Carolina Theatre — the ghost of the 1981 fire in Greensboro, North Carolina

The Carolina Theatre in Greensboro, North Carolina, was set ablaze on July 1, 1981, by a woman who entered the theater and started a fire that caused significant damage but fortunately no deaths. The fire damaged the theater's auditorium and backstage areas extensively. Since the restoration and reopening of the theater, staff and performers have reported paranormal activity that many attribute to the traumatic fire. The most frequently reported phenomenon is the smell of smoke in areas of the theater where no fire source exists, appearing suddenly and then dissipating within minutes. Staff working late have described hearing a woman's voice whispering or humming in the backstage corridors, the sound of running footsteps in the empty auditorium, and seeing a shadowy female figure near the area where the fire was started. Some performers have described feeling an intense heat in specific parts of the stage, inconsistent with the theater's climate control. Lights flicker during performances, and equipment has malfunctioned in ways that seem connected to the areas most damaged by the fire. The Carolina Theatre has a history predating the fire, having opened in 1927, and some staff believe additional spirits may be present from the building's earlier decades as a vaudeville and movie palace.