While the New Amsterdam Theater on W. 42nd St  was being renovated some of the construction men claimed that  they frequently saw a beautiful young woman wandering aimlessly through the theater when they were working. She is always dressed in a Follies costume and a blue glass in her hand. She wore a sash with the name Olive on it too. They think that she’s the ghost of Olive Thomas who died in the 1920s. She was a Ziegfeld Girl which were part of the Ziegfeld Follies that the theatre hosted. Olive died of syphilis in Paris. But once when reconstruction was going on the workers got freaked out because they saw her ghost and they ran out of the building screaming. Another time the ghost talked to a worker in the lobby saying “How are you doing, handsome?” but when he turned around she was gone.

Chauncey spends most of her weekends in New York City shopping, visiting friends from boarding school and going to shows. When Chauncey was about 13 years old she went to see the musical 42^nd St. with her Mom. While she and her mom were waiting for the show to begin her mom told her the story of the ghost in the New Amsterdam theatre. Her mom heard the story from a friend of hers who knew the owner of the theatre. Chauncey and her mom both believe the story to be credible because the owner supports it.

The story of Olive Thomas is interesting, but has a fundamental flaw. First and probably most obvious is the fact that Olive Thomas died in Paris, where the follies show was originally conceived. It makes little sense that her ghost would return to New York City. When I asked Chauncey about this she said that she thought perhaps Olive’s most beloved memories are of her time in the theatre and that’s why she wanted to return.

The traits of Olive that came through in her appearances may also reveal reasons as to why she died of a sexually transmitted disease. Olive appears with a glass in her hands, it could be assumed that this glass had a cocktail in it, leading to the assumption that Olive often drank. Also, Olive hit on the workers in the theatre calling one handsome, this might imply that she was promiscuous.  Alcohol and sexual promiscuity are both likely the precursors to sexually transmitted diseases and perhaps Olive is looking to warn others of the dangers.  By appearing with the traits of her downfall maybe it will scare others from engaging in the acts.

Perhaps the only reason her ghost appeared is because the theatre was being gutted and completely reconstructed, this may have disturbed old spirits of the theatre and could be the main reason Olive appeared. As far as Chauncey knows, Olive was the only ghost who appeared to the construction workers. Currently the New Amsterdam theatre is owned by Disney productions and is in use on Broadway. Since it’s reopening in 1997 Chauncey and her mother have not heard any more accounts of Olive’s presence in the theatre, or any other haunting for that matter.

Ghost Story

The Haunted Auditorium – Santa Maria, CA

“My school is over 100 years-old and one of the original buildings is still standing: Ethel Pope Auditorium. I don’t know the exact year, ballpark—probably 50-60 years ago. There was play going on in the auditorium on a rainy night and on the way there, a high school girl performer got in a car crash and died on the way.

Somehow that night, she was still in the play, performing even though she was dead. Now sometimes during plays at night you can see her up on the catwalk above the stage, sometimes when you look up. You can see blood dripping off her head from the car crash.

I haven’t seen this, but here is definitely creepy shit going on in that building. Just weird things. There’s major temperature changes, hot some places cold in others. Then the lights will turn on and off sometimes and the doors would mysteriously open and close.  I think some of the people who run lights have seen stuff. Some people hear whispers or feel touches.

She’s not necessarily haunting; she’s just there. I’ll admit, it’s scary being in there by yourself. It’s just a huge empty building—there’s always weird stuff. It’s an eerie feeling. Girls for sure don’t go in there by themselves. Its fun to take other people to creep them out, though.”

Haunted house stories are always best when they’re local. I live near Santa Maria, and after telling me this story, Antonio has promised to take me to Ethel Pope.  Because of the details about the temperature changes and whispers, I’ll probably be on the lookout for them, and since all old buildings are drafty and make noises, I will surely be rewarded—and terrified.

The key to a story like this is the victim—given her age and gender, this story is all the more scary to me because I can relate to her. Also, because the speaker admitted his fear, the whole story becomes more real and scary. By saying girls “for sure don’t go in there by themselves” also hints at more danger that I could run into.

The only thing missing in this tale is a motive for the ghost to be hanging around the auditorium .