Entry No. 42 — the Dallas file — filed under: John-Wilkes-Booth
Granbury Opera House (John Wilkes Booth seat)
The 1886 Granbury Opera House is a fully active community theater run by the Granbury Theatre Company, staging 8-10 productions per year — and it carries a genuinely eerie legend: a local bartender named John St. Helen, who worked the bar next door and occasionally performed on this stage, confessed on his supposed deathbed to being John Wilkes Booth, then recovered and fled town. Actors today still report a balcony seat that folds down on its own, supposedly reserved for the ghost of Lincoln's assassin.
The move: Catch a live Granbury Theatre Company production at the opera house, then linger in the balcony afterward to find the infamous "Booth seat" — ask a cast member to point it out — before walking the courthouse square to pick up the Granbury Ghosts and Legends Tour that covers the opera house and other haunted stops nearby.
📍 Before you go The opera house anchors Historic Granbury Square, a restored 1886 limestone building right on the courthouse plaza that's billed as Texas' first downtown square on the National Register, so it's easy to find once you reach the square itself. Parking around the plaza fills fast on show weekends, so arrive early and be ready to walk a block or two. Getting inside the intimate auditorium and up to that balcony generally means holding a ticket to a performance, so plan around the production calendar. The surrounding square packs in shops, restaurants, and the after-dark ghost tour for an easy pairing.
- 📍 Granbury
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 133 E Pearl St, Granbury, TX 76048
Hours: Mined 2026-06-07 — confirm current hours before you go.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · texashighways.com
last checked: 2026-06-07