Sandusky State Theater

The Sandusky State Theatre opened on October 12, 1928, as the Schine State Theatre, a grand movie palace built by William F. Seitz, a local tailor who dreamed of owning his own theater, and leased to New York theater magnate Junius Myer Schine. Designed by Dutch architect Peter Hulsken in a Beaux Arts and Classical Revival style, the 1,800-seat theater was an entertainment complex that also included a bar, barbershop, and thirteen bowling lanes. Its auditorium featured ornate plasterwork, hand-painted seasonal murals flanking the stage, a gilded ceiling dome, and a Page organ built in Lima, Ohio, which accompanied silent films and played during intermissions. Located at 107 Columbus Avenue in downtown Sandusky on the shores of Lake Erie, the theater was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 after a preservation effort launched in 1987 by local residents Marie Hildebrandt and Marlene Boas.

According to accounts compiled by the Ohio Exploration Society, the theater is home to at least four spirits. The most dramatic encounter involved a cleaning worker on the balcony who watched a glowing, light-blue figure wearing 1920s-era clothing walk slowly across the stage below. The apparition stopped mid-stage, turned, and looked directly up at the witness before vanishing completely. The description of the figure's period clothing suggests it may date to the theater's earliest years of operation.

In the projection booth, where the original 1928 projection equipment was still in use, a projectionist working alone reported hearing a disembodied voice whisper "Change the focus" repeatedly. When the projectionist investigated, the booth was empty. The whisper came again several more times before the projector abruptly stopped functioning on its own, as though someone had intervened with the equipment. The specificity of the command suggests whoever or whatever spoke the words had intimate familiarity with the theater's technical operations.

An employee mopping the floor after hours reported hearing footsteps approaching from across the room. Looking down, they observed wet impressions forming in the freshly mopped surface, as though invisible feet were walking across the damp floor toward them. The impressions appeared one after another in a steady walking pattern, though no figure was visible.

Beyond these specific encounters, staff have reported persistent cold spots in the backstage area that appear and disappear without explanation, and theater seats have been found with their cushions depressed as though someone had just stood up, even when no one had been sitting in that section. The sensation of being watched is commonly reported by those working alone in the building after hours.

On June 10, 2020, a severe windstorm with gusts exceeding 55 miles per hour tore the roof off the stage house, collapsed the auditorium ceiling, and destroyed much of the seating area and decorative finishes. The beloved 1928 Page organ and the theater's chandelier were salvaged, though the organ pipes and the original hand-painted murals were lost. A major community-led restoration effort, with work by EverGreene Architectural Arts and DLR Group, has been restoring the ornate plasterwork, gilding, and murals. The project has exceeded its original budget by approximately $7 million, with completion expected in early 2026. Whether the theater's resident spirits survived the catastrophic damage and reconstruction remains to be seen by those who work within its walls once it reopens.