Pop Culture Passport - Exploring Quirky & Cool Travel Destinations in the USA
Pop Culture Passport is your guide to quirky and cool travel destinations across the USA. Every other week, we explore unique things to do, from movie and TV filming locations and theme parks to roadside attractions, quirky museums, regional foods, and the fascinating stories behind the places you visit.
If you'd happily add 60 minutes to your trip to visit a filming location, the Jell-O Museum, a legendary roadside attraction, or a local spot with an incredible backstory, this podcast is for you.
I'm Beth Schillaci, aka the Roaming Yeti. I'm a travel content creator, pop culture nerd, and firm believer that the best discoveries happen when you layer a little curiosity on top of wherever you're already headed. I call them side quests: the detours, the unexpected stops, the "wait, THAT'S here?" moments that make any trip unforgettable and personal.
Whether you're planning a dedicated trip or looking for the perfect thing to add to somewhere you're already going, a work trip, a family visit, or a drive through a new city, there's always something worth the detour.
Think of this as traveling with your slightly nerdy, sort-of-cool friend who loves deep dives, unexpected discoveries, and finding the story behind the story.
Explore episodes about:
- Movie & TV filming locations
- Quirky museums & unique attractions
- Road trips & roadside attractions
- Theme parks & themed entertainment
- Regional foods, candy history & food tourism
- Day trips & weekend getaways
- Hidden history, origin stories & local legends
- Pop culture travel across the USA
Grab your Pop Culture Passport — let's roam.
Pop Culture Passport - Exploring Quirky & Cool Travel Destinations in the USA
Historic Theaters, Ghost Stories & Legends
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Episode 158
Episode Description
What do a Ziegfeld Girl, a 12-year-old named Mary, a projectionist nicknamed Fink, and a man who admits he made up a ghost story have in common?
Apparently, none of them are very good at leaving the theater.
In this episode of Pop Culture Passport, we’re visiting six historic American theaters where the stories happening offstage may be just as interesting as the ones performed onstage. From Broadway’s New Amsterdam Theatre and its famous Ziegfeld Girl to a Wild West theater with more than 140 bullet holes in its walls, these buildings have collected plenty of history, and plenty of ghosts.
Along the way, we’ll meet the mysterious Mary of Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre, George at West Virginia’s Apollo Civic Theatre, longtime Tampa Theatre projectionist Fink, and a Missouri theater employee who freely admits he invented one ghost story, but insists the theater really is haunted.
And before we leave, we’ll explore the tradition of the ghost light and why theaters around the country leave a single bulb burning on an empty stage.
Because sometimes the most interesting part of a ghost story isn’t whether the ghost is real.
It’s figuring out where the story came from.
Featured in this episode:
- New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City
- Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee
- Apollo Civic Theatre in Martinsburg, West Virginia
- Landers Theatre in Springfield, Missouri
- Tampa Theatre in Tampa, Florida
- Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona.
You ready? Let’s roam.
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