The Real Haunted Story Of Burton Cummings Theatre

The Burton Cummings Theatrical for the Performing Arts, formerly the Walker Theater, is a Winnipeg theatrical Grande Dame. It opened with Puccini's new opera, Madame, a butterfly on February 18th, 1907. Cordless powers Walker and Harriet Walker expatriate entrepreneurs wanted to offer Winnipeg the greatest concerts.

The pair booked the most popular European and Eastern US performances. Many Winnipeggers first saw the Symphony, opera, musicals and ballet. There, Harry Houdini, Bob Hope, Louis Armstrong and Jimmy Durante performed at the Walker. Many notable community activities took place at the Walker.

Suffragette Harriet Walker helped Nellie Mcclung host her woman's parliament at the Walker. The Walkers supported their community beyond women's rights to maximize theatrical attendance. They added a second balcony to the theater.

This balcony became known as the gods since customers sat so high they must have been with the gods. Tickets for the gods were $0.25, making it accessible to those who could not afford the theater. During a solo or small group rehearsal, performers have heard the gods applauding as if an invisible throng was witnessing a concert.

Many more unusual things happen in the theater, especially at night when just the security officers are there. Doors that should be open are closed without reason. Normally well behaved guard dogs at other work sites will bark at nothing and refuse to enter specific theater areas.

And Mabel? Prominent English actors are blamed for the Walker theatre haunting. After a successful North American tour, they performed at the Walker Theater, which was just seven years old.

The handsome 42 year old son of Sir Henry Irving, the first stage performer knighted, had booked passage home to London via Liverpool on the Corsican but a friend convinced them to transfer to the larger Canadian Pacific sister ship Empress of Ireland.

They would fail. The Empress of Ireland sunk on May 29th, 1914, killing over 1000 people including Lawrence and Mabel. The most famous the deadliest marine tragedy in Canadian history.

Winnipeg theatre goers were horrified and grieved by the deaths of. They had cheered the week before in typhoon, the unwritten law the Lily and the first complete production of the importance of being earnest.

According to the Manitoba Free Press, Irving told the audience that he was leaving with only the best memories and will return with a new play. Irving was last seen holding

Hackney as the ship sank, still holding a piece of his wife's night dress. He was discovered dead. No one discovered 34 year old Hackney. Their memory was honored with a shining copper plaque in the Walker lobby after the disaster. Irving and Hackney returned as House ghosts of the Smith Street Theater, where they last played. Causing strange whisperings, clapping and ghostly sightings.