Sarasota's 1926 Mediterranean Revival theater — where Elvis Presley played in 1956 — still hosts an unidentified presence whose shuffling footsteps staff hear crossing the auditorium after closing.
61 N Pineapple Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Opera and performance ticket prices vary by production; check website for current season
Access
Wheelchair OK
Renovated theater with accessible seating; ground-floor lobby and elevator access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1926 · Mediterranean Revival architecture by Roy A. Benjamin · Elvis Presley concert — February 21, 1956 · National Register of Historic Places (1984) · $20 million restoration (2007-2008)
The A.B. Edwards Theater opened on April 10, 1926, as the vision of Arthur Britton Edwards, the first mayor of Sarasota. Jacksonville architect Roy A. Benjamin designed the structure in Mediterranean Revival style, featuring cream stucco, ornamental plasterwork, and a three-story atrium with a skylight. The ground floor held eight commercial shops; the second floor, twelve offices; the third, twelve furnished apartments. A Robert Morton pipe organ installed in the auditorium enhanced the building's entertainment programming.
Through the late 1920s and into the postwar years, the Edwards Theater hosted major performers. Will Rogers appeared in 1927. The Ziegfeld Follies came through in 1928. Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth premiered there in late 1951, attended by Charlton Heston and Dorothy Lamour. On February 21, 1956, Elvis Presley gave a concert on the Edwards Theater stage — one of the early Florida dates of his rapid national rise.
The theater transitioned to the Florida Theatre name in December 1936 and operated primarily as a movie house through the postwar decades. A 1928 hurricane had already damaged the original pipe organ. Modernization stripped Art Deco interior details. The building closed in 1973, with a wrecking ball reportedly staged in the adjacent parking lot.
The Asolo Opera Guild intervened, purchasing the building for $150,000 in 1979. Initial renovations reopened the theater in 1984 with a production of Eugene Onegin. The balcony was completed in 1990; the facade and lobby were restored in 1993. A comprehensive $20 million renovation in 2007-2008 restored the original three-story atrium and skylight, rebuilt the orchestra pit, and brought the facility to its current 1,119-seat configuration. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March 1984.
Sources
The Sarasota Opera House's paranormal reputation is low-key by Florida haunted-venue standards: no dramatic apparitions, no documented incidents, nothing that has attracted organized investigation. What staff describe is simpler and harder to dismiss — a set of footsteps.
The accounts come from employees working late after performances or arriving early before them. The sound is described as a shuffling gait crossing the main auditorium, consistent in direction and weight, occurring when the building is empty and secured. No mechanical explanation — HVAC, building settling, wildlife — has been formally investigated or ruled out. The accounts have circulated among staff without escalating to management concern.
Visit Sarasota's official tourism documentation, and a 2025 Sarasota Magazine feature on the city's haunted places, both attribute the sound to a former performer: someone from the building's early decades who remains in the space they knew. The spirit is described as benign — searching or lingering rather than threatening.
A secondary report places the same figure on the street between the Opera House and the site of the former Golden Apple Theatre, two blocks away. The connection between the two venues is unexplained in any source. No identity has been attached to the presence.
Attend a performance at the 1,119-seat theater, which hosts opera, symphony, ballet, film festivals, and concerts throughout the year. The restored Mediterranean Revival atrium and original architectural details are visible throughout the building. See website for current season schedule.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Sarasota, FL
The Sarasota Woman's Club laid the cornerstone for this building on January 1, 1915 — the same year Sarasota incorporated as a city — at the corner of Cocoanut and Palm Avenue. Founded in 1913 with 63 charter members, the club operated the clubhouse for decades before relocating. Florida Studio Theatre, founded in 1973 by Jon Spelman as an alternative touring company, moved into the building in 1977 and formally established it as the Keating Theatre. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and now seats 173 as FST's primary stage.
Arcadia, FL
In August 1905, a fire destroyed much of downtown Arcadia, burning across the block where the opera house now stands. J.J. Heard built the Arcadia Opera House on the cleared site in 1906, and it functioned as a Vaudeville venue before transitioning to film in 1923. The building sat idle for more than 60 years before being restored to active use in 2021 as a community venue, antique shop, and events space. It is recognized as one of the most paranormally active locations in Southwest Florida.
Orlando, FL
Braxton Beacham Sr. demolished the former Orange County Jail in 1919 and built a $200,000 theater at 46 N Orange Ave in 1921. The jail had occupied the site since approximately 1873 and served as Orange County's primary place of execution, where condemned prisoners were hanged publicly. The Beacham received Orlando's historic landmark designation in 1987 and has operated as a concert venue since 2011.