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Bob Mavity: 32 Years with the Ghosts of the Grand · Echoes of the South

• 1:27
  Welcome to Echoes of the South. I'm Carrie Genzel. There are people who work in historic buildings. Then there are people who become part of their history. For 32 years, Bob Mavity was a fixture at The Piedmont Grand Opera House here in Macon, Georgia. As the theater's technical director, Bob knew this building from top to bottom. The stage, the balconies, the rafters, and all the places most of us never get to see. He was also there during the quiet hours, late at night, after the audiences had gone home. the performers had left, and Bob often found himself alone in the theater. Except, according to Bob, he wasn't always alone. Over those 32 years, he witnessed things he couldn't explain. Lights that seemed to have a mind of their own, figures moving through an empty theater, music playing when no one was there, And encounters he came to associate with the Grand's most famous spirit, a man named Randell. But Bob's stories aren't only about the paranormal, they're also about the hidden history inside this building, the performers who have crossed its stage, and the generations of people who have made the Grand part of their own story. Today Bob takes me through the theater he knows so well and shares of the stories he's collected along the way. Let's begin.
• 3:26
  Bob, this is such a treat to come and sit with you at the Piedmont Grand Opera House. Your your home away from home for many years.
• 3:35
  quite, quite. Might as well be my home up until just recently.
• 3:40
  Absolutely. You recently retired, but how many years were you here?
• 3:44
  I was here for thirty two years. Wow. Thirty two years.
• 3:47
  I think when I think about the grand and I think when many people think about the grand they think about you and
• 3:53
  That's very kind. sometimes it's hard not to because I was a fixture here. as the people from Mercer who took over the theater while I was already working here like to say. They like to say I came with the building and that was kind of their running joke for the longest time.
• 4:11
  Well, I know that you have a lot of stories in this building and there's probably no one else that has spent more time in this empty theater than you have.
• 4:23
  I would agree with that. I would agree with that wholeheartedly, yes. Spent many, many, many nights here by myself and days here by myself.
• 4:32
  Well, we were talking a little earlier just about history and how this theater was so much a part of people's memories and and this community and you were sharing a really, I thought, very sweet story about your wife.
• 4:45
  Well, yes. you know, my wife actually danced on this stage when she was four years old. Wow. the picture is we have the picture up at the house and I see it on a regular basis. and then, you know, as time would carry on our our connection grew even more. we got married on this stage. Couldn't think of a better place. I I often would joke with people and say, you know, I don't recommend getting married where you work. But when you work some place like this, it's okay.
• 5:18
  That's right.
• 5:19
  and then my son actually got married on the stage a number of years later. That's how long I've been here. And you know, my my nieces performed on the stage. It's been a big part of my family for for a long time.
• 5:32
  Absolutely. And for those people that are not familiar with what you did here at the Grand, maybe fill fill us all in on on what you were were doing in here all those years.
• 5:41
  Well, I was I was a little bit of everything for a long time, but for the longest time I was the technical director in the for the theater, which means I was the person in charge of sound, lights, stage, crew, drops, everything that was involved with all the shows. I would help put those things together before they came through and then run the shows when they came in.
• 6:01
  Right. And I mean that doing that job, you were all over this theater. Yes, ma'am. From Yes ma'am.
• 6:08
  Top to bottom. That's right. Every every nook and cranny, I would say. Yes. Absolutely.
• 6:13
  Which reminds me a little bit of a story that you had shared with me about someone working up at the spotlight, which is Yeah.
• 6:23
  Up there.
• 6:25
  What what happened to someone up there? Or there's a few stories.
• 6:29
  There's a there's a there's a few stories. you know one of our most prominent spirits in in the theater is Randell, Randy. and what I noticed over the years and in time you you you kind of notice trends of certain things is that Randy seemed to really like the ladies. And so For years I had nothing but male spot ops up there for a long time, but you know, when the right people came through the door and the people that were were qualified, I didn't matter to me, male, female, otherwise. And so I had a couple of female spot ops that would run up there a lot and many times when there was a female spot operator up there, they would be sitting up there and all of a sudden on the he headset I'd hear And you're like, Who what's going on? somebody blowing on my neck and there's nobody there. it ha it happened quite a bit.
• 7:31
  Well, let me just say so we had the privilege because they do not let people come in and investigate The Piedmont Grand Opera House. We had the privilege, for Macon Beyond to investigate in the spring. And Morrighan Lynne who's our spiritual medium and I were up up in the peanut gallery and she know knew nothing about The Grand She had never even been in The Grand prior to that investigation. Which seemed kind of crazy to me. But You know, she keeps a low profile, because she knows that we investigate and she doesn't wanna have any, you know, any knowledge about about locations in town. We were up there and she looked at this where the spotlight is and there's a chair, right? And she said there's someone sitting there. And I said, male, female, and she said a male. She said somebody who is very much loves their job, somebody who really loves to be here and loves their job. And we didn't have a lot of time for her to try to communicate with that individual, but she definitely identified that spot. So whether that was Randy or someone else that may have worked here that loved being up there and loved that job, it that definitely she identified male. So
• 8:49
  Makes sense.
• 8:52
  with the stories. I love it. What are some other memorable encounters that that you've had being here?
• 9:03
  Well, as somebody who spent as many hours as I did here, I I had different oc occurrences at different times of of different calibers. one of my earliest events that I had that happened here happened during a time when we were preparing for a show that was coming in and we were hanging a light plot for it. And when you're doing that, you're you have you have the stage battons, they come they're they're down on the deck and you're adding lights to those battens for for to match a a a lighting design that that's gonna come in. And we had hung about two thousand pounds worth of lights on on on the the batten. And what you have to do when you do that is you have to go all the way up to the very top and put counterbalance weights on those armors. to balance the lights so that you can move them easily with the ropes and to make it safe for the performers underneath. And we have a big like a map. It's a stage map that tells us where all these lights go. And we had that laid out and we had finished the first electric and there was about six of us here working on it. And as we were moving to the second one and we we had our plot in front of us and we're looking at the first electric All of a sudden that first electric, before we put any weight on it, started to rise into the air. Very slowly, which was very confusing because we we kind of freaked out. wait, what's going on? And it rose up to about ten feet in the air, hovered there for a moment, and then came in just as slow all the way back down. We all thought something had to be wrong. We thought that maybe they had left weight on it. We you know, we're worried, we don't know what's going on, we've already sent somebody up top, we we don't know what's then six of us big guys like myself, all went over there to try to check it because we just figured it had to have had still like somebody put the weight o taken the weight off the wrong arbor We couldn't budge it. We tried to lift it and we couldn't budge it altogether.
• 11:22
  That's crazy.
