08/30/2026
The Everett theatre 🎭 in Middletown, Delaware, has a history almost as dramatic as anything performed on its stage. The site first became a performance venue in 1863, when the Town Hall and Opera House opened. That building was destroyed by fire on December 31, 1918. A replacement opened in 1919 but suffered the same fate, burning on April 6, 1922.
The present Everett Theatre was built later in 1922 and opened to audiences that November with the silent film Under Two Flags. Designed by Philadelphia theater architects W.H. Hoffman and Paul J. Henon Jr., it originally seated roughly 750 people and featured a theater pipe organ and its own electrical generator.
After closing in 1979, the theater fell into disrepair until local citizens organized to save it. Restoration efforts eventually brought it back to life, and it reopened in 2009 after another major setback: a large section of its ceiling collapsed in 2008.
👻 The haunting
The Everett has acquired a reputation for ghostly activity, although these stories are folklore rather than documented paranormal fact. Local accounts describe unexplained noises, strange sensations, and possible apparitions. A 2025 account noted that “ghost stories from The Everett abound,” adding to the theater’s spooky reputation.
Its history certainly provides an atmospheric backdrop: two fires, decades of performances, abandonment, restoration, and even its appearance as “Hedley Hall” in Dead Poets Society.
In other words, whether you believe the Everett is haunted or simply feels haunted, its century-plus of stories gives the old theater plenty of reasons to seem alive after dark.
The Everett Theatre
Photo Cred: Dynasty Paranormal