History & local legend
The State Theatre in Easton calls its resident ghost Fred, after former manager Fred Osterstock. His connection with the building extended beyond work: when a flood damaged his home in 1955, he moved into an office beside the theater’s foyer.
During the 1970s, maintenance workers reported seeing a man standing at the back of the empty auditorium or entering a utility closet. Police called to investigate found no intruder. Then, in the late 1970s, historian Ken Klabunde saw someone walk off the otherwise empty stage as he was closing the building. He later recognized the figure in a photograph of Osterstock.
The theater embraced the story as part of its identity. In 2003, it named its annual awards for local high-school theater the FREDDY Awards, turning its former manager into the namesake of a new generation’s performances.