• 11:23
  And it didn't make a sound. And even when you're trying to control those arbors, it is really difficult to make them land without making a sound. Because it's metal on metal and traveling on a pod It's really hard to make it do perfectly silent. And it did not make a sound.
• 11:43
  That is incredible. I just think about, you know, when we communicate a lot of times with spirits that may be in the room, it takes a lot of energy, right? To for them to manipulate the equipment or for them to do things. So you think about the amount of energy it would take to move something like that quietly. Quiet. And then
• 12:05
  And control.
• 12:06
  Yeah. That's really incredible.
• 12:09
  Now, you know, when when I'm talking about the stage lights, a common occurrence for me would be to be the last person out of the building. when we would do Broadway shows or concerts or anything, you know, sometimes I wouldn't get out the door until three or four in the morning. So it is literally the middle of the night. Right. And on more than one occasion I would be the last person in the building and be shutting everything down. and have killed everything that's supposed to be turned off before I get ready to walk out of the the building. And usually I spent some time in my office, having all had an office right over there. And I would spend time in the office and you know doing paperwork and finishing up payroll or whatever needed to be done, just finishing things up because I knew I wasn't gonna be coming in earlier the next morning because it was, you know, two or three in the morning. And more than one occasion I would walk out on stage as I'm getting ready to leave. And back in the old days, when I when I was early on here, they had these things that were called border lights. And they were a long string of of bright lights that you had in each section. And you use those to wash the stage in in light and color. And the we had four of them that that hung up there. That was our normal, just regular light for things. And more than once I would walk out at the end of the night, haven't turned everything off that should be powering everything, and those lights would be on. And I'd walk out and go, Why are those lights on? And I would get frustrated. And then of course, you know, the first thing you do is you you blame yourself. You what did I forget to do? I thought I'd turn those off. You know, it's been a long day. Okay. And then I would go to Check my, you know, run my checklist again. Go check the breakers and check the light board and check everything and everything would be turned off.
• 14:11
  Wow.
• 14:13
  And finally I would get frustrated and I would go, all right, Randell, I want to go home. Can you please turn these lights off? And then I'd walk in my office frustrated because I'm not gonna leave with the lights on because that's not how you do things. And all of a sudden I'd hear a click. And I'd walk back out and the lights would be off. I go, Thank you, Randell and I'd walk on out the door.
• 14:43
  Well let's get into the the lore of Randell 'cause I think there is no other person that is talked about as much as Randell when it comes to the legends and lore of The Piedmont Grand Opera House. He is still very talked about and and there's still a lot of people that have encounters with Randell. We certainly encountered Randell or Randy When we investigated, he came to us actually we were seated over here and he came to us several times and communicated to us through Morrighan and also through our equipment and had told us that he was a a guardian of the space, that he comes and goes and that he watches over the theater. And I know Julia Morrison, the executive director, had shared with us that if you don't treat the theater with respect that there's usually something that will happen when these productions come in and th that that's associated with Randell. But I'm sure you have more stories.
• 15:46
  I do, actually. I have I have I have probably three really great stories that that that kind of reference that. Okay. I'll start with one that's a little bit fun. Okay. And and then we'll kind of work our way up from there. we were having a concert here for it was a it was a charity for lung cancer awareness, and it was the pop star Richard Marks. yeah. And Richard was a very he he he was he was a consummate professional and he had a he had a very tight crew that he'd been working with for a very long time. And one of the gentlemen that he had was his main guitar tech, who was an English gentleman and he was kinda no nonsense. And he had pretty much spent the day. poo pooing the idea of there being a spirit, which I thought to be kind of odd being an Englishman as such. you know, s spirits in old theaters in in in jolly old England I think is pretty a common but
• 16:59
  They go hand in hand.
• 17:01
  he was he was very much against the idea that there could possibly be any such thing. And so he had spent the whole day talking very negatively in reference to it and Yeah, we we just kept going, look, you you don't need to do that because it's gonna come back to bite you. And he's no, no, no, no, yeah, whatever, yeah. the concert starts. And this gentleman's set up over in the wings on stage left and he's he's got guitar rolled over there, which means he's got a a table with a black towel and a little stuff, so that he could do any adjustments to guitars in between songs while Mr. Marks was playing. And the first song starts and before the end of the first verse a string breaks. And that's not very common because typically and I know for a fact that he changed those strings right before the show and usually the strings last through the whole show. So this is Mr Marks' favorite guitar, and the one that he wants to play through most of the show. no. And he's very particular about which guitar. He only really wants to play those other guitars if it's a different tuning or if it's an emergency. And so now it breaks the string. Well, the song ends, gentleman runs out, grabs the guitar, gives him another guitar, comes back to his station, and he has a thing that is called a string winder. And if you're not a guitar player or a guitar tech, you don't you may not know what that is, but it's a it's little plastic. Most of the time it's plastic. And it's it's just got a little pivoting head so you can put it on the head of the string and spin it up because trying to do this will take you forever.
• 18:44
  Right.
• 18:45
  He had a black towel and a neon green string wire. somehow between the time that he walked off of his spa station to pick up the car and come back, that string winder disappeared. It was laying right in the middle of his towel. Now, he got pretty hot. And the funny thing was there wasn't really anybody over there. But he starts yelling at people on the headset and you know, who took my string winder? Well, I need that stream water. I don't know who thinks this is funny, but I don't know He gribed, he complained for probably a minute, minute and a half. We're talking about pop music here, so the songs aren't more than about three and a half minutes long. And he knows he's gotta get this string changed and get this guitar out there before Mr. Marks is gonna be upset. So he finally gets frustrated and then does it by hand, which is a pain. And he gets it fixed, he gets it done. Nobody's over there. None of my crew. I know where everybody's at. I've got guys at the spotlight. I've got guys out front. I'm over here on stage right where I normally am. I'm watching. I'm looking there's nobody over there. But I'm I'm watching because I'm worried about, you know, this guy 'cause he's being rather ugly to to the crew. He walks out and hands the guitar to Richard Marks, takes the other guitar and he walks back over and then I see the look on his face. Because when he walked back over that string winder was laying right in the middle of that black towel. And there had been nobody else over there.
• 20:24
  I love it.
• 20:25
  And so all of a sudden he got on the headset and goes, I'm sorry guys, I believe. Ha ha ha.
• 20:34
  That's right.
• 20:35
  Now one of the most notorious that we have ever had was a touring production of Sound of Music. And this is a big Broadway touring production. And this has been many, many years ago, so please anybody who's on a Sound of Music tour know that this is not about you. because this was a long time back. But you know, touring people tend to burn the candle at both ends. And sometimes those touring people use alternative methods for staying awake. And this crew was no different. They were very tired. They had been on the road for a long time. This was nearing the end of the tour. And so they were kind of burned out of of of the road. And it became really obvious really early that that they were exhausted and throughout the day they would disappear and then come back all full of energy and you know then they then they'd slowly run out and everything. The whole day they had been really difficult to deal with. They would been mean to the to to our staff, they had been ugly with people, and they even were writing things on the wall. And they wrote a particular phrase and I'm not gonna repeat the phrase just because it's it's It was a it was a reference to their alternative means of staying awake. Okay. And it was kind of like got milk
• 22:07
  Yes.
