HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Yuma's old silent-movie theater, part of the Lute's Casino building and a Ghost Adventures focal point
211 S Main St, Yuma, AZ 85364
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The old theater is a vacant portion of the Lute's Casino building and is not an operating ticketed venue. Viewing the storefront from the public South Main Street sidewalk is free.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Flat downtown sidewalk; the theater interior is closed to general public access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1925 · Early 20th-Century Silent-Movie Theater · Part of the Historic Lute's Casino Building · Downtown Yuma Main Street District
The Lyric Theater sits on South Main Street in downtown Yuma, inside the same interconnected building that holds Lute's Casino and the upstairs former Central Hotel. The theater opened as a movie house in the early part of the 20th century, showing silent films and later sound pictures to Yuma audiences.
Under various operators, including Silver Crest Theaters in the 1940s, the Lyric ran as a working cinema into the late 1970s before closing. A short-lived reopening in the mid-1970s offered family programming, but the theater ultimately shut down and the space has stood vacant since. The Lutes family, who run the adjoining Casino restaurant, are associated with ownership of the Lyric portion of the building.
The theater's history as a place of public gathering, layered with the building's earlier life as a hotel and store, is the backdrop for its modern paranormal reputation. The interior is not open as a regular ticketed venue today; it figures into Yuma's haunted history primarily through the adjoining, open Lute's Casino and through paranormal television coverage.
Sources
The Lyric Theater is the part of the Lute's Casino building where much of the reported activity is centered. Staff and visitors describe children's voices coming from behind the theater's old movie screen and from the projection area, along with objects moving and the sense of a presence in the empty house.
Local accounts and paranormal investigators describe two recurring figures tied to the theater: a young boy, and an older man said to behave protectively toward the space and, by some accounts, to react to people he does not take to. These are the same figures associated with the building as a whole in local news coverage.
The theater interior was investigated for Travel Channel's 'Ghost Adventures,' which conducted a lockdown of the building. Because the theater itself is closed to the public, the stories reach most visitors through the adjoining Lute's Casino, through local news, and through the television episode rather than through any tour the venue runs. The accounts are anecdotal and not independently verified.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The old Lyric Theater storefront sits within the same downtown block as Lute's Casino, with which it shares a building and a haunted reputation. The theater interior is not open to the public, but the exterior and the adjoining Lute's are accessible on a self-guided downtown walk. The interior featured in Travel Channel's 'Ghost Adventures.'
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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