Center for the Performing Arts

The Centre at Vancouver for the Performing Arts   

Formerly known as the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts, the 1,800 seat theatre at 777 Homer Street first opened in 1995, only to succumb to bankruptcy a few short years later. While it is a relatively new building, it is not without its share of haunting stories.

Security teams had been posted throughout the empty building 24 hours a day for close to two years, and it is during those lonely stays that several staff has reported paranormal activity.

One staff member told the BCGHRS that the elevators would open, close and move between floors with nobody in them. Two others reported repeated incidents where they heard the sounds of children playing in the basement hallways near the loading bays.

One guard said he’d seen some movement on his video monitors one night and went down to the basement hallways to investigate. Once there, he saw a red rubber ball bounce across his path and around a corner out of sight… seconds later he heard the footsteps of small children in hot pursuit, and he was bumped by at least two invisible entities as he ran back to the security office.

But the most disturbing incident is one which three guards will never, never forget. One night, one man caught a glimpse in his video monitor of what appeared to be a body plunging past the glass-walled entrance to the theatre and crashing into the sidewalks. Thinking somebody was hurt, he summoned his colleagues and they rushed to provide emergency aid, but upon their arrival they found nothing out of the ordinary.

After reviewing their surveillance tapes, it appeared that the cameras had indeed caught something resembling the horrifying scene claimed by the guard. As the body is about to hit the ground, it seems to vanish into thin air.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the guards claimed to have witnessed this phenomena at least eight times over the next two years, and the image was caught on tape each and every time. They refused a request to show the BCGHRS the tapes, stating only that they’d been put away for safekeeping.

– John McCormack