• 22:08
  but it wasn't. And they wrote it everywhere. Which is very disrespectful to a theater. You don't you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of places that you go where they have a wall that you can write something on as you know, part of your thing. That's we don't have that. And with that, they had been doing this all day. and been mistreating us all day. And then we started noticing that they had been riding this in places. And frustrating, but you know I my job is to get through. You know, we gotta make the the show must go on no matter what happens. There's an audience coming through the door shortly, we've got to do what we have to do. And so we finally get the whole show set up and ready to go. And now it's kind of to the point where we've got people that work on the show, but it's mostly out of our hands. It's mostly their people running things. And the show starts and it's going fine. And then all of a sudden, and like I said, this is a number of years back, the computer that they use to run their lighting Shut off. Right in the middle of a Von Trapp family number. But the lights were still on. Okay. But the computer shut off which means they can't change the light cue to something else. Now, unlike computers today, and even a lot of them today do the same thing, when a computer suddenly shuts off, you have to reboot it. You have to physically do something to reboot it. And what happens on this particular occasion is the computer shut down. And then started again on its own. Which is not very common for computers of that time, especially not lighting computers of that time frame. Typically, if it shuts down, you have to physically turn it back on. Well, not this time. It just came back on. The problem is, is that especially with those type of systems in that time frame, the way they worked is that when they would boot up, they would send all of the lighting through a cycle.
• 24:25
  no.
• 24:26
  So it moves through all the colors and back through all the colors, back to the color it's supposed to be, through all the patterns, and through all the positions. So in the middle of this lovely Von Trapp family number, it suddenly turned into a Pink Floyd light show. Patterns, colors, lights going everywhere. I'm on the headset. I'm listening to these people. They are losing their minds. What's going on? And then it all just stopped.
• 25:05
  my gosh
• 25:06
  And I went over to their stage manager and I said, You need to tell your folks to quit being mean to people and quit writing on the building. Because if you don't, he's probably gonna do it again. They were so nice to people the rest of the time. They they didn't have a problem with us again after that.
• 25:30
  To have been in the audience during that would have been like
• 25:35
  I I I looked out and there was a lot of confusion because it was kind of a static look on stage before that started. it definitely did not go with the show, I can tell you that. and it was it was one of those things where when it happened, everybody would have went, But then it was over with and you know the the performers, you know
• 26:00
  Being a performer.
• 26:00
  Bless they stayed they stayed going. I could see kinda doing doing the the looking up you know through the top.
• 26:07
  In theater anything can happen and will happen, but to it's also kind of disorienting to have the lighting go through this whole scene.
• 26:15
  You you've you you've got to focus. As a performer you're focusing on a certain thing and then all of a sudden there's things moving and it's like no, what am I doing? Right. And but it was it it was pretty amazing, is is what it was. So
• 26:29
  I love that story. You've gotta respect the theater.
• 26:32
  That's right. I'm and you know I've used that story before to forewarn people when they come in and start talking mess or being ugly. That's if you if you're ugly and you don't treat the theater right and you don't show respect, I'm not gonna guarantee you that Randell's not gonna do something. what are you gonna do? I'm like stop
• 26:54
  I don't have to do anything.
• 26:55
  me. yeah.
• 26:59
  You just might have some tech issues.
• 27:02
  And they're gonna be unexplainable. That's right. And and those happen all the time.
• 27:05
  They're gonna happen at the worst moment. my goodness.
• 27:52
  Well, I I just I love that he's a guardian and that he's he pops in and out and and watches over the theater and I know we've talked a little bit about, you know, Randell's story and there's not a lot that you can really find about it, but I know you all have a newspaper clipping here from that time. and his story, you know, ended in a way that was sad and and he was found Yes. He was found here in the theater upstairs in the Thunder Room. Mm-hmm. And I know that you had shared with me that you had gotten some communication from somebody from Randell's life from many, many, many years ago. Yes, yes. Just out of the blue.
• 28:36
  the blue. I had done been interviewed for an article for I think Macon Magazine, I think is what it was. And they it was it was their Halloween edition and so they were talking about the spirits of The Grand and you know it's it's something they've r that's been written about in some books and some things. So they wanted to do an interview with me and they did an interview with me and then they they published it and put some of it online. And then I got a message one day out of the blue from a woman who reached out because she'd seen the article. And I'm not the kind I'm I'm not I'm not a super private person when it comes to that kind of thing. I'm you know, when you live in the public eye, you live in the public eye and you you understand that. and so she reached out and said, Hey, I saw your article. I'd I I'd really like to talk to you about your article and I thought somebody got questions about the ghost. Okay, that's fine. Well, I told her yes, and so she messaged me and told me who she was and explained that she was Randell's next door neighbor as a child. And that Randy, because that's what she called him, was Randy, Randy used to bring her to work when he was working on The Grand during the time that he was doing the renovations, because her mom would let her go with him and he was like a second father to her for a a period of time 'cause he was the next door neighbor. And I went, Wow, that's that's amazing. So next thing I know I'm I'm on the phone with her and talking to her and she's She's like, I am so glad that you're keeping him in him in people's minds and she was very appreciative of the fact that, you know, we we hadn't let his his memory fade and everything. And I you know, I explained to her a lot of the things that that I have done through the years because when I started working here there was a lot of misconception. you know, everything is hearsay.
• 30:52
  Right.
• 30:53
  When I started here there was a lot of hearsay, he went up to shoot pigeons and that kind of thing was was was the stories that we had had in the past. And I told her, I said, well, you know, I ha it's been kind of my mission to make sure that that his his memory and and his spirit were kept alive for through the years. She asked me if I knew known how he died, and I said, Yes, ma'am. I said I know how they found him and that he'd been overtaken by heat and everything. And she said, Yeah. It turns out that there were suspicious circumstances. They didn't find him for four days, and they the reasoning they didn't find him is really unknown. his car was in the parking lot the whole time, and nobody had noticed. He had had a board meeting w for the theater and then nobody found him.
• 31:49
  Like I said, it is very challenging to find any information about what happened. It's there you have the article.
• 31:58
  Which we've preserved wonderfully.
• 31:59
  Yes. But there's not really a lot of information about what h about him and what happened. No.
• 32:09
  It seemed like somebody was keeping it very quiet. You would think somebody who was doing something in as prominent and in a situation that had questions in a town the size of Macon, especially at that time frame, that there would be more than one small article that discusses him and what happened.
