Ghost Light

"Ghost Light"
"Ghost Light" title-card
Season	3
Episode	6
Director	Chris Koch
Writer	Madeleine George
Editor	Payton Koch
Original air date	September 5, 2023
Episode chronology
← Previous	"Ah, Love!"
Next →	"CoBro"

"Ghost Light" is the sixth episode of the third season of Only Murders in the Building, starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short. It originally aired on September 5, 2023.

Short Summary

All roads lead the trio back to the Goosebury Theater during a nerve-rattling thunderstorm. With Howard as their jittery guide, they track a legendary ghost who's haunted the theater for generations. Boo.

Full Summary

In 1919, Gideon Goosebury died on opening night of Ashes to Ashes when a sandbag came loose from the rafters and hit him in the head. Legend says that if you don't sweep Gideon's energy off the stage every night, he'll curse your show. A cholera outbreak tore through the company of Hamlet in 1949. In 1988, another was felled by shingles during The Iceman Cometh. And now, Ben Glenroy has met the same fate.

Oliver flips through Loretta's book about Ben. He finds a note on Loretta's personalized stationery that has a capital F and P that resemble the ones in the message on Ben's mirror.

Charles sits in his apartment, now empty of Joy's things except President McKinley, who swims alone in the large, undecorated tank. He tells President McKinley they'll be fine without Joy because they have each other.

The shower is running at Mabel's place when there's a knock at the door, and she gets up to answer it. It's Howard, who confesses that he killed Ben Glenroy.

Howard explains to Mabel, Oliver, and Charles that it's three sweeps to the north and then three to the south, and you're safe. He did it every night during Death Rattle. But on opening night, he didn't and Ben died. They're confused by his assertion that he killed Ben. He says he was protecting the show, but on opening night, he went to get the broom and found K.T.'s office locked, and strange noises were coming from inside. He should have found her and gotten a key, but he's scared of her, so he didn't. Five hours later, Ben was dead. Mabel asks why he didn't tell anyone. He says he convinced himself it was all in his head, but this morning, he saw Gideon at the theater. He was at the theater sweeping because they move back in tomorrow, and he wanted it to be ghost-free. He heard a noise.

Howard is sweeping when he hears a buzzing and turns around. A light on the stage is flickering. He calls out to whoever might be there, and then he spots a figure in the back of the theater, wearing Gideon's signature cap and coat. He calls out, asking if it's Gideon. The figure says yes and Howard flees in terror.

Charles tells Howard that ghosts aren't real, but Tobert comes out of the bathroom and says they are. He shot a ghost hunter documentary once, and they spent a whole night on the haunted Queen Mary. Around 3 AM, he saw the lady in white with his own eyes. Charles shares a boring anecdote about Queen Mary and Oliver tells him they're heading in the wrong direction. Howard is upset that they're ignoring the fact that there's a murderous ghost in their theater coming after one of them next. Charles asks him to give them a moment. As they walk out of the room, Mabel asks about Oliver's tooth, and he tells her it's temporary. If he likes it, the dentist will do the rest to match. He shows it off to Mabel, who says it's bright.

Over by the evidence board, Charles says while Howard obviously didn't see an actual ghost, it's worth their time to go to the theater. Tobert, who has followed them over, agrees. He also says that what Howard said about the cap and the coat sounds like Ben's doctor. He offers a theory that the doctor saw them and realized they saw him and went to the theater to cover his tracks. If he and Jonathan are behind the poisoning, they'll want to make sure there's no evidence. Charles and Oliver interject and Tobert bows out of the room, leaving them alone. They're surprised that Mabel is investigating Jonathan and working with Tobert. Mabel reminds them that Jonathan had a pretty significant motive as Ben's understudy. And she did tell them she was going on a stakeout with Tobert. Charles says he was preoccupied with Joy, who left him. He claims he's fine because he's been dumped before. And he knows now that Joy didn't write on Ben's mirror. Mabel wonders if the ghost story is Howard trying to cover for Jonathan, but Charles thinks Howard sounded genuinely distraught. Oliver adds that Howard can't act. Oliver says he could go to the theater with Howard alone. He can look into the ghost thing. Mabel's surprised because he's opposed the investigation the whole time. Oliver wants to make it up to her. Mabel insists on going with him, as does Charles. Mabel goes to tell Tobert, but Charles stops her and reminds her they're a trio. She says that's fine. She's missed it being the three of them. Howard comes in, irritated that they're taking so long.

