Capitol Theatre

        Just a little history of the Capital Theatre before I go into detail, for those of you who may not know it. The Capitol Theatre is an Italianate opera house-style auditorium built in 1922, located on Main St in Moncton. In 1926, just 4 years after it opened, the Capital Theatre suffered considerable damage from a fire that started at The Empress and spread into the backstage area of the Capital. It was able to re-open only seven short months later. Inside the lobby, there is a plaque honoring the only Moncton firefighter to lose his life in the line of duty. Alexander Lindsay lost his life while fighting the blaze between the two buildings. The Capitol closed down in the late 1980's, but re-opened in 1993 after a multi-million dollar investment by the city which restored it as close as possible to it's original beauty. It is the only theatre to date designated as a New Brunswick Historical Site....

         With that said, let me just say that when I walked into this building, I was speechless. I will admit I was a kid who didn't get out much, and have not seen a whole lot of things in my life thus far (which I am most certainly out to change.) We were let in through the back of the building, and as we walked through to the stage, it was what I would expect from a theatre. Just regular hallways and an office, etc. When we came out to the stage though was when my jaw dropped. The Capitol is a beautiful building! Just standing on the stage looking out into the seats, and looking up to the ceiling, I swear I could almost breathe in the history in this place. I literally stood there for the first 5 minutes just taking it in, looking around at everything in the room. Unfortunately my camera wasn't working so well, so I asked Charm to take some pictures of this room for me, just in case I never got to be in it again. (Which I will fortunately got to return on October 24^th for the Rebecca's Grave debut)

        Once we started the tour, I got to experience even more that I never had before. We went down into the changing rooms, into the basement, and even up onto the cat walk above the stage. Which wasn't so fun because to get down we had to go down two floors basically on this teeny metal ladder. (Not a huge fan of ladders.) We got to see some of the original brick before we went onto the catwalk, which was still charred from the fire that the Capitol experienced.

       When the tour was done, we ran into another employee who works there. He told us a story about how he had seen a person walking along the second story seats. He said the person just walked across the middle of the rows. He also told us a story about a cleaning lady who had an experience there, and how some force had “Warned” her of a gas leak, involving some lights on a phone lighting up while she was there alone. When she called 911 they arrived to find a gas leak in the basement, that could have potentially turned into yet another devastating fire in the Capital.

         Hearing these stories immediately made me more anxious to jump into investigating. But of course, we had to conduct our setup first. We started with our DVR system, placing cameras in areas we believed would help us catch evidence based on the stories we were told. We then did our baseline readings, to let us know if any readings we did get were unusual or if they were normal for that area.

Then it was lights out.

        Dave and myself started on the second story seats, where we had been told a man had been seen walking before. At first we had heard a few random sounds in the seats behind us, almost like someone shifting in a seat. Then at one point we heard a laugh. We knew there had been other people in the building in a meeting at one point, but they had left prior to this happening. When we presented this to the team during evidence review, it was up in the air with opinions on whether it came from outside or not. In my opinion, I know it came from behind us, not from the door adjacent to us. At one point we asked the spirit box “What is your name?” and at the same time we both looked at each other, and I said “Did that just say Alex?” and Daves reply was “That's what I heard.” Unfortunately, our audio recorder that was going at the time was too far away from the spirit box and did not pick this up. We had also heard a whistling sound about three times, All coming from near the stage area. When we asked Charm and Dwayne if they by some chance if they had been making some sort of whistling sound for any reason, they told us they hadn't been.

         We met up on the stage part way through the night for a break. When we did I happened to take a glance at the DVR screen, and noticed on one of the cameras that a door I had opened and put a door stop wedge under, was now closed. I immediately asked the other members of the team if they had closed this door for any reason. They all replied that they hadn't. So I went to check and once again kicked the door stop under. It did not happen again during the night. I went back afterwards and watched the footage, and the door happens to close behind us as we walk through it at one point. It was so silent none of us even notices even though it comes within inches of hitting the last person coming through. I'm pretty sure I pushed it under hard, but where we are walking through it very well could have been the vibrations from our feet that caused it to move. 

           Charm and Dwayne had an interesting experience under the stage where Alexander Lindsay had died in the fire. They were under there using the Ovulus, when it came through with the words “Bury” then “Burn” then “Under”. Coincidence? Maybe. But the Ovulus carries an entire dictionary of words, so the odds of it picking those specific words in that specific spot are pretty low coincidentally are pretty low. In my opinion. Charm also reports that after that incident that the area felt significantly colder. Dwayne, who is sensitive became overwhelmed with energy and needed to leave that area for a breather.

          Near the end of the night, we brought in our investigator Rebecca Belliveau, who is also a sensitive, to do a walk through. She is not a full medium, but she can pick up impressions from a place. Although our investigations are strictly scientific, we like to experiment sometimes with sensitives, and mediums, and pieces of equipment. The Ovulus being a good example. She reported starting to feel strange before she even arrived to the site. She said she felt like someone was around her. Once going through, she claimed to feel “a dark and remnant energy in the ladies’ washroom, as if a spirit was left there, or abandoned somehow.” And in the top seating area she felt “there that a spirit CHOSE to reside there.“

You can read her entire experience at the Capitol Theatre HERE

         Normally at the end of an investigation, I'm tired and can't wait to sleep. Not this time, this time I could have stayed all night in this magnificent building.  But unfortunately we were on a time limit, so we had to pack up and go. When we got back to our vehicles I noticed a parking ticket on my windshield(winter parking ban). The price I pay for this! Haha.
         

         If you would like to view photos from that night, you can find them on our flickr account HERE .
We also have a YouTube episode coming out for this investigation in the future, so stay tuned!