The Hobart Art Theater! 

The Hobart Art Theater was built in August 1941. The original owner kept the building into the 20th century. The theater reached its 80 year anniversary this year!

 

Prior to that, on the same location, was the Hobart House. It was built around 1870-71 by Edward Roper.  It operated continuously as a hotel for some 48 years. It also had a restaurant with a banquet room and a ballroom on the third floor. Behind it was a livery stable to accommodate travelers' horses. It ceased to operate as a hotel in 1918 and became a community building. Weekly dances were held in the ballroom; the banquet room was available for rental; other rooms were rented to businesses. In 1927, the tenants included Axel Strom's tailoring shop and Amlong's Restaurant.

 

During its many long years here, it sometimes served as a hospital for the city of Hobart. There was a local Doctor of course that worked out of his house but if there was an outbreak of say tuberculosis (TB) or there were lots of people that needed to be put up that were sick and needed hospitalization, the Hobart Hotel served this purpose. The city didn't have an actual hospital for a number of years. So, we can assume that there were deaths related to the old building as hospitals do tend to see a fair number of deaths.

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My personal connection to the theater is that my great great grandfather, Charles Kietzman, once owned the Hobart House in the 1918. The great depression hit and he lost everything as many did back then. He, as the owner, wasn't willing to throw families out with nowhere to go. He lost everything from what I understand, partially because he was a nice guy.

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The Hobart house was demolished sometime around 1938-39. The Art Theater was built in 1941 on the same spot.

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Previous owners of the theater. back in the 70's and 80's, lovingly worked at the theater every weekend showing movies and serving popcorn. As the owners wife passed, her husband eventually sold the business and moved on. 

 

Years later, movie patrons walking into the dark theater would sometimes see a shadow sitting in the back row. When they turned to get a second look, the shadow had vanished. Perhaps these people chided themselves into thinking that their eyes were merely playing tricks on them. Unbeknownst to many, this was the same exact spot that the wife of the owner would sit during shows keeping an eye on the teens to ensure good behavior.

 

I recall as a teen that sometimes the seats were cut up with pocket knives or something. Teens had been causing mischief maybe? Perhaps she's still there watching and keeping an eye out for trouble.

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There have been many other strange tales over the years, especially of the chilling cement block basement which seems to be part of the original old Hotel. Many folks have had strange experiences here.

 

With the Indiana Ghost Trackers, I recall on our investigation that we had gone downstairs and had temperature drops and "felt" something watching us the whole time we were down there. You know that feeling, like when eyes are on you but you can't figure out who's watching you. One of our members felt something touch their arm gently. It was enough to startle her and send her back upstairs. We did get EMF hits but I dismissed most of this due to wiring and electrical interference.

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Most interesting was a video shot in the theater with our quad camera system showing an orb moving up the aisle. We tried to debunk this as something natural but the results of the test showed that what was captured, could not have been dust. It was a floating ball of light that came straight up the aisle. It could almost be the light of a lantern or flashlight.  No one was behind it as it slowly moved up the aisle as if with a purpose.  Almost, as if searching for something or someone. Then it continued up the aisle and past the camera, again, there was no human body behind the light.

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Anthony, the manager, told me a story of a large orb, or ball of light, seen floating across the theater. It was seen with the naked eye (not on film or camera) that vanished into the wall mural all the way on the other side of the theater. It traveled the entire length of the theater. This was witnessed by a number of people at the same time and  certainly something that Anthony couldn't explain.

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We did find other evidence here as well. And there is another story of a death that happened here but we'll save that information for the tour.

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We'll have access to most areas including the projection booth also said to be a little spooky.

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It is an old theater with lots of charm and character common to old theaters of this era. It also can be a bit spooky though, in the dark, especially that basement!

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As with all of our Ghost Hunting tours, lots of equipment will be available for use

 including full spectrum cameras, night vision cams, EMF meters, IR thermometers, the Real Time EVP recorder, the SB11 Ghost box and tons more!  We'll work with the guests to investigate the theater. At this time we're limiting it to 20 people and will split up groups for our investigation of the old theater.

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Dates so far for 2021 Thursday nights, October 14th & 21st 7 PM till 10 PM

(Fridays and Saturdays are not possible since these are shows that run late at night here on the weekends! Make sure that you come visit and listen to all their great bands!)

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