1884 Romanesque Theater Built Above an Old Burial Ground
158 Main Street, Thomaston, CT 06787
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by performance. Check the venue or Landmark Community Theatre listings for current shows.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved sidewalk approach; historic interior with elevator access to most public levels
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1884 · National Register of Historic Places · Romanesque Revival Architecture · Town Hall and Performance Venue
The Thomaston Opera House was constructed between 1883 and 1885 as part of a combined town hall and performance venue, a common municipal arrangement in late nineteenth-century New England. The brick exterior is a regional example of Romanesque Revival, with rounded arches over the main entry and heavy masonry detailing. The auditorium occupies the upper floors above ground-level municipal offices.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and has undergone successive restoration efforts. In recent years, EverGreene Architectural Arts has documented and conserved decorative finishes inside the auditorium. The Friends of the Thomaston Opera House and Landmark Community Theatre operate programming, including five mainstage productions per year, a youth theatre education program, dance presentations, concerts, a classical piano series, and a children's theatre series.
Local historical accounts and a long-tenured staff usher cited in regional reporting hold that the 1884 structure was built over land that previously held burials. The basement reportedly still includes markers indicating the former locations of those graves. The Old Fire Station next door, mentioned in earlier paranormal reports, was renovated and converted into a teen center called "The Place" in the mid-2000s.
Sources
The most consistent account associated with the Thomaston Opera House is the sense of being watched while alone in the auditorium. A long-tenured usher, with more than 23 years on staff and quoted in regional press, has stated plainly that the building is haunted and that staff and performers describe the same lingering presence when the house is empty.
The explanation offered most often is architectural rather than narrative. Local historical accounts hold that the 1884 building was constructed over a local burial site, with original grave locations marked or visible in the basement. The phenomena reported are correspondingly residual: footsteps, voices in unoccupied rows, and the occasional sense of motion at the periphery of vision rather than dramatic interactive activity.
Groups including Obsidian Paranormal and the Northeast Paranormal Investigations Society have documented investigations at the venue. Reported findings include unexplained noises and disembodied voices captured on EVP recordings.
A fire damaged the theater earlier in its history, and one strand of local folklore associates the haunting with people who may have died in that event. Independent corroboration of fatalities tied to the fire was not found in the sources reviewed, so this line of speculation should be treated as folklore rather than verified history.
Attend a mainstage production by Landmark Community Theatre or one of the venue's resident programs in the 1,500-seat Romanesque auditorium. The basement still contains marked locations of graves predating the 1884 building.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Joliet, IL
The Rialto Square Theatre opened May 24, 1926, designed by Chicago firm Rapp & Rapp for the six Rubens brothers. Its Neo-Baroque interior — modeled in part on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles — earned it a place on the American Institute of Architects's '150 Great Places in Illinois' and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lewisville, IN
The Guyer Opera House was built in 1901 in Lewisville, Indiana after physician Dr. Oscar K. Guyer persuaded local citizens to fund construction on a block where earlier buildings had burned in 1893. Guyer died in March 1901 at age 49 before the building opened; his funeral was held in the auditorium. In spring 1923, six-year-old Newell Calpha was fatally shot in the forehead when a bullet ricocheted during a firearms demonstration, dying in his father's store downstairs. The theater closed in 1942, was rediscovered in 1969, and has operated as a nonprofit community civic theater since 1976. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Reedley, CA
The Reedley Opera House, also known as the Jansen Opera House, was built in 1903 by Danish immigrant Jesse Jansen following a 1902 fire that destroyed most of downtown Reedley. The brick building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and is now home to the River City Theatre Company.