THERE was a moment, during a tour of the Edinburgh Playhouse a few years ago, that I was filled with a feeling of dread. We were talking about the theatre's ghost at the time, when all of a sudden, the air turned icy. Spooky.
Cold spots are nothing new to staff at the Playhouse. An all pervasive chill has been known to descend on certain areas of the theatre in seconds ... and then dissipate just as quickly. Local folklore has it that the phenomenon indicates the presence
of Albert, the theatre's ghost – apparently he was a stage door man at the venue, who died backstage many years ago.
However, the Playhouse isn't the only theatre in Edinburgh to boast a ghost. As Albert sends shivers down spines at the Greenside Place venue, over at the Festival Theatre it's the spectre of Victorian magician The Great Lafayette who plays his tricks.
One of the most popular entertainers of the early-20th century, Lafayette met his end on May 9, 1911, as he neared the end of a two-week season at what was then known as the Empire Theatre of Varieties.
As he took his curtain call that night a lamp was knocked over, setting the scenery alight. As flames shot over the footlights and into the stalls, the safety curtain was brought in. Three hours later, with the inferno under control it was discovered that eleven people, including the Great Lafayette, had died. Eyewitness claimed the magician had actually escaped but returned to save his horse.
Today, Lafayette is believed to be the tall dark stranger many have reported seeing lurking in the shadows backstage. The Royal Lyceum too has an unexplained shade, a spectral female figure seen perched high above the stage in the lighting rig.
All around Scotland there are tales of theatre ghosts. At His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen it's Jake, a former stage hand who was be-headed in an accident at the theatre prior.
Oh, and X Factor contestants be warned, Glasgow's Theatre Royal is haunted by Nora, a wannabe actress who was laughed off stage after a disastrous audition – she promptly took her own life.
Another suicide lies behind sightings of a female ghost in Inverness's Eden Court Theatre. Known as the Bishop's Wife, she is believed to have committed suicide on the site in the late nineteenth century, before the theatre was built. The ghostly figure has since developed a green, post mortem hue.
My favourite theatrical haunting however, is that of the site of the old Tivoli Theatre in Hull. Arthur Lucan, best known as Old Mother Riley, died in his dressing room there. Famous for his dislike of taxes (and tax men) his ghost is now said to haunt the Inland Revenue
building which was built on the site of the theatre. Although quite why his spirit appears dressed as Old Mother Riley is anyone's guess.
Another of my favourites is the gory tale of the woman with a severed head in her lap spotted in London's Lyceum Theatre by a married couple sitting in a box. They later recognised the head in a painting of a family which once lived on the site of the theatre.
And if that sounds bizarre, the strangest haunting of all must surely be that of Mansfield Palace Theatre, Nottinghamshire, where a witness reported seeing a pair of yellow boots walking themselves across the stage.
Now that's what you call treading the boards.
The full article contains 586 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
