Oh, I thought that the “phantom of the opera” was just a fictional character. It turns out that a real opera ghost exists, but he isn’t the masked character we see in the play, no - he’s just a sneaky theater tech. Organ enthusiast Joe Patten repaired the Fox Theatre’s Mighty Mo, the second largest organ in the world, which was broken for fifteen years. He earned his reputation as a ghost by spending his time in the theatre maintaining its instruments and moving like a ghost through the structure, as Cracked detailed:
In return, the Fox eventually made Patten its Technical Director and, since he "was spending 16 hours a day at the theatre anyway," let him live there rent-free. The Phantom chose a series of abandoned offices as his lair, which he remodeled into a 3000 square foot luxury apartment. Through a gate with a hidden lock that only a password could open, several winding steps would lead only Patten to a Moorish Rococo abode that would've fit perfectly in a Gaston Leroux novel. (This blog has a gorgeous photo gallery of the apartment in all its theatrical grandeur). It even had a revolving bookcase that led to a secret closet -- if he ever needed a place to stash billowing capes and sinister half-masks.
Image via Cracked
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