The Old Opera House
It’s a steep climb to the upper fl oors of the Old Opera
House, where you fi nd the shops housed in the remains of an
old turn-of-the-century theater house. It doesn’t take a great
deal of paranormal sensitivity to sense that this is a place that
remains “touched” by its past.
Many consider The Old Opera House building to be one
of the most haunted in all of Southwest Florida, and it has
been featured on the Biography
Channel. According to the previous
owner, James Crosby, “I always get
the impression there’s somebody else here,” Crosby said. “I don’t know
whether it’s just the size and scope of the place or the lighting, but I’m
always catching something out of the corner of my eye that makes me
stop and turn my head.”
During the day the Opera House sells old vinyl records, artwork,
antiques, vintage clothing and tchotchkes. By night it’s ground zero for
ghost hunters and those who dabble in the paranormal.
In 1905 a fi re destroyed an orphanage which was there before the
Old Opera House was built. The next year the Opera House was the fi rst
building to go back up in downtown Arcadia.
Crosby repeated the story of the child who fell out of the window.
“There’s a good story of a woman
who was sitting at the stop light
on the corner of Oak and Polk, who looked up and saw a
little girl staring at her,” Crosby said. “And she sat through
three red lights until somebody fi nally honked and when
she looked back, the little girl had disappeared from the
window.” According to legend, that sighting happened
when the building was empty.
Paranormal hunters also claim that they have experienced
voices on the opera stage
itself. “Supposedly there was
a woman who fell in love
with the (original building)
owner, JJ Heard,” Crosby
A vintage surrey and chairs sit center
stage at the Old Opera House.
says. “They had an affair. And when she fi nally decided to tell
him it was either her or the wife, he chose the wife, and the next
morning they found her hanging in the corner rafters up there.”
There is a creepy feeling upon entering the Old Opera
House, made even more so by the mannequins placed in
the balcony and the rafters of the stage itself. There are even
original stage lights left on the stage, giving one a sense of a
place abandoned by time.
Shopping for antiques is exciting and made even more so
when surrounded by spirits. After all, that silver bracelet you
bought is even more special when you can say you bought it in
one of the most haunted buildings in the state of Florida.
The Phantom of the
Opera sits in the
rafters overlooking
the stage at the Old
Opera House.
The Old Opera house is a “haunted” historical landmark. Once a
theatre, the house is now home to an antique store. After a fi re in the
early 1900s destroyed most of the area, this building was one of the
fi rst to be built.