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Torrington, CT.

January 16, 2011

     Our affiliate in Watertown, CT - RISEUP Connecticut - had been in negotiations with the Warner Theater to conduct a public investigation of the theater for the benefit of the Warner Theater Restoration Fund. Using the same template as we had for a similar series of events at Belcourt Castle in Newport, R.I., we first wanted to conduct a controlled investigation of the building in an effort to validate the claims that had been related to us from the Warner staff. This was accomplished on Jan. 16th.

RISEUP Investigators Present:         Ken DeCosta (RI)

                                                                       David DeCosta (RI)                                                  

                                                   Chris Blanchette (RI)

                                                   Julie DeMay (RI)

                                                   Dan Snizek (RI)

                                                   Tom Stewart (RI)

                                                   Gail Capolupo (CT)

                                                   Ann Collette (CT)

                                                   Don Krantz (CT)

                                                   Tom Flanagan (CT)

Geographical and Historical Data

The Warner Theatre is an Art-Deco style movie palace located at 68-82 Main Street in Torrington, Connecticut. It opened on August 19, 1931 as part of the Warner Bros. chain of movie theaters. Today it operates as a mixed-use performing arts center. It is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and also a contributing property in the Downtown Torrington Historic District. The theater has been deemed the "finest surviving Modernistic theatre in Connecticut."

     The Warner Theatre was built as a first-run movie palace by Warner Bros. Studios. This elaborate art-deco building was designed by nationally-renowned architect Thomas W. Lamb. The opening was a state wide event attended by then-Governor Wilbur Cross and many other dignitaries. Seating 1,704 patrons, the Warner was a stunning example of state-of-the-art technology and lush, elegant surroundings.

     In the 1960s Warner Brothers sold the Warner Theatre to a private owner who continued to show movies until the late 1970s. By the early 1980s the theatre was closed and slated for demolition when a group of local citizens banded together and formed what is now known as the Northwest Connecticut Association for the Arts. This non-profit group worked passionately to save the landmark from destruction. After a successful grass-roots campaign, the association purchased the theatre and re-opened it on May 22, 1983.

     The theatre is in operation year-round with more than 80,000 patrons passing through its doors each year. It provides a dynamic art-in-education program that has reached thousands of young people from throughout the region. It features a community theatre program that is supported by more than 400 volunteers—from actors to carpenters to ushers. It has presented some of the world's finest performers, from the Vienna Boys Choir to Anne Murray, and from George Carlin to the Washington Ballet. The Warner's dedicated Board of Directors represents a unique cross-section of business, education, government, and the arts, providing strong and visionary leadership for this important institution.

Phenomena

The claims of paranormal activity at the Warner are very varied in scope and frequency. We had heard a number of stories related to the theater through communications with the staff and via published accounts of guests as well as other paranormal groups who had previously visited there. Armed with that information, we weren't fully prepared for the words of John Kolosky, Director of Facilities as he took us on our initial walk-through.

      We were fully aware of the Warner's primary spirit, an entity who goes the by the given name of "Murph". Depending on which account you hear, he was a vagrant/drunk who, seeking shelter from a rainstorm, found access to the inside of the theater and subsequently fell down a flight of stairs leading to the basement and died as a result. The other version is that he was either a patron or a volunteer that fell down those stairs and succumbed to his injuries a short time later at a local hospital. The stairs in question are shown below. A man has been seen lying at the bottom of these stairs as well as wandering around in the basement.

     The spirit of a man (assumed to be "Murph") has also said to have been seen walking through a side door in the theater.

     The staff has also reported seeing shadows darting about the theater section (left, below) as well as a shape described as an "old, round face with bushy eyebrows" peering out from an otherwise empty projection booth (right, below). Staff members claim a feeling of uneasiness upon entering the projection room. Also on the main stage, the apparition of a little girl wearing a yellow hat has been witnessed by one member of the theater staff.

     Lights have been known to turn themselves on and off and some have felt cold wind in the middle of summer with no air conditioning. Performers have seen dark, shadowy figures sitting in the balcony seats (below) during their rehearsals. Again, the figure of a little girl has also been spotted in the balcony.

