The Odeon - Bristol UK

I lived in Bristol for a few yrs about 20 yrs ago..............................my son was born there before I came to live in Torquay Devon............

While living there I got to know alot of the local haunted places there, and there's quite a few as well...........................

THE BRISTOL ODEON

The odeon in the city centre provides popcorn, the latest flick and a phantom or two.......
A former manager of the cinema who was murdered in 194 is said to wander the corridors, and staff have also reported several shadowy figures who mill around the auditorium, disappearing when approached.
a seat in the third row of screen three is said to play host to a film-loving apparition who never misses a show.
So you could feel cold while watching your film, it might not be cause you forgot your jumper..................................

Then

Now

As if inspired by the pages of a crime novel, the murderer of cinema manager R.N. Parrington Jackson, in 1946 waited in the packed cinema for the exact moment a shot was fired in the Ronald Coleman thriller The Light That Failed, before he empty a barrel into the ill fated impressario. Despite a huge police investigation Jacko’s murder remained a mystery until fairly recently. His killer was never brought to justice. There appeared to be no motive for the killing.
Just moments previously Jackson had been laughing and joking with the restaurant staff and had just returned from the box office with the takings from the day. But none of that £800 had been stolen.

On May 29th 1946, at the Odeon Cinema in Broadmead Bristol an invisible and undiscovered killer shot Parrington Jackson once through the temple. There were six shots in the cinema that night; five were from the 6.30 showing of the film The Light that failed. No one heard the sixth. It seems that the clever murderer timed the fatal bullet to coincide with the fictional gunshots, killing the cinema manager with an eerie premeditation. No one will ever know who killed Parrington; the mystery will never be solved, but those who visit and work in the Odeon Cinema cannot quite forget what happened on that evening in May 1946.......

'Detectives investigating the death of Mr R.N. Parrington Jackson, 32-year-old general manager of the Odeon Theatre, Bristol, found shot through the temples in his office last evening, have solved one mystery and are faced with two more. 'The mystery they have solved is the identity of the patron who phoned them from the cinema to report the shooting. This man has now come forward and has volunteered 'a most helpful statement'. 'The police are still trying, however, to find the weapon and a motive. Late this afternoon they reported 'absolutely no new developments'. They expected to be engaged at the Odeon all day today and possibly tomorrow.

'Mr Jackson's wife was at his bedside with police on hand when he died at Bristol Royal Infirmary at 3.35 a.m. today. It is understood he was unable to describe what had happened. 'Mr Jackson, who lived with his wife and four-year-old son at Zetland Road, was appointed manager of the Odeon in March 1940. He resumed his duties only seven weeks ago after 6 years in the Royal Navy. 'In true showman like fashion 'the show went on' after Mr Jackson had been shot. But for a notice flashed on to the screen to appeal for a doctor, patrons watching a presentation of 'The Light That Failed' had no inkling of the drama which was being enacted in another part of the building.' It was, and still is, one of Bristol's most sensational murders.

The film playing at the moment when the dashing, dinner-jacketed manager who had acted in the movies, driven across America by car in just five days and worked as a radio announcer was shot, was a thriller. Six shots rang out. Five of them were on the soundtrack of The Light That Failed. The sixth was for real. Forty-eight hours later, the police were no wiser, as the Evening Post revealed. Friday's Post reported: 'While a watch was being maintained at Temple Meads and other West-country stations and at Avonmouth and other docks, police officers were taking statement after statement.

'All likely places, including blitzed ruins, have been combed for the weapon, but so far without result. There is strong reason to believe it was a .45 Service revolver. 'Police Have Two Theories. 'Several lines of inquiry are being pursued, following a day of methodical search, conferences, interviews and at- tempts to reconstruct the shooting, with officers impersonating Mr Jackson and his assailant. 'Police worked all night in the office where the shooting took place. 'Silhouetted against the curtains could occasionally be seen the figures of C.I.D. men who, with finger-print experts and photographers, were still scrutinising every inch of the room for possible clues.

'The possibility of suicide has been ruled out, leaving the theories of: 1 —Mr Jackson returning to his office to surprise an intruder intent on robbery who shot his way out. It is known that Mr Jackson had taken the takings from the box-office to the safe in his private office. He then visited the operating box and was shot on returning to his office. 2—Mr Jackson being shot in a private quarrel with the intruder.' No money had been taken. The key to the safe was found in the dying man's pocket.

The police had just one tip off. An anonymous caller said the man they should be looking for was clean shaven, aged 30-35, about five feet seven inches tall, of medium-build with dark hair and a ruddy complexion. He was wearing a dark suit, white shirt and dark tie and had been sitting in the balcony lounge reading a newspaper. Inquiries ranged across the whole country - even to America, where a GI was questioned - but no arrests were made. The murder weapon - a Colt 45 revolver - had been found in a water tank in the city. Then the trail went cold.
In the mid 70s the case was reopened when a homeless man called Fred Jesser contacted the Evening Post with his theory that ‘Parrington Jackson’ was killed by a jealous boyfriend.

It was a theory not without substance. ‘Parrington Jackson’, apparently, was a suave smoothie who had a reputation as a ‘ladies man’. But in the 1990s a death bed confession appeared to close the case for good. The killer was named as Billy 'The Fish' Fisher, a petty crook who had travelled with his accomplice, Duckey Leonard, from South Wales with the sole intention of robbing the cinema. They panicked when Parrington Jackson walked in and 'The Fish' shot him twice. Fisher's son, Jeff Fisher, told police that his father had confessed to the killing and that he believed that he may have murdered more than once.

To this day the mystery remains unsolved.

http://www.gertlushonline.co.uk/murder-unsolved-odeon-cinema-1946.html