Just before you indulge yourself in this story a few things need to be confirmed in order for you avid readers to not get confused. When the chandelier plumetted to the ground it, as you well already know, created a fire. But this is where the similarity ends between the original story and my own creation. Before the fire spread any further from hence the flames erupted, there were thankfully some people in the audience and gendarms, who succesfully trampled it out, whilst trying to save those unfortunate souls of which the chandelier had come crashing on top of. Of course, not everybody helped out. Most people just rushed out of the building in pure and utter horror of what had just transpired. So, the Opera Populaire did not burn down but instead it was abandoned. The managers Andre and Firmin had had enough with the so called 'Opera Ghost'. They were already tight with money and now with more than half of their performers leaving to find work elsewhere they could simply not stay any longer to deal with it. They attempted to sell the theatre but no one was willing to take it, and who could blame them? After the unfortunate series of events hardly any people would have wanted to pay to go see any of the performances shown at the Opera Populaire. No one stepped a foot in there again. Rumours travelled through the streets of Paris like the wind. Rumours of the Opera Populaire being haunted and the like. Rumours of The Phantom of the Opera. Rumours that had once been told backstage amongst the ballet rats now roamed the city. It was not until a year later that someone had the nerve to pass through its once grand, heavy oak doors.