• 32:30
  Right. I I had thought perhaps this was in the seventies right that this happened that because it was listed as suicide, which is was and still is can be very taboo, that they just wanted to brush it under the rug, right? And they didn't want that associated with The Grand Opera House. And so that was my assumption. But there may be more to the story.
• 32:55
  feels to me like there is more to that story. I never really had the feeling at any of the time which you know, I've dealt with Randy for a long time. I never really felt like it was his choice. to take his life and the questions were it w it was so it was so vague and foggy with everything. Because as I said, when I came in, the fur what I was told was, he went up with a pistol to kill pigeons and he got overtaken by the heat and he didn't wake up. And then then the story as I asked more questions, well then there was a bottle of whiskey and then there was the sleeping pills and all of that. And you know, August, Georgia,
• 33:47
  Right.
• 33:48
  construction, no air conditioning, probably an oven up there, but It's hard to understand how someone who worked in this environment regularly would be that easily overtaken by heat in a situation like that?
• 34:12
  Right.
• 34:15
  And you know, as I said, I you know, I had I had I'd been on that bandwagon for years because I can only go by what I had been told.
• 34:25
  Right.
• 34:26
  And to get this information from somebody unsolicited right somebody just reaching out and wanting to share that information and then it coincided so well with the feelings that I had had.
• 34:39
  Right. Well, it's interesting when we investigated, we did go up to that space. and it is a creepy space. It is. For a reason. I that's true. For
• 34:52
  Well and it's not even for a reason.
• 34:56
  a reason. It and it's kinda dark in there and it's there's a lot of beams and wood, unfinished wood, and it just has that vibe. And then just knowing that that's where he was found adds that lore of, you know, creepiness to it. Morrighan had sensed that there was sort of a negative presence that was up there while we were up there. And we had asked Randell if he would come and talk to us and he said he would and while we were up there, but he wanted to talk to us down here. And he did communicate with us about three or four times. We had asked him, Morrighan asked him, if what had happened up there was his choice, and he said no.
• 35:46
  Yeah.
• 35:47
  He also s had indicated that he w had been influenced by something negative that but he had encountered up there. but that that it wasn't his choice what happened. So without knowing that piece of information and knowing that w we have an opportunity coming up to communicate with him again if he'll come and talk to us. It would be interesting to find out more details. You know, what's interesting about what we investigate is we're typically there's a time constraint with how much time we have, right? And we're trying to make that connection, get as much information as we can and and a lot of times it's kind of in and out. So he would talk to us for period of time and then leave and then come back and you know and I don't know how much energy it right it it is for them to communicate, right? but he was one of the things we asked is if he needed help, he said no. We said, Are you trapped here? Do you feel stuck here? He said no. Morrighan said, You come and go and he said yes. and that and that he considered himself a guardian of the theater and and we had let him know that, you know, he's very much thought of all the time and people do hope to see him or get a you know, any kind of indication that he may be around and that he is a very positive fixture in the theater. Absolutely. And and very appreciated. So we did convey that message to him. and so the mystery like continues around it does. Randell. Or Randy. And he did confirm that he likes being called Randy. So she was she was right.
• 37:36
  Which you know, that's the funny thing because for for me for all those years he was Randell.
• 37:41
  Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
• 37:45
  Because I I have an article tacked
• 37:49
  Yeah, yes.
• 37:50
  it onto the bulletin board in my office. And that article refers to him as Randell, it never refers to him as Randy. And so when I spoke to that young lady It was it was Randy for her. And that was the first time I'd ever heard him referred to as Randy. And then to find that he prefers Randy, that made perfect sense.
• 38:17
  Yeah.
• 38:17
  And and she felt so good when she left because she really felt that, you know, she had reconnected with with with Randy and that, you know, she felt good about him him being taken care of.
• 38:32
  Well it must have been incredible for her to come in after all these years and walk back into this space, you know, and
• 38:39
  And the randomness of Yeah. She just happened to see something online, reached out to me through Facebook, through social media, and you know, I'm I'm thankful that I'm open to that kind of thing and and and willing because that's a part of that story that despite my many, many years here, I never heard anything like it. And that's from somebody who lived it, not from hearsay or a random article, that's a
• 39:10
  Someone who's
• 39:10
  store neighbor who spent time with him and it kind of made sense.
• 39:15
  And knew the r knew the the family, the relationship and you know, because of that and because they had a close relationship, maybe he confided in her.
• 39:27
  That I would absolutely agree with that.
• 39:29
  Yeah.
• 39:30
  Because he according to her, you know, he talked to her about a lot of things. he tried to not dwell on the negatives of what she had told me. She had basically told me that, you know, when he would bring her down here he was always trying to give her, you know, positive experiences and being with her 'cause he was kind of a surrogate dad to her.
• 39:52
  Yeah.
• 39:53
  And, you know, I felt bad for her for her to lose somebody that she was that close to and you know, to give her that connection again was a was an awesome thing for for me. And I you know, I I felt really lucky that I was here long enough to be able to get that and have that kind of information come back.
• 40:12
  Yeah, that's a really special moment. And I think that when we tell these stories of different locations, different families, different things, it is always my hope that people may recognize something, right? Or may know something about a a story that where there's there's there's blanks, you know. History is not always well documented. And it's also a lot of times through the filter of whoever was documenting it. And so it's tough sometimes, even we have an incredible you know, archives and genealogy department at the Washington Memorial Library. I know them all very well and they're amazing. But, you know, again, sometimes they're handwritten records or just records were lost in fires or floods or things. So there's holes in these stories and these this history. So I'm always grateful and hopeful that people come forward and say, Hey, I know about that story or I was the neighbor or I you know, because it adds more layers and texture to what we know and it helps us in terms of communicating with may what may still be there to have that information to say, la tell me about that. so Randell or Randy, you know, we love we love those stories and we love that he's still here watching over the theater and keeping everyone in line. Yeah.
• 41:42
  Absolutely. Yeah. Well I I would I was very excited when you asked me to to come and speak to you, because I I I like the idea of the fact that something that feels like part of the truth of what had happened being shared and not just going away with me.
• 42:06
  Right.
• 42:07
  Because the problem that I see is is that just like you say, there's holes in in history and it's what's told and what's not, and now what's preserved and what's not. And I had been here for thirty two years, that was probably thirty years at that point in time, and had never heard any of that. So to suddenly have a connection that opened allowed me to to find out more information about somebody that I had been living with here for a long time and and and been nurturing to to to to make sure that they were happy with the way things were.
• 42:46
  Right.
