HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
A 1966 performing arts theater built with a $3 million bequest from William Edrington Scott; the prop room called 'The Dungeon' is the site of a documented 1970 death that has defined the building's paranormal reputation.
1300 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Ticket prices vary by performance; typically $15–$50. The building closed to regular public programming in January 2025 pending redevelopment.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Single-story theater with accessible seating; Cultural District location
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1966 · William Edrington Scott Legacy · Fort Worth Cultural District Anchor Venue · 1970 Kenneth Walker Yandle Death · Fort Worth Community Arts Center Founding Venue
William Edrington Scott, a member of one of Fort Worth's founding families, died in 1961 and left $3 million in trust to the Scott Foundation with instructions that the funds develop Fort Worth's Cultural District. The resulting theater was designed by Joseph R. Pelich and Donald Oenslager and opened in 1966 as the centerpiece of the Fort Worth Community Arts Center at 1300 Gendy Street — a campus that had already been hosting arts programming since 1954.
The 468-seat theater served Fort Worth's performing arts community for six decades, hosting community theater, opera, touring productions, and the annual gatherings of local arts groups. Its interior featured a gold-domed ceiling and an Italian chandelier that became landmarks of the city's cultural life.
On January 7, 1970, Kenneth Walker Yandle, a 28-year-old actor and stagehand who had been working at the Fort Worth Community Theatre — one of the building's resident companies — was found dead in the prop room on the building's lower level. The area was known internally as The Dungeon. Yandle had died by suicide after a romantic relationship ended around the Christmas holidays. His death was reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The Fort Worth Community Arts Center closed to public programming in January 2025 after the city determined the building required approximately $30 million in structural repairs. As of 2026, Fort Worth city officials are in active negotiations with developers to redevelop the campus while preserving theater space, per commitments made by Mayor Mattie Parker.
Sources
The haunting narratives at the W.E. Scott Theatre concentrate on two distinct figures, each connected to a documented aspect of the building's history.
William Edrington Scott — the donor who never lived to see the theater that bears his name — is the more benign of the two. Theater workers have reported that his portrait in the lobby tilts due to street vibrations and then appears to correct itself, a phenomenon interpreted by some staff as Scott continuing to maintain the building he could not oversee in life. There are also accounts of a presence felt in the production offices.
The more widely reported presence is Kenneth Walker Yandle, who died by suicide in The Dungeon — the building's prop room — on January 7, 1970. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram covered the death at the time. Yandle had been employed as an actor and stagehand with the Fort Worth Community Theatre, a resident company at the Scott, and had become despondent following a breakup over the Christmas holidays. In the years since, theater workers and paranormal investigators have reported seeing a figure in a brown suit crossing the stage when no one is scheduled to be there, and hearing laughter coming from beneath the stage in the area near The Dungeon. One account, documented by Ghost City Tours, describes a stagehand's tools activating on their own and a terrifying visual encounter that caused the worker to lose consciousness.
Paranormal investigators have also reported capturing audio of a woman's voice and children's voices in the building; these cannot be connected to any known documented death at the site.
Notable Entities
The W.E. Scott Theatre building is visible from the street in Fort Worth's Cultural District. Public access to the interior is currently unavailable following the January 2025 closure of the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.
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