The Grand Opera House, Oshkosh: Percy Keene and the Ghosts of the Grand

The Grand Opera House stands at the corner of High Avenue and Market Street in downtown Oshkosh, a cream brick Victorian theater that opened in 1883 and is now owned by the city. It is often called the oldest operating theater in Wisconsin, and it seats about 550.

It is also one of the state’s best-known haunted theaters. The ghost everyone mentions is Percy Keene, who worked backstage for more than seven decades, but staff and tour guides also talk about a phantom dog, a lady called Rose, a boy called Charlie and a strange orange mist on the stage. In 2026 the building is closed for a major renovation, so this is a guide to the stories and to what comes next.

History of the Grand Opera House

The Grand opened on August 9, 1883, with a production of The Bohemian Girl by the C.D. Hess Opera House Company. Its architect, William Waters, had already designed more than 100 buildings in Oshkosh. For decades it was the city’s stage for touring companies, lectures and local events.

Ownership changed many times. W.G. Maxcy and W.D. Cummings bought it in 1918, and in the late 1920s Isabel Maxcy, widow of the previous owner, closed it for months to add modern heating, lighting and plumbing. In 1948 Sol Winoker bought it for $40,000 and ran it as a movie house called the Civic Theater, and from 1950 it was the Grand Theater, with its entrance moved to the corner and about eight feet cut from the stage apron. By the 1970s the building was falling apart.

A citizens’ Save the Grand committee led by James and Joanne Alderson got it listed on the state and national historic registers, and after a long campaign, a 1980 referendum asked whether the city should buy, restore and run the building. Two-thirds of voters said yes. Work began in October 1982; only the proscenium and balcony survived, so much of the interior was rebuilt, and the Grand reopened in 1986 at a cost of about $3.5 million.

In 2009 engineers found structural flaws in the original 1883 roof trusses and the city closed the building for emergency repairs. It reopened on September 16, 2010, with a gala performance by Jeff Daniels. In 2026 the Grand closed again for a $16 million expansion and renovation, adding a larger lounge and performance space and an outdoor stage on Opera House Square, with performances moved to UW-Oshkosh. It is due to reopen in time for the 2027-28 season.

The ghosts of the Grand

Percy Keene

Percy Keene was a stage manager at the Grand from 1895 until his death in 1967, according to a 2002 feature in the UW-Madison student magazine Curb. People who say they have seen him describe a man in a white shirt and small wire-rimmed glasses. The legend is that he loved the theater so much he stayed on after death. Nobody describes him as frightening.

The fog on the stage

In the same feature, executive director Bob Destocki described sitting alone in the darkened theater and watching a wispy white fog cross the stage and disappear into the wings. Stagehands denied playing a trick. Visit Oshkosh adds an orange-tinted mist that is said to hover over the stage.

The seat that will not stay up

Staff told Curb about a seat in the first or second row that keeps being found down after it has been raised. Some say it was Percy’s seat.

Rose, Charlie and the dog

The theater’s Spirits of The Grand tours, led by re-enactors, add more characters: Rose, a woman in a 19th-century dress who has been waiting more than a century for opening night; Charlie, a young spirit seen and heard in the basement; and a former owner’s dog heard barking through the building. Director Joseph Ferlo told WBAY in 2025 that the ghosts are mischievous pranksters who keep an eye on the place, though he has never had an experience himself.

Where to look

• The balcony: where Percy Keene is most often said to appear.
• The stage: where the white fog and the orange mist have been described.
• The front rows: home of the seat that keeps going down.
• The basement: where Charlie is said to be seen and heard.

Visiting the Grand

In 2026 the Grand is closed for its $16 million renovation, and its season of touring acts, local groups and private events has moved to a stage at UW-Oshkosh, 1020 Algoma Boulevard. The project is being coordinated with the Wisconsin Historical Society and the League of Historic American Theatres, and the theater expects to reopen for the 2027-28 season with many more performance days a year.

Until then you can see the building from High Avenue and Market Street. When it reopens, look out for the return of the Spirits of The Grand Halloween tours, which have been the best way to hear the ghost stories inside the building, and for performances in the restored auditorium. For tickets and updates, contact the box office through the theater’s website.

• Visiting Closed for renovation in 2026; performances have moved to UW-Oshkosh
• Tours Spirits of The Grand ghost tours have run around Halloween
• Ghost hunting Ghost tours only, when the theater is open

Tips for your visit

• Check the theater’s website for its reopening date and the next Spirits of The Grand tours.
• When it reopens, sit near the front and keep an eye on the seat that will not stay up.
• Look up at the balcony, Percy Keene’s favorite spot.
• Stay the night at Hotel Retlaw in Fond du Lac, half an hour south, said to be haunted too.

More haunted places nearby

• Hotel Retlaw, Fond du Lac: a haunted 1923 hotel south of Oshkosh
• Haunted places in Wisconsin: the rest of the state’s haunted places
• Haunted hotels in Wisconsin: where to stay for a haunted night
• Haunted places in Wisconsin

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.

• The Grand Oshkosh: History
• The Grand Oshkosh (official site)
• NBC26: Grand Opera House relocating during $16 million renovation (2026)
• WBAY: The haunted stages of The Grand Opera House in Oshkosh (2025)
• Visit Oshkosh: Haunted hot spots in Oshkosh
• UW-Madison Curb magazine: Haunted Wisconsin (2002)