By Kalin Krohe
Panhandle Post
One of the most iconic buildings in the City of Alliance is the Alliance Theatre. The theatre has a vast history including being haunted by a spirit and actress named Mary.
The Alliance theater's beginning started in 1903 as the Charter Hotel. It then became a theatre for performing arts.
"It was the Imperial Theatre until about 1937 when it was remodeled into the Alliance Theatre," said Former Owner, Craig Bullard. "About 1995 we got a hold of the old JC Penny Building [Freeze Frame Video once was in that location] and converted some more theatres. There's two old buildings connected together now."
The Alliance Theatre is now owned and operated by Edison and Courtney Red Nest. They also run the Sandhills Drive-In
Bullard said when he first saw the theatre in 1990 he remembers seeing some of the silent movie theatre sets hanging from the stage area and the dressing rooms below the stage. In present day this would be behind theatre number one, which holds the most seats in the four theatre building.
According to various accounts of research on the internet there was an actress named Mary who had passed away from a piece of lighting equipment falling on her during a performance. She was performing as a bride in a play.
"In my research there's a folk tale of this Mary character. It resembles a phantom of the opera tale. It's been perpetuated over the years and in different theatres all over the country. It makes me wonder if it ever really happened." said Bullard.
Theatre employees over the years have heard interesting noises, footsteps, witnessed shadow figures, and hand clapping out of nowhere.
"Sounds that are unexplained that's for sure, but it is an old building," Bullard added. "I'm kind of always thinking there might be a very reasonable explanation for the sounds, but they are very impressive I will say that much. I've had people actually leave the theater they were so scared before. Banging of things or you think someone is in the theater, but you never find anybody."
Past employee, Carol Erickson Krohe, worked for the theatre for seven years. She was the night time custodian after the business closed. Most of the time she was the only person in the building. She had experiences as well.
"Some of the experiences I had was hearing a lot of different noises that weren't the normal sounds of the theatre. Thinking that it was probably Mary who had died during one of her performances. Supposedly she roams the theatre. That's been a legend for a long time. I think she felt sorry for me because I had to clean up such a mess."
Carol said she did a little experiment to the ghost of Mary one late night.
"I swept up a pile of popcorn and purposely put it under a chair that no one would sit on to see if it would be there the next night. Oddly enough it was gone. It was during a week when it wasn't busy. I assumed Mary had cleaned it up for me," said Carol.
Carol went on to say that she had to not think about things she heard or saw because it would be hard to do the job.
"Most of the time whatever I heard or thought looked different to me, I had to erase that from my mind immediately or there's no way I could have done that job. I couldn't dwell on it. I avoided the boiler room in the basement and going behind the stage because I would hear a lot of things there. If I would of really paid attention I probably would of had more questions to it, but I couldn't allow myself. My younger son in the summertime would come down and help me sometimes. He would hear various things. It's a scary place."
Carol added that many of the projectionists would see different things and hear unexplained noises.
"I have seen shadows by the men's bathroom upstairs," Owner Courtney Rednest said.
Whether the Alliance Theatre is haunted by the ghost of Mary or not, the theatre makes the bricks in downtown Alliance shine and is a unique downtown staple.
Originally published Oct. 24, 2019. Updated Oct. 19, 2022