History & local legend
Ernie is the familiar name given to the Academy Theatre’s ghost in Meadville. The name refers to Ernest P. Hempstead, the newspaper editor whose efforts helped establish the theater in 1885. Performer Kayla Styborski learned about him at theater camp in 2011 and later worked onstage, backstage and at the ticket counter. Greeting Ernie was a customary way to feel less alone in the empty building.
Beginning in 2016, Styborski sometimes felt that the presence followed them on the drive home. Unlit candles on an old television would repeatedly fall over, and they noticed it tended to happen after visits to the Academy. In an October 2021 American Theatre interview, Styborski said addressing Ernie by name made the disturbance stop for a while, extending the theater’s greeting ritual into their own home.
