Overview
Built in 1928 as a vaudeville house and motion picture palace, the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Memphis is one of the last surviving atmospheric theaters in the American South. The theatre's resident ghost, Mary, is believed to be a young girl who died near the theater in an accident around 1921, and multiple employees have reported seeing her in a white dress in the balcony during evening performances. Mary's seat — C-5 in the mezzanine — is sometimes left empty during performances as an informal tribute.
Attributed paranormal accounts
These are reported experiences and local accounts, not independently verified events.
Staff and performers report seeing Mary — a young girl said to have died near the theatre in 1921—in the mezzanine, along with unexplained voices, footsteps and moving doors.
History & background
The Orpheum Theatre opened in 1928 on the site of an earlier theatre lost to fire in 1923. Local legend associates Mary with a girl reportedly killed by a streetcar near the site before the current building was constructed.