Exploring the history of hauntings at Birmingham's Alexandra Theatre
We're exploring the Alexandra Theatre, a venue rich in history and shrouded in mystery. Over the years, there have been reports of hauntings, from ghostly figures to unexplained noises. Let's take a look into the theatre's spooky past to uncover what might be lurking behind the curtains.
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00:00Over the years it's a very happy theatre. I do believe that it's it's been a very
00:05very happy theatre, but there have been a few, a few, shall we say, tragic moments
00:12that I think may have led to some of the supposed hauntings that take place.
00:18Opening in 1901 as the Lyceum Theatre, after low returns it was brought by
00:24Lester Collingwood the following year and renamed the Alexandra. After his
00:29untimely passing, among other tragedies surrounding the iconic theatre, the venue
00:34has been a hotbed of many ghostly apparitions.
00:37It's very often, it's the shivers down the spine, rather than actual visual sightings, but there's been a number of
00:46those. There used to be a bar in here, it's been a number of things over the
00:51years, there used to be a bar actually over there, just a little one. That bar
00:56has long gone, but not apparently the Grey Lady, who is sometimes seen around
01:01this area, who may have worked at that bar. There's also, I mean one of my
01:06colleagues used to work in here, he said that when he used to come down to work
01:12here, because you come down the stairs and it's sort of, you know, you're walking
01:16into a place that you actually can't see from the entrance, he said that he always
01:21actually shouted hello when he came down, so that anybody, any ghosts or anybody
01:26who were down here, they would know and maybe just sort of go.
01:33It's also a little bit like that up in Grand Circle. I work in Grand Circle
01:38quite a lot, I love it, but just occasionally you just think, I don't
01:44really want to come up there on my own, I'd rather there was somebody else there.
01:48And again, it's just sometimes that feeling there's somebody behind you and
01:53this is not always in the dark, obviously. When we have a show on, the auditorium is
01:59dark, so your eyes could play tricks with the light, but it's also in broad, broad
02:05daylight, broad light I should say, where you can think there's somebody behind
02:09you and you suddenly turn around and there just isn't anybody there.
02:13Despite these spine-tingling tales of paranormal activity, the theatre
02:18operates as a hub for creativity within the city, but for those with a
02:22predilection for spectres, the site will always hold a special significance.
02:28So, if you're interested in the paranormal, we have had quite a few people
02:34who are interested in ghosts and the paranormal and they have, we have in the
02:40past had ghost tours, we've had paranormal lock-ins. If you are tuned in
02:45to such things, you can feel them. It's a place full of sounds and sensations and
02:55maybe sights if you're really, really lucky.