TDW 1781 - What's Beneath The Old Masonic Theatre

0:02 welcome everyone Adam the woo here

0:02 coming to you from the mountains of

0:04 Virginia on this hill are three teeny

0:08 tiny items but as we get a little bit

0:10 closer you will start to notice that

0:12 there are three crosses up on the hill I

0:14 didn't even notice them at first I

0:16 pulled over and said I should fly the

0:18 Drone up here and get a better view get

0:20 a bird's eye closeup from The Majestic

0:23 if you will so that's what I did that's

0:25 how I'm starting the Vlog it's my second

0:27 channel daily Vlog channel it's is a

0:30 daily

0:31 woo heading now into downtown historic

0:35 Clifton Forge

0:41 Virginia this says customer parking only

0:41 Towing and forced but there is a cobweb

0:44 there a spider web and this place looks

0:47 to be pretty much abandoned so I think

0:50 I'm good I think I'm good to park here

0:52 it's kind of funny also because in St

0:54 Cloud Florida where I used to live there

0:55 was a Moors Market that resembles this

0:58 one pretty closely spelled a little

1:00 differently but kind of gives off the

1:02 same Vibe this old building the

1:04 architecture is really cool it's an old

1:05 doctor's office called the Stewart

1:07 building and it has a little Gothic feel

1:10 there with the archways and the carvings

1:14 what I'm curious about though is what

1:16 the heck is this there's two there's two

1:19 lines stretching across the road duct

1:23 taped to the ground and then over here

1:26 in the

1:32 corner is a Virginia do

1:32 box huh little speed trap maybe you know

1:37 how much I love old theaters this

1:39 Masonic theater was abandoned for many

1:42 many years and recently within the last

1:44 few months they have just reopened it to

1:45 the public we get to go

1:48 inside watch out there's a speed trap

1:51 down

1:52 there built in 1905 at a cost of

1:56 $40,000 the Masons held meetings here on

1:59 the third floor Flor from 1906 to 1921

2:02 and it's tough to see because of the

2:04 foliage but look at this mural on the

2:07 wall see if I can get in here a little

2:10 closer

2:13 Supreme some sort of product named

2:15 Supreme Bank the

2:19 difference and over here in the

2:22 window is an astronut Mickey Mouse SL

2:26 cookie jar slightly better angle from

2:29 this Direction trade with

2:31 Jameson's chain grocery stores guess

2:34 it's a grocery store sign right here

2:37 below the river that runs directly

2:40 underneath the town itself and the old

2:43 theater also this is the front foury

2:46 year the roof and the tiles down

2:50 here looking very beautiful and they

2:54 have the sign from back in the day

2:56 February 10th it doesn't have a year on

2:58 it Lash

3:00 America's number one action star

3:04 performed right in here I love how he

3:07 Incorporated a whip into his name pretty

3:09 unique there has been a lot of work done

3:12 in here this used to be all kind of

3:15 decomposing and covered up but they have

3:19 completely renovated it there are name

3:21 plates engraved on the armrests of some

3:23 of the

3:25 seats and one lucky person is my friend

3:28 Britney who's sitting in her chair and

3:30 your name is engraved over there too how

3:33 lucky are you pretty lucky many other

3:36 people Grace this stage one of them

3:38 being Tex Ritter country music star who

3:42 wrote a couple of the songs for country

3:43 bear jeree and was the father of the one

3:47 and only John Ritter he stood right here

3:51 and

3:52 entertained the crowd this is a picture

3:54 before it was renovated they didn't even

3:56 have the red chairs they do now they

3:58 just had looks like they had some church

3:59 pews and just some fold out metal

4:02 shars now a little bit more decorative

4:06 and at one point the box seats were

4:07 hidden they were closed off they had to

4:09 tear out the wall to even see them and

4:12 then they extended them back out to what

4:14 they look like current day I've never

4:16 been up in one of these VIP sections

4:18 before I feel like those two old guys

4:21 from the

4:22 Muppets play a

4:24 solo so low we can't hear

4:27 you wonder if anyone's ever fallen from

4:30 up

4:31 here that would not be good if you

