Morgantown's 1924 playhouse, on the National Register and a stop on the city's ghost tour
371 High Street, Morgantown, WV 26505
Research updated June 2026
Age
Varies by event
Cost
$$$
Ticket prices vary by event. The theatre has no in-house box office; tickets are sold online through each event's distributor. See the events page.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic single-floor auditorium with a balcony reached by stairs
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1924 · Classical Revival architecture by Charles W. Bates · National Register of Historic Places (1984) · Downtown Morgantown Historic District
The Metropolitan Theatre opened on July 24, 1924, two and a half years after construction began. Architect Charles W. Bates designed it in the Classical Revival style; the facade carries fluted Ionic pilasters with egg-and-dart detailing, and the building measures roughly 72 by 143 feet. Inside is a single-floor auditorium with a balcony, two ground-floor storefronts, and a basement.
The theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 12, 1984, and it falls within the Downtown Morgantown Historic District, listed in 1996. For a century it has been a fixture of High Street, and it continues to host live performances, with a present-day capacity of about 1,670.
The theatre's place on the Morgantown ghost tour is tied less to its own walls than to a real and somber chapter of the city's history. In 1970, two West Virginia University freshmen, Mared Malarik and Karen Ferrell, disappeared after a night out downtown while hitchhiking back toward their Evansdale dorms. Their bodies were found months later along an old mining road near Fairmont. A man was later convicted and served decades in prison, though the case has remained the subject of dispute, including questions about the reliability of the confession. The theatre is one of the downtown sites where guides recount this history.
Sources
On the Morgantown ghost tour, the Metropolitan Theatre serves as one of the downtown stops where guides tell the story of the city's darker history. The most prominent of those stories is the 1970 disappearance of two West Virginia University freshmen, Mared Malarik and Karen Ferrell, who vanished after a night out downtown and whose bodies were found months later near Fairmont.
The case is treated by the tour as Morgantown's defining true-crime story, and the theatre's location in the heart of the downtown the students were last seen in connects it to that narrative. The story is presented with the weight of an unresolved community tragedy rather than as a conventional ghost tale.
The victims were real people, and the account here follows the documented record: a confession and conviction that have since drawn scrutiny, and a case many in the area still consider unsettled. Out of respect, the focus stays on the historical facts rather than on any claim about the victims' spirits. Reports of activity inside the theatre itself are limited and anecdotal, and no documented investigation has established a verified cause.
Attend a performance at the Metropolitan Theatre, Morgantown's 1924 Classical Revival playhouse on the National Register of Historic Places. The 1,670-capacity venue presents live entertainment year-round and is a stop on the city's ghost tour. Tickets are sold online through each event's distributor on the theatre's events page.
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.
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.
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.