I’m really not the type to believe in ghosts, but that’s changed…recently. Of course, I’ve heard paranormal tales from a lot of folks that have been in and around the Rialto Theater in downtown El Dorado, Arkansas, but I’ve discounted all of them…until a few months ago.
I’d gotten a call from the El Dorado Main Street office to tell me they needed some photos from the Theater to go with my grant request. I grabbed my camera and headed for the locked up, empty Theater and soon I was on the stage taking shots. The 1929 Theater has a large stage, with a 60 foot ceiling in order to put the screen on the fly and have live preformances on the stage. Just as I was about to finish with the photos and heard something: Footsteps…and these footsteps were coming from a catwalk 55 feet over my head. The catwalk is high enough to where it’s completely in the dark. The steps continued and the hair on my neck started to rise. These footsteps were so loud they couldn’t possible have been made by an animal. They finally stopped and I headed toward the front of the theater. Then, just before I got to the lobby, I smelled smoke. There was not a doubt in my mind that it was from a cigar.
Well, I knew there was a theater manager during the 1940s through the 1960s by the name of Mr. Rob, who chewed and puffed on a stubby cigar as he patroled the theater. Was this the ghost of Mr. Rob? Maybe…I sure don’t have any other explanation.