Scottish Paranormal Investigations

The Citizens Theatre opened as Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1878, changing its name to the Royal Princess’s Theatre two years later. The architect was Campbell Douglas and sculptor John Mossman provided parapet statues of Burns, Shakespeare and the muses. The Royal Princess’s Theatre was well known for its productions of plays, melodramas and pantomimes. The pantomimes often ran for up to twenty weeks and were distinguished by always having thirteen letters in the title.

In 1945 its name changed to the Citizens Theatre. One of the leading theatres in Britain, the Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre Company was formed in 1943 by a group of Glasgow Citizens including the playwright James Bridie, who became the first President, Dr Tom Honeyman, who became the first Chairman, and the writer Guy McCrone who was the first Managing Director. They first presented their repertoire in the Athenaeum Theatre but moved to the Royal Princess’s Theatre in the Gorbals in 1945.

In its early years the theatre tried to promote Scottish plays, many of them being by Bridie. Bridie had hopes of founding a Scottish National Theatre and gathered together a remarkable company of Scottish actors including Duncan McRae, Molly Urquhart, James Gibson and Stanley Baxter. One of the legendary productions from this period was the pantomime The Tintock Cup which ran for five months in the 1949-50 season.

By the 1960s the Citizens’ Theatre was one of Britain’s leading repertory theatres and under a succession of distinguished artistic directors, such as Callum Mill and Ian Cuthbertson, the company poured out an impressive range of work. From 1969, under the guiding hand of the triumvirate of Giles Havergal, Robert David MacDonald and Philip Prowse, the company has presented an international repertoire, winning world wide acclaim. A controversial production of Hamlet in August 1970 launched what has become known as the “Citz style”, a strongly visual and visceral form of theatre, particularly suited to the production of the classic plays of the European repertoire.

Next door to the Citizens’ was the Palace. Opened in 1904, the Palace enjoyed a brief reign as the south side’s premier music hall, with many of the leading artistes of the day such as Fred Barnes and Lottie Lennox appearing on stage. From 1914 it followed a familiar pattern for Glasgow theatres, becoming a part-time cinema, then a full-time cinema when variety ended in 1930, and a bingo hall from 1962. The Palace had an exotic, elephant-motif interior designed by Bertie Crewe, fragments of which can be seen in the foyer of the Citizens’. From 1965 to 1973, The Close Theatre Club, the experimental studio of the Citizens’ and the home of many controversial plays, was situated on the first floor of a building beside the Palace

Associated Paranormal Activity

• There have been numerous sightings of a Grey or Green Lady in the Upper Circle Auditorium.
• A dark hooded figure has been seen in the area around the Circle Studio
• Unexplained noises have been heard by staff in the Paint frame area, the source of which cannot be identified upon further investigation
• Figures have been seen in a top level corridor as well as a figure hanging from the rafters.
• A small boy carrying a lantern followed a member of staff down the main staircase after the overhead lights were switched off by mistake.

SPI’s Investigation Report- Main areas for Investigation

Main staircase to auditorium, Rehearsal studios, Paint frame area, Auditorium / Upper Circle

Baseline tests – The temperature throughout the theatre averaged between 23 – 24 deg C. Due to the extensive amount of electrical equipment in the theatre, it was difficult to take E.M.F readings without picking up interference. However, during our baseline tests in the Circle Rehearsal Room, unusual readings were picked up around an old armchair that had been placed in the room. At first, these were put down to an electrical socket behind the chair. When the chair was moved into the centre of the room, it was still giving off the same readings. We then moved the chair out of the room, and took some readings along the floor (in case of under floor wiring). The E.M.F meter picked up no readings. Meanwhile the chair was still giving high E.M.F readings. It was suggested that it may be metal springs causing a magnetic field inside the chair the only think that could explain it is someone dropping an electrical device down inside the chair.

The team then spilt and investigated the following areas thoroughly Upper Circle Auditorium, Studio & Circle Rehearsal rooms, Circle Studio, Paint Frame & Under stage area.

While the in the Upper Circle Auditorium 1 of the team felt a shudder go through the balcony and then felt the building shake and then felt something rush past them towards their left hand side as if it had come up from the stage, through the air to the balcony and brush against them, this left this team member quite startled by this experience. The other 2 team members in the auditorium also felt the building shudder and felt the rush through the auditorium.

Trigger Object – This was setup in the main staircase but there was no movement with this object

Conclusion

The investigation proved to be very interesting for all the investigators present. Five of the investigators present experienced some form of activity, which is an unusual occurrence. Indeed, the general conclusion within the team seems to be that the Citizens has been our most active location to date. We do feel that a further investigation should be carried out particularly with more investigators present to cover the areas that we did not manage to spend time in. We also feel that the rehearsal rooms and the Upper Level Auditorium warrant further investigation as well.