     There is also a story of a huge control lever that controls all of the lights in the building. It normally took two or three people to pull it down. (The lever was removed during renovations several years ago.) One day, there were but two people at the theater - not in any way close to this lever - when suddenly the lights went out. They went back to check and the lever was switched to the "off" position.

     In the second floor Atrium area (below), the apparition of a grocery store clerk who apparently committed suicide has been seen hanging from the ceiling on at least one occasion. His shop was at one point in the front of the building.

     Perhaps the most bizarre story we heard that night concerned the box office manager seeing a group of what she described as "Civil War-era soldiers" standing against a back wall of the basement (below).

     In the theater offices, which also contain a meeting room, the apparition of a young girl has also been seen in a doorway there. The faucets in the kitchen area of the meeting room have been known to turn on by themselves.

     One possibly unrelated, but nonetheless tragic occurrence took place in 1992, when a worker sealing another theater roof across the street fell into a vat of hot tar and died.

Orientation

     All RISEUP investigators gathered at the theater at approximately 5 pm to begin the investigation. The base was set up in the second floor hallway which granted easy central access to most of the areas of reported activity.

     Every entrance to the theater was then locked to eliminate anyone from entering during the investigation. Both Rhode Island and Connecticut teams were broken into groups to spread out through the theater. Three staff members present were allowed to accompany us as we felt their knowledge of the theater and the activity might prove vital at various points through the evening.

Investigation

     Ken DeCosta and Don Krantz began the night in the theater where voices, apparitions and odd sounds have been reported. Ken would position himself in the lower bowl while Don stationed himself up in the balcony area. An EVP session was conducted and Ken would record the session on video.

     Nothing unusual was seen or heard during this point in time, but a review of the audio revealed a very strange response to a question Ken had regarding the little girl and her presence in the theater. At 0:16, what sounds like a woman's voice is heard quite clearly. What is said, however, is not so clear. While first impulses tell us it says, "EVP", we can't quite make that leap of faith and it remains subjective as to what it is we are hearing.

     Gail Capolupo and Julie DeMay were given the basement area for their first assignment of the night. This is where a man died after a fall down the stairs and his spirit has been said to remain there. It is also where a spectral group of Civil War soldiers has been seen standing against a wall.

     During their session, it first appeared a series of bangs were answering questions in an intelligent manner. Further investigation revealed it was merely the sounds of a time clock that by sheer coincidence was clicking in rhythm with their questions. A more compelling experience had to do with a door upstairs toward the box office area slamming shut. We ascertained for certain no one was in that area and the door cannot be shut by anything less than a manual push. In the video, Gail at first misidentifies it as opening. It is in fact, closing.

     Another piece of video evidence requires a bit more effort of the listener's part, but will prove rewarding. The interlude went on for a few seconds, the handheld camera's mic picked up but a couple of seconds before it ended. She describes it in the clip as like "calliope music". We know in January in Connecticut that the chances of an ice cream truck driving by is fairly remote and what little passing traffic we had was not an issue with audio in the least.

     Tom Stewart, Dan Snizek and Ann Collette ventured into the projection room for their first investigation of the night. They were accompanied by Development Associate Laura McGuffie from the Warner Theater. At one point in their session, Laura claimed to have seen a shadow walk directly in front of the middle doorway inside the room (below). An immediate check ruled out any possibility someone else from our staff was in the room with them.

     A change up of investigators found Dan, Chris Blanchette and Ken in the theater, still searching for some indication of a spirit presence there. This proved to be a rather interesting session. From the very beginning, each investigator began to have audible and visual experiences there. For Chris, it was the shadows that would dart across aisles for a prolonged period of time. Now paying attention to try and confirm Chris' sightings, it was Ken who watched as what appeared to be the shadow created by a set of feet crossed under the main entrance doors. There was no head or body that could be seen through the window of the door. Breaking into a full sprint, Ken reached the door within seconds with Chris doing the same toward an adjacent entrance. No one was found in the outside hallway or in the lobby area.