• 42:48
  was was really interesting to me to have
• 42:51
  And it's interesting that you say that, Bob, because it is always for us when we investigate, it's really important when we are able to connect with a spirit that their story is told properly and we do ask them that. Right? A lot of the time they're the the people we communicate with maybe were not allowed to tell their story. It wasn't told right or they didn't have a voice based on their position in you know, the community or just d whatever timeline they may be from. And so it's important to us to tell their story on their behalf and maybe correct what may be wrong. When we came in to investigate, the first spirit that Morrighan connected with, we were standing on the stage and she connected with a gentleman who was a patron who was seated over there. I think his name was Bernard. If I remember correctly, and he was wearing a tuxedo, she said. And he really just wanted to tell us his story. And he told us a little bit about his wife and something that had happened, but that he and his wife used to love coming to the theater and having a night at the theater. And once he told us our stor told us his story, Morrighan said he just disappeared. He just left. He just wanted to say that. So we do get that. where we get spirits that come forward that really just want to tell us their truth. Because maybe he never got to tell anyone that part of his story. And it was important for him to share it to s with someone. And so it's an honor for us to be those people, to to carry that message forward. And I think having the opportunity to come back into the grand and possibly connect with Randy gives us that opportunity to Maybe ask him about that. You know? And
• 44:49
  There you go. I'd be very interested.
• 44:53
  it'd be interesting to see maybe you can maybe you'll be there.
• 44:56
  I I would want to. I would I would love to.
• 44:58
  Maybe he'll give us some more information now that we have this bit of information, which adds another layer to
• 45:06
  It definitely adds another layer. You know, I had spent so much time with him on many different occasions. Yeah. And I know probably some of the times that there were things that were happening, that there was a possibility that it was someone else. but I also know that a lot of the things that I experienced I could coincide with and attribute to things that I knew about him. I know that we've been talking about kind of going somewhere and moving out of these seats. Yeah. would you like to walk back to an area that I had probably some of the most inter inter interaction with him?
• 45:53
  Yeah, let let's get up. So I was telling before we get up, I was telling you that we were all talking up here earlier that I saw movement in the doorway behind us a few times and it felt male and it the second time I saw like an arm kind of like somebody you know someone's trying to get your attention like hello. So I don't know if that was Randy or if it was someone else, because there's definitely more than one
• 46:20
  Definitely more than one spirit I I agree a hundred percent.
• 46:24
  and I know like we encountered Bernard and then we encountered a few other patrons. There was a lady that was sitting in the very top box that had waved to Morrighan, like, hello and she was dressed like she was at the theater, right? She was dressed all, you know, very fancy. and there were there was a little a little child that had come in that told us he used to sneak in. Used to come and sneak in and he came and sat with us for a while. But there were a lot of different people. there was an usher that Morrighan had spotted s up there. and but but it's a big space and there's a lot of I think there's a lot of different spirits that pop in and out. And why wouldn't you, right? There's always something going on or sometimes th
• 47:11
  mean if if you were if if you were a spirit, what better place to be. There's there's so much to to see and so much to do and so much to interact with. That's right. you know, it it would I know for me if I was a spirit that's this is where I would I would come here often. Check in. For sure.
• 47:29
  Sure. Plus because it is so tied into the community. There there may be people here you know or family lineages that you're connected to.
• 47:37
  Absolutely. Absolutely well, I mean, you know, in my time that I've been here, you know, sad to say, but I know that there have been people that have passed away, that have passed away here leaving a performance or during a performance. it just kinda comes with the territory, you know. a lot of your theater going folks, especially here in Mankin or are usually a little bit older that and then of course the overall aspect of the the community tied to this theater. in my th in my thirty two years of being here, I heard stories from everyone that all tied back to different time frames for the grand. I used to come there and watch movies when I was a kid and I saw this concert there, you know, way back when, or I saw this particular show, or a particular artist. You know, the the beauty of the Piedmont Grand Opera house to me really is the history that has managed to continue to grow. you know, r I don't know how much is left from the Academy of Music because none of what was the Academy of Music is left. But I do know that that there's a long history with people of all different walks of life involved with this theater. And you know, the beautiful thing is is that everybody has a story. And they all they they all deserve to be told and they all deserve to have it. and so it it to me it's just it was it was a wonderful place to be. and still holds near and dear to my heart because of the fact that, you know, I have those connections with the spirits that were here. I spent so much time with them. And it's just it's it's just a wonderful thing. And you can't explain that to somebody else. I guess I am.
• 49:46
  But you yeah, you have a connection here. You were telling me, an another time we were talking about when there was if there was a storm coming in and you had lost power at home, you would come and stay here.
• 50:00
  Many times. Many times. my wife and I would and sometimes even when my kids were younger, you know, the the beauty of running a place like this is that you you have access. Right. the other side of that was is that we're connected to the courthouse, which I think also plays a part in some ways to some of the things that you might experience here. less than savory characters that that go in and out of that.
• 50:25
  We had a a a murderer actually contact us.
• 50:29
  Well that that that makes perfect sense. You're attached to the to to to a very old jail and and all of that here.
• 50:36
  Morrighan said w we're not here to talk to you. You can leave.
• 50:40
  Well what we would w what we would do is a lot of times when there'd be a bad storm we would come down here just to to to kill time. Sometimes to spend the night just depending on what we were gonna do. We'd bring an air mattress or something. And sometimes we would park ourselves down in the green room if it was a really bad storm and we were trying to stay away from things. Other times we would go and be in the encore room up front. Right. And that was usually that was w before they renovated it and turned you know put all those windows and stuff up there. And in the old encore room there were there were bench seats that that that wrapped the wall.
• 51:16
  Okay.
• 51:17
  And we would come in and I'm at work, even though I'm not at work and so I would be messing with whatever because it's work and be doing something and my wife would lay down on the benches to to try to rest. I think the second time that we did it up front, I was standing at the bar working on something, some paperwork or something, and she had was laying on the the thing with with her face towards the wall and just laying there sleeping and All of a sudden she woke up with a start. And I'm like, What's going on? What's wrong? she goes, I felt you brushing my hair off my ear. And when I rolled over, you were all the way across the room. And I'm like, what? She goes, no no. I look, I felt somebody brushing the hair off my ear. And I rolled over and you were across the room with your back to me, not paying any attention to me whatsoever. She didn't she didn't sleep down here anymore after that to say the least. and you know As as years had went through, you know, different people spend the night down here many occasions. when we put in the new fly rail system in here many years ago, I I drew the short straw and had to stay for fire watch overnight because we were welding and you know a lot of wood in this building, a lot of old wood in this building. And so all night long I had to stay in here with all the lights off. I would stay in my little office and every twenty minutes I had to go out and walk all those decks in the dark. I'd have to go up with a flashlight, turn my flashlight off and look for embers. And I spent the entire night down here on two different occasions while we were welding and I would hear music. Usually it sounded like somebody playing the piano. And I'm like. Where's that coming from? And I know where the piano is and I know that it's nobody's in there playing it 'cause I know I'm the only one here. And yeah, every once in a while you you'd be sitting in there and I could I could kinda push it out of the way 'cause I'm I'm used to that. I've dealt with that kind of thing in throughout my life. Right. but eventually you you just go, Okay and you get up and you walk out of the room and you look and you're like, still dark, still nobody out there and of course as soon as you stick your head out of the office the music stops. So I and I've had that experience many times and I know other people that have worked here with me ha have heard that kind of thing as well. They're like, I know I heard music. I know I heard music and there's nobody else here and I'm like welcome to the club.
