The Historical Poncan Theater
7/20/2024
General Information
Equipment used: DVR, 3 IR video cameras, 1 full-spectrum video camera, personal audio recorders, digital camera, geophone, Mel Meter, surface temperature thermometer, 2 KII EMF meters, Rem Pod, Spirit Box, Tracer Wire, EMF Wire, and other personal EMF and recording equipment.
Atmospheric Conditions:
Moon: Waxing Gibbous 100% Full
Temp: 77° F
Humidity: 69%
Barometric Pressure: 30.04
Wind: NW at 9 MPH
Investigators: Christy, Kathy, Curtis, & Graysen​
Historical/Factual/Relevant Info:
Cameras
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1. Auditorium Right Side Stage View
2. Auditorium Left Side Stage View
3. Stage View
4. Auditorium
Charles Calkins, George Brett, Eugene Wetzel, and Dr. J. A. Douglass formed the Poncan Theater Company and opened The Poncan Theater on September 20, 1927. The building was designed by the Boller Brothers of Kansas City as an “atmospheric theater with elaborate ceilings and ornamentation giving an exotic feeling.” The theater had a Wurlitzer pipe organ. The chief organist was Vera Byerhoff, who also served as the soloist on opening night. Fred Pickerell was the first managing director of the theater, which had 1,200 seats. Ticket costs were $1.10 for the lower floor and 50 cents for the balcony. The theater was
unique for its time as it was one of the few theaters that didn’t have pillars supporting the balcony but instead had a 5-foot-thick I-beam spanning the entire width of the building. Part of the vaudeville equipment was an on-stage elevator, which was also unheard of at the time. It could move furniture on and off the stage and was used in magic acts.
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Fred Pickerell presented musicals and plays in 1928 and featured famous musicians at the theater, including the John Philip Sousa Band. The following year, sound was added for movies, and in April of 1929, the first “talkies” were shown. Will Rogers performed in 1931 to the largest audience in the theater’s history. The same year, Ethel Barrymore (great-aunt to the modern-day actress, Drew Barrymore), appeared on stage in “The Constant Wife.”
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In April of 1933, the Poncan closed due to two lawsuits. One was from the lessor for back rent, and the other was a counterclaim by Pickerell to establish a prior lien on Poncan’s equipment. The suits were dismissed, and Pickerel continued under a new agreement with the lessors, reopening in early September of that year.
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Donald R. Hall became theater manager in 1946 and had the longest tenure of any theater manager, retiring in 1977. His wife, Francis Hall, assisted with the business until her death in 1967. She collapsed in one of the theater offices on the second floor and died shortly after. ​​
The theater went through remodeling in 1954 and 1962. Theater artist Earl Sturgis painted theater posters in the art room near the projector room for upcoming movies. These posters were displayed out in front of the theater and are still stored in various spaces in the theater. In 1985, Barney Alston, who started at the theater when it opened in 1927, worked to have the building placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This was the same year the theater had closed and remained closed for almost a decade. Barney’s wife, Geneva, who was also a longtime employee of the theater, started a scrapbook that currently holds over 20 years of Poncan Theater memorabilia.
In 1989, the building was donated to the Poncan Theater Co. through a gift from Enloe and Wanda Baumert. Larry Buck had worked tirelessly to save the Poncan over the next 20 years. Fundraisers and public events raised money to help in his efforts. In 1991, Jo Ann Muchmore was hired as director to help save the theater. Restoration began in 1992, led by Bill Goldsberry, and the theater reopened in September of 1994. The theater received the Best Interior Renovation in the State award in 1996.
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A strip of plaster trim above the front doors, located in the interior lobby of the theater, was painted several times to cover up a greenish-black residue that kept reappearing. It was treated for what appeared to be a fungus, but it turned black again. Some say it is the blood of a ghost seeping down from the upstairs offices; however, it has been determined that it was oil from an old popcorn machine in the men’s lounge that had soaked through the floor over the decades.
​In 2006, Dave May, executive director of the Poncan, leased the second-floor offices to Team Radio (which didn’t have their first broadcast until 2011 after the offices had been restored). He also led efforts to restore the 1930’s hand-painted lobby art, which included the poster of Will Rogers. These paintings are rare because they were often painted over when new movies were shown in theaters. This saved money as canvas was expensive at that time.