Mabel, Charles, Oliver, and Howard enter the theater. It's dark inside except for the ghost light. Charles explains that it's an old theater tradition. It has to stay on at all times, and it never goes out. They watch as the light flickers and goes out. Oliver thinks K.T. must have done it. He wants all of them to go see if she's in the booth while he looks around the dressing rooms. Mabel says they have to stick together. Charles says the commotion isn't good for President McKinley, whom he's carrying around in a plastic bag. Charles didn't want to leave him alone. A sandbag falls near Charles and Howard reminds them that that's how Gideon died. Charles worries that Gideon's out to get him now. Another bag falls, also near Charles. They all rush off the stage.

Howard rushes into K.T.'s office in search of the broom. She's irritated with him because he made her mess up her highlighting. She shreds the page she was working on while Howard grabs the broom. Oliver, Charles, and Mabel come in and tell her about the sandbags. She tells them to stay calm while she does safety checks. They send Howard to help her. Mabel sees a nearby attendance sheet. Charles tells her that people use it to sign when they come in. Mabel says that means it's handwriting samples for the whole cast. They can compare it to the message on Ben's mirror. Oliver says he doesn't think that'll be very helpful, but Mabel says that's exactly the kind of thing he'd normally do. He takes the clipboard from her as Charles starts to worry that President McKinley's bag is leaking. Mabel doesn't understand why he brought the fish. Charles says the fish is all he has now. They don't all have hot new boyfriends. Mabel corrects that Tobert's not her boyfriend. Charles asks if she recorded with him and she says no. Charles is upset that she showed him their murder board and asks if she let him move their red string around. He's worried they can't trust her with information since she might share it with a stranger. Mabel is confused and upset and reminds him that she has a better track record with who she's gotten involved with than he does. Tobert's done more for the case in two days than Charles did in two weeks. Charles says he's been busy. Mabel realizes Oliver has left. Charles is still worried about the bag leaking and goes to find something to put him in. Mabel says he can do that, Oliver can do whatever he's doing, and she'll keep investigating alone as usual.

Oliver goes into Ben's dressing room and compares Loretta's handwriting to the message on the mirror. He says he doesn't see it and asks how many ways there are to write an F anyway. He hears a noise in the hallways and calls to Mabel and Charles, saying there's something they should see. There's no one around. He follows the noise up a set of stairs and into an attic room. As he looks around, someone grabs him from behind.

Charles realizes he shouldn't have brought President McKinley to the theater. He enters a closet with a sink, but soon finds the sink doesn't work. He settles for putting President McKinley in the tank of a nearby toilet. He says he'll be back to get President McKinley when they're done, but finds himself locked in the closet. He quickly starts to panic.

Oliver bites his attacker and finds that it's Jerry Blau, an old friend of his and fellow director. Oliver is upset with him for sneaking up on him. Jerry thought Oliver was someone coming to kick him out. Oliver asks what Jerry is doing there, since Donna fired him from the show a year ago. Jerry admits that he's squatting there. Oliver remembers that he spent three months in Martha Stapleton's mud room. But Jerry shouldn't be there. He says he'll explain and offers Oliver a snack.

Mabel is looking for Charles and Oliver when she hears someone behind her. She attacks only to find that it's Tobert. He knows she wanted to be alone with her guys, but he decided to tail Jonathan and that led him to the theater. They hear Jonathan move nearby and go to follow.