• 54:29
  That's right. There's still this the the stage is is always active. There's always a show.
• 54:35
  Well, you know music and I'm a music person myself and so music is I'm surrounded by it all the time. Right. there's almost no time in my life that there's not music playing in some way or form or fashion. I keep headphones with me, I have tons of music on my devices. if I'm in the car I'm listening to music. I'm not you know, my wife loves podcasts and sing things like that. When I'm riding along, I'm listening to music and I listen to music all the time. And you know, music has that ability to permeate everything around it. And I think that music in theater, the people that perform that kind of stuff emit so much emotion and energy, especially the true people that are passionate about it, passionate about it that that it leaves a stain.
• 55:32
  Yeah.
• 55:34
  and those those performances and and and and the the the the sound and everything, i it gets absorbed into the atmosphere of some place like this. You know, they if you ever go to Capricorn down there when you when you go to Capricorn you walk into that studio down there and the first thing any musician's gonna say is I can feel the magic in this room.
• 55:57
  It's like you step over a threshold and you're in a different timeline the moment you walk into the actual Yes.
• 56:05
  Into the studio. Yes.
• 56:07
  One thing I was gonna say that I think is interesting, when you think about music which is vibration, tone, vibration, different right, and you think about spirit communication, it's very much that same
• 56:21
  Travels in the same it it's all about p it's all about waves.
• 56:24
  That's right. That's right. And so it seems logical in terms of the spirit comm spirit world and communication about music. Maybe music transcends that. It goes from this plane to theirs and back.
• 56:40
  And back. I I would agree. I would agree. I'm I you know, like I said, I've I've music has been a huge part of my life, my whole life, and I think that my my passion, my openness, I listen to a lot of different things, I hear a lot of different things. I think that opens up some of the ability of communication because of that commonality between sound and the spirit and that kind of thing. Yeah. I think I think that that kind of opens those up.
• 57:13
  Yeah.
• 57:13
  The being here was definitely not my first experience in dealing with with with with spirits and and and what they do. I've I feel like th that door got open for me a long time ago and it just it was kind of destiny for me to end up in the grand and and and to be here and to be a conduit and and a person that would support and be positive about what was going on here instead of either trying to brush it under the rug or trying to push it out the door.
• 57:51
  Right. I do I do feel like, you know, things don't happen by mistake and maybe the theater chose you and that's how you got here.
• 57:59
  you know, I I would believe that. I would believe that.
• 58:02
  He's gonna understand.
• 58:06
  They kept me around for an awful long time and I you know, I don't know that that was just my skill.
• 58:13
  Well let's take a little bit of a walk around to some of the hot spots and things where you've encountered different activity and that gives people a a different different look at The Grand that maybe they don't typically get to see.
• 58:26
  In my time when I was working here and I had started working here, I I spent a lot of time coming through this theater in the dark. I was walking I I would come in and park in the back and when I would come in I would come through the stage area and into the auditorium because my office was up here in the front. It's not in the same place anymore now, but there would it's where the ladies' restrooms are now. Right.
• 58:49
  Okay.
• 58:50
  And so what I used to do was come through that stage area there and walk straight through. And because I was the only one coming through, we didn't turn lights on.
• 59:00
  Right.
• 59:01
  And we didn't turn the lights on because there wasn't a need. I you know, especially back then we didn't have these LED lamps in here. And so you didn't want to turn the lights on and wear those lights out. And one of my most common occurrences would be to walk through this curtain into this area on my way up to the front in the dark, and out of the corner of my eyes I'd stepped this way. I would see a shadow. In the dark, you can see a figure.
• 59:30
  Yeah.
• 59:32
  But I'm walking through. And I would stop, at least early on, I would stop and go, somebody's sitting in the theater. Right. And I would stop and I would look back, and as I would look back, there wouldn't be anybody there. But the seat
• 59:49
  Would flip up. Wow.
• 59:53
  Which as you can see, it doesn't stay down unless something's pushing on.
• 59:58
  That's right.
• 59:58
  And I would deal with that all the time. It would happen to me all the time as I would walk through. And I was really kind of confused by it. And come to find out, Randy liked to sit right there and eat his lunch
• 1:00:19
  Really?
• 1:00:20
  every day. Really because when he would take his break he would come in and sit in that spot. Obviously not the same chair because we've long since changed those, but that is the exact spot where that chair was. Right. And he would sit here because he liked to sit in the theater while he ate his lunch and look at the theater while he was eating. So he could just take it in while he was here. And So to find out that that was his spot.
• 1:00:56
  It's incredible. And so when I was referencing earlier that I had seen movement and possibly an arm, like someone trying to get my attention, That figure was standing right behind us. Right behind us. And what's also interesting is when we f when Morrighan first connected with Randy, we were way up by the thunder room and he's she had said, Is it we we'd love to talk to you? And he said, Sure, but he wanted to meet in the auditorium. So to hear that he loved being here to look at the theater. Now we did speak to him over there because we chose to sit there, but that he loved being in the auditorium. And so it
• 1:01:35
  You like to sit in the auditorium and watch?
• 1:01:37
  makes sense that he'd say, I'll talk to you, but let's go downstairs.
• 1:01:40
  And that was one of those things that I I had experienced over and over again and the young lady that I spoke to had told me that that was that was where he would they he would sit there and eat lunch every every day. And like you're talking about seeing something here, you know, I spent a ton of my career here sitting right back there in that booth, right back there. And the thing about sitting in that booth is that you see all of this. And as the technical director, my job was always to kind of keep my eye on everything. And you don't can't even imagine how many times I would see curtains on every level open up. And There's lights behind those curtains. And if the auditorium's dark, those lights, especially if you're somebody like me who's trying to watch everything, you notice those curtains open and there'd be nobody in the boxes. So I would I'd be sitting there and all of a sudden I'd I'd see light in like the third especially the the third story balcony. Up there. People don't even sit up there. And and I would see, I'm like, who's in the balcony?
• 1:03:04
  Yeah.
• 1:03:05
  And my my guys are like, What are you talking about? I saw s saw the curtains moving up in the balcony. And somebody would go up to check and there'd be nobody there.
