The Butterfly, Grey Lady and other Ghosts... - The Theatre Royal - Bath, Somerset
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The Theatre Royal, Bath, is said to be haunted by several ghosts including a Grey Lady.
Waymark Code: WMWKPN
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/16/2017
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"The Butterfly, The Grey Lady & other ghosts...
Of all the stories of ghostly happenings in the Theatre, the Butterfly phenomenon is the most authenticated and amazing.
Its weird happenings and prophecies have been witnessed by hundreds of people, including stars, audience and staff.
The butterfly made its debut in 1948. Part of the pantomime that year, Little Red Riding Hood, was a butterfly ballet with dancing girls dressed as butterflies and a glittering butterfly backdrop. During the rehearsal a dead butterfly was found on stage and shortly afterwards, while theatre manager and pantomime producer Reg Maddox was lighting the scene, he dropped dead of a heart attack. The scene was promptly withdrawn as an omen of bad luck. Just before the pantomime was due to open a live butterfly was seen fluttering around backstage. The butterfly ballet was restored to the show which went on to be a huge success. Ever since this time the butterfly has been the sign of a successful pantomime. Sightings have been extraordinary. The most memorable occurred on the opening night of Aladdin in 1979 when Leslie Crowther was playing Wishee-Washee.
“
I must say that nothing was further from my mind when I prepared in the wings to make my entrance in the Boxing Day matinee, but then a miracle happened. After Reg Maddox had allowed me sufficient time to establish rapport with the audience he fluttered down from the spotlight in the form of a tortoiseshell butterfly and alighted on my left shoulder! I gently scooped it/him up and then released it/him into the wings, meanwhile telling the audience that I would tell them at the end of the performance why I was looking so gob-smacked – which I did.
Dear old Reg – he stuck around for days and days. Sometimes we spotted him in the front of the house and sometimes back-stage, but I’ll never forget the first time he fluttered down from the spotlight. And yes! The pantomime was a big success.”
(extract from The Bonus of Laughter by Leslie Crowther & Jean Crowther)Since then, the butterfly scenery has hung constantly in the fly tower. During the 1981 renovation it was removed from the site by members of Bath Operatic & Dramatic Society in order not to tempt bad luck for theatre staff. It was reinstated before the 1982 re-opening and remains high in the flies to this day. While it was absent from the building in February 1981 members of the stage crew had begun to sort through a collection of theatrical debris in an old store cupboard when they came across a heavy wooden box. When the box was opened six tortoiseshell butterflies flew out and away. Inside the box was a photograph of Reg Maddox. In more recent years the butterfly fluttered in to greet Honor Blackman due was doing a press call in October 1985 and was photographed with the would-be Demon Queen. It was outside tapping on the window the day the Box office reached £100,000 another year. Few years pass without it being sited at some apposite moment.
THE GREY LADY
The Theatre Royal Bath is the most haunted theatre in Britain
The Theatre Royal’s most famous ghost, her appearance is usually accompanied by the strong scent of jasmine. She is dressed in 18th Century evening dress with feathers in her hair. She has no colour, her whole figure appears as grey. At times she appears solid although sometimes as a wispy, smokey figure.
There are differing accounts as to her origin. The most popular version is that she is the ghost of a lady who killed herself after her husband killed her lover in a duel. The second account is that she fell madly in love with an actor at the theatre and spent all her time watching him from the top box. As her love was unrequitted she committed suicide. The third version is the same as the second one except that the roles of the lady and the actor are reversed. Her suicide is agreed in all versions. She hung herself behind a door in the Garrick’s Head, the theatre’s own pub. The Grey Lady’s favourite haunt in the theatre is the top left hand box facing the stage, although she has also appeared in the opposite box. She has also been seen in the corridor of the Dress Circle. It would seem that she just does a re-run of the same actions. The only adverse effect that she has is that after a sighting of her, most people feel depressed, as if they have absorbed the misery that she must have experienced when she took her own life.
THE PHANTOM DOORMAN
He appears dressed in 18th Century clothes, and only cast members have ever seen him.
Nothing is known about him, other than the fact that he must have once worked as a doorman at the Theatre. He is just one of the many apparitions sighted over the years, including a vicious ‘Thing’ compiled of many screaming faces and various cold chills and whispering voices.
Most theatres pick up some form of psychic phenomena, perhaps due to the high emotions generated by the theatre’s everyday activities. The Theatre Royal has a long and rich history, and it is also situated in a unique position. The whole surrounding area is infested with poltergeists and ghosts. The Theatre is sandwiched between two houses, both of which were lived in by Beau Nash. The Garrick’s Head was his original house, ‘Strada’ restaurant next door is the building in which he died in 1761. Both buildings are haunted by mysterious figures and happenings – a blood stain appears on the floor of the Garrick’s Head every year in the same spot and ‘Strada’ has its ‘Vanishing Lady’."
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