Kai Roberts, writing for Spooky Isles, describes the Lawrence Batley Theatre as a cherished local theatre and arts centre originally built in 1819 as a Methodist chapel. At one point it was the largest Wesleyan mission in the world. Its undercroft, now the Cellar Theatre, served as a crypt for the chapel between 1819 and 1855.
Roberts says 84 bodies were interred there and forgotten about until the 1970s, when they were exhumed with great care and secrecy in case infectious diseases such as tuberculosis or typhoid had survived among the remains.
Staff at the theatre have reported a range of strange phenomena from the former crypt: locked doors opening of their own accord, house lights flashing on and off although the control desk was unmanned, and an incongruous figure in dapper Victorian garb walking the corridors long after the building has closed for the night.
The account gives no individual witness names or dates, so it is a collective staff tradition rather than a documented case. The burial history is the real, checkable part and clearly feeds the ghost story.
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