The Harvard Exit Theater

The Harvard Exit Theater in Seattle is one of Washington’s more publicized ‘haunted’ locations. In the past it has received media attention and been investigated by several paranormal groups, including AGHOST. During AGHOST's research of the building's history it came to light that some of the stories linked to the Harvard Exit have been portrayed and retold inaccurately. I thought it would be good to tell a few of the stories, as they were retold to us by former theater employees; as well as one that had not been told publicly before.

The Hanging Woman

One story that has been told and reenacted by the media is of a theater employee seeing the apparition of a hanged woman on the third floor. According to the previous theater manager who was on site during the event, this is not what really happened. While the manager was in the main lobby one evening he heard the upstairs office door open and close, followed by a loud scream and running. He leapt up and ran toward the stairs to find out what had happened and met one of the floor staff half way up. She was shaking and saying “I’m never going up there alone again” over and over. When she had calmed down she told the manager that she felt like someone was in the hall with her. She turned to see a ghostly woman in a flowing dress hovering about two yards behind her. She did not see a head on the woman’s body, but never reported that she saw a hanging woman.

The Lady in the Lobby

Another story that has been retold inaccurately and seems to have exaggerated claims of other sightings is that of a former theater manager. This is the story as she tells it.

One night around 5pm, while opening the theater as usual, she opened the doors to the lounge and noticed a fire burning in the fireplace. She was shocked because there was no one in the building, and all personnel had been instructed to never leave a fire lit without supervision. Then as she entered the lounge she noticed movement to the left of the fireplace. Her eyes were drawn to a woman seated in one of the high backed wooden chairs next to a table and lamp. The lamp was on and she saw that the woman was wearing a calf-length floral print dress and had her hair pulled up in an old-fashioned style that framed her face. The woman turned toward the theater manager, looked her straight in the eyes and faded away. This was the only time she saw the apparition, or a fire mysteriously lit in the lobby.

An untold story

A previous theater manager also relayed a story told to him by a long time projectionist of the Harvard Theater. This story had not previously been told to the public as the witness did not want to talk about his experience. The projectionist was sitting in the first floor projection booth showing a film. There was a stool that sat between the two projectors for when he had to make a change over between the machines. At this time he was off sitting in a more comfortable chair as the movie ran, when he noticed that the stool had begun to vibrate. As he continued to watch it seemed to be doing a little dance. It then stood on one leg and began to spin around; then it stopped and didn’t move again.