Conroe's Crighton Theatre & the Haunted Square

When oil gushed out of the Conroe field in 1931 and 1932, a sleepy lumber town became one of the richest little cities in Texas — and it spent some of that money on grandeur. This short walk circles downtown Conroe's courthouse square, the civic heart of Montgomery County, leading with the real oil-boom history that shaped it: a lavish 1935 movie palace, a courthouse rebuilt in stone, storefronts flush with new wealth. The star is the Crighton Theatre, an oil-money showplace that locals have long believed carries a resident spirit or two, as grand old theatres tend to. We'll tell you exactly what the history books record, then, where the tradition lives, pass along the ghost lore honestly as legend — including the caution that some of it is more campfire than documented. Bring comfortable shoes; the square is compact, and the best stories are the ones the buildings tell on their own.