I have been holding an article in reserve for quite awhile as I waited for the Halloween season to roll around. 10 years ago this week Atlas Obscura had an article about why theaters place ghost lights on stage between performances.

I had always heard the superstitious reasoning that it either placated or suppressed the ghosts in the building to keep them from creating mischief in the dark theater. As a practical reason I had heard it marked the edge of the stage so people wouldn’t fall off into the pit or on to the floor.

This latter one always seemed the best explanation given that light switches are often not placed in convenient locations in theaters to prevent people from accidentally turning them on during a performance. Thus one is often obliged to wander around a little bit in the dark to get to the switches.

The article also mentions related reasons like a burglar snuck in to rob a theater, fell off the stage, broke his leg and won a big lawsuit. I have also heard the same story about private homes. Kinda makes burglary sound like a win-win proposition. You make money if you get away with the goods or if you fall through the skylight and get caught.

There is also a claim that the Actors Equity union list a requirement for the light to be placed on stage in their contracts. Though there is no indication such a rule has ever existed.

One explanation I found intriguing with a fair degree of possible credibility is that when theaters used gas to provide stage lighting, there was always a low glow of the footlights along the edge of the stage which were never fully extinguished so that pressure didn’t build up in the gas lines.

I was wondering if anyone had heard any additional interesting folklore about the ghost light.