A Decatur performance hall operating since 1919 in an 1887 livery stable, where staff report a boy named Julian who died in the building, a woman who fell to her death in an elevator shaft, and a catalogue of unexplained disturbances.
112 Second Ave NE, Decatur, AL 35601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Show tickets required for performances; lobby and exterior accessible without ticket on performance days.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic theater in commercial building; ground floor and lobby accessible. Elevator available.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1887 · Built 1887 as a livery stable; converted to theater use in 1919 · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 · Decatur's primary community performing arts venue for over a century
The building was erected in 1887 at a time when Second Avenue was Decatur's commercial center, built to serve as a livery stable for horses and carriages. It was converted to theatrical use in 1919, taking the name 'Princess Theatre,' and quickly became the primary entertainment venue for a growing Tennessee River city.
The building operated as a movie house and live performance venue through most of the 20th century. By the 1990s it had been rehabilitated as a community performing arts center; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 for its architectural significance as a rare surviving example of an early commercial-to-theater conversion in North Alabama.
Today the Princess Theatre operates as a nonprofit performing arts center presenting music, drama, comedy, and film. Its ghost stories have become part of Decatur's official tourism narrative, listed on Visit Decatur's haunted site pages alongside the Old State Bank. Staff accounts of unexplained activity in the building have been collected by American Ghost Stories and corroborated through the local tourism apparatus.
Sources
The Princess Theatre's two primary ghost legends have different origin stories. Julian is said to be the spirit of a boy who died in the building when it was a livery stable — the circumstances of his death are not specified in available sources, but his presence is associated with the upper reaches of the building, where staff report sounds of movement when the space is confirmed empty.
The 'white lady' is attributed to a woman who fell to her death in the building's elevator shaft, a more recent death than Julian's. Her apparition is described as a pale female figure seen briefly in the theater's interior, sometimes near the stage.
The operational disturbances — doors slamming on windless nights, artwork flying from walls, stage lighting malfunctioning — are reported by theater staff who work in the building regularly. These accounts appear in American Ghost Stories' documentation of the venue and are corroborated by Visit Decatur's inclusion of the Princess Theatre on its official haunted sites list. The combination of the building's two-century history of heavy use — first as a working stable, then as a public entertainment hall — and its current status as an active arts venue gives the legends a practical continuity unusual in the genre.
Notable Entities
The Princess Theatre appears on Decatur's ghost walk itinerary. Guides recount the Julian legend and the elevator shaft death, with staff accounts of doors slamming, phantom footsteps, and stage lights malfunctioning without cause.
The Princess Theatre hosts live performances year-round. Audience members and performers report unexplained activity backstage and in the upper reaches of the building — where Julian is said to operate.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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