Springer Opera House
Opened in 1871 and now a National Historic Landmark, the Springer Opera House drew the great tragedian Edwin Booth to its stage in the 1870s, where his Hamlet helped rebuild a career shadowed by his brother John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin. Legend holds Booth was so moved by the Columbus audience that his spirit never left, vowing to linger until Hamlet graces the Springer's boards again.
Cast and crew, often the women among them, describe a presence that feels playful rather than menacing, most active in the prop and costume rooms where wardrobe slips away only to reappear in impossible places, and a tall figure in a top hat drifts through the halls. The theater leans into its legend with ghost tours and a former artistic director's book chronicling the "Springer Ghost."
📍 103 10th Street, Columbus, GA 31901, Columbus, GA · Get directions