There were whispers that he wooed starlets in his theatre, and room off of the alley beside the Grand Theatre did lead to a secret office, but nothing will stick to Ambrose Small like the story of his death... or lack thereof.

In 1901, 38-year-old Ambrose Small opened the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. He was born nearby in Bradford and became a theatre operator with holdings in London, Kingston and Toronto. He did well for himself and by 1919 he was a wealthy man and well known in the theatre community. Despite his passion for theatre, not even Small could have foreseen the dark turn his story was about to take on December 2, 1919.

Tim Whitty is the current building manager at the Grand Theatre and he led me on a tour of the building so complex that at times I wasn't sure if we were in the basement or 45 feet above the stage. Both above the stage and below it there are hidden doors, hallways between walls and, surprisingly enough, some of the most advanced heating/cooling systems in Canada. On the topic of Ambrose, Whitty doesn't have many whimsical notions, but he's dealt with his fair share of those who do. "Someone thinks the building manager at the time killed him and burned him in the furnace. Other psychics have come in and said he's buried under the willow tree by the river." If the first guess is true, his memory will fade into the folklore of London. As for the willow tree, no luck yet.

The last verifiable location of Mr. Small was in Toronto on December 2, 1919. He went to a bank and deposited $1 million. The funds came from selling his six properties to a theatre chain and another $750,000 was due in payments over 25 years. The reason for selling his holdings remains a topic of debate among the theatre community and, at the time, the general public. Though there's never been any substantial proof to the accusation, many believe he was obliged to sell his theatres in order to settle debts.

Small has lived on in London in past years through the work of a man who puts on an annual show through the London Fringe Festival. Jason Rip is a local playwright who puts on an event every October called the Lost Soul Stroll. The Stroll consists of touring several of the more haunted places in London to meet the reincarnations of these characters, each with a story to tell. I asked Rip why he selected Ambrose Small as one of the notable characters chosen to reappear in past years. He responded, "(Small) is London's most famous ghost and Canada's most famous disappearing person. Even without vanishing from the face of the earth, Small would have been remembered as a theatre magnate, a notorious womanizer, etc." This behaviour wasn't unknown to Small's associates but his mysterious disappearance ensured that every aspect of his personal life was pored over by both police and the media of the time.

In the period following the disappearance, it became widely believed that his wife, Theresa Small, had played a role. Beyond that, there were even rumours of a cover-up by the officer in charge of the investigation but, as with everything in the case, nothing could be proved. The hype surrounding Ambrose Small's fate has turned an ordinary missing persons case into one of the most talked-about disappearances in London's history. Since the case was closed in 1960, there's little to suggest that any closure will be had for his story either in the ashes of a furnace or under any particular willow tree. Ambrose Small will never be gone and never be found.

Despite the negative connotation that comes with ghosts, it's possible that over 50 years after his passing, Ambrose saved The Grand. In the late '70s there were renovations done to repair much of the damage that decades of use had done to the building. The great arch for which the Grand Theatre is renowned rests on a support block located at the base of the stage. While workmen were renovating, it was decided that this seemingly useless post should be removed to continue with the rebuilding. Before the support was touched, a curious thing happened: saws stopped working. Any power tool that approached the support would cease to function. Upon further investigation of the site, it became apparent that this support was the cornerstone for the famed arch. Electrical shorts, faulty outlets or bad batteries are all likely explanations, but who would know better where the arch's cornerstone rests than the man who put it there?