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 celebrated turn as Hamlet helped rebuild a career shadowed by his brother John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin. Legend holds that Booth was so moved by the Columbus audience's warmth 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 is playful rather than menacing, most active in the prop and costume rooms where wardrobe and props slip away only to reappear in impossible places. A tall figure in a top hat is said to drift through the halls, and decades of staff, guests, and ghost-tour visitors have traded the same gentle, mischievous encounters. The theater leans into its legend with regular ghost tours and a former artistic director's book chronicling his own brush with the "Springer Ghost."
📍 103 10th Street, Columbus, GA 31901, Columbus, GA · Get directions