Atmospheric-style 1922 vaudeville-and-movie palace by architect John Eberson, where staff describe phantom footsteps near the dressing rooms and a projectionist's ghost preparing a long-finished show.
200 N Broadway St, Wichita, KS 67202
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Varies by event; standard ticketed performances. Ghost tours seasonal.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Sidewalk; downtown urban setting; historic theater interior.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1922 · Designed by atmospheric-theater pioneer John Eberson · One of the few surviving Eberson atmospheric movie palaces · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places · Hosted Orpheum-circuit vaudeville greats including the Marx Brothers, Houdini, and Bela Lugosi
The Orpheum Theatre was designed by celebrated theater architect John Eberson, who would become known for popularizing the atmospheric style of movie palace, in which the auditorium ceiling mimics an open sky and the side walls are dressed as the exterior of a Mediterranean village or garden. The Wichita Orpheum's interior was conceived as a Spanish garden and courtyard. It opened September 4, 1922, with a 1,800-seat hall built on the corner of First and Broadway, and was paid for by a group of ten local businessmen who each contributed $20,000 toward a total construction cost of roughly $750,000.
The theater was originally built as a vaudeville house, hosting Orpheum-circuit performers in its early years and later converting to film about seven years after opening as the talking-picture era took hold. Big-name acts associated with the Wichita Orpheum's vaudeville and live-performance era include George Burns and Gracie Allen, Gypsy Rose Lee, Houdini, Fanny Brice, the Marx Brothers, Louis Armstrong, Jack Benny, and Bela Lugosi, among others.
The Orpheum operated as a working movie theater for decades, eventually facing the same decline that hit downtown picture palaces nationwide in the late twentieth century. A nonprofit, the Orpheum Performing Arts Centre, was formed to preserve and restore the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and the theater has been hosting concerts, films, and special events while undergoing phased restoration of its plasterwork, mechanical systems, and atmospheric ceiling.
Today the Orpheum is one of the last surviving Eberson atmospheric theaters in the country and a centerpiece of downtown Wichita's preservation efforts. Renovation work has continued in stages, and the venue remains an active community performance space.
Sources
According to Visit Wichita's roundup of the city's haunted places, the Orpheum's most-repeated phenomena are eerie footsteps and dim shadows near the backstage dressing rooms. The same source describes reports of a projectionist's ghost said to be glimpsed preparing to show a film in the projection booth, and the tourism office specifically connects the story to a screening of "The Wizard of Oz." (visitwichita.com)
US Ghost Adventures, which routes a downtown Wichita ghost-tour stop past the Orpheum, repeats the dressing-room and projection-booth claims and adds that some staff have attributed the activity to a former theater manager. The accounts are anecdotal and aggregator-level, so we treat them as folklore rather than documented event history.
The Orpheum's nonprofit has periodically leaned into the theater's ghostly reputation with paranormal-investigation nights, costume events, and a ghost-tour add-on tied to its preservation programming. As of this writing the venue is in a multi-phase renovation, so paranormal-themed events are scheduled around the construction calendar.
Notable Entities
The Orpheum offers occasional ghost-themed and historic tours of the atmospheric auditorium and back-of-house spaces; tour availability varies with the renovation schedule.
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.
Memphis, TN
The Orpheum Theatre opened November 19, 1928, replacing the Grand Opera House that had stood on the same Main-and-Beale corner since 1890 before burning to the ground in 1923. Designed by Chicago's Rapp and Rapp at a cost of $1.6 million, it served vaudeville, then movies, and today operates as a 2,308-seat Broadway-touring house.
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.