Indianapolis's 1909-1910 Moorish/Egyptian Revival Shrine temple, where a shimmering blue light reportedly rises from a third-box seat and a portrait of original Potentate Elias Jacoby has been seen weeping.
502 N New Jersey St, Indianapolis, IN 46204
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticketed concerts and events; pricing varies by show.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Urban downtown; accessible seating available with advance request.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1910 · Largest Shrine Center in North America · Only Shrine Center with a French-origin name · Designed by architect Oscar D. Bohlen, himself a Murat Shriner · Theater opened February 28, 1910
The Murat Shrine Temple, today known as Old National Centre, was the brainchild of Elias J. Jacoby, a railroad attorney and Mason who became the fifth Potentate of Murat Shriners in 1907. Jacoby acquired land at the northwest corner of Michigan and New Jersey Streets in 1908 for $37,000, the first of several purchases that would eventually consume the full block.
Construction began in 1909 under contractor William P. Jungclaus Company, using designs by Murat Shriner and Indianapolis architect Oscar D. Bohlen. The building combined Moorish and Egyptian Revival elements - a fitting visual program for a Shrine organization whose iconography drew on idealized Middle Eastern motifs. The Murat Theatre opened on February 28, 1910, leased to the Schubert Organization of New York, and the rest of the complex was finished shortly afterward at a total cost of approximately $200,000.
Jacoby completed his work as Potentate in 1913 and passed the office to Denton F. Billingsley. The complex went on to host vaudeville, big-band concerts, civic gatherings, and Shrine ceremonials for more than a century. It is the only Shrine Center with a French-origin name (Murat) and remains the largest Shrine Center in North America.
The Shriners sold the complex in 1996 to Sunshine Promotions, who renovated it into a multi-venue concert and event facility. Today, as Old National Centre, the property includes the Murat Theatre, Egyptian Room, Corinthian Hall, and other event spaces, with Live Nation operating the major performance bookings.
Sources
The Murat's most famous paranormal phenomenon was documented in a 1994 episode of WFYI/PBS's 'Across Indiana' titled 'Jacoby's Light.' According to staff and patrons quoted in NUVO and the PBS feature, a shimmering blue light periodically rises out of the third box seat in the Murat Theatre, drifts toward the stage, hovers and glimmers briefly, then dissipates. Multiple longtime employees have witnessed it.
A second recurring story involves a portrait of Elias J. Jacoby - the Potentate who drove the building's 1909 construction - that has reportedly been seen with a tear running down the painted cheek. The 'crying portrait' is among the most-repeated Murat legends, alongside the appearance of strange music heard in the rafters of the Egyptian Room and the Murat Theatre when no source can be located.
NUVO's reporting also documents accounts of a 'mysterious maintenance man' encountered in the upper levels who vanishes when staff attempt to follow him, and bands setting up for shows in the Egyptian Room have described shadow apparitions and lights moving along the ceiling beams. Local lore attributes some of the activity to construction workers who reportedly died during the rapid 1909-1910 build, though primary documentation of those deaths is thin and the broader haunting is more often tied to Jacoby's continuing investment in the building he built.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Attend a ticketed performance in the Murat Theatre, Egyptian Room, or Corinthian Hall and experience the building's Moorish/Egyptian Revival architecture and its reported paranormal hotspots.
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