On Friday, Halloween night, the city is hosting a sold-out tour of the KiMo, during which they will discuss the history of the theater and of little Bobby’s death. It will be the first chance the public has ever had to go backstage and see the legendary shrine that has been built and maintained by superstitious performers; people still give offerings of doughnuts, toys and notes to Bobby’s ghost in an attempt to keep him from causing mischief, said Joan Gallegos, tour guide and social media specialist for the city’s Cultural Services department.
“It’s really popular, the myth and stories about the ghosts of the KiMo. It’s something people love to talk about and it’s just part of our collective culture in Albuquerque,” Gallegos said. “I’ve known many people who claim that they’ve felt things when they walked into the theater, that they felt a presence. I’m not one who has. But we’ve had people come in, whether they knew about the ghost or not, who have made a comment offhand that they’ve sensed something in the room — that they’re not alone.”
According to an article from the Albuquerque Journal archives, on Aug. 2, 1951 Robert Darnall was sitting in the theater balcony watching a movie with his friends when he got scared and ran down to the lobby. Just as he got down the stairs, a water heater suddenly exploded, injuring seven people and hurling Bobby into the wall, killing him.
The tragedy shook the community, and when the theater reopened, crews often brought doughnuts to eat while they worked and left any leftovers as an offering to the dead child, said Larry Parker, KiMo Theatre general manager.
“If there were any doughnuts left they would just leave them somewhere backstage, and then mysteriously by the next day they would disappear,” Parker said. “Therefore Bobby must love doughnuts, and people have been doing it ever since.”
Eventually, performers and crews began tying these doughnuts to strings and hanging them on the wall, until Christmas of 1974, when the director of a performance told his crew to take down the old pastries hanging backstage.
According to the story, that night’s performance was a disaster, with actors falling down and dropping lines, light bulbs exploding — total chaos, according to an article from the Alibi archives.
“By the mid-’80s there had been several performing artist groups that had complained of things happening backstage or during performances that they couldn’t quite explain,” Parker said. “So the belief became that Bobby perhaps was being the mischievous spirit that was causing things in certain productions to go wrong.”
The next night, when the crew replaced the doughnuts, things went back to normal, and the cast had a perfect show.
Gallegos said she has been aware of the story since she performed in a musical at the KiMo as child.
“As a child performer I remember being creeped out, and I remember leaving a doughnut when I was a kid,” she said. “I think our shows went off without a hitch because we did that.”
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The only known sighting of Bobby’s ghost happened more recently, during an extensive renovation of the theater, Gallegos said. Two businessmen who had never heard of little Bobby came inside, hoping to book some shows. When a city employee approached them, they said they had just seen a young boy sitting up in the balcony. The worker searched the whole building and found no one — in fact, all the doors were locked, she said.
“They had no idea how or why a child could’ve gotten up there,” Gallegos said.
Just three weeks ago, Parker said he experienced something he could not explain. Sitting in his office on a Sunday afternoon, the door suddenly swung shut and locked him in. Although the lock was on his side of the door, he could not get it to open and had to call a locksmith to get him out, he said.
“I can’t explain it, it’s just one of those things,” he said.
Gallegos said she is excited to be a part of the tour because it is a chance to share the unique past of the city in a fun and engaging way.
“The KiMo Theater is a piece of history,” she said. “We have those gems all over Albuquerque, and this is one that we’re finally opening up to the general public.”
Parker said it is these kinds of stories that keep the KiMo alive and interesting to the public, and that the tour is important for educating people about the history and heritage of the theater and the city.
“The KiMo has been on this corner, educating this community since 1927. This building is one of the few in downtown Albuquerque that is still doing what it was originally designed and opened to do 87 years later,” Parker said. “And all theaters need to have a resident ghost.”
Doughnuts have become such an important part of the legend that local bakery Rebel Donut is sponsoring the tour, giving out commemorative Bobby Darnall doughnuts to every tour-goer, Gallegos said.
Jonathan Baca is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JonGabrielB
