Vogue Theatre
918 Granville Street
Located towards the south end of Granville Mall, the Art Deco styled Vogue Theatre opened in 1941 as a movie
theatre and performing arts house. For most of its history, it actually played host to more movie showings than live
performances.
In 1988, the theatre was closed due to declining business. However, it reopened in 1991, after being fully renovated back
to its original splendour, plus the installation of state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems. Since then, it has served
predominantly as a live performance venue.
The Vogue Theatre is home to the spirit of a dapper man who likes to make his presence known throughout the building.
He is tall and narrow faced, dressed in a long cream-coloured dinner jacket. Staff members have felt his presence in a
narrow corridor in the basement, underneath the stage. The ghost has also been known to move objects around and make noises.
Several times, drum kits set up on the stage have been played when the theatre is closed. When staff members check to see
who's playing, there's nobody there.
In 1995, a performer who was on stage doing a tap dance routine saw the full-body apparition of the well-dressed ghost,
standing stage left underneath an exit sign. The performer was so shocked by the apparition blankly staring up at him,
followed by his sudden dissolve into thin air, that he cut his routine short to leave the stage. The very next day, a stage
technician saw the ghost standing in the doorway of the theatre's projector booth. The technician had barely begun to realize
what he was seeing when the apparition vanished. He ran up the steps to the booth but there was nobody there. Just like the
performer on the previous night, he described the ghost as appearing to be in his mid-thirties, clean shaven with short dark
hair, and having chiseled features and dark eyebrows. Nobody knows who the ghost is but considering his talent for playing
the drums and his handsome attire, perhaps he was a performer who once played at the Vogue Theatre. Or perhaps he's
simply an audience member who, even after death, still longs to be in to the limelight. |
