Restored 1930 Art Deco vaudeville and motion-picture palace, now Vermont's premier performing-arts center — and reportedly watched over by a tall, bearded figure backstage.
153 Main Street, Burlington, VT 05401
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by show; ranges $25–$95 typical. Box office sells discounted tickets for some performances.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Fully ADA-accessible main entrance, lobby, and orchestra seating; assistive listening devices available.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1930 · Art Deco Architecture · Vaudeville / Movie Palace Era · Nationally Recognized Preservation Project · Vermont's Premier Performing Arts Venue
John J. Flynn was a Burlington entrepreneur who assembled an investment group, Queen City Realty Company, to build a major new entertainment venue downtown in the late 1920s. Construction proceeded on the Main Street site, and the theater opened on November 26, 1930 as Vermont's newest and largest 'entertainment palace,' featuring both live vaudeville acts and motion pictures. The total cost was roughly $500,000.
The interior was designed in high Art Deco style — a then-current architectural fashion that the Flynn carried more completely than most surviving American theaters of its size. The venue operated successfully as a movie palace through midcentury but, like most single-screen theaters, lost ground in the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 1970s the building was in serious decline.
In 1980 a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Flynn Theatre for the Performing Arts, Ltd., was formed by members of the Lyric Theatre Company and community volunteers to save the building. The nonprofit acquired the property and began restoration work in 1981. The restored theater reopened progressively, and in September 2000 the full facility — including the restored main auditorium and a new black-box performance space called Flynn Space — opened to the public as a comprehensive performing-arts center.
The Flynn now anchors Burlington's cultural calendar with national touring artists in music, dance, theater, and comedy, plus extensive education programming. The Art Deco Societies of America has recognized the project as one of the 10 most important Art Deco restorations in the United States.
Sources
The Flynn's ghost story is documented in Thea Lewis's 2009 book 'Haunted Burlington: Spirits of Vermont's Queen City' (Arcadia Publishing / History Press), where the chapter 'Backstage Ghost' covers the theater's long-reported apparition. Lewis's ghost-walk writing and regional features such as Happy Vermont's 2018 list of haunted Burlington locations describe a tall, bearded man in older work clothes, glimpsed backstage and along the upper balcony catwalks, primarily by crew and volunteers performing technical work.
The distinctive framing — repeated across published accounts — is that the figure appears when volunteers are working on the catwalks installing lighting equipment, and is interpreted as a protective presence. Lewis records the theory that 'he doesn't want them to take a tumble and end up like him,' tying the apparition to local lore that a workman was killed during the original construction in the late 1920s.
No independent primary source — newspaper account or labor record — has been surfaced confirming a construction-era fatality at this specific site. The story should be understood as venue oral tradition layered onto consistent crew and volunteer reports, rather than as documented historical fact.
Notable Entities
Attend a music, dance, comedy, or theater performance in the restored 1930 Art Deco main auditorium. The building is considered one of the country's 10 most important Art Deco restoration projects by the Art Deco Societies of America.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Tucson, AZ
The Fox Tucson Theatre opened on April 11, 1930, as a combined vaudeville and movie house. After closing in 1974 and standing vacant for 25 years, the building was purchased in 1999 by the non-profit Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation for $250,000 and reopened in 2006 following a multi-year, multi-million-dollar restoration.
Ashland, KY
The Paramount Arts Center opened September 5, 1931 in Ashland, Kentucky as one of the first movie palaces purpose-built for sound film. Designed by Rapp and Rapp, the theater closed in 1971 and was rescued from demolition by the Greater Ashland Foundation, reopening as a performing-arts center in 1972.
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.