• 1:03:13
  Well you know, that's exactly on the third on the third level, one one, two, three, in that first box, Morrighan saw a woman sitting up there who did this. She's she went and waved at Morrighan when she was sitting down in the auditorium. So maybe it's that same patron who's who who goes up to her box to see to wait for the next show.
• 1:03:34
  I would see up I would see people up there all the time. I would see people behind the curtains, moving behind the curtains. And you know, it just for me after a while, yeah. You you just get to the point where it's like, Well, you can let everything bother you right and you can react to everything that happens or you can go
• 1:03:52
  well.
• 1:03:53
  You know what, as long as they're not bothering anybody, we're fine. And that's how that's how I've always looked at it anyway.
• 1:04:01
  I love it. Well I love the story about the chair and that's something that we'll look into again when we come back.
• 1:04:09
  That was that was definitely his spot.
• 1:04:11
  Yeah Yeah. Maybe he'll meet us for lunch. Yes, let's do it.
• 1:04:14
  You wanna walk up on stage real do you wanna go let's let's go through the box room just because this is kind of the pathway that we would normally take when we would go.
• 1:04:28
  It's always so incredible to me to think about how narrow these hallways are and how back in the day, right, women had those big dresses and skirts. Yeah. So here we are on stage.
• 1:04:38
  Huge. So some of the things that I experienced here was as I mentioned the music. I would come out of that office that we just went went by there. But many occasions, preparing things or end of the night as usual when the case would be, you know right now we've got some pretty bright lights up here. Typically those bright lights weren't on. There was usually like kind of just background lighting that would be on. And I would catch glimpses of people on those two higher balconies.
• 1:05:23
  Interesting.
• 1:05:23
  Over there. Now they both go to storage room areas now, but at the time, if you if you look, you can see like over there, you can see the two doors. Up there on the top.
• 1:05:34
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:05:37
  Okay, at a time there was there were literally balconies and walkways that had dressing rooms in them up there. See the windows
• 1:05:48
  Really? Yeah.
• 1:05:50
  up there? Yes. They w and they're they're the same are over here. They're being kinda filled in so they're a little harder to see on this side. Yeah. But there was landing that went around this from its early days.
• 1:06:04
  Okay.
• 1:06:05
  Because that's where your dressing rooms used to be. They didn't used to be down below, they were up.
• 1:06:10
  Right.
• 1:06:10
  And so those are all all places where there were landings that went all the way around. And so to see people there makes sense when you think about the fact that there used to be a landing that went around on each of those levels.
• 1:06:26
  Feels like maybe they were actors, performers or Through makeup, you know, different people.
• 1:06:34
  Because that's that's where they that's where they spent their time.
• 1:06:37
  Yeah.
• 1:06:38
  And so I would see people up there on that on on on a pretty regular basis. I didn't know who they were and I didn't have any you know They're
• 1:06:47
  They're just going about that.
• 1:06:48
  just doing their thing and I would see and you know other people would see them and go, Who's that up there on that balcony?
• 1:06:55
  Don't know.
• 1:06:55
  I don't know, just just just leave alone and they're like, Nobody's supposed to be up there and I'm like, They're not. And and usually people would kinda kinda let it go. Why is he on stage?
• 1:07:07
  They might be saying the same about you. He's not supposed to be on stage. Why is he on stage? So Bob, legendary performer, magician, Harry Houdini performed on this stage.
• 1:07:19
  Harry Hoodie.
• 1:07:23
  And there's a lot of lore around the trapdoors. That there were t over twenty trapdoors that they cut into the stage. Yes. Okay. And this is the original s is this the original stage? No. So this has been replaced.
• 1:07:37
  In fact, the reason that we know about the number of trapdoors is because of replacing the the stage. you know the funny thing is is that when I started working here, the story, lore, whatever you want to call it, was that there was three.
• 1:07:56
  Okay.
• 1:07:57
  There was one on this side of the stage which still exists right here that you can see,
• 1:08:00
  Here it is here. Yes.
• 1:08:04
  that is still used to this day.
• 1:08:06
  Will they use it for The Nutcracker.
• 1:08:08
  Use it for The Nutcracker. Yes. we've had many different people involved using this at different times. Goes down to the green room.
• 1:08:17
  So this works so people have to
• 1:08:19
  Yes, manually. There's a crank. There's a crank. There's there's there's like a boat winch.
• 1:08:25
  Okay.
• 1:08:25
  You know, how how you get a boat up onto on the trailer. It's the same thing. It's cables running through the bottom, boat winch and winches it up.
• 1:08:35
  I I do want to say if you have the opportunity to come and see the Nutcracker here at The Piedmont Grand Opera House, you're going to see that trapdoor at work. There's a there's a moment and it's very evident when that that trapdoor is in use.
• 1:08:49
  Iconic for forty years.
• 1:08:52
  Yeah.
• 1:08:54
  But when we replace the floor We found the levers and gear system, the same type that is attached to this to drop the trap out of the way. We found a little over 20 of them scattered throughout the floor in different places. And they were all the same.
• 1:09:20
  So they had put like over twenty
• 1:09:22
  was
• 1:09:22
  trap doors in the stage.
• 1:09:24
  Yes. And we would never have known that had not when they were replacing the floor, we found because when they when when his carpenter leaves, because you know, the way that would work is he would send his carpenter in in advance. And you know at this time there's, you know, limited information for people. So he would send his carpenter in in advance in the cover of darkness and he would come in and very quietly get to the theater and install all of these traps ahead of time and then Houdini would come into town with a big fanfare. Right. So make a big deal about I'm coming into town. Because then that way everybody sees him come into town. He didn't have time for all of that. How does this happen? And then when they leave, you know, they his carpenter will stay behind for a day and repair the floor. But they don't take out all the hardware. Right. Because it's so much harder to take that out because it's all mounted up underneath the floor.
• 1:10:24
  think about somebody doing that today, first of all it's way it's so much harder to keep all of that secret. Right. Right. But also I can't imagine as being an executive director of a theater to be like, yeah, that's fine, just cut up the sc
• 1:10:37
  Just cut up the stage. Right. This this this is true.
• 1:10:39
  Just
• 1:10:43
  But you know, that was a different time. Yes. and carpentry skills were way better back then. that that's the way I see it. That's true. And
• 1:10:53
  Apparently fast.
• 1:10:54
  fact well, you know, the g the gentleman knew what he was doing and so did
• 1:10:58
  Because they did it on every stop.
• 1:11:00
  it on every stop. And so
• 1:11:02
  You think about how many how many theaters across the country had wh trap doors cut into them for every stop of his tour.
• 1:11:09
  And you know, I would venture a guess that most of them don't have a functioning one left.
• 1:11:15
  Maybe probably not.
