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The Tampa
Theater - "The South's Most Beautiful Theater"
Location:
The Tampa Theater is located in Tampa,
along the western coast of Florida, at the junction of I-4 and I-75.
Address: 711 Franklin Street Tampa,
FL 33602.
Description:
This theater was restored and renovated
in the late 1970's, and is now run by the Arts Council of Tampa-Hillsborough
Counties. It is currently used for a spectrum of events, including various
theater, dance and musical productions. It was originally built in 1926,
and designed by movie palace architect, the great John Eberson, to be
a high class theater that had a unique set of embellishments and finery
to impress and wow the movie-going public, that even included air conditioning.
The design of this beautiful theater
is described as being "an eclectic blend of Italian Renaissance, Greek
Revival and "Florida Mediterranean styles." Gargoyles decorate the main
lobby, which has a terrazzo floor. The interior is decorated by statues,
terra-cottas, copper and brass jugs, detailed tapestries and banners,
reproductions of paintings hang on the walls, dozens of gilt-edged mirrors
highlight the decorations and atmosphere of the place. The large ceiling
of the auditorium is a mass of blue sky and hundreds of twinkling stars.
It originally had 10,000 light bulbs.
This large theater seats 1500 people,
has a balcony, a stage, an orchestra pit and has a "Mighty Wurlitzer"
organ. On the right organ grill, is a peacock figurine, which is John
Eberson's own trademark.
Manifestations:
Foster Fink Finley is thought to be
haunting this theater. He was the dedicated projectionist who worked and
practically lived there from 1930 through 1965, when he died of a heart
attack in the projection booth, during a movie showing. As with many ghosts,
he started to hang around the theater after it was renovated by the Arts
Commission.
1) Occurrences in and around the theater's
projection booth - The projection room, located at the very top of the
balcony is described as a dark and gloomy chamber, with just enough room
for the huge 35 mm motion picture theater projectors, a couple of chairs
and a workbench. A narrow passage way leads to the doors of this tiny
room. Another door in the projection room opens into the room where the
generator is kept. Projectionists can't see this door without turning
around.
* Fink's last projectionist partner that he
had before he died, had come to work and went into the booth. As he
started to close the door, something pulled back on the door, not
letting him close it. So, he let go of the door to see who wanted
to come in, thinking maybe his new partner had been following him.
No one was there.
* At the moment when the projectionists
must watch the film closely for cues that tell them when to switch film
projectors, they heard the door to the generator room open and close.
They never saw it actually opening, but they heard the loud generator
noise, which means the door was opened.
* The power switch was once shut
off, when no one was near it.
2) Other Incidents that have occurred:
* A long time employee has reported that if
you leave something in a specific place in the theater, it often is
moved to someplace else in the theater, without the help of the living.
His knife had mysteriously disappeared. After a few days of looking
everywhere, he decided to test the theory that if you ask a ghost
to return an item, they will. Standing in the balcony, and looking
down at the stage he asked that the knife be returned. When he turned
around, he suddenly saw it on the carpet floor, leaning up against
the wall near the projection booth.
* While mopping the floor in the
lobby, around midnight one evening, he was tapped on the shoulder about
5 times within 30 seconds. No one was there.
* There is a staircase that comes
down from the lobby and leads to the theater offices and bathrooms.
Cold spots on this staircase have often been felt by the living. While
coming out of the men's restroom, this employee walked through a cold
spot while going up the stairs, and felt a sense of fear, like he had
walked through some entity.
* After locking up the theater one
Sunday afternoon, he heard the sound of a chain being dragged across
the terrazzo lobby floor, near the locked doors, where he was fussing
around with his bike.
* One Sunday afternoon, the box
office manager, who was alone in the theater, was walking through the
auditorium, when a door located inside the theater in front of her opened
and shut like someone had just walked through it. She at first thought
that an outside door had been opened causing an air vacuum which would
have opened this inside door. However, all the other doors were chained
and locked as they usually were at that time on a Sunday afternoon.
Psychic Research:
During a 1984 seance that was held
in the main auditorium, a presence was strongly felt by all, and they
felt someone watching him. An apparition was briefly seen in the mirrors
in front of the auditorium. Faint music from a Bugs Bunny cartoon was
heard in the lobby.
Still Haunted?
Yes.
Photo from: tour.tbo.com
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