4:33 needed to leave a show in the middle of

4:35 it and you didn't want to disturb

4:36 everyone you wouldn't go out the main

4:38 entrance you would go into what they

4:39 call a dark room inside here was

4:43 normally very low lit they would dim

4:46 these lights a little less that way

4:48 you'd go into an extra room before

4:51 exiting into the main lobby off to the

4:54 side they have built what they call the

4:56 annex and inside the building you can

4:59 see see remnants of the outdoor sections

5:02 where it says Clifton Hardware there

5:04 next to the popcorn machine and soda

5:07 fountain and up here these are remnants

5:10 these are sections of the lights that

5:13 once formerly hung inside the theater

5:16 the chandelier

5:17 Parts all combined into one oh look a

5:20 film reel up there also you can see

5:23 where they have repaired and replaced

5:25 and recolored all this new wood you can

5:28 definitely see where the vent

5:30 is shining through that's that's a relic

5:33 of the past right there and original

5:36 bricks as well here's another old photo

5:39 of the balcony area check out that water

5:41 fountain mounted on the wall it's still

5:43 there everything else kind of looks

5:46 different but the water fountain Still

5:49 Remains a relic of the

5:51 past sure am

5:53 thirsty too bad that's not working

5:55 there's now a high-tech digital

5:57 projection system heading straight down

6:00 towards the

6:02 stage but it's in the same spot as where

6:05 the original projector room used to be

6:08 behind that little hole there this

6:11 really decorative Archway and fire door

6:14 is still here there's the fire door

6:16 itself all cleaned up and painted and

6:20 there's the archway and the sky roof

6:24 there the

6:26 sunroof Jack skele

6:29 this might be my favorite spot simply

6:32 because of what it used to look like

6:34 check out this creepy picture this room

6:38 with the old tele it's like something

6:39 out of a horror film that's what it

6:42 looked like then back in its terrifying

6:45 days this is what it looks like now not

6:49 quite as not quite as scary at least I

6:52 don't think

7:10 now which reminds me so much of the

7:10 original Romero Dawn of the

7:13 Dead J for zombies at one point there

7:16 was an apartment in a kitchen up here

7:19 and as The Story Goes a woman died up

7:23 here and they say that her

7:25 ghost haunts the building to this day

7:29 that's not the only spirit that can be

7:31 seen around these corridors Mary who

7:33 used to run the theater she can be seen

7:36 around these parts sometimes as well

7:38 that's the kitchen I was referring to

7:39 where the electrical room is now the

7:43 fridge and the sink used to be in its

7:45 place and as I'm delving into these

7:47 these stories I'm noticing a spiderweb

7:50 outside the window just adds to the

7:52 Ambiance just a tad one thing that's

7:54 incredible is that you're wearing the

7:55 same tennis shoes as you were how many

7:58 years ago was this picture you're taking

8:00 uh four or five four or fivey old

8:04 shoes those have those have obviously

8:06 served you well they're they're holding

8:07 up very very very decently one of the

8:10 first big country stars Tom Mix he

8:13 performed here also over a 100 Years of

8:17 history in this

8:19 place pretty

8:22 incredible stepping into the old

8:24 Ballroom now and this is where the

8:26 Masons used to meet the stage you see in

8:29 front there not really sure what went on

8:32 there a lot of that is kept secretive

8:34 but if they had any sort of

8:35 presentations or rituals or whatever

8:37 they would do they would do them right

8:39 there on that little

8:42 three stair elevated and

8:54 ballroom pretty nice view from up here

8:54 look at those old tiny houses and

8:56 there's the convenience store my RV's

8:58 parked out of just on the other side of

9:00 that wall well hopefully hopefully

9:02 hasn't been moved into the

9:10 basement not so bad looking

9:10 now that's

9:12 the rusted out pipes and kind of like

9:15 almost like Evil Dead style back then oh

9:19 definitely definitely not frightening

9:22 now they have cleaned it up

9:26 considerably I like this it's like a