As they check the rigs, Howard asks K.T. if she doesn't like him. She says he's irrelevant to the show, so he's irrelevant to her. He tells her he's been protecting the show and if she hadn't locked her office on opening night, he wouldn't have missed a day and Ben might still be alive. She says her office door is never locked, at least not by her, and then she asks what he meant by negative spirits because he can't mean Gideon. He's surprised she knows about Gideon. She says she's done 43 shows in the Goosebury Theater. She knows about Gideon, but she doesn't believe Howard knows how dangerous he can be. Howard says he does, which is why he was sweeping. She tells him that sweeping does nothing. He's upset that he messed up on his closest iteration of his dream job. He's always wanted to be an actor and has never gotten closer than the director's assistant. In junior high, he got cast as John Proctor in The Crucible. It was great at first, but then after the show, his mother told him that his stage voice was matronly and shrill, and she never wanted to hear it in public again, so he quit. K.T. always wanted to be a director, but that ship has sailed. Howard reminds her that she's not dead yet. K.T. tells Howard you don't sweep Gideon away. You have to include him. She has Howard come with her.

Charles can't figure out how long he's been trapped in the closet. He realizes when you upset everyone in your tank, you can't be upset when you end up alone. He thinks he and President McKinley will get through this. He decides to use the toilet to relieve himself.

Jerry is cooking on a small stove and says after Donna fired him, he and Marshall had a fight about Jerry's ability to continue paying their mortgage and Marshall asked him to leave. Luckily, the theater is free as long as he doesn't get caught. Oliver realizes he's the ghost. Jerry admits to playing that up when Howard caught him. He thought he could scare them off with his antics. Oliver asks if there's any chance he killed Ben Glenroy. Jerry's offended at the implication. He claims not to be a monster as he kills a rat with his shoe. He notices Oliver seems down and asks him if he's okay. Oliver reluctantly admits that he's fallen for one of his actors. Jerry immediately realizes it's Loretta and asks if Oliver is worried because of her violent temper. Oliver is surprised to hear that and Jerry realizes he doesn't know what happened on opening night. Jerry prepares to reenact it with puppets.

Charles flushes the toilet and is horrified when he realizes what happened. President McKinley is no longer in the tank.

As Jonathan exits his dressing room with a bag of pill bottles, Tobert takes it from him. They were all prescribed by Dr. Hiram Camareri, Dr. C. Jonathan tries to deny it, but Tobert knows he saw them last night. Jonathan admits that he's been anxious since taking over the part. It's a lot of pressure being the lead. So he asked Dr. C for help as he could get Ben anything he wanted. He gave Jonathan the "leading man cocktail," a mix of beta blockers, Propecia, HGH, and a little bit of meth. The same things Ben was taking. Mabel realizes he didn't want to be the lead. He asks them not to tell Howard about that. He wouldn't understand because it's his dream. He doesn't know what it's like to carry the weight of an entire show on his shoulders. Mabel gives him his medicine back and he walks away.

Charles is mad at himself for bringing President McKinley into the theater in the first place. He hears noise in the toilet and opens the lid to see President McKinley in the bowl. He takes a mug and scoops him out, then notices what looks like an intercom on the shelf. He uses it to call out that he's in the prop room. Suddenly, the room starts filling with theater fog.

Jerry reenacts Loretta and Ben's opening night fight. They were rehearsing their fight scene and then something set Loretta off, possibly Ben taking stage choking a little too far. He got too into it, so she called him a name. Then Charles came in and punched Ben, which Oliver didn't know about.

Howard asks if K.T. is sure this will work, and she tells him it's worked 42 times before. Howard has a copy of the monologue Gideon was giving when he died. She has Howard call Gideon to the stage so they can finish his unfinished work. K.T. directs Howard as he starts the scene.

Charles records a video in case he dies in the closet. As he records, he remembers he has jimmy keys.