Additionally, theaters were asked during World War II to donate their canvas to the war effort, so many of these posters across the country have been lost to history.​
In 2017, the theater celebrated its 90th anniversary and installed an electronic marquee. Expansion and remodeling continued, and private rentals of the theater were offered. The theater remained open during the pandemic in 2020, offering free movies on Tuesdays, with restricted seating and mask requirements in place. New seats were installed in 2022, and one special seat was saved and placed on display by the 2nd-floor offices in memory of a patron who was said to have died while watching a show on the balcony some years ago. It could not be confirmed through a search of newspaper archives about the death of a patron at the theater.
Poncan Theatre, 1939’s “Union Pacific” starring Barbara Stanwyck & Joel McCrea.
The obituary of Frances Hall, who died in the second-floor offices in 1967, states in part, “Services for Mrs. Francis I. Hall, 50, who died Saturday, will be at 2:30 p.m. in First Baptist Church. Ponca City theaters will be closed until 6 p.m. Monday in her memory. She was the wife of David Hall, manager of several Ponca City theaters.”
Also in the theater’s history is the death of Patricia “Patti” Evans, who passed away on October 29, 2018, at the age of 88. She was a long-time member of the theater and directed the children’s theater program for many years. Her obituary reads as follows.
(Left) 1946 Ponca City High School Yearbook Photo Age 16, (Right) The Daily Oklahoman, Wed., Oct. 31, 2018.
Patricia Jane Perdue Evans joined her heavenly Father on Monday, October 29, 2018, at the age of 88. Patti was born on July 24, 1930, in Ponca City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Lon M. and Mae Elizabeth (Purkey) Perdue.
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She was preceded in death by her parents, Lon and Mae; three sisters, Dorothy Perdue Stephenson, Velma Lee Perdue, and Thelma Jean Davies; brother, Mike Perdue; one grandson, Thomas Stewart Evans, and her beloved husband, Lloyd I. “Jerry” Evans.
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The family will greet friends on Friday, November 2, at Patti's home, 500 S. Prentice, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Visitation will be held at Trout Funeral Home on Saturday, November 3, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and on Sunday, November 4, from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A funeral service will be held at 2:00 PM on Monday, November 5th, 2018, at Grace Episcopal Church in Ponca City. Immediately following the service, she will be laid to rest next to her husband in the Mausoleum at Odd Fellows Cemetery.
Some individuals have speculated that Patti could be one of the ghosts that remain at the Poncan Theater since she worked there. It was rumored that she died there in her office. However, we found that claim to be false. We also were unable to verify any proof of Patti's spirit being in the theater.
Death Claim: There is an old claim that an African American woman often visited the theater. One night, she supposedly passed away in her usual seat. Later, the theater took her seat out and replaced it with another one. This old seat can still be seen today in the second-floor lobby of the theater. When our historian, Kathy, conducted research on the Poncan Theater, she was unable to find any documented records of this woman’s existence.
Investigation Report
Our team arrived at this location around 9:00 p.m. We had to wait until the theater closed before we could set up and begin. Christy began audio at 9:10 p.m.
Set-Up
Our group began bringing equipment into the main lobby. Christy had her audio recorder sitting on the front counter. Right after Christy had turned on her audio recorder, a male’s voice saying, “careful,” was captured. Twenty-two minutes into the audio, “2 Heys” were recorded in this same area, and it sounded like a
woman’s voice. One minute after this, a “yeah” was also recorded on audio. We also recorded a “tap” sound in the lobby while setting up, even though no one from our team was present in the lobby at the time this sound was recorded. Four minutes after this, a female voice was captured saying, “damn.
Sweeps
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Our team was almost finished setting up. Around 10:07 p.m., fifty-seven minutes after Christy had started her audio recorder, Curtis began looking for a light switch to turn off the lights. It was during this time that Christy’s audio recorder captured a female voice that said, “No, lights out.” With all the lights out, we planned to start our investigative sweeps in the downstairs dressing room. Christy placed an audio recorder on the stage and took her other recorder with her downstairs. Our team finished their sweeps downstairs and was starting to head up the stairs to return to the stage area when Christy’s audio recorder picked up the whispery voice of a woman saying, “Not yet, go.”
Our team decided to conduct a sit-down in the auditorium because our initial visit had yielded an EVP during our audio baiting session. We also had witnessed shadows and equipment activations. Christy went to get the REM Pod, but left her audio recorder on the arm of the seat. Right after she said she was going to get the REM Pod, her audio recorder picked up a woman’s voice saying, “Sit down.”
