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At The Local Cinema

 

My sensitivity to the spiritual realm began as early as nine years old, so I could sit and tell story after story.

One of the places that I experienced quite a bit of activity was at the local cinema, which I cleaned on the graveyard shift in my late twenties. The woman who hired me on was an old school friend, and she so-called warned me of the place, as it is haunted. She told me a story of how one young girl had ran out of the building in fear one night and never returned to get her paycheck (s). The woman was unable to tell me what had scared the girl - Surely it wasn't an incident such as one of mine that I'm going to share with you.

The local cinema is fairly old, as its been there as far back as I can remember, but I do not have knowledge of what the building/location was prior to such. There are eight decent sized showrooms within the cinema, two restrooms, the concession stand, and let's not forget the upstairs where all of the films were kept and played on the projectors. I won't refrain myself from telling you that I don't get the creeps in too many places, but that upstairs was a bit too iffy for me. I could have went up there any time that I wanted to scope out the no longer used advertising posters, but I was good on that note.

Although I was a self-employed cleaner, I still had to be shown this and that before being turned loose, so prior to my first nightly shift I had went in early one morning so that the woman could give me the run down prior to opening for the matinee. With this woman being familiar with me, she felt comfortable and safe in asking me if I'd complete a task as she ran out for coffee. That was not a problem for me, as I was alright with getting a feel for the place prior to my first shift later that night.

Even with her "warning" it came as a huge surprise when I was coming out from the ladies room to see an apparition of a tall, thin man walking past the opened entrance of the restroom. I instantly told the woman of the occurrence, and she somewhat just laughed. She had never experienced anything during the several years that she had worked there, but she knew that many had.

That first glimpse of the tall, thin man wasn't enough for me to pitch in my broom, so later that night I began my weekend cleanings on the graveyard shift at my local cinema. Several experiences in the following months are as follows:

1) Out of eight showrooms, there were four that gave me the feeling of needing to hurry and be done in those particular rooms - Only in one of those four did I once more see the tall, thin man's apparition. He was sitting in one of the seats leaned back with his legs crossed - Almost as if he were in a "kicked-back" state after a long day of work enjoying the calm and clean area.

2) One of the main showrooms (outside the above four) is where the most activity occurred. Not only did this one room have the most activity with apparitions, it also produced the smell of a cigar burning. The smell was so strong that it was almost as though I was sitting right next to an older, older man at a bar or gambling hall. The smell could not be blown off due to some justification, as it was mostly just me in the building and I do not smoke cigars, nor is anyone allowed to smoke in there for the matter, so how it smelled like that is beyond the unknown.

The sightings that I saw in this room were not human apparitions, yet they were white in color representing an owl, or they were like black fog that hoovered over the exit from that room. To this day, that showroom is the only place that I've ever smelled a smell that was distinct enough for me to know that it was truly not there, hence the no justification of such previously stated, and it is the only place that I've seen a white "owl" soaring above me. The fact that both black and white were in the same room once is still baffling to me. Although baffling, these experiences still didn't run me out of there.

3) The ladies room, as mentioned before, must have been a prime spot for activity, as was the one main showroom. For one evening, with a helper in hand, I was finishing up the restroom floors as I had her begin the blowing of trash from the top of the seating down to the lower level in the show rooms, and plain as day I heard my name being called. I responded with, "yeah", but my helper did not respond, so I went out to the lobby to see what she wanted. I had to go look for her - I found her at the other end of the cinema and she was blowing trash down, so needless to say, it wasn't her - I wonder who it was!

4) The last experience that I'll share from the local cinema is seeing an apparition of a young, skull-faced girl (maybe 8) with brown hair, and dressed in a light colored dress. I had to look twice, and she was there both times, but then she was gone in the next blinking of my eyes. I would have gladly given her some candy, I mean, we were at the cinema.

As you can see, the local cinema was a rather "busy" place. All I could think was that maybe all of the energy from the movies and people had a play in it being the way that it was. I am no longer in contact with the woman, hence after a six month contract, it was time for me to move on, and that is when the real fun began...

