Location:

This Theater House is located in the Capitol Hill section, which can be found in the downtown area of Seattle.

Address: Harvard Exit Theater / 807 East Roy Street, Seattle, Washington 98122

Phone: 206 / 323-8986

History:

In the 1920's, Harvard Exit House became the home of the Women's Century Club for many years, whose focused members were dedicated to getting the right to vote and equality for women. From the early days of the Women's Century Club, some women members lived in the building, on the second floor and in the apartment on the third floor, through the 1970's. The Women's Century Club still meets in the building twice a week, though it is now known as a Theater House.

Harvard Exit Theater opened as a cinema in 1968, and was run by people described as "eccentric film buffs." Or perhaps a more blunt point of view would see them as a "wild bunch of hippie types," an opinion held by Allan Blangy, who was the Theater Manager at one point, but now is the district manager of the Landmark Theater chain. The Landmark Theater chain took over the operations in 1979, and put in another cinema on the third floor, during the early 1980's. Today, the Harvard Exit Theater specializes in art films; both foreign and American classic movies, and is the sight of film festivals, such as the Seattle International Film Festival.

Description:

Harvard Exit Theater is described as an unusual, luxurious home, more than it is a theater. This three story brick building was erected in the 1900's, on the site of another house that had once existed on this same spot.

The first floor main lobby is described as being grand and glorious, full of the 1920 ambiance, featuring a grand piano and a beautiful chandelier. Comfortable chairs, some with tables and lamps, are grouped around the huge fireplace, which is always traditionally lit for the patrons to watch and enjoy while waiting entrance to the theater on the first floor. The first floor theater is the main theater and has a balcony.

The second floor is used for administrative purposes, with offices and work areas provided for employees of the theater. A main hall on the second floor runs through the area, with various rooms off this hall.

The third floor holds the new theater, that was put in during the 1980's, when a second auditorium was added in an unused ballroom space on this third floor of the building. The lobby of this theater also has a fireplace, which is also lit for patrons to enjoy.

History of Manifestations:

Hauntings of this building seem to go back to its very beginning when it was first built. There are several facts about and incidents which happened in the Harvard Exit that can give explanations for the paranormal activities. Nearly every decade through the '80's contributed something to the paranormal activity experienced by the living.

Manifestations:

The spirits who still enjoy the ambiance and atmosphere of the Harvard Exit Theater have been the topic of many newspapers and TV shows, not to mention many psychics and paranormal psychologists who have investigated the building through their equipment, medium contacts and personal experiences. At least three or four female spirits, one or two male spirits and a "Thought Form" have been identified by witnesses and researchers.

Main Theater - First Floor

A) Around the turn of the century, a murder of a man, killed in a brawl, took place in the house that was torn down to make room for this Harvard Exit building.

a) Psychic investigators, Jane Riese and J.R. Benight, producers of TV Talk Show, "Seattle in Vogue," were watching a film in the main theater auditorium. Jane felt an invisible presence playfully toying with her hair over her neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a flicker of light down front of the auditorium just right of the screen, by the exit door. She then saw a translucent form of a portly gentleman in profile, with a distinguished demeanor, watching the film on screen, enjoying himself.

2) The same psychic investigators, Jane Riese and J.R. Benight through a channeling medium talked to another male spirit with a British-like accent, but no name was gotten. This suggests that perhaps Peter has a fellow male spirit to do some ghostly male bonding within the main theater, perhaps helping themselves to free showings when the place is empty of the living and doing their part of be "helpful."

a) On other occasions, one or both of these ghostly film enthusiasts have been known to reorganize the film canisters around this projection room, much to the annoyance of the living.

b) On several occasions during the years, Theater Managers have opened the building and found the movie projector showing a film to an unseen audience. In one instance, a projectionist arrived to start his shift and found that a movie had already been playing to an empty, dark house. He made haste to the projection room to catch the guilty party, but found that the door was locked from the inside!!!

I think that not only this spirit Peter and this unknown male spirit enjoy films, but also other unseen guests, perhaps the female apparition spotted in the balcony (mentioned below) also appreciate the cinematic arts.

B) In the 1940's, a woman was suffocated somewhere in the building. She could be the entity in the balcony mentioned in #3, and perhaps the same entity getting her kicks scaring the administration personnel on the 2nd floor.(See below - Second Floor Experiences)

a) A janitor who was vacuuming the rugs suddenly got the sense that she wasn't alone in the auditorium. After turning off the vacuum cleaner, she glanced up to the balcony and saw a figure wearing an old fashioned dress (perhaps Victorian), standing there, though she couldn't make out the face or hands. Another young woman at a different time saw this same apparition, in a more complete form also standing in the balcony.

C) For many years, The Harvard Exit building was the headquarters of the beloved The Women's Century Club, which many women called a home away from home..

Entities found in the First Floor Lobby - Two different female entities and their friends have been seen here, in person and in photos taken of a supposedly empty room. Theater Manager, Janet Wainwright, who was the Theater Manager for 10 years, in charge of opening up the theater, met these spirits and felt they were positive and helpful.

a) It is traditional to have a fire burning in the first floor fireplace for the enjoyment of the film patrons waiting to go into the auditorium for the evening's film presentation. This responsibility was the duty of the evening Theater Manager. This was the first job Janet W. did upon arriving. Every once and awhile, the fire was already burning brightly before Janet had arrived; a spirit had helped with the chores!! On these occasions, the chairs had been moved around the fire as if people had been chatting, enjoying the company. The chairs had always been moved back to their places before closing the Theater doors the night before.

