Located on historic Main Street in Van Buren, the late-Victorian King Opera House is an architectural treasure of the Old West tightly bound to a tragic, Gilded Age murder. Originally opening its doors in 1880, the brick-and-mortar theater quickly became a vital stop for traveling performance troupes traversing the frontier. The catalyst for the site’s historical haunting occurred in September 1896, when a dashing young actor named Charles Tolson arrived in town with the hyper-popular Great Southern Theatrical Company. Tolson fell deeply in love with Allye King, the daughter of the theater’s prominent owner, Dr. Harvey King. Unwilling to let his daughter run away into an unstable life with a traveling stage performer, Dr. King cornered Tolson at the local train depot as the troupe prepared to depart, drawing a pistol and shooting him down on the platform. Tolson died of his wounds days later.

Tolson’s spirit is heavily tied to the physical structure of the stage, appearing as a melancholic, top-hatted silhouette known to staff and actors as “The Man in the Top Hat.” Since the late 20th century, performers and stagehands have documented a remarkably consistent set of anomalies. During live theatrical productions, a figure wearing a 19th-century cape and silk top hat is frequently seen standing silently in the dark wings of the stage, watching the actors before dissolving into the masonry when approached. Visiting actors routinely report their costumes being tugged by unseen hands in the basement dressing rooms, while stage managers document sudden, drastic temperature drops on the catwalks and the clear sound of a man pacing across the empty floorboards long after the building has been locked down.