"Whispers From the Grave" in Irvington Indiana

One of the main reasons I wanted to visit Indianapolis recently was to spend some time in the Irvington area.  in fact, this looks like a great area for the season!

AND, Alan Hunter mentioned to me that a GREAT theater event would be going on while I was in the town.  At the Irving Theater, there would be a presentation called "Whispers From the Grave."  This event would feature local celebrities reading from court transcripts and witness accounts relating to some of the most horrific crimes from the area. 

The event was free to the public, with a suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Irvington Free Press.

Also, these were some interesting local personalities with national recognition.  I was very impressed that Dave Wilson was there.....  Check out his bio relating to Indianapolis sports teams....  not to mention his work on the Bob & Tom show!  AND, I had just finished reading one of Ed Wenck's books, so I HAD to get that one signed by him (more on that book later).  Anyway..  this was an interesting group performing!

We arrived at the theater around 1.  We visited a VERY nice antique shop in the same building as the theater.  Probably around 1:30 we went on in to the Irving.

This was our first time in the Irving, and it is....  well, not exactly polished.  It looks old and historic.  It wasn't overly fixed up.  BUT it felt durable and scrappy!

It feels like the community is doing its best to keep the place going.  There were old church pews for seating.  There was a nice viewing screen on the stage.

AND, most impressively......  the stage was part of one used at Market Square Arena.  Alan Hunter mentions this in his books, and he brought it up on the ghost tour later.....  BUT that stage is part of the last stage that Elvis Presley ever performed on!  Yeah....  the theater's cred just went up MANY notches.

So, we took our seats and enjoyed a local folk musician performing before the reading.

Alan Hunter ran the show, doing intros and some narration.  We were impressed by some videos that ran during the reading.  Silent movie footage was shown at times, to go along with what was being talked about on stage.  There was also an intro and outro film shown to set things up, and to show credits at the end.

The entire event was well over two hours and there was an intermission.

I have read about most of the characters and their stories (mostly in Alan Hunter's books) but it was so fascinating hearing their actual words read out loud.  This was lively and dramatic.  When the event was over, we felt like we wanted more.  We did not feel like we had been setting on church pews for hours.  This was a very special event.

After the performance, all of the readers stuck around to sign flyers and posters and they were all very pleasant.


This was such a great afternoon of October entertainment, and it was such a unique, one off event.  I am glad that I got to attend.  I think it might be a good idea to keep an eye on Irvington to see what they have up their sleeve each October!