Crump Theatre

A historic vaudeville and opera house in Columbus dating to 1874. The ornate theater has served as a performance venue for over 150 years and is one of the oldest surviving theaters in Indiana.

The Crump Theatre at 425 Third Street in Columbus, Indiana, is the oldest theater in the state, with roots dating to 1871 when Colonel John A. Keith, a Civil War veteran and prominent attorney, constructed Keith's Arcade on the site. Keith expanded the building with a theater addition in 1889, creating the performance space that would eventually bear the Crump name. Keith's life was marked by tragedy: his wife died shortly after giving birth to their only child, a daughter named May Dema, in 1861. Keith himself was committed to an asylum in 1888 due to mental illness worsened by alcoholism, losing the building to debt before his death.

The theater's most prominent ghost is the Lady in Black, an apparition seen on the eastern staircase in the main lobby. Workers have reported that she appears so solid and lifelike that they initially mistake her for a living person before she vanishes. Investigator Evel Ogilville has identified the Lady in Black as potentially being May Dema Keith Hill, Colonel Keith's daughter, who died under mysterious circumstances in New York City in 1896 at age thirty-five. May Dema was found dead in a hotel registered under the name Mrs. Everett of Boston, and the cause was recorded as a gunshot wound. The Keith family suspected foul play, noting that she had recently changed her will to benefit her husband, Edgar Hill. The similarity between artist renderings of the mysterious Mrs. Everett and witness descriptions of the Lady in Black has led investigators to believe May Dema's spirit returned to her father's theater.

Beyond the Lady in Black, the Crump Theatre hosts a range of paranormal phenomena. Disembodied voices and laughter have been heard throughout the building. Visitors report being touched or grabbed by unseen hands. Shadow figures have been spotted in the auditorium and backstage areas. A young boy's apparition has been seen, and a large man has been reported in the Ladies Lounge restroom. Historical records reveal that Golda Coombs died from gas fumes and drowning in her bathtub in 1920 while living in the Opera House Flats, the second-floor apartments above the theater, and her funeral was held at her residence above the M.E. Davis Piano Store in the same building, suggesting she may be among the spirits that linger in the upper floors.

The Columbus Capital Foundation reopened the Crump Theatre in 2019 under project manager Jess Schnepp, and the venue now offers paranormal investigations as fundraising events to support ongoing restoration of this historic landmark. To celebrate the theater's 135th anniversary, a paranormal conference was held on-site, drawing investigators from across the region to explore one of Indiana's most actively haunted performance spaces.