- Joined
- May 15, 2019
- Messages
- 237
- Reaction score
- 239
- Points
- 43
- Location
- New Orleans
- Website
- 4girlsandaghost.wordpress.com
Full confession: I have not yet had an encounter here, but I do believe it is haunted because others have said it is. I wanted to write about this place, but I didn't know where else to put it. If it needs to be moved, by all means, do so.
I know of this theatre because I work there part-time as one of the house managers and have done since it reopened post-Katrina in September 2013.
A brief history of the theatre:
It opened in 1927 and was owned by the Saenger brothers - Julian and Abraham - who lived in Shreveport, Louisiana. In the early 1900s, they had initially owned a pharmacy in Shreveport (one of the first 24 hour stores!!), but soon ventured into the world of vaudeville theatres, buying first in Shreveport, then quickly expanding into Arkansas, Texas and Northeast Louisiana. At the height of their career as theatre owners, Julian and Abe owned a chain of 300+ theatres across the South and into Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Panama. Their headquarters were here in New Orleans before our actual theatre was built. When they finally built the Saenger New Orleans, it was their largest theatre, with a seating capacity at the time of 4000. Today it's a little more than half that capacity, around 2600. For the first year of its existence, the Saenger New Orleans was home to vaudeville, but quickly changed to movies as the "talkies" were the latest thing. It's said that Julian was the brains behind the business because he sold everything, lock stock and barrel, to the Paramount-Publix group just before the Stockmarket crashed. It was a movie theatre up until the 80s when it was a mix of movie and live action theatre. Today, after being cleaned up and restored after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it's now home to Broadway Across America shows as well as concerts and graduations.
I know one of the brothers haunts the theatre, because a few of my co-workers have had encounters with him. Only problem is no one knows which one it is. The closest I've come to any kind of experience was a few years ago with two patrons who were from out of town and had bought tickets to see a concert I think. They came into the seating area right after it opened so there wasn't anyone around. They started taking photos, as people do because the interior is so picturesque, and I offered to take their photos with the stage in the background. The man had already taken one of his wife and she of him, so I took one of them together. It was one of those small cameras that some people still use and I looked at the photo of them as soon as I'd taken it. There was a visible white haze all around the edges of the photograph. I apologized for messing up the photo, but the man then showed me the other photos. The one of him was clear as anything, but the one of just his wife had the same white haze around the edges.
I've also seen two other photos. One of the sole surviving original chandelier with a man's face among the glass and lights. And the other, before the Saenger reopened, one of the workers was in a pretty isolated area and felt a presence so he took a photo and captured a young girl standing by the ladies room door.
I know of this theatre because I work there part-time as one of the house managers and have done since it reopened post-Katrina in September 2013.
A brief history of the theatre:
It opened in 1927 and was owned by the Saenger brothers - Julian and Abraham - who lived in Shreveport, Louisiana. In the early 1900s, they had initially owned a pharmacy in Shreveport (one of the first 24 hour stores!!), but soon ventured into the world of vaudeville theatres, buying first in Shreveport, then quickly expanding into Arkansas, Texas and Northeast Louisiana. At the height of their career as theatre owners, Julian and Abe owned a chain of 300+ theatres across the South and into Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Panama. Their headquarters were here in New Orleans before our actual theatre was built. When they finally built the Saenger New Orleans, it was their largest theatre, with a seating capacity at the time of 4000. Today it's a little more than half that capacity, around 2600. For the first year of its existence, the Saenger New Orleans was home to vaudeville, but quickly changed to movies as the "talkies" were the latest thing. It's said that Julian was the brains behind the business because he sold everything, lock stock and barrel, to the Paramount-Publix group just before the Stockmarket crashed. It was a movie theatre up until the 80s when it was a mix of movie and live action theatre. Today, after being cleaned up and restored after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it's now home to Broadway Across America shows as well as concerts and graduations.
I know one of the brothers haunts the theatre, because a few of my co-workers have had encounters with him. Only problem is no one knows which one it is. The closest I've come to any kind of experience was a few years ago with two patrons who were from out of town and had bought tickets to see a concert I think. They came into the seating area right after it opened so there wasn't anyone around. They started taking photos, as people do because the interior is so picturesque, and I offered to take their photos with the stage in the background. The man had already taken one of his wife and she of him, so I took one of them together. It was one of those small cameras that some people still use and I looked at the photo of them as soon as I'd taken it. There was a visible white haze all around the edges of the photograph. I apologized for messing up the photo, but the man then showed me the other photos. The one of him was clear as anything, but the one of just his wife had the same white haze around the edges.
I've also seen two other photos. One of the sole surviving original chandelier with a man's face among the glass and lights. And the other, before the Saenger reopened, one of the workers was in a pretty isolated area and felt a presence so he took a photo and captured a young girl standing by the ladies room door.
