HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A 1914 Main Street theater restored and reopened in 2021, where townspeople and staff report a man's apparition walking the building and footsteps on empty stairs.
609 Main Street, Laconia, NH 03246
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by performance. Music, theater, comedy, and civic events are scheduled year-round; see coloniallaconia.com/tickets-events for the current calendar.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored single-auditorium theater with accessible seating; downtown Laconia sidewalks and lots.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1914 · 1914 Main Street movie and vaudeville house designed by George L. Griffin · Operated as a cinema until 2002 · Restored 2016-2021, reopened August 2021 as a single-auditorium performing-arts venue · Downtown Laconia brownfields redevelopment anchor
The Colonial Theatre opened on Main Street in Laconia, New Hampshire in 1914, designed by architect George L. Griffin and seating roughly 1,231 people. Built for moving pictures and vaudeville, it was described in its day as one of the handsomer playhouses in New England and hosted touring acts, films, and civic gatherings through the 20th century. In 1961 it screened the world premiere of 'Return to Peyton Place.'
The theater operated as a movie house until 2002. An earlier remodel had divided the original single auditorium into a small multiplex, and after the cinema closed the building fell into disuse. The property became a downtown redevelopment and brownfields project, with public and private partners funding a full restoration beginning around 2016.
That restoration reversed the multiplex conversion and rebuilt the room as a single auditorium of about 750 seats, restoring the historic interior. The Colonial reopened in August 2021 as a multi-purpose performing-arts venue presenting music, theater, comedy, and community events.
The theater is operated as a nonprofit performing-arts center and anchors the revitalized stretch of Laconia's Main Street.
Sources
The Colonial Theatre's haunted reputation centers on a recurring report: an apparition of a man seen walking through the building, observed by townspeople and theater staff over the years. Alongside the sightings, people describe hearing footsteps on the theater's staircases when no one is climbing them.
Additional accounts, common to old single-screen houses, describe lights switching on and off and doors opening or closing on their own when the building is closed for the night, and a few visitors have reported an unexplained urge to leave certain areas. The activity is most often placed in the upper levels and back-of-house spaces rather than the main auditorium.
The reports do not attach the figure to a named, verified individual. Local lore sometimes ties the male apparition to the theater's projection era, but the corroborated descriptions are simply of a man's figure moving through the building, and the venue's documented history offers no confirmed death on site. With the theater restored and busy again since 2021, the older stories circulate mainly as part of downtown Laconia's lore.
Notable Entities
Attend a music, theater, comedy, or civic event inside the restored 1914 auditorium. The single-auditorium house was rebuilt during the 2016-2021 restoration that reversed an earlier multiplex conversion, returning the room to roughly its original scale.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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