• 1:11:16
  And a lot of them have the same kind of situation that we have. I mean, you know, our floor was a hundred years old by the time we replaced it. And so those pieces have been down there for a long time. They put a drop ceiling down in that room downstairs and so you can't see. But as soon as you take that drop ceiling out, you see the beams and the deck from underneath 'cause there's nothing between here and under there. And when they started pulling the floor up we would get to different spots and you go, there's another one.
• 1:11:51
  I love it. thank you for sharing that. That's really cool. That's really, really cool. It is such a s cool piece of history and a really special part of the lore of of the theater.
• 1:12:04
  I couldn't agree more. Now, one of One of the stories that was conveyed to me, one of my earliest stories that was conveyed to me, not a personal experience of mine, but definitely was something that I know happened because I know the people involved, was an experience that happened here on stage on Halloween night. right about the time I had started working here. the gentleman who was the technical director at the time and one of the main guys who used to work here, somebody who was well loved in the community. Big Mike from Famous Mike's.
• 1:12:49
  Yeah.
• 1:12:50
  yeah. Okay. Big Mike Mike was a staple here. And he he went by Big Dog and great guy, but he was he was one of the main guys here for a long time. And Rex was doing sound. somewhere else and he used to store gear in a storage room back over there. And so he was doing a concert in town and he needed to run over here to grab some equipment, 'cause something had went on a monitor and went down or something. And he wanted Mike to come with him. And so Mike came with him and they came over here. Mike had had a few adult beverages and was Mike was a pretty rowdy guy anyway, boisterous, big guy. And he hadn't been working here too terribly long at the time that it has happened. And so they came in and Rex goes to get his stuff. And Mike's kinda here and Rex decided to make a phone call to call his girlfriend to tell her, Hey, if you show up at at this event, just hang on, I'll be right back, I'm over at the Grant. Well there's a box right there on the wall and that box, that black box, used have a phone in it.
• 1:14:02
  Okay.
• 1:14:03
  And Rex is over there on that phone talking to his girlfriend, because he's called her. And Mike decides that he's ready to call out Randell. And so Randell is Mike is here and Mike goes in his big booming voice that he always had, he says, All right, Randell, if you're here, show yourself. And at first nothing. And Rex is on the phone and he says, What are you doing? He says, I just I wanna know. And so he says it again. He says, All right, Randell, I'm ready. If you're here, show yourself. And about the time he finished that statement, they heard. go across that wooden deck. Wow They both froze, They worked up. Then the stomping went the other direction, and they saw dust coming down from the rafters. Rex hung up the phone, they left this building immediately.
• 1:15:28
  He's like, I'm here.
• 1:15:29
  and and let me just tell you, that gentleman is a skeptic. Right.
• 1:15:33
  Right.
• 1:15:34
  He was not a skeptic anymore. Yeah, so that that deck right there, just stomped right across it, stomped back across it. And it's funny that that phone box is still there because there's no phone in there now. There's nothing in it anymore. But I can always use that as a reference point because when I'm telling that it's right there and you know the deck
• 1:15:55
  Because you can imagine him standing there and the you know, right above them.
• 1:16:02
  See you can see the picture of it and the boom boom boom and everything happening. And and both of them are very skeptical about that anyway. That's why, you know, Big Dog was doing that in the first place. And let me just tell you he was much more reverent from that point forward. So we didn't have much issue with that.
• 1:16:23
  I love that I love that that Randell humbles those skeptics.
• 1:16:29
  And and you know, I feel very I feel very confident that despite the fact that there's more than one, that when those things happen they feel like they are very randy. it it seems to be a more common thing to me because it they're usually they're usually talking to him directly because he's the most well known of course.
• 1:16:51
  Yes he is.
• 1:16:53
  now I will say that I've never had any issue You know, I've never felt threatened or never felt like anything negative was happening in regards to it. Never felt alone, but but I never really felt like there was anything that was ever bad that was gonna happen. Sure. And, you know, I I considered it an honor and a privilege to be able to to help keep his spirit alive.
• 1:17:23
  Yeah.
• 1:17:23
  And then, you know, I felt like I was kinda rewarded with the fact that I wouldn't let that go away. And
• 1:17:33
  Right.
• 1:17:34
  that I carried that on from being just the little myth in the paper that was back there to the point that other people have have actually experienced it, lived through it, been through it. And and you know, now with you guys being able to come in and actually investigate it, it it it's amazing because, you know, I've I've worked here forever and they wouldn't let anybody investigate.
• 1:18:01
  No, it it really truly is a privilege and we we are honored to come in and do that and and we also come in with the utmost of respect. I mean it really is to honor those that may still be here and to carry a message or continue the story of certainly Randell. but others who may still come and go from this beautiful space. It is a privilege to to get to do that.
• 1:18:29
  It's it's it's an honor and I'm and and I'm really, really thankful for you guys too.
• 1:18:34
  Well, I'm grateful that you you took the time today to come and talk to me and share your incredible stories and experiences here. I'm sure that you have many, many more over those thirty-two years. But I it's really, really fun to get to hear your accounts of what's happened and reiterating that you come to The Grand and you must respect The Grand
• 1:19:02
  More shows than you can than I can count, who found that out the hard way. That's right. we try to warn ahead of time that that that it won't won't do any good. And you know, typically they you know if they're just if if they're just skeptical and not causing grief or not making a big deal out of it, nothing happens. Yeah. But if you push it too far, they wanna make sure that they know. And if you if you mistreat the theater it's been here for a long time for a reason, because the people that that run it take care of it and because of the spirits that protect it from the people that don't.
• 1:19:39
  Right. And it is it's such a huge part of our community. It's there have been certain times throughout history where the community's really rallied to save it and to keep it here and to have it still look as beautiful as it does. And so we we all want to c that to continue and and for there to be many more many more decades of stories.
• 1:20:00
  Many more decades.
• 1:20:02
  Amazing. Thank you so much, Bob. This has been a treat.
• 1:20:05
  It has been my pleasure, Carrie.
• 1:20:06
  thirty two years is a long time to spend in any building, and long enough to learn every hallway, every sound, every creak, and probably which things shouldn't be making noise at all. But what stayed with me after talking with Bob wasn't just the number of experiences he had at The Grand It was how much he cares about the people behind them, especially Randy. For decades, Randy's story existed largely as theater lore. Then someone who actually knew him came forward, and suddenly another piece of his life returned to the story. That's something we've encountered again and again while making Echoes of the South. History isn't always complete. Sometimes the pieces that survive are tucked away in an archive. Sometimes they're hidden beneath a stage. And sometimes they're carried by the people who were there. Bob spent 32 years helping take care of the theater, and along the way he became one of the people entrusted with its stories. And now those stories become part of what The Grand carries forward. If you've had an unexplained experience or would like to request an investigation, visit EchoesOfTheSouth.com Join us as we continue uncovering the stories, the history, and the mysteries that echo throughout the South. Until next time, stay close.