The Orpheum Theater, Sioux Falls: History and the Ghost Called Larry

The Orpheum Theater Center stands on North Phillips Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls behind a white terra cotta front. It opened as a vaudeville house in 1913, showed movies from the late 1920s, spent half a century as the home of the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse and is now a city-owned venue for community theater, jazz and touring shows.

It is also the most famous haunted theater in South Dakota. Its ghost has been known as Larry for generations, though nobody can say who gave him the name or who he was in life. We go through the history, the best-known stories, the different theories about Larry and what you can and cannot do if you want to see the place for yourself.

History of the Orpheum Theater

Frank and Lawrence Solari, the Solari brothers, built the Orpheum in 1913 for about $63,200 and opened it on October 2 of that year; the National Register nomination gives October 6, but newspapers of the time support the earlier date. It was advertised with 1,000 seats for touring vaudeville, and the nomination notes reports that Jack Benny and Stan Laurel played here in its early years. The two-story front is white terra cotta made to look like granite and marble, with garlands and egg-and-dart trim, three bays, a recessed central entrance under a metal marquee and the Orpheum name molded into the parapet.

In 1919 the theater was sold to Finklestein and Reuben, and the Minneapolis theater architects Liebenberg and Kaplan remodeled it. In 1927 the Minnesota Amusement Company bought it and turned it into a movie house, showing second-run and B pictures. By the early 1950s it had fallen out of use, and in 1954 the Sioux Falls Community Playhouse bought and renovated it, beginning half a century of local theater on its stage.

The Playhouse kept changing the building. A 1975 renovation added stucco to the side and rear walls and cut the seating to 692, and in 1978 a 30 by 50 foot addition went up along the rear alley. In 1983 the theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest remaining theater in Sioux Falls. In the 1990s the Playhouse bought the King of Clubs building next door for an expansion called the Link to the Future, which was still unfinished when the city stepped in.

The City of Sioux Falls bought the Orpheum, the neighboring Actor’s Studio and the unfinished Link in 2000, and when the Playhouse organization closed in 2002 the city kept the theater running for outside groups. It set aside about $1.1 million for renovations in 2005; two of the original murals were restored by the Midwest Art Conservation Center in 2009, and new heating, sprinklers, a fire curtain, restrooms, stairways and lobby followed. Since 2019 it has been managed by the company that runs the Washington Pavilion, and it seats 686.

The ghost of the Orpheum Theater

The blue light in the balcony, 1959

The story everyone tells comes from 1959. An actor, remembered in later accounts as a local radio personality named Ray, was rehearsing alone on the stage late at night when he saw a glowing, pulsing blue light in the balcony with the figure of a man standing inside it. In 605 Magazine’s version the figure seemed to beckon him up. He felt a blast of icy air and left at once, locking the door behind him.

When the staff came in the next morning, 605 Magazine says, they found that the building’s newly wired fuses had blown. In another version of the story, told on a local history blog, the same actor was later knocked out twice by falling sandbags, once at a dress rehearsal and once on opening night. We could not find a newspaper report of either incident, so these remain the theater’s own oral history.

Who was Larry?

Staff have called the ghost Larry for as long as anyone remembers, but no one knows where the name came from. The theories are many and none of them is backed by a record. He is said to be a worker killed while the theater was being built, a stagehand killed in an accident during a vaudeville show, a theater manager killed by a jealous husband in a fight that spilled into the balcony, a soldier’s rival shot after dancing with the soldier’s wife, or an actor who killed himself after losing the role of Romeo.

Asked by 605 Magazine whether any murder was ever recorded at the Orpheum, longtime staff member Rick Huffman said, “Not that I’m aware of.” One local writer notes that newspaper files from the theater’s early years were said to have been lost in a fire, which leaves the field open for legend. Some say that seeing Larry on opening night means good luck for the show.

The vanishing photograph

In 1972, according to the local history blog, the theater’s technical director swept the stage and then found an old tintype photograph of a bearded man in his thirties lying in the area he had just cleaned. He set it on the light board and went to fetch someone; when they came back, it was gone. 605 Magazine tells the same story without the date. Some people think the man in the photo was Larry.

Footsteps, taps and touches in the basement

Travel South Dakota says staff and actors hear footsteps after closing and find taps and toilets running by themselves, and ESPN Sioux Falls repeats the stories of sinks turning on and a ghost who whistles a nursery tune. The most unsettling accounts come from the basement, with its greenroom, dressing rooms and hallway walls covered in the signatures of performers. People describe touches on the shoulders, back and head. Rick Huffman told 605 Magazine that he believes something darker than Larry is behind the basement activity, and a local psychic medium is said to have refused to go back down there.

Where to look

• The balcony: Where the 1959 blue light was seen, and where several of the Larry stories place his death. Sit up here for a show.
• The balcony stairs: Investigators who visited with 605 Magazine in 2018 reported cold sensations sweeping past them here several times in one night.
• The stage: The scene of the vanished photograph and the falling sandbags in the old stories.
• The basement: The greenroom, dressing rooms and the signature hallway, where staff and performers report being touched.
• The old projection room: Now used for storage; visitors in 2018 described it as unusually hot and reported an unplugged amplifier light glowing.

Visiting the Orpheum Theater

The Orpheum is a working theater, not a museum, so the way in is to buy a ticket. It hosts Sioux Empire Community Theatre productions, the Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues Society and touring and rental events through the year; check the events calendar on the Orpheum website or call the box office at (605) 367-6000. There are no regular public ghost tours or paranormal investigations, and the backstage and basement areas are not open to casual visitors.

The theater sits in the heart of downtown Sioux Falls, a short walk from the Old Courthouse Museum and the Washington Pavilion, both of which have ghost stories of their own.

• Visiting A working theater; buy a ticket to a show
• Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts

Tips for your visit

• Book a balcony seat if you want to sit where the 1959 story happened.
• Arrive early and look at the white terra cotta front and the molded Orpheum name from across Phillips Avenue.
• Ask staff about Larry politely; many have their own stories, but they are working a show.
• Make a day of downtown: the Old Courthouse Museum and the Washington Pavilion are a short walk away and both have ghost stories.
• With only 686 seats, popular community shows can sell out, so book ahead.

More haunted places nearby

• Haunted places in South Dakota: the Old Courthouse Museum, the Pettigrew Home and the Washington Pavilion are a few blocks away
• Haunted hotels in South Dakota: where to stay with a ghost story
• Herrick Hotel, Gary: a former school for the blind turned hotel, north of Sioux Falls on the Minnesota line
• Haunted places in South Dakota

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Wikipedia: Orpheum Theater (Sioux Falls)
• National Park Service: National Register nomination, Orpheum Theatre
• 605 Magazine: Paranormal Files, a look at the Orpheum Theater (2018)
• Travel South Dakota: Haunted indoor places in eastern South Dakota
• ESPN Sioux Falls: Haunted locations and scary legends around Sioux Falls
• Theresa's Haunted History of the Tri-State: South Dakota's Orpheum Theater (2011)
• Orpheum Theater Center: official site