We had placed stationary equipment around the stage and auditorium area. We had white motion lights set up on the stage when one on the left side of the stage activated. We attempted to recreate the activation but were unable to reproduce the same result.
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As in our initial investigation, our team conducted audio baiting, and Ashley played the song “Meet Me in St. Louie,” which had been played at the last investigation, resulting in an EVP response. This time, however, we didn’t record any EVPS; instead, a series of thumps around 3:17 a.m. was captured by Christy’s
audio recorder. “Thump 1,” “Thump 2,” “Thump 3.” Ashley and Kathy also stated that during this time, they felt the air around them had become more “charged.” ​
​The lobby appeared to be an active area, as evidenced not only by our initial investigation but also in this one. Our team took a quick break to set up our overnight bedding in the lobby area. We left our video and audio recording equipment running. While Kathy and Ashley waited for the rest of the team to finish setting up their bedding, they went upstairs to the second floor to look at the old movie posters stored in one of the bathrooms. Christy’s audio recorder was sitting on the counter when it captured a male’s voice saying, “Sorry.” One team member stayed in the lobby area to rest, while Christy
and Curtis returned to the auditorium. This is when Christy’s audio recorder captured a man saying, “Hey, you.” Eight EVPs were recorded in this area over the span of about one and a half hours. The other 7 are: “That’s right,” “Unknown female whisper in lobby, “Winer, hey ya got it,” “Current, nine, eight, seven,” Here here here here,” “There’s someone here,” and “Free.”
We continued investigating the entire location, and toward the end, we decided to return to the auditorium for another sit-down. Kathy set up the green grid facing the stage area to help us monitor for potential dark shadows. Our team observed several shadows moving across the grid area, creating a break in the light patterns. Kathy adjusted the grid to display smaller dots, aiming to make the shadows more visible. We continued to see shadows even with the smaller green dots.​​
Christy saw an individual green light float across the stage. Then, about 3:57 a.m. Christy observed a large, black shadow about 3-4 feet long and 2-3 feet wide near the stage area. It had no legs and wasn’t touching the bottom of the stage. It moved from right to left. Christy and Kathy conducted an Estes session, with Kathy initially serving as the listener and Christy asking questions, and vice versa.
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​We concluded our investigation around 4:00 p.m. and returned to the lobby to get a few hours of sleep. Christy kept an audio recorder running while the team slept. All members were sleeping between 4:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Around 5:00 p.m., a single knock was recorded. Around 8:00 a.m., 3 knocks were recorded. At 8:32 a.m., a “strange sound” was also recorded. During this time, we also had 1 Knock then 2 Knocks happen. Oddly enough, in the morning, after we all woke up and began packing everything up, Christy’s audio recorder also captured an “Yeah, that's right" in the lobby area.
Psychic Investigator’s Comments - (Same as first visit)
I had to really appreciate the historical aspect of this location. As we entered the building, I was amazed at the great condition of the building. My first encounter was when Kathy and I were unloading equipment in the building, and I heard a woman’s voice coming from the left auditorium entrance. Although I couldn’t make out what was said, I knew there was a woman’s presence in the building. In fact, I had felt the
strong presence of a woman before driving to the location. Throughout my investigation at the Poncan, however, I wasn’t able to fully determine who the woman was. I also thought I had picked up on a second female spirit, one connected to the history of the Poncan. However, with both women, I felt that my connection with them was not as strong as I had hoped. One of the women enjoyed the audio-baiting music that we played, and it took her back to a time when she met her husband. This felt like it was around the WWII era.
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I did pick up on a man. He felt as if he had worked in the building at some point, or perhaps a building like the old theater, and was either a handyman or a maintenance man. He felt very protective of the Poncan building and still wanted to help there with whatever he could.
evidence collected
17 EVPs were recorded, 9 sound clips, 0 positive video clips, and 0 positive photos.
EVPS
"Careful"
2 "Heys"
"Yeah"
"Damn"
"Here, here, here, here"
"Yeah, that's right"
"That's right"
"Sorry"
"Unknown male voice 1"
"No, lights out"
"Not yet, go"
"Whiner, hey ya got it"
"Free"
"Hey, you"
"Current, nine, eight, seven"
"Sit down"
"Unknown Male Voice 2"
sounds
Thump 1
Thump 4
1 knock and 2 knocks
Thump 2
Single knock-sleeping
Thump 3
3 knocks
Strange sound while sleeping
Tap in lobby
video
Recorded Video Evidence - Combined into 1 video - All from the initial investigation. No positive video was captured on Investigation #2.