Brookhaven Little Theatre productions take place in what notonly used to be a movie theater, but what is now a “haven” for sometheater enthusiasts who are a little out of the ordinary, becausethey still hang around after passing away years ago.

“What we believe is that Mr. Downing, who was the former ownerof The Haven, has appeared several times to a number of people,”said Carol Ritchie, one of BLT’s founding members. “The first timewe were really aware of it, one of our board members was in thetheater while they were doing repairs before the Little Theatermoved in there, and she saw a man with patent leather hair if youknow what I’m saying, greased down and combed directly back. Anumber of her crew saw him, too.”

John Landress, another of BLT’s founding members, said he’snever seen the ghost, but he’s had an odd feeling in the building atime or two.

“I’ve been in there and felt a little weird occasionally, butnothing more than you would expect in a dark damp building likethat,” he said.

Ritchie said his late wife, Nita, had several experiences withMr. Downing, who apparently liked to play hide-and-seek with herprops.

“She was in a production and had a straw hat that she had towear on stage at some point, and at the beginning of theperformance you always know where you props are,” said Ritchie.”And the hat would be missing, but it was always just moved over tothe back of the set where her entrance was going to be, she saidevery time. I think the performance went on for six nights, andevery time the hat would be missing.”

But it turned up in exactly the same place every time, too, saidRitchie. Nita also had to lay down the law with the playful ghost,who tried to leave her in the dark one night as she worked onsets.

“She was painting and doing some last-minute touch-up work on aset, and the lights went off. And of course when you say dark, it’scompletely dark in there,” he said. “Being the level-headed personshe was, she said, ‘Mr. Downing, I’ve got to finish this set, andthere’s only so much time to do that, I need you to turn the lightsback on.’ And they turned on.”

And others say Nita wasn’t ashamed to tell them stories of Mr.Downing either.

“Nita was sure of that cotton-pickin’ ghost,” said Landress,laughing.

Mr. Downing isn’t the only ghostly presence at the Haven,either, according to the stories. Sometimes they visit duringspecific productions, apparently.

“During one production, though I don’t remember which one,umbrellas could be seen floating up the hall, and apparently therewas someone underneath,” said Ritchie. “You would just see it goingtoward the door and I don’t know if the door ever opened, butthat’s how it happened.”

And Mrs. Lowery, who used to quiet the children if they gotrowdy, also still roams the aisles of the Haven, Ritchie said.

“Mrs. Lowery was a wonderful, kind, nice lady who wore extremelyloud perfume, and she always perfectly dressed, but the perfumewould hit you first,” said Ritchie. “A number of times people havenoticed this perfume smell if they’re sitting in the back of theauditorium watching a rehearsal. The perfume would come by them anddie away.”