Oliver goes over the facts of the story with Jerry. They know Loretta hated Ben and was violent toward him. She had motive and opportunity to kill him. But that doesn't mean she definitely did it. Jerry reminds him they go back a long time and Oliver once told him the key to directing was that the only wrong choice was no choice. It's time for Oliver to decide what matters to him and do what he needs to do to get it. Or he'll end up like Jerry. Oliver knows what he needs to do. He agrees not to tell anyone that Jerry is there, but says Jerry should go home to Marshall.

Tobert and Mabel discuss Jonathan's meds. Mabel wonders why the "dash of meth" Ben was taking didn't show up in his autopsy. In front of them, Charles bursts out of the prop closet, carrying the mug with President McKinley in it. When he sees Mabel, he asks how long he was gone. She tells him it was twenty minutes, much shorter than he thought. Tobert goes to find him some electrolytes to recover. Charles asks Mabel if she asked Tobert to come there and if she's working with him. Mabel says he followed a lead and ended up there. She's irritated with both Charles and Oliver. Charles questions where Oliver is. They see someone run by and follow them.

Howard continues the monologue under K.T.'s direction. She says it's working.

Mabel and Charles find Oliver cleaning Ben's mirror and try to stop him. He says he's making a choice. The dressing room isn't a crime scene anymore because the police got their guy. It needs to be cleaned because they're coming in tomorrow for rehearsal. Charles says Oliver is crossing a line, but Oliver reminds him that he punched Ben Glenroy the night he died and didn't tell them. Charles says he did that because Ben attacked Loretta. The real question is why Oliver's production is so out of control that that happened. Charles himself almost died three times in one day, two sandbags and the fog. Oliver says he was reviving Charles's career by putting him on Broadway. Charles denies his career being dead. He turned down an opportunity to make exclusive Brazzos mini-episodes for the Chipotle app to do Oliver's show. He now realizes it was a mistake. He quits. Mabel asks Charles why he didn't tell her what happened with Ben on opening night. Charles says Loretta was Oliver's girlfriend, and he was trying to protect Oliver because he's Charles's friend. Mabel wonders what else Loretta is keeping from them. Oliver doesn't know or care. He continues cleaning the mirror over Mabel's objection. Oliver says they arrested someone for Ben's murder, and yet she's still trying to point fingers at his cast. He knows she's never had a grown-up job before, but they matter. In a few weeks, Loretta will star in Death Rattle Dazzle and Oliver will finally get what he's been working for his entire life. He won't let Mabel jeopardize that. Mabel realizes that Cinda was right and explains that Cinda offered her a job as her partner, but she turned it down to stay with Charles and Oliver. She's starting to see that Cinda was right that she doesn't need them. All she does is put up with their insanity. A man is dead, a man who meant something to her, and she's going to figure out who did it whether they care or not. She leaves.

Howard continues his performance. His script gets blown out of his hand as K.T. applauds him.

Mabel and Tobert look at the murder board together after Mabel moves some things.

Charles returns President McKinley to his tank.

Oliver looks at himself in the smeared mirror.

Jerry cooks the rat on his stove as his puppets sit in a heap in his model theater.

Cast

Starring

• Steve Martin as Charles-Haden Savage
• Martin Short as Oliver Putnam
• Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora
• Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard Morris

Special Guest Star

• Paul Rudd as Ben Glenroy

Guest starring

• Peter Bartlett as Jerry Blau
• Allison Guinn as K.T. Knoblauer
• Jason Veasey as Jonathan Bridgecroft
• Jesse Williams as Tobert

Co-starring

• Quentin Collins as Gideon
• Naomi Lindh as Young Ingénue

Notes and Trivia

Soundtrack

• "Song", performed by Artist
  Written by Composer

Media

Episode Stills

Photography by Patrick Harbron for Hulu.

Videos

Howard's Confession - Only Murders In The Building- S3 Episode 6 Opening Scene - Hulu

Howard's Confession

See Also

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.