The Mar-va Theater was built on Pocomoke City’s Market Street in 1927 as a vaudeville theater, and the spirits of two mayors, and a little girl are believed to haunt the place. At least those are the spirits people have seen or felt.  The theater was named Mar-Va because of its location on the Maryland (Mar) and Virginia (Va) border. Today the Mar-Va is fully restored and is an active movie theater. It even has a theater company.

Why do historic theaters always seem to be haunted?

Like jails, courthouses, battlefields, and graveyards – places where there is a high injection of human emotion tend to have a thin veil between the two worlds. You can almost see the old soldiers walking, running, and dying on the Gettysburg Battlefield. The energy of their deaths and suffering is palpable. The negative emotions of old jails and courthouses where people have been judged, condemned, and punished give off a fearful, anxious presence. People even pick up on the negative energy of hospitals.

Old theaters, like the Mar-Va Theater, have a high level of collective emotion because people come together and engage their imaginations collectively to appreciate an art form. The actors use their emotions to get into character and perform, and we – the audience use ours to fire up our imaginations and live in the moments they create.

Someone Died on Stage at the Mar-Va.

Pocomoke City mayor, Curt Lippholdt, was influential in the restoration of the theater and loved it. He was known for his deep love of Pocomoke City. Mayor Lippholdt loved the old theater and saw it as a treasured asset to the people of the town. He never met a stranger. Joanne Lusby, who owns a hardware store located across the street from the Mar-Va, said of Lippoldt, “He was a friend to everybody in Pocomoke, whether he knew them or not. People loved him because he couldn’t do enough for you and he was the same way with the theater. He just had to do more than his part.”

They say that Mayor Lippholdt was speaking on stage at an event in 2011. He was presenting an award – then suddenly he stopped talking – looked up to the balcony, stared a few seconds, and then dropped over – right on stage. He died one day after his 85th birthday.  What a great place to pass into the next life.

Mayor Dawson Clarke was a huge influence in town, sometimes referred to as “Mayor for Life.” He started as the piano player for the silent movies that played at the Mar-Va and eventually purchased the theater. Years ago when the Marva showed movies, some say Dawson would cover the eyes of kids when the movie showed parts he thought were inappropriate. Others say he spliced or blacked out the scenes he thought they shouldn’t see. Mayor Clarke collapsed of heart attack on the street in front of the theater. Many who work in the Mar-Va think Dawson is still there … helping them. They’ll lose things and ask him to help find them. Sometimes the lights go out in the back of the theater … sometimes they come on by themselves.

Toilets Flushing, and Curtains That Will Swallow You Up

The cleaning ladies believe that there are many spirits at the Mar-Va. One of them was cleaning the stage area when she brushed against the stage curtain and it began to swallow her up. As she tried to break free, the curtain wrapped even more around her and restricted her movement. She thought it was person behind the curtain attacking her, but once she broke free the curtain just hung there – as still as when she first walked up to it.

She later stated that none of the cleaning crew would work in the stage area alone, and that she won’t enter the theater alone, nor will she enter without wearing her cross necklace.

Allie, a person who works in the theater said that the toilets flush by themselves. They all have motion sensors as a flushing mechanism, and when no one is in the theater but the staff, the toilets will arbitrarily flush. She recounted an instance where she unlocked the door to come into the empty theater, and just after securing the door behind her all the toilets in the restroom started flushing.

Lights come on in unused parts of the theater, and on one occasion she turned a light off, then left the room, and then saw that it had come on again. When she returned to the room the light switch was in the OFF position… but the light was on. So she turned it on again – and then off, and it finally went out.

Allie shared another story about a time that she was alone in the theater before a show was to start. She was popping popcorn in the concession stand. She heard a noise in the lobby and went out to see if someone had come into the theater. The doors were locked and no one was there. So she returned to the concession stand and closed the door. Then the knob started to rattle on its own.

She said, “The fewer people we have in here, the more crazy stuff we get. Lord, help the one person who is here alone. We move about the theater in pairs now.” Allie said the most disturbing thing that happened when she was working a movie. Everyone was gone and Allie was locking up. All the doors had been locked. Then she heard a noise in the dressing rooms under the stage. She called out to see if someone was in there. No one answered. She heard it again and then investigated. She went into the dressing rooms and checked the bathrooms in there. She found nothing. Then as she walked into the theater she saw a little girl standing there… just staring at her. She didn’t respond to Allie, she just stared. Then she vanished.

Today the Mar-Va is an active theater and shows movies every other weekend for a $5 admission. Learn more about the Mar-Va Theater

The Mar-Va Theater is on our Pocomoke Ghost Walk – and sometimes they let us inside.  Check for tour times on our website.