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Reported phenomena, as catalogued
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Palm Beach County's oldest working theater, where the Oakley brothers' 1924 dream ended with suicide and footsteps that never left
713 Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by production; history lectures priced around $20. See website for current schedule.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic theater interior with standard stage seating
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1924 · Palm Beach County's Oldest Working Theater · Florida Land Boom–Era Construction · Oakley Brothers Legacy
Lucien and Clarence Oakley broke ground on their movie palace during the Florida land boom of the mid-1920s, convinced they were building something permanent in the fast-growing town of Lake Worth. The theater opened November 3, 1924, and the final construction cost ran well above $150,000 — roughly $2.7 million in current dollars. It was, by any local measure, an ambitious bet.
The Depression ended the bet. By 1931, the brothers had lost the theater to creditors. On June 30, 1931, Lucien Oakley — age 62, financially ruined — shot himself in the head in an upstairs bedroom of his home. His brother Clarence died on June 29, 1932, from a heart attack at age 49, exactly one year and one day after Lucien's death.
The building did not close with them. It passed through a series of operators and uses over the following decades, including a period showing X-rated films, before the Lake Worth Playhouse acquired it in 1975 and restored it to legitimate theater. The organization has operated it continuously since, making it Palm Beach County's oldest working theater.
Paranormal reports at the building date to the 1930s — within years of Lucien's death. The oldest accounts describe the theater's organ playing without anyone at the keyboard and voices coming from the empty stage. More recent reports include footsteps on the catwalk, objects relocated overnight, handprints appearing on freshly painted walls, and actors being touched while alone on stage. Staff identify the activity primarily with Lucien, though some accounts mention Clarence as well. The theater has hosted haunted history tours and lectures using actors to portray the brothers.
Sources
The haunting narrative at the Lake Worth Playhouse is unusually well-dated: reports begin in the 1930s, when the Oakley brothers' names were still in living memory and the theater was still in its first generation of use. The earliest accounts focus on the organ — playing without anyone seated at the keyboard — and voices coming from an empty stage.
Contemporary reports cluster around several specific areas and phenomena. The catwalk above the stage generates the most consistent accounts of unexplained footsteps, heard both during performances and in an empty building after closing. Staff have reported finding objects — water coolers, armchairs, toilet paper rolls — moved from their overnight positions with no apparent cause. Freshly painted walls have reportedly developed handprints before the paint dried.
Actors working alone on the stage describe being physically touched: shoulders jabbed, hair pulled, a hand laid briefly on the back. These accounts have come from performers with no prior awareness of the building's history, which theater staff cite as lending them more credibility than the accounts of curious ghost-hunters.
The theater's official Halloween events and periodic haunted history tours treat Lucien as the primary presence. Clarence is occasionally invoked as a secondary figure. The theater markets its ghost reputation carefully — always tied to the documented historical narrative of the Oakley brothers — rather than to invented folklore.
Notable Entities
Periodic haunted history tours and lectures at the 1924 Oakley Theater covering the Oakley brothers' story, Lucien's 1931 suicide, and the century of unexplained activity inside the building. Check the website for scheduled dates.
Attend a current production at Palm Beach County's oldest working theater. The Main Stage and Stonzek Studio Theatre both host regular programming year-round.
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