At 405 Cleveland Street in Clearwater, Florida stands the beautiful Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre. It opened March 21, 1921, making it one of the oldest operating theaters in Florida. This Tampa Bay landmark saw everything from vaudeville to Jesus to a terrible crime, and before you ask, yes, it’s absolutely haunted.

In the early 1900s there was a bandstand at what is now the corner of Cleveland Street and Osceola Avenue in downtown Clearwater, and in 1921, state senator John S. Taylor opened a 944-seat theater which became home to vaudeville productions and silent movies. It was hugely successful and became an important part of the city’s social landscape for decades to come.

As vaudeville and silent movies died out, it continued to offer a gathering place for the community to watch films, though as the multiplex rose in popularity, the Capitol became less of a mainstay for moviegoers. By the 1960s it began to decline, and in the 1970s, the theater had to close.

At the end of the decade a local pair, William “Bill” Neville and Jerry Strain, leased the building from the family of John Taylor to screen classic films as the Sunshine State Theater. They reopened in January 1980, but unfortunately saving the theater wasn’t as easy as they’d hoped, and it was closed in October of that same year. In February, the Royal Theatre Group assumed the lease, but Bill wasn’t ready to let it go, so he held on to a key and would often spend time inside the building, even when the new management began renovation work.

On the evening of Sunday, May 24, 1981, drifters Darrell Gene Ward from Michigan and Charles Robert Jeffrey from Ontario met at a shelter in town, where they concocted a scheme to find someone to rob by cruising the gay bars in the area. They found their mark at the In-Town Lounge- Bill Neville. After a few drinks, Bill agreed to take the men to somewhere more private, and he drove them to the Capitol Theatre, where he used his old key to get in.

Once they were in the theater, Bill tried to put his arm around Charles, who snapped and began brutally beating Bill, with Darrell joining in. When he was unconscious, they tied him to a chair on the balcony, bound him and gagged him, took his money, keys, and watch, and then drove around Tampa in Bill’s car. Later they returned to Clearwater where they ate at the Howard Johnson. During the meal, Darrell stole a steak knife and reportedly told Charles that they “can’t leave any live witnesses”.

The two drove back to the Capitol, where they found the still unconscious (and likely already deceased) Bill, and Darrell repeatedly stabbed him in the torso. They fled the scene and ditched the car keys and knife. Bill’s body was found by a construction worker the next day, and both men eventually pled guilty to first degree murder charges and were sentenced to life in prison.

In December 1981, the theater formally reopened and was renamed Royalty Theatre, a playhouse for the Royal Theatre Company. It was during this period that the first whispers about paranormal activity began. There were claims of voices and noises that were heard during rehearsals, and after a producer witnessed a chair “slam shut” on the balcony, he says he apologized to Bill for what happened to him and there was never any further activity.

In the 90s, the building changed hands twice- in 1995 when it was sold to Accents Craft and spent a few years as a social hall, and in 1999 to Socrates Charos, a dance teacher, minister, and ballroom dancing champion. Charos kept it as a theater, albeit with a Greek Orthodox facelift, and he added opera, a museum, and silent movies to the offerings.

During Charos’s tenure, the “faded image of a knife” on the stage wall randomly appeared, and though it’s been painted over, it keeps returning. He also claimed that lights would go on and off without cause, that he heard footsteps, and that he saw the apparition of a man who would become known as The Captain by the west theater entrance.

The Captain is a spirit that has been reported many times over the years. He makes his presence as a clear apparition wandering the halls- a man with a goatee, wearing a peacoat and fisherman’s hat. He’s handsy with women and boisterous, and is known to haunt actors backstage and move set pieces around.

The arguably most famous apparition of the Capitol Theatre, however, is Jesus. Yes, that Jesus. Charos notably once claimed to have seen the Good Lord Himself at center stage. Considering all of the religious iconography covering the building during his time there, it’s not for me to say whether it was really the Son of God or a trick of the mind, but I’d be remiss not to mention it.

Sadly for Mr. Charos, the theater faced foreclosure once again in 2008, and the City of Clearwater purchased the building as well as two adjoining buildings, and they restored and expanded the space, reopening in 2009, under its original name- the Capitol Theatre.

In 2012-2013, the building underwent a $10m renovation. During this time, an exterior wall of one of the adjoining buildings- the Clearwater Sun newspaper- was exposed. On this wall were the names of locals who served in WWI, with stars next to the names of those who were killed. It had been hidden when the theater was built in 1921, but once it was uncovered, it was incorporated into the interior of the theater, called the Panel of Honor.

After the renovation, the now 20,000 square foot building reopened in 2014, with a capacity of just under 750 for shows and concerts. Ruth Eckerd Hall (a local performing arts venue named for the wife of Eckerd Drugstore’s Jack Eckerd) runs operations as part of the six-venue Richard B. Baumgardner Center for the Performing Arts. They received a donation in 2019 of $2.5m and the theater now bears the full name of The Nancy and David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre in honor of the donors.

To this day, the paranormal activity continues. In addition to The Captain, some claim that Bill Neville still roams his beloved theater. Legend has it that he saved someone from a terrible fall while he was working on the balcony during a renovation. Paranormal teams have found high levels of EMF in the area where Bill was murdered as well.

CEO Susan Crockett mentions another spirit who calls the theater home- an unidentified young girl, around age 10, who is mischievous and “playfully watches over the theater”. She has been seen in the exterior lobby and it seems as though she’s “waiting for someone to come get her”.

Paranormal teams who have investigated have reported temperature changes, energy fluctuations, photos with orbs, a chandelier that seems to swing without cause, and building alarms that go off for no reason. Other teams claim to have connected with a maintenance worker in the basement and a group of friendly stage workers in the attic.

In spite of its challenging past and the brutal murder of Mr. Neville, the Capitol is a thriving part of Clearwater’s arts community today. They have embraced all the history of the place- as Ms. Crockett says, “the good, the bad, and the weird”- and that includes the paranormal. They talk openly about the hauntings and even offered a Haunted Happy Hour as recently as 2022. The folks at the Capitol know that the spirits are there for the same reason everyone else is- because it’s a welcoming environment where people can feel at home.

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*Sources used:

Ken Summers- Queer Hauntings (2009)

https://www.floridahauntedhouses.com/real-haunt/capitol-theatre--royal-theatre.html

https://gothicgetaways.com/blog-post/the-haunted-bilheimer-capitol-theatre-clearwater-fl/

https://www.vpshoots.com/blog/2016/11/capital-theatre-clearwater-florida

https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/history/2021/03/16/clearwaters-capitol-theatre-which-hosted-vaudeville-and-maybe-jesus-turns-100/

https://pinellascountyhistory.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/capital-theatre-clearwater-fl/

https://www.rutheckerdhall.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Theatre_(Clearwater,_Florida)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/320058455

https://www.newspapers.com/image/335331511