Rialto's Many Ghosts Include 'Vivian' And 'Little Colin'

JOLIET, IL — Some houses and buildings are known for having a ghost, but Joliet's Rialto Square Theatre is different. Its paranormal activity is not just confined to one ghost. Several spirits are known to wander the giant Rialto, which is regarded is one of the most beautiful performing arts centers in North America.

The theater opened in 1926, and a couple of its best-known spirits are believed to have been long-standing presences inside the Rialto. They even have names, according to Leann Hoffrogge, manager of event services for the theater.

Backstage, the star's dressing room is known to have paranormal activity.

"We believe the woman is named Vivian and perhaps a former Vaudeville performer," Hoffrogge said.

Professional ghost investigators who have visited the theater in downtown Joliet have used instruments that they say detected Vivian talking to them.

Also, according to Rialto legend, a specter known as The Woman in White or The Bride likes to haunt the theater's back staircase.

"We've had numerous people see her," Hoffrogge told Patch. "A lot of times people will encounter her when we're having wedding receptions. She's wearing a white dress, so we think that it's possibly a wedding dress, hence the name The Bride."

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There's also a spirit known to run around the Rialto and cause havoc.

"A little boy who's known as Colin, and he's about 4, and he likes the stage and is very mischievous. So, he'll tug on your clothing, poke you in the body or tug on your hair," Hoffrogge explained.

According to legend, Colin was hit by a car on one of the downtown Joliet streets and rushed inside the theater, where he died. However, the Rialto has conducted an exhaustive research into that scenario, and staff have found no newspaper articles about a small child ever being hit by a car and dying at the Rialto, according to Hoffrogge.

The ghosts of Vivian and Colin have been a regular presence inside the Rialto for many decades. In other words, they are not modern-day spirits, unlike the famous Ghost of Joliet Catholic High School, Father Kellen Ryan, who died in a fiery car crash on March 6, 1972.

The popular paranormal show Ghost Hunters visited the Rialto on multiple occasions over the past decade in hopes of capturing a spirit or two on tape.

During one investigation, no one in the Joliet community knew ahead of time that the "Ghost Hunters" were in the Rialto theater conducting a two-night investigation because the TV crews showed up in unmarked vehicles, Hoffrogge explained.

The "Ghost Hunters" episode that aired in 2012 was called "Curtain Call."

"We had a camera in the rotunda facing toward the promenade and the balcony," Hoffrogge recalled. "They called us the Holy Grail because you can see an apparition in the balcony."

In recent years, the Rialto led its own paranormal investigation, and during the event, "it looked like someone was playing the ropes of the fly rail like a harp," Hoffrogge remarked.

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The Rialto staff member said that the theater stagehands are known for being extremely careful and safe during their work. But there was one time in recent years when some Christmas ornaments suddenly came crashing down on the stage and landed between two men who were influential in local politics and the theater's management, Hoffrogge said.

"We've had people be in the theater and their seats were moved down and there's nobody there," she said.

Hoffrogge also talked about the paranormal recordings made in the theater, recordings that appear to bring out the voices of spirits answering questions posed to them.

The belief is that many of these spirits are people who performed inside the theater many years back "who are so comfortable where they've been that they don't want to leave," Hoffrogge said.

"I've personally heard male voices in our building and balcony when I was the only one in the building. In our offices, sometimes black shadows come down the hallway. We've had doors open and close by themselves."

Hoffrogge said that when the Rialto finally reopens after the pandemic restrictions are lifted on Illinois performing arts centers, "we can't wait to again host our paranormal investigations."

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