Old Haunts of Alpena: Thunder Bay Theatre
ALPENA, Mich. — Is the Thunder Bay Theatre haunted?
Former Artistic Director for the Thunder Bay Theatre, Lucas Moquin, lived in the building’s loft with many actors over the years. He told WBKB that many of them saw or heard strange things in that time.
“I heard some shuffling around, like someone was moving things in this apartment. So I poke my head out to look down the hallway. And I could hear movement in the kitchen. Then I heard a loud bang! And i was the only one upstairs. I was the only one in the theatre.”
Some may chalk that up to the building’s age, but actors are notoriously superstitious. Moquin said some blamed Agnes, the ghost that supposedly haunted John A. Lau Saloon’s second floor.But others wondered if it was another ghost— one they’ve nicknamed “Aggie.”
“Either she fell out of a window, or she was pushed by her mother. And she lost her life right about where we’re standing on Fletcher Street.”
But Moquin says there’s one major problem with that story.
“I have no way of verifying this. I haven’t seen any hardcore evidence of it.”
Urban legend or not, actors have blamed Aggie for everything from exploding light bulbs to missing costumes.
Moquin remembers how her interference with Shakespeare’s infamous “Macbeth” made believers out of everyone— at least for one night.
“All of the sound cues for the show fired at once. Every single sound in the show was playing at once… On the keyboard, [the stage manager] hit the escape key but it didn’t work. Every sound just kept playing and playing and playing.”
Despite his doubts, Moquin said he always made sure to greet Aggie when he stepped inside. Just in case.
