typical of theatres, it did really well for many many years. Of interesting performers you know like Charlie Chaplin, lots of famous people played there. As time marched on, television arrived, obviously people stopped attending the theatres much and the numbers dropped and subsequently in the sixties it became a bingo hall as a lot of them did and then eventually the eighties fell in disrepair and was bought over by, I think if I remember correctly, it was a businessman, I think maybe a slater and really nothing was done with it for years. So there's a kind of trust involved at this point.

[00:15:54] - [Speaker 0]
I mean it's a really important building. I I don't know the ins and outs of it, I'm sure it's something political but certainly wasn't much done to it but there were constant arguments about getting it saved and at the time which is going back say fifteen years ago if I remember roughly about then, I used to get in there quite often because I knew the guy who was part of the trust and they were really generous at the time. I used to just let you walk around, take photographs, I've got tons of photos, this beautiful building when it was in a state of disrepair, really, really interesting, still bits of props lying about. I didn't realise it was haunted, I mean I spoke to the guy who was running it and he was like, you know, I've never seen anything. It was one of these theatres where there were no stories really attached to it, but I was like, there's got to be something here, creepy.

[00:16:42] - [Speaker 0]
So eventually, years later, I bumped into someone who was an ex cleaner there actually and she was going, well, worked there for years. I know. I saw a ghost there once and was like, oh, did you know?

[00:16:54] - [Speaker 1]
That sparked your interest?

[00:16:56] - [Speaker 0]
It sparked my interest. I wanna hear about it and it's really, really interesting. I'll tell you what, before I get into it though, which was strange, I did take a photograph there once and it was of a dressing room. The dressing room was the one that Julie Andrews first performed in way back, which was a kid basically, and in the corner of the room was some wires hanging from the ceiling, it was, you know, faulty bits. And I took a photograph and there was this weirdest blue light from this area.

[00:17:23] - [Speaker 0]
Like, it looked like it looked vaguely vaguely like a human ball sort of dangling from the ceiling upside down. That's a bit odd. But it could have just been a trick of the light or something. Anyhow, Blue is what we must remember, I suppose, because when I was speaking to this cleaner, she said that she had seen what she thought was the ghost of a woman called Florrie Ford. Have you heard of Florrie Ford?

[00:17:50] - [Speaker 1]
I have not heard of

[00:17:50] - [Speaker 0]
Florrie Ford. She was an old timey musical singer.

[00:17:53] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, okay.

[00:17:54] - [Speaker 0]
She wrote Down at the Old Bull And Bush. Oh. That old song. I know, here we go again. Back to our previous episode.

[00:18:03] - [Speaker 0]
Very famous song. It's probably London by the way folks in case you're wondering. Yeah, Florrie Ford was actually helping entertain troops during World War II in Aberdeen and apparently died either on stage or outside the building in a cab. Stories vary according to the accounts but I have heard she fell ill during the performance, the died inside the dressing room or was outside a cab about to go in and fell ill and died subsequently. Now, this is true, but the figure that's been seen since has been described as blue colored, I.

[00:18:41] - [Speaker 0]
E, wearing a blue dress, tall and elegant. And so, perhaps, this is potentially this whatever it was I saw, which seems a bit peculiar hanging upside down from the ceiling, but nevertheless So the cleaner in the early one morning is going round and you know, it's a derelict building essentially being sort of vaguely kept in order and there was a woman in blue standing on the stage, on her own, just a woman wearing blue and the cleaner just came around the corner and was like oh, stood there mesmerised and she just wandered off and vanished. The cleaner was quite, I mean, I did speak to her after, many years after the event, she was pretty genuine. She said she thought that's who it was. Now I can't remember if she actually knew who Florrie Ford was and sort of looked into it, cause you know, you always kind of work to work out who actually died there.

[00:19:37] - [Speaker 0]
That's the only one we can think of anyway. But it was an interesting story. When I was walking around, I did notice that some areas were much colder than others. I know it's a derelict building and, know, a skeptic could go, well, it's gonna be cold as well because there's no heating on, but there are definite parts of that building that felt very, very chilly and I was there with a friend on a couple occasions, he said exactly the same, it felt like bits going on there. But anyway, that was her, potentially, Florrie Ford, who was actually Australian but spent a lot of her time in Britain.

[00:20:08] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, another song, by the way, just remember, it's called Only a bird in a gilded cage.

