The Wilton Town Hall Theater is a small, historical movie theater located at 40 Main Street in Wilton NH. The building has two viewing rooms and typically shows independent, lesser known films. Before being built, a hotel existed on the property, which later burned, killing a young boy named Henry. Sightings of Henry in the main stairwell are still commonly seen today. Witnesses and employees of the theater feel that Henry walks up and down the stairwell looking for his parents.
In 1883, the building as it is today was built, and over the years has been used as a vaudeville playhouse, silent film house, town auditorium, police station, fire station, and is now being used as a movie theater and town hall (downstairs).
On July 25th, 2009 my paranormal investigation group, Queen City Paranormal, investigated the theater. We invited our friends from the Maine Paranormal Society as well, and were very thankful for them making the two hour drive to help us out.
Dennis Markaverich, who has been running and maintaining the theater since the mid-1970s, gave us a very warm welcome and gave us an extensive tour and rundown of the history of the building. He explained to us that he was in no way bothered or afraid of the spirits that hung around the building, but was always curious for people to find actual evidence of their existence. He considers the ghosts to be very friendly and protective, yet not always welcoming to outsiders poking around.
He told us of a particular weekend a few years ago when he had a paranormal group come in to do an investigation. Dennis had been in and out of the building, doing general maintenance while the team worked. At the end of the night, the team packed up and left as Dennis finished up his cleaning and locked up the building for the night. The next night, after the shows had ended for the evening, Dennis again began doing his usual work around the building, but discovered that his keys could not be found. He had had them earlier that day and always kept them on him, so he could not understand how they could have accidentally been misplaced. Dennis searched the entire building, but never did find his set of keys. He explained to us that he had been having a lot of paranormal groups come and go at the time and that the constant provoking may have irritated his ghostly friends enough to teach him a lesson. We assured Dennis that we would be very polite to his spirits and even try to convince them to return his keys.
After our tour, we began getting our equipment ready for the investigation. We set up two infrared (IR) cameras on the balcony of the main theater, overlooking the room. Activity in this room consists of apparitions of a tall, skinny man and short, plump woman, heavy footsteps and whispers. We then set up an IR camera pointing down the stairs, where Henry is said to walk up and down, looking for his parents.
We also set up two motion detectors on the landing of the stairs and some toys for Henry to play with. The last IR camera was set up in the clock tower, in the attic of the building. Teams were then rotated between the clock tower, main theater balcony, main theater, smaller theater, and downstairs (consisting of the old jail cells and town offices).
After setting up, we took a little break to grab some snacks and break off into groups before starting our investigation. While on break, Jim from MPS was using the bathroom when he heard a woman’s voice whisper close to his ear. Because we had not yet begun recording, there was no way to document the voice, but we wrote it down as a personal experience.
The first area that my group investigated was the attic of the building. In the attic were the workings of the historical clock tower that can be seen from quite a distance away from the building. Dennis gave us a demonstration of how he wound the clock daily. Because the ticking of the clock was extremely loud, it was hard to do any substantial audio investigating in the area. We also guessed that the noise of the clock, mixed with the acoustics of the building, may have something to do with the claims of footsteps throughout the building. After spending about a half an hour in this area, we decided to head down to the balcony of the main theater.
While in the balcony, I set up a small flashlight on the edge of the railing. The flashlight I used is the kind with the button on the bottom of the handle. I decided to test whatever may be there by asking it to tap the end of the flashlight, turning it on. It only took a few minutes before the light mysteriously came on, leaving us speechless. It happened so automatically, that it took us a minute to even realize that it had actually happened. I asked the spirit to repeat the action to turn the flashlight back off, but it would not. We didn’t receive any more interaction with the light, but were somewhat satisfied that we had gotten an initial response.
Later in the night, a different group investigated the bottom part of the main theater and did experience the whispers that we had heard so much about. The whispers were audible with their own ears, but did not seem to come through when we played back our audio recordings. The group could also make out shadows darting across the room, and had the feeling that they were being watched by more than a few pair of eyes. One of the investigators, Ashleigh Smith, felt a shadow move so close in front of her, that she actually jumped up from her seat and backed up toward the rear of the theater. After reviewing the video footage however, we did not see any evidence of a spirit present.
Another strange occurrence that happened in the main theater was the curtain on the main stage. A few investigators from MPS noticed while watching the video monitors that the curtain seemed to be swaying. They headed into the room and checked for any air vents or ducts that may be underneath or around the curtain, or a breeze that could be causing the curtain to move. They found nothing of the sort, but did notice a few pieces of duct tape stuck to the curtain. When asked, Dennis explained to us that he often had problems with the curtain moving on its own, so he had duct taped that part of the curtain back. We found no easily explainable reason for the movement, but have not been convinced it is due to any paranormal activity.
After reviewing all of our audio and video, we didn’t come up with any concrete evidence to whether the Wilton Town Hall Theatre is haunted or not, although we did have many personal experiences while there. We had a great time and enjoyed Dennis’s kind hospitality and interesting stories. We absolutely fell in love with the building and feel that the Wilton Town Hall Theatre definitely deserves a second, if not third look as to the activity going on. The theater itself is a great historical landmark with a lot of character and one of the few surviving of its kind.
