Katie FrancisFollow

Date Collected

Fall 11-28-2017

Place item was collected

Logan, Utah

Informant

Participants of a Facebook Post Initiated by Myself

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

The informants for this entry are comprised of my friends on Facebook who responded to a post I made regarding Everett, ghost of the Caine Lyric Theater in Logan, Utah. While the majority of these individuals are not currently living in Logan, they all at one point crossed paths with the Lyric for professional theater jobs and internships as designers, actors, apprentices, etc. So the characteristics of these individuals are quite varied, but they all have a common link through professional theater. There are several informants whose consent was not attainable given the circumstances, but whose comments still provide what I feel is valuable perspective to how this group of informants as a whole feel about the phenomenon of Everett the ghost. Further contact information can be found in the release forms for each of these named informants.

Context

I have worked seven seasons for the Lyric Repertory Company, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary this past summer of 2017. The building itself has been standing since 1912. Legend has it that back in the “old days,” when travelling Vaudeville troupes were popular, one particular company stopped in Logan to perform Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Caine Lyric Theater. The two actors playing the gravediggers in the play got into a fight. The one killed the other and buried him beneath the theater. And that’s how we got the ghost Everett. This post was made in the afternoon, approximately one month after Halloween. However, it is clear that this theater community still had eerie ghost stories on the mind. It was a surprisingly popular post. Because there were over 90 comments total, I I have omitted more than 30 comments which were simply exclamatory remarks rather than actual stories about Everett. The following text is a verbatim transcription of the Facebook post I made on November 28, 2017. I have attempted to recreate the formatting of Facebook by indicating at what time the comment was made, by how many people each comment was “liked”, etc. Underlined names indicate when someone used Facebook to “tag” someone else so they would receive a notification to view the comment. Any hashtags used (#) are also included, which is a word or phrase used to identify a specific topic or catchphrase.

Text

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Texture

Throughout the reactions to this post, I get a sense of great excitement amongst my theater friends to share their story with people who also have experience at the Lyric Theater. The majority of the people who responded believe that Everett is a benevolent spirit and is not malicious or harmful in anyway, but is rather there to tease the workers at the theater. That doesn’t keep people from being scared out of their wits. There seems to be an energy buzzing around this topic that people can’t get enough of. The possibility that there is a location that is haunted and of which hauntings we have verbal evidence is tantalizingly intriguing to these community members. The sharing of these stories also creates a great sense of community among these colleagues as they remember past experiences together. Some of these people who did not themselves comment but whose stories were mentioned (like Anthony Johnson and Matt Stowe) become almost legendary in a way, because they experienced something supernatural in such a real way that they become elite. But again, overall it is a delightful topic and these stories are told with much enthusiasm and positivity. When I asked for consent to share these stories, all of my friends were enthusiastic about being approached for further information from any researcher who might ask.

Course

ENGL 2210: Introduction to Folklore

Instructor

Dr. Lynn S. McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2017

Theme

G7: Revenants

EAD Number

2.1.10.1

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