Mid-Ohio Valley Players Hauntings Drive Tourism

The Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre, established in 1915 in Marietta, Ohio (originally dubbed the “rose-colored theater” and formerly the Putnam Theatre), is known for longstanding tales of hauntings including Mr. Shay in a top hat, shadowy attic figures, a mischievous boy, “The Artist,” and a seamstress; some performers attribute sightings to costumes donated by deceased patrons. Those local stories are now being marketed as part of seasonal programming and tourism, with venues mixing comedy, magic and investigation. Scholars and parapsychologists — from UCLA’s Parapsychology Lab under Thelma Moss to archivists documenting ghost stories — and investigators such as NW Ghost Recon’s Roger Clooten engage with such claims, sometimes advocating scientific inquiry. Regional attractions and shows (for example Two Brothers One Mind’s Halloween program at Brumder Mansion and Astoria’s Underground Tour) foreground paranormal intrigue alongside local history. Across organized research, personal anecdote and commercial programming, reports show the supernatural continues to shape memory, identity and local economies.