This Abandoned Indiana Theatre Is Thought To Be One Of The Most Haunted Places On Earth
Gary, Indiana, is a city of ghosts. It’s home to more than 13,000 buildings, homes, and structures classified as abandoned, and despite the fact that there’s still a small population of Hoosiers living here, it’s fallen into disrepair and chaos rapidly over the past few decades. All over town, there are reminders of what Gary once was: a booming, successful little town. It had a bright future; and, in its heyday, had more than 100,000 residents. The good times didn’t last, however, and it wasn’t long before Gary had begun to decay. Crime and vandalism ran amok. By the 1990s, Gary was quite literally known as the “murder capital” of Indiana. There are many buildings here said to be home now to only ghosts, and this once-mighty theatre is one such place. Is this abandoned theatre in Indiana actually haunted, or is it simply the main character in a series of stories about one of Indiana’s most notorious towns?
Appropriately named The Palace Theatre, this cultural behemoth opened in 1925.
It was beautiful, and through the '20s and '30s it saw tremendous business. It was a favorite haunt (see what we did there?) for families, teenagers, and date nights, and for a while there it sure seemed like this amazing place would never die.
...but it did die, and when it died, it did so in spectacular fashion.
As unemployment in Gary steadily increased -- thanks to the all-but-death of its booming steel industry -- crime began increasing exponentially. Finally, in 1968, the darkest moment of the theatre's history occurred.
On April 14th, a 15-year-old moviegoer was stabbed to death in the lobby in front of more than 400 witnesses.
After that, the already-rapid descent downhill plummeted out of control. For a few more years, it held on, but it would never again reach its original glory.
When a young woman was attacked in the restroom of the Palace in 1972, it was the end of the theatre... for good.
There was a feeble attempt to resurrect it during the winter of 1975, but it was for naught. Over the years, there would be attempts to repurpose it for things like an academy of arts and sciences, but those projects, too, would go the way of the dodo.
Today, the Palace is a very popular destination for ghost hunters and urban explorers.
After all, what could be more haunted - and more fascinating - than a decaying once-great palace of a theatre that was the scene of at least one violent murder? Some explorers have mentioned hearing voices - always far off, deep in the theatre, and unreachable - and the weird sound of footsteps crunching toward them despite nobody else being around.
It's a tragic reminder of Gary's good days, and a disturbing place where a child met a brutal end in front of a crowd without being helped. We're not entirely sure that urban decay gets a lot darker than it already is, but the Palace is a reminder that even the most beautiful of buildings can harbor deep, dark secrets.
Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
