You guys in the mood for some history and an itty bitty ghost story?! Good, cool, let’s go.
Chillicothe, Ohio was Ohio’s first capital city, so it has a ton of old buildings and history. They recently started hosting a ghost hunt every year to raise money for their Halloween festival, which is so badass that I have no problem giving them my money. The first stop on our tour was this building.
The Majestic Theatre. It’s a very popular spot in Chillicothe. It started off as Masonic Hall in 1853.
They held dances and shows there until 1904 when it was purchased from the Masons and turned into a temple. Let me tell you, this place is super creepy.
They haven’t done ANYTHING with these rooms, and honestly I’m so glad. I got to walk into these rooms! I got to experience them aged, but they are still cool (and, of course, creepy) as fuck!
That was a very brief history but it’s time for a ghost story. We go on a tour of the lobby and they take us upstairs and show us the rooms like you see above and then they take us into the actual theatre. Not only do they take us into the theatre, but they take us under the stage to see the dressing rooms the actors use. Below is a picture of the theatre and the arrow is pointing to where we entered to go to the dressing rooms.
Guys, at this point in the tour I’m feeling good. I’m feeling happy. Then our tour guide tells us a lil story. With all of the COVID-19 stuff going on, I’ve been thinking about this story a lot. It disturbed me then and it disturbs me even more now that I am living through a pandemic.
Chillicothe was home to Camp Sherman where they trained army recruits during World War I. Unfortunately, the Spanish Flu ravaged the camp, so much so they were having trouble keeping up with the bodies. So, they decided to use The Majestic as a makeshift morgue!
Um, excuse me what? I thought I was on a cute and happy “ghost tour.” What is this shit?!
We tourists and the tour guides are now standing in these dressing rooms and exploring all of them when the tour guides happen to mention that these very dressing rooms had the dead stacked in them, floor to ceiling. Floor. To. Ceiling.
At this point I realize I’m standing in a narrow hallway with a bunch of people so I start to feel a little claustrophobic and hot. I have an urge to get the hell out of there and never come back.
Then, the tour guide says that sometimes the people were stacked in there when they weren’t quite dead yet so they were crushed by the weight of their friends.
I officially could not breathe.
The stage was used as the embalming area. During embalming, the blood is drained from the body and replaced with embalming fluid. This presented a problem for the doctors. What do they do with the blood that they drained?
Here. In the alley. This alley is still known as Blood Alley.
I was not prepared for this at all. This is some dark, heavy shit! I started to become very aware of the people surrounding me, how hot I was, how I was having trouble breathing when all of a sudden I’m hit with a burst of cold air. So cold my hair stands on end, but I’m thankful for the relief.
At that precise moment, the tour guide tells us that there is no air conditioning in the building and that there are no doors to create drafts, but people report feeling cold air or drafts. I lean over to my girlfriend and whisper, “Do you feel that? The cold air?” She tells me no.
I would never admit that I believe in ghosts, but I certainly don’t want to fuck with them if they do exist. I guess that thinking automatically puts ghosts in the realm of possibility for me. Okay. You got me. Now, if anyone asks if I want to go into The Majestic, all I have to say is
Regardless of whether or not you personally believe in ghosts, I think it’s fair to say that places can carry weight. Imagine how much emotion was experienced there! People likely felt intense joy, elation, sadness, grief. That has to leave some kind of mark, yeah? Being in that space where so many different things have occurred and knowing those things occurred allows you to feel that weight. I sure as fuck did, and I still do. Is that what it’s like to be haunted?