[00:20:14] - [Speaker 1]
I have heard of that song. I don't know how it goes. I have definitely heard

[00:20:18] - [Speaker 0]
of it. Which I'm not gonna sing, you'll be glad to know. But, yes, so that's it. That's the Tiv in Aberdeen. Now, it was done about, say, twelve years ago and it looks absolutely fabulous and it's a working theatre again, so good

[00:20:36] - [Speaker 1]
on the people

[00:20:38] - [Speaker 0]
that have put the time and money in to resurrect the beautiful building. Yeah.

[00:20:42] - [Speaker 1]
That's good.

[00:20:43] - [Speaker 0]
I mean, they're not too keen on me asking about ghosts because I have contacted a few times, but God bless you for doing up the building.

[00:20:49] - [Speaker 1]
Doing it up. Yeah. We don't wanna talk about the ghosts, but we've done it up for Yeah.

[00:20:53] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:20:54] - [Speaker 1]
Okay. So this is my final one. Okay. So it is at well, it was Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Obviously, it's now at His Majesty's Theatre.

[00:21:04] - [Speaker 1]
God rest the queen. So, yeah, do you remember Tommy Cooper?

[00:21:09] - [Speaker 0]
I do remember. God bless. I do remember Tommy Cooper.

[00:21:13] - [Speaker 1]
So Tommy Cooper was a comedian and magician Mhmm. Born in 1921 to 1984. Same age as Sid James by the sounds of it. 63.

[00:21:25] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:21:25] - [Speaker 1]
Instantly recognizable by his trademark red fez. Deliberately chaotic magic trips. But he always had a deadpan delivery, didn't he? And what was his catchphrase? Just like that.

[00:21:37] - [Speaker 0]
Just like

[00:21:39] - [Speaker 1]
that. Not like that. It's like he's in the room, isn't he?

[00:21:42] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, is that? It is. It's uncanny.

[00:21:45] - [Speaker 1]
So his finest performance now, I actually remember this one quite well because I'm sure I saw it. 04/15/1984, and he's appearing on the live ITV variety program, Live at Her Majesties.

[00:21:59] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm.

[00:22:00] - [Speaker 1]
And during his performance, Tony was performing one of his comedy magic routines. When he suddenly collapsed on stage, The audience initially laughed believing it was part of the act. And when fellow performance continued briefly, also thinking it was one of Tomovie's jokes, because they just thought he was just mucking about like he did. Yeah. The curtain was brought down and Tommy was taken backstage.

[00:22:24] - [Speaker 1]
Apparently, he suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. Now, I do remember watching that on telly.

[00:22:31] - [Speaker 0]
Right.

[00:22:32] - [Speaker 1]
The bit where they actually what I remember is the the curtain suddenly coming down.

[00:22:37] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. I watched it morbidly out of curiosity, I suppose, probably about a year ago and God, was depressing. What a shame. I mean, yeah, it was pretty shocking. But yeah, you're right.

[00:22:50] - [Speaker 0]
They just They carried on.

[00:22:52] - [Speaker 1]
They carried on.

[00:22:53] - [Speaker 0]
But It's part of the act.

[00:22:54] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. And perhaps that's the way that he would have wanted to go as well. If he heard laughter, then Yeah. Yeah. He was he was that kind of performer.

[00:23:02] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. But following his death, stories started circulating around theatre star, like they do. But there was very few reports

[00:23:13] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm.

[00:23:14] - [Speaker 1]
That Tommy has actually appeared as an apparition.

[00:23:18] - [Speaker 0]
Okay.

[00:23:18] - [Speaker 1]
But instead, it's described as active. It's unlike many theater hauntings, there are very few reports of Tommy actually appearing as an apparition. But instead, the stories describe activity that mirrors his mysterious personality. So he's still acting the fall. Acting the fall.

[00:23:36] - [Speaker 1]
Acting Acting the fall in death.

[00:23:38] - [Speaker 0]
Fakey.

[00:23:39] - [Speaker 1]
So apparently, props falling from shelves, stage equipment moving unexpectedly, plastic fruit and comedy props seem to be thrown off for one without explanation. Well, you can imagine that, can't you?

[00:23:54] - [Speaker 0]
It's like they've appeared to be fair, but never mind.

[00:23:57] - [Speaker 1]
Objects appearing to move by themselves and small practical jokes seem occurring backstage. And some people reportedly joke it's just Tommy having a laugh. So, yeah, so much of the and its Blade activity does center around the props room. But according to, the theater tradition, this was the same area where Tony was taken after collapsing on stage.

