HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
1884 Romanesque Theater Built Above an Old Burial Ground
158 Main Street, Thomaston, CT 06787
Research updated May 2026
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.
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Concordia, KS
Colonel Napoleon Bonaparte Brown, a Concordia banker, broke ground on the theater in April 1906 and hired Kansas City architect Carl Boller to design it. His son, Earl Van Dorn Brown, supervised construction after touring more than thirty opera houses for ideas. The theater opened September 17, 1907. Brown died in 1910; Earl died about four months later. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, the building was restored to its original appearance and reopened in 1980.
Tucson, AZ
The Fox Tucson Theatre opened on April 11, 1930, as a combined vaudeville and movie house. After closing in 1974 and standing vacant for 25 years, the building was purchased in 1999 by the non-profit Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation for $250,000 and reopened in 2006 following a multi-year, multi-million-dollar restoration.
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.