5) Sometimes, Janet didn't have to enter the darkened lobby to light the fire, because she would see a tall female entity leave the lobby, switching on the lights as she left the room, on both the first floor and the third floor.

a) It is thought that this tall entity could be the spirit of Bertha K. Landis, a strong president of the Women's Century Club and the City Federation of Women's Clubs, who also was Seattle's first mayor. She seems to like to help out the Theater Managers, and keep an eye on the place, while hanging out in a place she loved.

Psychic Research - Through a channeling medium, Jane Riese and J.R. Benight were able to talk to a stern, older woman,(describes Bertha Landis) who wanted to know in no uncertain terms what the Janet and J.R. were up to in her place. After acknowledging that she and the other ghosts knew that they were dead, she had a hissy fit when it was suggested that she needed to move on because she no longer belonged there. "We like it here, this is our home. You wouldn't want to leave your home in the middle of the night and neither do we."

2nd Floor Experiences:

a) Although the hauntings mainly occur on the first and third floor, a female apparition, a sad, forlorn soul, has appeared several times to various people working in the administrative offices, scaring the socks off the living. When she isn't getting her kicks upsetting the living on the 2nd floor, an apparition of her description has been seen in the balcony of the first floor. (See above - First Floor Theater Hauntings)

b) On one occasion, a man working in second floor administration office suddenly heard a woman crying as if her heart was breaking. Going out in the hall, he saw a female in emotional distress. Thinking she was a real human being, he approaches her to offer comfort, but she vanishes into the air!

c) Several other women working in these offices throughout the years have also seen this full formed female apparition floating down the hall way, inspiring them to flee as fast as possible down to the main floor.

The Third Floor Hauntings:

The Spirit of Bertha Landis enjoys appearing briefly to the living in the third floor lobby as well as the first floor lobby it seems. She is the most common apparition spotted by the living, and doesn't plan to leave anytime soon, as discussed under the First Floor Lobby Section, found above.

7) The third floor is the favorite place where what they call a "Thought Form" is strongly felt and makes its home, with the purpose of watching out over the building. It is described by Jane Riese and J.R. Benight as a entity formed by mass energy, often from negative sources, which has no personality, just a collective will, that is often arrogant, dictatorial in nature.

D) Jane Riese and J.R. Benight contacted this Thought Form through a medium and came to the following conclusion. This Thought Form was molded over many years from several sources.

1) A group of strong, intense, passionate suffragettes called the Harvard Exit building their home base for many years.

2) In the late '60's / early 1970's, drug parties took place in the Harvard Exit building.

3) Two other activities really stirred up this entity; Seances & Spirit Communication Classes and the Renovation of the Third Floor.

a) On the third floor during the '70's decade, a woman would hold classes in contacting the spirits, and would lead seances.

b) When the theater changed hands, being bought by Landmark in 1979, a new auditorium was added to the third floor. Building renovation projects often stir up the unseen entities and forces to new levels of awareness to the living.

Experiences With this Thought Form -

a) Alan Blangy, a man not easily scared and a bit of a skeptic concerning ghosts, became the Theater Manager after Janet Wainwright's tenure, had an uneasy sense that something in the building was hostile to him. This something made itself known one evening when Blangy and his assistant manager were in the process of locking up the theater for the night. Suddenly he heard a loud bang, so he quickly went back inside. He heard people talking in the third floor lobby, so he went up to investigate. While no one was there, he did hear the side exit door open and close. He went over to be sure that the door had closed tightly; it hadn't. Someone or thing on the other side was pulling against him, stopping him from shutting the door.

He finally did so, but opened the door again with his assistant by his side, so he had support in confronting these "strange people." Both men opened the door 5 seconds later, but found that no one was there. The third floor metal fire escape would've made a lot of noise if anyone had gone down it. After this experience, Blangy no longer felt this hostility, but instead felt welcomed - He had passed the test!

One could conclude that while this Thought Form may be bossy and dictatorial in nature, it can change its opinion, which sounds like the main energy of this Thought Form may be controlled by the passionate suffragette energy mass, whose main purpose is to watch over the building.

b) A group of psychics and parapsychologists spent some time at night hanging out at the theater. Some put a magnet by the exit door mentioned above in the third floor auditorium. They witnessed over a period of weeks a large ball of energy which would appear and move across the auditorium and out the exit door, causing the magnet to revolve wildly.

Still Haunted?

Yes indeed.

Sharing the building with the living is agreeable to all the unseen spirits and forces residing there, and the living simply accept the manifestations as part of the Harvard Exit Theater.

Sources include: A Ghost Hunter's Guide, Arthur Myers, Contemporary Books, 1993.

The National Directory of Haunted Places, Dennis William Hauck, Penguin Books, 1996.

GHOST STORIES OF WASHINGTON, Babara Smith, Lone Pine Publishing, 2000.