Queen City Paranormal has unanimously declared the theater as a favorite local business. The environment is cozy and unique, the popcorn is always fresh, and the employees are always welcoming. And while sitting down and enjoying a rare, independent or classic film, you never know who or what may be watching with you…
On July 25th, 2009 my paranormal investigation group, Queen City Paranormal, investigated the theater. We invited our friends from the Maine Paranormal Society as well, and were very thankful for them making the two hour drive to help us out.
Dennis Markaverich, who has been running and maintaining the theater since the mid-1970s, gave us a very warm welcome and gave us an extensive tour and rundown of the history of the building. He explained to us that he was in no way bothered or afraid of the spirits that hung around the building, but was always curious for people to find actual evidence of their existence. He considers the ghosts to be very friendly and protective, yet not always welcoming to outsiders poking around.
He told us of a particular weekend a few years ago when he had a paranormal group come in to do an investigation. Dennis had been in and out of the building, doing general maintenance while the team worked. At the end of the night, the team packed up and left as Dennis finished up his cleaning and locked up the building for the night. The next night, after the shows had ended for the evening, Dennis again began doing his usual work around the building, but discovered that his keys could not be found. He had had them earlier that day and always kept them on him, so he could not understand how they could have accidentally been misplaced. Dennis searched the entire building, but never did find his set of keys. He explained to us that he had been having a lot of paranormal groups come and go at the time and that the constant provoking may have irritated his ghostly friends enough to teach him a lesson. We assured Dennis that we would be very polite to his spirits and even try to convince them to return his keys. After our tour, we began getting our equipment ready for the investigation. We set up two infrared (IR) cameras on the balcony of the main theater, overlooking the room. Activity in this room consists of apparitions of a tall, skinny man and short, plump woman, heavy footsteps and whispers. We then set up an IR camera pointing down the stairs, where Henry is said to walk up and down, looking for his parents.
We also set up two motion detectors on the landing of the stairs and some toys for Henry to play with. The last IR camera was set up in the clock tower, in the attic of the building. Teams were then rotated between the clock tower, main theater balcony, main theater, smaller theater, and downstairs (consisting of the old jail cells and town offices). After setting up, we took a little break to grab some snacks and break off into groups before starting our investigation. While on break, Jim from MPS was using the bathroom when he heard a woman’s voice whisper close to his ear. Because we had not yet begun recording, there was no way to document the voice, but we wrote it down as a personal experience.
The first area that my group investigated was the attic of the building. In the attic were the workings of the historical clock tower that can be seen from quite a distance away from the building. Dennis gave us a demonstration of how he wound the clock daily. Because the ticking of the clock was extremely loud, it was hard to do any substantial audio investigating in the area. We also guessed that the noise of the clock, mixed with the acoustics of the building, may have something to do with the claims of footsteps throughout the building. After spending about a half an hour in this area, we decided to head down to the balcony of the main theater.
While in the balcony, I set up a small flashlight on the edge of the railing. The flashlight I used is the kind with the button on the bottom of the handle. I decided to test whatever may be there by asking it to tap the end of the flashlight, turning it on. It only took a few minutes before the light mysteriously came on, leaving us speechless. It happened so automatically, that it took us a minute to even realize that it had actually happened. I asked the spirit to repeat the action to turn the flashlight back off, but it would not. We didn’t receive any more interaction with the light, but were somewhat satisfied that we had gotten an initial response.
Later in the night, a different group investigated the bottom part of the main theater and did experience the whispers that we had heard so much about. The whispers were audible with their own ears, but did not seem to come through when we played back our audio recordings. The group could also make out shadows darting across the room, and had the feeling that they were being watched by more than a few pair of eyes. One of the investigators, Ashleigh Smith, felt a shadow move so close in front of her, that she actually jumped up from her seat and backed up toward the rear of the theater. After reviewing the video footage however, we did not see any evidence of a spirit present.Another strange occurrence that happened in the main theater was the curtain on the main stage. A few investigators from MPS noticed while watching the video monitors that the curtain seemed to be swaying. They headed into the room and checked for any air vents or ducts that may be underneath or around the curtain, or a breeze that could be causing the curtain to move. They found nothing of the sort, but did notice a few pieces of duct tape stuck to the curtain. When asked, Dennis explained to us that he often had problems with the curtain moving on its own, so he had duct taped that part of the curtain back. We found no easily explainable reason for the movement, but have not been convinced it is due to any paranormal activity.
After reviewing all of our audio and video, we didn’t come up with any concrete evidence to whether the Wilton Town Hall Theatre is haunted or not, although we did have many personal experiences while there. We had a great time and enjoyed Dennis’s kind hospitality and interesting stories. We absolutely fell in love with the building and feel that the Wilton Town Hall Theatre definitely deserves a second, if not third look as to the activity going on. The theater itself is a great historical landmark with a lot of character and one of the few surviving of its kind.
Queen City Paranormal has unanimously declared the theater as a favorite local business. The environment is cozy and unique, the popcorn is always fresh, and the employees are always welcoming. And while sitting down and enjoying a rare, independent or classic film, you never know who or what may be watching with you…
For movie listings, or to find out more information on the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, go to their website www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call them at (603)654-3456.
Special thanks to Haley Wright, founder of the Queen City Paranormal Research Society in Manchester, New Hampshire, for contributing this article. Queen City Paranormal performs paranormal investigations for local businesses, private residences, and historic buildings and landmarks throughout New England. For more information, you can contact visit QCP online or contact Haley direct at
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