Written by Amberrose Hammond
This is one of my favorite hauntings in Grand Haven. There are not too many stories told about it, but I love it because it was the first haunted place in Grand Haven I had ever heard about when I was younger. I was in 9th grade when an article in The Grand Haven Tribune was printed about the ghost in the Grand Theatre. At the time of the story, the place was still up and running as a one screen cinema. Some of the kids in my class worked there after school and one girl in particular happened to be in my art class. She verified that the strange stuff mentioned in the article really did happen and she had witnessed things she couldn't explain while working. She told me that they would come in for work and find garbage all tied up and ready to go out, but no one had been there to clean.
The Grand Theatre opened its doors on Monday, January 23, 1928. It originally sat 833 people and cost $338,000 to build. Its original maintenance man, John Buchanan, continues his job at the theatre even in the afterlife. Born May 12, 1903 in Hastings, Nebraska, John moved to Grand Haven when he was a kid and later became the custodian of the Grand Theatre for 39 years until he retired. According to the above article, John "was on site the first day of the theatre's construction." He became a fixture in the theatre and people who remember the Grand in its earlier days, still remember John Buchanan. My own Grandma remembers him clearly and said he seemed a little slow and would talk to himself, but was always nice. John passed away in 1975.
Main entrance into the old Grand. This part is now a restaurant. Photo courtesy of Loutit District Library
Amongst the ghostly cleaning, other things would happen such as phantom footsteps heard, lights flickering on and off and the occasional glimpse of someone from the corner of the eye. It was even rumored that a grave was in the basement. There are tunnels under the old downtown buildings in Grand Haven and one person in the Tribune article told how he went beneath where the old concession stand used to be and found himself in a tunnel where a mound of sand, “looked like an Indian burial site.”
One woman, Sara, interviewed for Michigan’s Otherside, recalled working there during high school around 1991 to 1994. She worked behind the concession stand, took tickets and other odd jobs. She remembered always feeling like she was being watched and was constantly looking over her shoulder or turning her head because she would see something out of the corner of her eye. Often on her shifts, doors would slam shut and open again on the second floor. One time, a friend of hers was in the projector booth loading a movie when a white feather fell from the ceiling. It doesn’t sound like much, but the booth was tiny and cramped and she could not figure out where on earth the feather had come from. Could it have been a gift from John? Sara said everyone who worked at the Grand had some sort of experience, some more intense then others.
As of 2006, the only part of the original Grand Theatre standing is the front lobby, which is now a restaurant. Developers tore down the actual theatre for condos. It was a real shame to see the beautiful old theatre town down.
The late John Buchanan at the projector. Photo courtesy of Loutit District Library
So perhaps the new condo owners and diners will find themselves living or dining with a custodial ghost or maybe John decided to move on after his beloved theatre was torn down, but something tells me he’s still there. A Grand Haven Tribune article from 1968 stated, “the Grand is more than a building to him [John] – it’s alive with all kinds of memories – a changing world on film – a sea of friendly faces of patrons who call him by the first name.” Recent rumors tell of the bartenders in the restaurant experiencing some unordinary things. Perhaps John is trying his hand at bartending? Stay tuned…
Works Cited
Haake, Jill (1996), "Theatre Ghost Gives "Grand" Goose Bumps To Some", The Grand Haven Tribune, May 30, p. 1-3
Unknown author (1968), "The Theatre Is His Life", The Grand Haven Tribune, January 24