Haunted theatre

“I was interested in the recent article about the former Victoria Theatre,” emails John McRae, “and it brought to my mind the time when I was working as a Fire Prevention Officer with Tayside Fire Brigade. I was visiting the Vic to carry out an inspection of the premises.

“I had arranged to meet the manager to carry out the inspection and afterwards we retired to his office for a cup of coffee and a chat about the report and the requirements to be carried out as regards fire protection.

“The manager, whose name I cannot recall as this was during the late 1970s, asked me if I knew that the Vic was supposedly haunted. I told him that I had no knowledge of this and he told me this story. One evening after the evening show he was sitting in his office doing some paperwork when he heard footsteps in the corridor outside. Thinking it was a member of staff finishing up, he shouted out: ‘Good night’. There was no answer so he got out of his chair and opened the door only to spot the shadowy figure of a woman going down the corridor.

“He shouted to her as he thought she was one of the attendants going home, only for the figure to apparently pass through the wall. He told me that he was so shaken by this apparition that he quickly locked up and left to go home.

“After reading the piece in the column, I remembered this story and also recalled a further inspection I made when I was speaking to members of staff. One lady said that she had seen a figure in the same corridor passing through the wall.”