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, MichelleBrandy, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

lexi-loo (1 stories) (175 posts)
+1
9 years ago (2015-08-23)
the last time I went to the cinema was to see the remake of poltergiest and if I had any of your experiences I would shi. T bricks a big thumbs up to you for even sticking to the job
Mimi81 (203 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-08-23)
Michelle, thank you for the extra details. It definitely seems you were working in a paranormal hot spot

I hope you'll be sharing your other experiences.
MichelleBrandy (1 stories) (2 posts)
+3
9 years ago (2015-08-23)
Hello, everyone, thank you for the comments/feedback.
I myself never thought of the black fog and owl being from a magic show, but now that that idea has been introduced to me it makes sense. I could do some research to find out what the place/location used to be prior to it being a cinema. I am not sure how long the cinema has been in business. I never opened the emergency exit door 'cause for one, I didn't want the alarm to go off, and too, I never got that scared to where I felt the need to steer anything out of there. I never thought about smelling the wood, as the smell of a cigar burning was mysterious regardless of where it was coming from, hence there was no smoking permitted in the cinema. The tall, thin man did seem to be a residual to me also, so maybe the smell was attached to him. Maybe he was the custodian there for many years, years ago. I'm not sure if the little girl with the skull face was meant to scare me or not, hence I didn't get scared. I was more in disbelief, as I had to check my vision several times. I was surprised that she was there for as long as she was, for most often sightings are usually gone in the blink of an eye. The cinema was a very active place to say the least, and it was there that made me realize that I was a bit sensitive to what most are blind to, which makes me appreciate my ability all the more.
valkricry (48 stories) (3257 posts) mod
+3
9 years ago (2015-08-22)
Michelle,
I can't help but wonder if that cinema was old enough to have once had the 'pre-show' vaudeville acts they use to have back in the '20s. They served as entertainment for the audience before the main event, during intermissions, or while reels were changed (or being fixed). Magicians were very popular in that capacity. That might explain some of the odder things you saw - the owl, the black smoke.
Goggzy did offer a sensible idea when it came to the cigar smell. Any kind of decent investigator (paranormal or not) will tell you to bring all your senses into play when it comes into solving things as deemed appropriate. But alas, since you no longer work there it seems a moot point.
At any rate, I did enjoy reading this.
Mimi81 (203 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-08-22)
The thin man sounds like a residual haunting. I do wonder if the cigar odor you smelled was also a residual.

The other things seem to indicate an intelligent haunting, probably meant to scare you. The little girl with the skull face was not meant as a friendly gesture.

Did you ever open the emergency exit doors to let the sunshine in? I've always believed real light makes it harder for entities to pull their shenanigans.
msforgetmenott (17 stories) (316 posts)
+4
9 years ago (2015-08-22)
MichelleBrandy, You are like so many on this sight, born with special ability to see and hear what others can not. You also wrote of your events, while doing this job, in a well written clear way. Please do tell us more! You seem so secure in your experiences and I admire that.
Jan

ZZgranny, Went right over his head! Waving in the wind! 😜 😁

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zzsgranny (18 stories) (3329 posts) mod
+10
9 years ago (2015-08-22)
Oh Donald, you silly goose. There's nothing wrong with smelling things to find out if that's where the smell comes from. Methinks perhaps you need to readjust your toupee.
lexi-loo (1 stories) (175 posts)
+2
9 years ago (2015-08-22)
i love things paranormal and love horror movies and stuff like that but always seem to spook myself on purpose... In the dark I always find myself walking slightly side ways so I don't have my back to anything... If I worked in a place like that on my own id probably run everywhere and be finished in about 10 minutes I could imagine how spooky a theatre would be when its empty and no films showing like I said I do tend to spook myself but I love it lol
Goggzy (guest)
+4
9 years ago (2015-08-22)
Donald

Did I say actually go up and smell that would be pointless in this experiment as she wasn't right up at the wood sniffing, she would need to scratch the wood walk away and see if she can smell the smell, this is due to smoke/perfume etc. Getting ingrained in wood/fabric etc.

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Goggzy (guest)
 
9 years ago (2015-08-22)
The man seems residual same as the smell of cigar smoke, if you were still working here I would ask you to scratch any wood and smell if it is coming from this, or even smell the cushions as smoke from cigars etc. Ingrains on fabrics and wood this is why roofs and wood in houses with smokers living in them go yellow. The little girl and the other things you have seen are harder to explain as I personally have only ever witnessed dogs and a cat. The black fog could've been the residual smoke or a spirit trying to manifest itself.

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