Stories of ghosts haunting Waukegan’s Genesee Theatre have persisted for decades, so Jan Schnettler of Winthrop Harber decided to find out for herself if they are true. She came with a group of friends to hear the stories and make up her mind.
“I’ve heard there is a history of paranormal experiences, and I want to find out about them,” she said.
Schnettler was one of 18 people to take the annual Ghost Wauk Tour on Thursday at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, where stories of unexplained events at the theater, dating back nearly a century, were shared with the group.
Tyler Janes, the theater’s special events manager, who led the tour, shared stories related to the spirit of a woman named Jeannie, showed videos of paranormal teams that came to the building to communicate with spirits, and recounted the documented story of onetime employee Frank Billick.
Janes said Billick was the assistant house manager in the 1950s who lived in Beach Park. He closed the building one night, locked the doors and drove home. When he got there, there was a surprise.
“He got a call from the (Waukegan Police Department) telling him to get back to the theater because the lights were on and there were people inside,” Janes said. “He got there, the door was still locked, but when he went in the lights were on. He locked up again and went home
“When he got home, the police called again,” Janes said. “It was the same thing. They told him the lights were on. He went back. The door was still locked. He went in, and the lights were on.”
Janes said the same thing happened a number of times, and there were occasions when the police walked into the building with him. No one ever learned why the lights were back on.
Opened as a movie theater on Christmas Day in 1927, Janes said the building also contained six storefronts with businesses fronting on Genesee Street, and apartments on the upper floors. A lot of the history is unknown.
“People lived there, and people passed away there,” James said of the apartments.
Closed in 1989 as multiplex movie theaters began to open, Janes said the city purchased the building, thoroughly renovated it and reopened it as a primarily live-performance venue in 2004.
One of the apartment dwellers in the early days was likely a girl or woman known as Jeanie. Janes said she is given credit for reappearing as a spirit more than once. What is now the women’s bathroom on the first floor was a storefront. Jeanie may have appeared there, he said.
“There have been stories,” Janes said. “A woman said she felt someone touching her shoulder, but no one was there. Someone else felt a breath. It may have been Jeanie.”
In more recent times, a cleaning crew of two women and two men reported unusual experiences. Janes said the women were cleaning the fourth-floor bathroom and heard voices. Concerned, they waited for the men to finish their chores.
“They asked if the men heard any voices,” he said. “‘We didn’t hear a thing,’ they said.”
John Mitchell was the theater manager from 1927 to 1955. He was rumored to have shot a man trying to rob him in his office. Another man named John was the finance manager. He was an avid pipe smoker. He, too, is rumored to still be around as a spirit.
“He had a collection of pipes and was always smoking them,” Janes said. “There were times people smelled pipe tobacco in the building. Smoking is not allowed, but they still smelled it. Was it John?”
Four different paranormal teams have spent nights in the building trying to communicate with spirits. Janes said some have been there more than once. They have shared their reports, including videos. Snippets of their videos were shown on the tour.
“We hear you. Please talk to us,” a voice is heard in the video. “Do you hear us? Tell us who you are.”
Janes said the recording equipment the paranormal teams use can pick up sounds at various frequencies. Some may not be audible to humans, just as dogs can hear noises that people cannot. This is why the spirits’ voices were not audible even though their presence was sensed, he said.
One proven ghost at the theater is the ghost light at the front of the stage. It has the image of a white ghost on it, among other illuminations. James said the purpose is to keep people from falling off the stage.
On two occasions, Janes said members of a performing troupe were doing soundchecks in the auditorium. When they do such checks, the theater is empty except for the performers making sure everything is working properly. One day, he spoke to a group about their soundcheck.
“They said someone was in the balcony wearing a top hat,” he said. “I assured them no one was there. John Mitchell wore a top hat. Maybe he was there listening.”
When the tour was over, Schnettler did not say whether she believed the stories or not, but she knew what she wanted to say more than once during the evening.
“I wanted to holler, ‘Show yourselves,’” she said.