Three Locally-Haunted Properties to Check Out this Spooky Season

The old cobblestone roads hint at just how historic our beloved St. Paul is. And with history, there are always stories to be told. Join us as we revisit the history of local properties — including some former residents who might be lurking within their walls.

When it first opened in 1922, the Mounds Theatre was a popular hangout for the locals of Arden Hills to watch silent films.

It seems some might have made it a permanent place to dwell. Tourists have reported bizarre encounters, including a cinema usher strolling the aisles in search of his long-lost love, a child bouncing a ball on stage, and an old man that wails during film screenings

After decades of premieres, screenings, and a few renovations, the theater closed in 1967.

Recently, ReAnn Ruth, a nonprofit community organizer, worked to re-open the doors of the 1920s-styled cinema as a community center for people to gather once again to enjoy music, live theater, and film.

She says there’s still this ghostly feeling she can’t shake.

“I was in here one night, alone,” Ruth told the Pioneer Press, “and when I turned on the alarm and got ready to leave, something put its hand on my shoulder. It didn’t want me to leave. I left.”

Spooky.

If you’re daring enough, the Mounds Theatre offers regular tours through October. Tickets can be purchased at realhauntedotours.com.

The Landmark Center is a courthouse-turned events center, where the ghosts of several 1930s gangsters have been rumored to crash the occasional party.

The most infamous of these departed racketeers is Jack Pfieffer, a young man who worked as a bellhop but joined a Minnesota mob as a way to get ahead.

Pfieffer’s get-rich-quick schemes — money laundering and bootlegging, notably — quickly caught up to him. In 1933, he was found guilty for the kidnapping of William Hamm (of Hamm’s Beer fame)  He was publicly convicted in room 317. 

Unable to face the misery of sitting in a jail cell for 30 years, Pfieffer committed suicide by potassium cyanide.

37 years later, the building was to be demolished.  Fortunately,  the St. Paul community joined hands to save it. Now under the watchful care of Minnesota Landmarks (a nonprofit organization), the courthouse lives on as a cultural art and event center.

Swing by, and you just might get to meet Jack and his mob friends — famous for appearing in wedding photos, whistling at women, hanging around the bar, and generally living it up prohibition style.

Who could blame them for wanting to party inside this luxe five-story castle? If you want to join in on spooky fun, the Landmark Center offers Gangster Ghost Tours.

Some ghosts love to perform, and the Fitzgerald Theater is a favorite venue to do so.

The theatre, which opened its doors in 1910, is said to be haunted by the ghosts of Veronica and Ben — one, a former actress and the other, a former stagehand.

During restoration work on the structure in 1985, workmen discovered a message addressed to Ben on a second balcony after removing a false ceiling. Since then, a male trickster ghost has been spotted and is said to play lost and found with workers & tools.

If you’re looking for a haunt or to hear Veronica singing from the auditorium, check out this spooky property located at 10 E Exchange St, St Paul, MN 55101.