Travel Channel May Want To Film At Derby’s Sterling Opera House

DERBY — The Travel Channel is asking the city for permission to use the Sterling Opera House for up to three days, according to an item listed on the Dec. 12 agenda of the Derby Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen.

What the company hopes to film, including for which show, if any, wasn’t clear Thursday morning. After the meeting, The New Haven Register reported the filming could be a ghost-hunting’-type show.

Carmen DiCenso, the city’s economic development liaison, said in an email he expects to touch base with Travel Channel representatives after Dec. 15, depending on what the Aldermen/Alderwomen decide. The Register reported the request was referred to a subcommittee to work out the specifics.

The Sterling Opera House on Elizabeth Street was built in 1889 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The city has used grant money over the past 20 years to fix the exterior of the building, but the interior of the building still needs tons of work.

In fact, the public is not allowed to enter.

Over the years city officials have given permission for film crews to shoot there, including the television show Ghost Hunters,” whose crews appeared in Derby in 2011 to investigate the Sterling Opera House is haunted” narrative.

The Travel Channel previously filmed at Sterling, for another supernatural show called Destination Fear.” It aired in 2013.

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