Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Search
76.7 F
Salt Lake City
Saturday, May 24, 2025
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contests
  • About The Globe
    • Staff
    • Jobs
    • Issue PDFs
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
The Globe The Globe
The Globe The Globe
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Home News Campus South City theatre a hotspot for ghostly shenanigans
  • News
  • Campus
  • Don't Miss

South City theatre a hotspot for ghostly shenanigans

By
Kachina Choate
-
October 31, 2012
0
The Grand Theatre stage
Unexplained events have been known to happen at the Grand Theatre. (Trisha Gold)

The “break a leg” phrase is widely known as a safe way to wish luck to an actor, and theatre professionals and patrons are commonly known as a superstitious lot.

It’s unsurprising that many theaters have a reputation for being haunted. The Grand Theatre at the SLCC South City Campus is no exception.

“It’s just a grand tradition that every theater has to have a good ghost.” said Grand Theatre community outreach coordinator Kate Rufendr.

Ghost sightings at the Grand began about five or six years ago. Most of the occurrences are reported to have happened in the theatre’s house. There have been no backstage sightings, but actors have reported odd things happing, such as a switch suddenly turning off.

“A theater is always full of fun impressions and fun mistakes because of shadows and lights,” said Rufendr. “Not the theater, ‘on stage’ mistakes, but people mistakenly perceiving that they see things that they don’t.”

South High opened in 1931, and the school’s auditorium was built to resemble a professional theater, complete with balcony. There was major controversy when the high school closed in 1988, and many alumni were heartbroken by the decision.

“There are some seats that people won’t sit in. When we asked them why, they have no answer for it. They just won’t sit there,” said Rufendr.

In 1992, SLCC finished converting the building into the college’s new South City Campus after years of renovation.

“There are always stories of the old students who have come back from the former South High,” Rufendr. “There is a boy and a couple of girls. Some people say that the girl has really light hair, and some people say she has blond hair so it might be the same girl.”

Although there are no theories as to the ghosts’ specific identities, they are believed to be students from South High’s later years.

“There are rumors in the house, like how some chairs would be down as if someone was seated in there but nobody ever really saw anything,” said Rufendr. “There are some seats that people won’t sit in. When we asked them why, they have no answer for it. They just won’t sit there.”

Theater productions create a lot of energy, and according to paranormal professionals there are many reasons why places have ghosts.

“Maybe [the ghost] had some special connection to [the Grand] that it was their happy moment, their happy place,” said Heather S. De’Moreau, lead investor of Paranormal Opps. “One of the main reasons ghost do haunt places is because they do have that special attachment to that location.”

For more information about the Grand Theatre, and maybe pick up tickets to judge the theatre’s paranormal energy for yourself, visit the-grand.org.

  • TAGS
  • Grand Theatre
  • Halloween
  • Hauntings
Kachina Choate

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Drag artists standing on stage

3rd annual SLCC Drag Show presented by the Thayne Center slays the stage

Grand Theatre - Jesus Christ Superstar - February 26 - March 22, 2025

‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ now playing at the Grand

Five dancers perform a routine on stage

Salt Lake Community College’s Dance Company turns movement into an artistic visual escape

Frances Haugen giving a presentation on stage

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen speaks at SLCC on social media regulation

Two people sitting in yellow chairs on theatre stage with projection screen displaying event information

Pulitzer-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses reframing the ‘refugee crisis’ during SLCC keynote

The Globe
ABOUT US
About The Globe
Staff
Jobs
Issue PDFs
FOLLOW US
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube
  • About The Globe
  • Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2025 The Globe