     Returning to the seating area, it was not long before the shadows re-appeared accompanied by the sounds of footsteps. It was clear the footsteps were of a shuffling nature across the carpeted floor of the theater. They were recorded, but so faintly heard that posting the sounds would lean toward futility in hearing them.

     As the group was in the process of leaving, they all heard very distinct footsteps, this time heavy and on what sounded like hard wood. From the direction of the sound, it was surmised they were coming from directly above them from the ceiling! The odd part is that there is no attic area per se in the theater, and access to the roof is all but impossible as well as unnecessary. It was only later that we all realized what we were actually hearing - the footsteps were coming across the stage. The amazing acoustic qualities of the theater created the auditory illusion they were coming from above us. We arrived at this conclusion because there was a digital recorder sitting on the stage that recorded the sounds you will hear on the link below. Please note that our surveillance camera footage shows all three investigators half-way up the center aisle, a good 50 feet from the stage standing on carpeting when the sound was recorded. Ken is attempting to contact the little girl seen here and the door you will hear shutting is Chris leaving the seating area. None of us at this point is standing anywhere near a wooden floor.

     Tom Stewart claimed that during a session with Tom Flanagan and Laura McGuffie in the Warner offices, they heard an unexplained series of bangs which seemed to increase in frequency and focus as they began asking questions.  

     The next group inside the theater area was Gail, Ann and Julie DeMay. They were joined by Warner staff members Maureen Madden-Tardy, Sharon Chase and Laura McGuffie. A laser grid was set up in an attempt to clearly determine if anything with mass was moving about the theater.

     This video recounts what the group saw, which falls in line with exactly what Chris, Ken and Dan observed during their previous session there.

      Ann asked numerous questions while there as Julie ran video.  At one point, Ann stated she saw a tall thin black shadow up in right hand corner of the upper seating area, which got up and walked up the isle.  As Julie headed up the aisle to investigate, Gail saw a head go by one of the doors outside the seating area in the hallway. Julie ran up one isle and Gail up the other and they met outside in the hallway. No one was in the area and they returned to the stage area.  Others also claimed to be seeing shadow movements from the back corners of the seating areas.  Gail then saw a tall, black, wavy shadow run across the theater between the upper level and lower levels.  Session ended for break down of equipment. 

     During the breakdown, Tom Stewart claimed he saw what appeared to be someone running down the aisle in the lower seating level. Initially thinking it was another team member, he quickly realized it was not. He described it as "a quick, white flash" that vanished very abruptly.

Conclusion

     The opportunity to investigate what truly is a national and regional treasure was one of the great experiences we've had to date. We are extremely grateful to Maureen Madden-Tardy, Director of Development for the Warner Theater for making it all possible. Our Connecticut staff has done a wonderful job in putting this together and representing us, our principles and methodologies in nothing but a positive light.

     Legends that surround theaters most often revolve around strong emotions. In many cases, the people that once frequented them as actors or even its patrons had big personalities and were, in many instances, larger-than-life characters. It is not difficult to imagine the emotional investment and attachment they had to these types of locations.

     Always in the back of our minds is the real possibility that these legends grow from simple truths or events. Time and the recounting of the stories eventually take on a life of their own. In the case of the Warner Theater, our investigation - in which personal experiences were the order of the night - seemed to support at least the distinct possibility that energies still hold the audience's attention much in the way the performers who have graced its stage have.

     The public event has been booked for Sunday, March 20, 2011 and we are very much looking forward to the potential experiences our guests might have and whether the ghosts of the Warner Theater will agree to an encore performance for their benefit.

Addendum

     There remains one piece of audio we remaining quite puzzled about. This was recorded at the foot of the basement stairs by Ken DeCosta and Tom Flanagan as they conducted an EVP session there. The recorder had been turned off and they were making their way back to the breakdown. When the audio was being reviewed, this brief snippet appeared on the recorder lasting only a  brief second. What you will hear is the entire file with no modification and is not the voice of anyone present that night. We're at odds about what the voice says, and our guesses range from "They're terrible mistakes" to "Enter Holy faith" to "They're durable, these things".

     This is a truly bizarre piece of audio, but nothing we can point to as indisputable evidence without examining it more closely. Nonetheless, it bears a mention here.