All theatres worthy of the name have their resident ghosts.
The Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline is no stranger to the whiff of ectoplasm.
Construction began in 1920 when there was plenty of entertainment in the town.
Options included the Opera House in Reform Street and the OIympia in High Street.
The Alhambra Theatre opened in August 1922 with capacity for 1,700 people.
The theatre was where locals watched silent movies from 1924.
The projection room was reputed to be haunted by a ghost.
One evening, in 1943, a man was about to enter the toilet during the interval of a movie when he was met by a panic-stricken soldier trying to get out.
The soldier screamed that he had been disturbed by a woman in black who had simply disappeared through a wall.
The Courier said one theory was the ghost was a former Italian actress who was thrown from the balcony of the theatre by a jealous lover in the 1920s.
In the 1940s and ’50s there were regular sightings of a ghostly visitor.
The Alhambra later proved a popular platform for acts such as Harry Gordon, Andy Stewart, the Alexander Brothers, Jimmy Logan and the White Heather Group.
Like many cinemas, the Alhambra turned to bingo from 1965 as attendances declined.
There were infrequent sightings of a figure in black.
A haunted seat at the Alhambra Theatre?
Not all self-proclaimed believers were easy to dismiss.
Bingo hall manager Mike Davison claimed he witnessed the shadowy shape of a woman when working alone one evening in his office in 1983.
The lady in black was also seen by a cleaner and a painter while the theatre was undergoing extensive refurbishment in the summer of 1984.
The painter claimed to have come face to face with the ghostly figure.
Matters came to a head in autumn 1984.
A policeman and a doctor reported seeing a face at a window of the building.
The complicated alarm system inside had not been not tripped, though.
A search of the building revealed nothing.
Bingo boss was shaken by ghost encounter at Alhambra
“Return appearance of the Alhambra ghost” was The Courier’s headline after Mr Davison went public in April 1985 following another “ghostly sighting”.
He was speaking to supervisor Lorraine Drylie and her mother Sally.
He said: “I was just about to go and change out of my dinner suit before locking up when I noticed what can best be described as a black shadow making its way up through the central passageway of the auditorium.
“My mouth dropped open in mid-conversation.
“I could only stand and watch as the shadow disappeared into a room at the back of the hall, at the window of which members of the public had reported seeing a face in the early hours of one morning last autumn.
“But when I went to check the room there was nothing there.
“Lorraine and Sally both noticed that I was shaken but said they had seen nothing as they had their backs to the passage.
“They did not hang about, though, when I told them I thought we had been visited by the famous Alhambra ghost.”
Spectral sightings continued in April 1985
Mike said the shadowy shape started to appear far more frequently after work began on a new pool hall extension.
He wanted his ghostly visitor put to rest.
He was inundated with many reports of sightings in the past.
“The suggestion is that we have all met the ghost of a young Italian actress who was murdered by her lover, who threw her off the balcony while she was working here at the turn of the century,” said Mike.
“But there is also a theory that the theatre is built on the site of a former religious establishment and that our visitor used to be a nun.
“One caller has suggested that it might even be that of one of my predecessors.
“He phoned to tell me that, many years ago, his friend was manager here and always swore he would return to make sure the place was being properly looked after.
“Funnily enough, our ghost always seems to appear when there is some upheaval.”
Did the ghost move from manse next door?
Grace McKay from Crieff suggested the ghost was actually a monk who could have moved when its number was up at the now-demolished manse next door.
She lived there for 18 years.
She said she was often visited by the spectre her family called “Our Friend”.
“He always struck us as being male and visited the manse quite regularly,” she said.
“It was really quite a friendly relationship and none of us ever came to any harm.”
She said the ghost was a “regular visitor” to the bedside of her oldest son Roderick.
“He would often tell us of waking up to see the man sitting there, and on one occasion I went into his room just in time to see our friend turn to look at me, before gliding through a wall,” she told The Courier in May 1985.
On other occasions, Mrs McKay, recalled being awakened at 5am, when china was thrown on to the kitchen floor.
He said it became “quite a common occurrence” for pictures to be removed from walls and placed undamaged elsewhere.
“I am convinced there was something in the manse which may well now have moved into the bingo hall, which our house backed on to, before it was demolished.”
Mike was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Cometh the hour, cometh the ghostbusters
Two Dundee photographers offered to spend a Saturday night locked in the theatre.
Would they catch the unwanted visitor?
“I have had plenty of requests from people wanting to spend the night alone in the building, but these two gentlemen from Dundee are the most serious,” said Mike.
“Apart from anything else, a photograph of our visitor as proof of her existence, would surely put an end to all the arguments.
“There are a great many people who have seen this ghost for it not to make just one appearance too many some day.”
The self-proclaimed “ghostbusters” installed cameras and tape recorders.
They drew a blank in their efforts to capture the ghost on film.
“As well as setting up cameras and tape recorders at strategic points throughout the auditorium, we searched every nook and cranny in the building, but the lady in black failed to appear,” said one of the photographers.
“The stories of moving shadows and recognisable shapes at the Alhambra all give credence to the suggestion of a ghostly visitor.
“We are both convinced that something can be done.”
They vowed to return with more specialised equipment to try again.
The trail went cold.
Ghost Club investigated in 2008 and 2009
Carlton Bingo moved into new, purpose-built premises in Halbeath in 2006.
The Alhambra was now empty.
It was refurbished and reopened as a theatre in June 2008.
The Ghost Club, which lists Charles Dickens among its founder members, carried out two investigations.
They visited the venue in August 2008 and September 2009.
Investigators witnessed a black flowing figure “seemingly float across the circle”.
Proof of the existence of the woman in black?
Perhaps the stage is set for some future fright nights at the old building on the hill.
Conversation