[00:24:19] - [Speaker 0]
I see. Okay.

[00:24:20] - [Speaker 1]
So that could be the reason why he's there as well. Mhmm. But whether this is historical accurate or not, this is all part of the theater strike law as well. But he does come across as not frightening or angry or trapped. Instead, he's just playful and mischievous

[00:24:37] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:24:37] - [Speaker 1]
And continuing to entertain and still playing practical jokes. So yeah. So I suppose that's very much what he was like in life, that he's still carrying it on. Yeah. So that's a nice one to end on,

[00:24:50] - [Speaker 0]
I of the personality continuing after.

[00:24:53] - [Speaker 1]
Indeed. Yes. There's no scary looking in mirrors where he's in a white shroud of a ghostly face.

[00:25:01] - [Speaker 0]
That's a James. That's a James man. I've got one final story. It's a short one. It's from a place called Kirkcoddy.

[00:25:10] - [Speaker 0]
And it dates from '19

[00:25:11] - [Speaker 1]
I know Kirkcoddy.

[00:25:12] - [Speaker 0]
Do you know Kirkcoddy?

[00:25:13] - [Speaker 1]
I do know Kirkcoddy.

[00:25:14] - [Speaker 0]
Kingdom Of Fife. So this is our final wee story today and it took place at the Adam Smith Centre which is a wee theatre. While working there, both organist Ray Don and performer Steve King witnessed what was thought to be the apparition of Al Jolson. Al Jolson. Young Jolson.

[00:25:34] - [Speaker 0]
Al Jolson.

[00:25:35] - [Speaker 1]
See what he's done there.

[00:25:36] - [Speaker 0]
I know it's pretty good isn't

[00:25:37] - [Speaker 1]
it? You're here all night.

[00:25:41] - [Speaker 0]
After appearing in his first talkie, the jazz singer's fame was cemented and he became a global sensation. So on this particular evening in 1980, the actor Steve King, was performing in an evening with Al Jolson and friends. So the pair entered the dressing room to get ready for the performance where they witnessed a man with grey receding hair sitting at the table putting on make up. As in the style of Al Jolson. Indeed.

[00:26:12] - [Speaker 0]
He wore a white shirt, bow tie and was completely solid. Turning to Steve, Ray looked at his companions to say, are you seeing this? Before the vigor vanished. Ray, who up till then had been skeptical about ghosts, afterwards changed his mind. Steve later admitted that for the last two years while touring the show, he had seen the same apparition on several occasions, sometimes on stage and on other occasions and the audience watching them.

[00:26:38] - [Speaker 0]
Can you imagine how off putting that was?

[00:26:40] - [Speaker 1]
That would be very off putting, The wouldn't

[00:26:42] - [Speaker 0]
ghost of Al Jolson watching you. That's very meta, isn't it? Have to say. But, yes, scrutinizing performance. So that story actually appeared in the newspapers of the time and there was a photograph of the people involved and that's it.

[00:26:56] - [Speaker 0]
It's a one off but it'd be interesting to see if one could find out what other theatres he'd been playing in, these two actors and musicians as it were, and if they'd seen the same figure there because he claimed this was quite a regular occurrence. I guess he must have been psychic, think, maybe.

[00:27:15] - [Speaker 1]
Possibly.

[00:27:16] - [Speaker 0]
How terrifying. Can you imagine that? Imagine a ghost sitting watching you while you're performing as it were. Very off putting.

[00:27:24] - [Speaker 1]
Very off putting indeed.

[00:27:25] - [Speaker 0]
But anyway, that was Kirk Coddy. I do like stories with ghosts that are you know celebs and I like the ones you told today because I thought they were really good and some of my favorite celebs as well you mentioned which is fabulous. But anyway folks this is the end of our episode for the moment. Please join myself, Graham Milne

[00:27:46] - [Speaker 1]
And Karen Swanson.

[00:27:47] - [Speaker 0]
For our next episode of Lights on Still Scared where we'll be discussing phantom roads, ghost roads, spooky transport. Sleep well everyone.

[00:27:59] - [Speaker 1]
In the meantime, keep the lights on, still scared.

[00:28:21] - [Speaker 2]
Tap in the window, though the wind is standing still, and it chill runs down my spine like something moving at its will. I