HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Restored 1927 vaudeville and movie house in downtown Sandpoint, where investigators reported a bearded apparition some tie to former owner Floyd Gray.
300 N 1st Ave, Sandpoint, ID 83864
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by film or performance; see the box office schedule at panida.org. Some community screenings are low-cost or free.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown sidewalk entry; main-floor seating is accessible.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1927 · Opened 1927 as a vaudeville and movie house · Name derived from the panhandle of Idaho · Saved and restored by a community nonprofit beginning 1985 · National Register of Historic Places · Operating nonprofit community theater in downtown Sandpoint
The Panida Theater opened in 1927 on what is now North 1st Avenue in downtown Sandpoint. Built by F. C. Weskil, it was designed to serve both vaudeville acts and the growing motion-picture business, and its name was coined from the panhandle of Idaho. For decades it anchored Sandpoint's commercial core as the town's main entertainment hall.
Like many small-town theaters, the Panida declined in the mid-twentieth century as audiences shifted and maintenance lapsed. By the early 1980s the building had faded into disrepair. In 1985 a group of community members formed a nonprofit organization and purchased the theater, beginning a long restoration that returned the auditorium, balcony, and lobby to use.
The restored Panida has hosted touring musicians and performers over the years, including Bonnie Raitt and Arlo Guthrie, and actor Viggo Mortensen has been associated with the venue early in his career. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today the Panida operates as a nonprofit community theater, screening films and staging concerts and live performances year-round. It remains one of the most recognizable buildings in downtown Sandpoint, its marquee a fixture of the 1st Avenue streetscape.
Sources
The Panida's reputation as a haunted building was reported at length by the Bonner County Daily Bee in October 2009, when paranormal investigators Jenn and Mike Deer of Inland Northwest Paranormal Research spent time in the theater with recorders, cameras, and infrared sensors. They concluded the building was, in their words, 'definitely haunted.'
The investigators described detecting a large male apparition with a beard or moustache in the audience, a presence they characterized as welcoming and friendly rather than threatening. As the Daily Bee noted, that description reminded longtime Sandpoint residents of Floyd Gray, the Panida's former manager and eventual owner, who once entertained packed houses as a variety-show host called Farmer Gray, performing in overalls and a fake beard. The Deers also reported capturing audio they interpreted as two women's voices in a heated exchange.
The Bonner County Daily Bee returned to the subject in its October 2024 'Sandpoint's specters' feature on the town's older buildings. Staff and visitors over the years have described footsteps in empty parts of the house and a feeling of being unwelcome in backstage areas. The theater's own position is cautious: management has said it can neither confirm nor deny that the Panida is haunted, and the nonprofit does not market the building as a paranormal attraction.
Notable Entities
The most reliable way to see the interior is to buy a ticket to one of the Panida's films, concerts, or stage productions. The 1927 auditorium, with its arched proscenium and balcony, is the setting for the reported sightings; the nonprofit does not run paranormal investigations.
Photograph the marquee and the 1927 facade from the sidewalk at 1st Avenue. The Panida sign is one of Sandpoint's most-photographed downtown landmarks.
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.
St. Louis, MO
The Fabulous Fox Theatre opened in January 1929 as one of five 'Fox' picture palaces commissioned by film magnate William Fox. Designed by C. Howard Crane in a 'Siamese Byzantine' style, the 4,500-seat auditorium was the second-largest in the United States at its opening. After decades of decline the theatre closed in 1978 and was restored by the Fox Associates beginning in 1981, reopening in 1982 as the centerpiece of Grand Center.
Birmingham, AL
The Alabama Theatre is a 1927 Paramount-Publix movie palace in downtown Birmingham, designed by the Chicago firm Graven & Mayger in a Spanish-Moorish style. The theatre houses one of the country's surviving Wurlitzer pipe organs (the 'Mighty Wurlitzer') installed at construction. It is operated today as a live-performance venue by Birmingham Landmarks, Inc., the same nonprofit that operates the nearby Lyric Theatre.