Are The Theater Ghost Lights In Only Murders In The Building Season 3 Real?
Contains spoilers for "Only Murders in the Building," Season 3, Episode 6: "Ghost Light"
Working to solve a murder while exploring the world of Broadway. It's what fans can expect during "Only Murders in the Building" Season 3, which begins with the murder of actor Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) during the opening night of Oliver Putnam's (Martin Short) Broadway show "Death Rattle." His sudden collapse is a big cliffhanger at the end of Season 2. Now, Oliver, Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) have to navigate the ins and outs of the theater business in order to crack the case, and that includes becoming acquainted with the ghost light.
As Charles explains in Season 3, Episode 6 "Ghost Light," the single bulb is placed center stage when a theater is dark, keeping watch over the building. While it may appear to be a symbolic ornament, or even a ghost detector, Kim Russell, who was the stage manager for the Broadway adaptation of "Legally Blonde," told Playbill that it actually helps to keep everyone safe. "You've got the edge of the stage leading to the orchestra pit, and if there weren't any lights and someone were to get in accidentally, it would be really easy to just walk off the edge of the stage and fall," she said.
But Howard Morris (Michael Cyril Creighton) is holding on tightly to the ghost light's possible ghost origins, which still haunt theaters to this day.
How ghost lights interact with ghosts dwelling in theaters
When it comes to spirits interacting with ghost lights, Broadway producer and author Jennifer Ashley Tepper told CBS News, "The more romantic history of ghost lights is, of course, that they're lit so that the ghosts will either have company and be able to move around freely, or to keep the ghosts away." As Howard Morris explains at the beginning of "Only Murders in the Building," Season 3, Episode 6, "Ghost Light," ghosts are common theatergoers.
The ghosts of former theater performers and crew members continue to make their presence known throughout Broadway's theaters. Allegedly, David Belasco is one such spirit. According to The Shubert Organization, Belasco once lived above his theater and haunted it for a time. Meanwhile, the Palace Theatre is supposedly home to the ghost of Louis Bossalina, an acrobat who performed at the theater in the 1930s, according to Spectrum News NY1.
"Only Murders in the Building" has invented a ghost for Season 3. Episode 6 of the show. The episode tells the tale of the Goosebury Theater's namesake, Gideon Goosebury (Quentin Collins), who was killed while on stage during an opening night performance. But Gideon needs more than a ghost light to stop his mischief. Many have learned that sweeping the stage each night keeps his curses at bay. But Howard did not sweep the stage on the opening night of "Death Rattle," leading Howard to believe that he helped Gideon kill Ben.