About This Location
A stunning 1928 vaudeville theater designed by Thomas Lamb, costing over $2 million to build. The 3,000-seat theater features elaborate rococo ornamentation and was once part of the Keith-Albee-Orpheum chain that later became RKO Pictures. Now a performing arts center.
The Ghost Story
The Keith-Albee Theatre in Huntington opened on May 7, 1928, as a palace of vaudeville excess designed by the legendary Scottish-born architect Thomas W. Lamb. Built at a cost exceeding two million dollars -- an extraordinary sum for a single theater in an Appalachian city -- the Keith-Albee was part of a national chain of theaters operated by the B.F. Keith and E.F. Albee vaudeville circuit. Today it is the only fully intact atmospheric theater designed by Lamb still standing in the United States, its ornate interior a frozen snapshot of pre-Depression American extravagance.
The theater's design was intended to transport audiences out of their daily lives and into a world of opulence. Lamb created an interior of baroque ornamentation, with elaborate plasterwork, gilded details, and atmospheric effects that made the ceiling appear to be an open sky. For decades, the Keith-Albee hosted vaudeville acts, motion pictures, concerts, and community events, becoming the cultural heart of Huntington. But the grandeur came with a cost that was measured in more than money.
Multiple deaths have occurred within the theater's walls over its nearly century of operation. Two electricians were electrocuted in the basement while working on the building's complex wiring system. A maintenance man died in the projection room under circumstances that were never fully clarified. A homeless man, seeking shelter in the cavern beneath the stage, froze to death during a bitter West Virginia winter. Each of these deaths occurred in the working spaces behind the glamour -- the basement, the projection booth, the sub-stage area -- the hidden infrastructure that audiences never see.
The paranormal activity reported at the Keith-Albee centers on a figure known as the Lady in Red. She has been seen in the auditorium and in the upper levels of the theater, a woman in a striking red dress who appears to be watching the stage as though waiting for a performance to begin. Her identity is unknown, and she does not correspond to any documented death at the theater. Some speculate she is connected to the vaudeville era, perhaps a performer or patron whose attachment to the theater transcended her lifetime.
Beyond the Lady in Red, staff and visitors have reported additional phenomena. A presence has been felt in the ladies' restroom -- a sensation of being watched or accompanied by someone who cannot be seen. Unexplained sounds echo through the basement and sub-stage areas, particularly in the sections where the electricians and the homeless man died. Cold spots appear without explanation in the auditorium, and equipment has been known to malfunction in ways that technicians cannot trace to any mechanical or electrical fault.
It should be noted that not everyone who has worked at the Keith-Albee shares the paranormal interpretation. A long-serving maintenance man has stated that he has spent countless hours alone in the building at all hours of the night without ever experiencing anything he would describe as supernatural. The theater's ghosts, like many theatrical spirits, may be selective in their audiences.
The Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and continues to operate as Huntington's premier performance venue. The building underwent extensive restoration that preserved Lamb's original atmospheric design while modernizing its technical capabilities. Visitors who come for concerts and shows experience one of the most beautiful theater interiors in America. Those who linger after the house lights come up, or who venture into the basement and backstage areas, may experience something more.