9:28 sweet little hangout spot slightly

9:31 terrifying versus current day not scary

9:36 in any way shape or form I do like that

9:39 they have continued to use the original

9:42 wooden pillars though still left those

9:45 down here you can see from the photo

9:48 that they were in the same place even

9:51 back

9:59 then just imagine being in here back

9:59 then when it was a little more ominous

10:01 looking with the lights off and out

10:04 these windows unbeknownst to you because

10:07 of the darkness you could hear the

10:09 Rippling current of the

10:11 stream going

10:15 by gosh just look imagine looking out

10:17 this window at night the chuds are out

10:20 there I would have wanted to find a

10:23 hiding spot would it looked like that

10:24 back then was that where you hid when

10:26 you were down here behind that pole see

10:29 me be well I'm out of focus okay now now

10:31 oh there you go now back yeah hi hide

10:34 hide the monsters are coming no oh never

10:38 mind thought never mind sir I thought

10:40 thought that was a monster there used to

10:41 be another place in town called The

10:42 Ridge here's an old photo of their

10:44 Marquee and here is that Marquee they're

10:47 also fixing that up as well with the old

10:50 neon just tucked away in this little

10:53 secret room I was just talking to the

10:55 gentleman who runs and manages this

10:57 place and he said at one time there were

10:59 were 60 children on this stage way

11:01 before the refurbishment in the 1990s

11:03 and the stage caved in with a bunch of

11:08 kids on the stage crazy he was also

11:12 telling me that Johnny Weiss Mueller the

11:13 original Tarzan was here and he had

11:16 cheetah with him doing a performance and

11:18 cheetah got loose in here and my

11:20 favorite tale he told is Roy Rogers rode

11:24 trigger the horse down the aisle and

11:27 onto stage r randomly he was in town

11:31 people told him there was a theater here

11:33 he brought the crowd with him and did a

11:36 performance right on this freaking stage

11:39 how awesome is that just outside is this

11:42 very unique Amphitheater I've never seen

11:45 a stage built quite like this before the

11:48 old wooden stairs still in place it

11:52 almost looks like something more like a

11:54 skate park than it does for

11:57 concerts and performances it's a little

12:01 different but I like it you waiting for

12:04 the show to

12:06 start

12:08 waiting you might be waiting a while

12:10 it's just it's just me I didn't bring a

12:12 guitar or drums or anything students at

12:15 Virginia Tech built

12:18 this not sure of the year of its

12:21 design but it's pretty cool looking back

12:23 tucked away in this alley is a graveyard

12:27 of old chairs

12:30 shopping carts and there is everything

12:33 here but the kitchen

12:35 see oh they got that

12:42 too I don't know if you can see it but

12:42 there's a train up there on the

12:50 ledge zipping

12:50 along heading into Covington now that

12:53 you see off on the horizon is a paper

12:55 mill it's an interesting smell if you've

12:57 never smelled a paper mill

12:59 you really don't know what you're

13:01 missing once again on the country back

13:05 roads going through the

13:08 woods I think I'm going the right

13:10 direction it's hard to tell because I

13:12 have no cell phone service at the

13:26 moment are you scared out here big the

13:26 foot are you scared

13:33 no feel right at home don't you going

13:34 straight up now up side of a

13:36 mountain not really a lot out here but

13:39 just

13:40 trees trees

13:44 and oh yeah look at that there's

13:47 more

13:52 trees this road is seriously escalating

13:56 quickly and very very windy

14:03 wow look at seriously it just never ends

14:03 it just keeps winding like a snake it's

14:05 like slithering up the side of the

14:09 mountain range and it's getting narrower

14:12 it's getting narrower it's getting

14:14 narrower the higher I go listen very

14:16 closely well not that closely just

14:18 listen in general and you will hear the

14:21 soothing sounds of

14:35 Kong a majestic epic

14:35 waterfall kening and festooning over a

15:21 Vlog

15:21 over

TDW 1781 - What's Beneath The Old Masonic Theatre

Transcript