HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Late-19th-century Atlanta wood-wool mill that housed the legendary Masquerade nightclub from 1989 to 2016, with Heaven/Hell/Purgatory rooms and decades of staff reports of apparitions, footsteps, and unexplained screams now attached to the surviving brick building.
695 North Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The Mill operates as an office, retail, and food-and-beverage property with public access to ground-floor tenants; the upper floors are not generally open to the public.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Renovated industrial brick complex with paved exterior; interior tenant spaces vary.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1890 · Late-19th-century Atlanta excelsior (wood-wool) mill · Home to the Masquerade nightclub 1989-2016 · Iconic Heaven / Hell / Purgatory music venue layout · Adaptive-reuse anchor along the Atlanta BeltLine
The DuPre Excelsior Mill stands at 695 North Avenue NE in Atlanta's Old Fourth Ward. According to Wikipedia and Georgia Public Broadcasting, the mill may have been built as early as 1890 by Frank DuPre / DuPre Manufacturing Company on a site chosen for proximity to Atlanta's rail network. The earliest concrete record of operations is three 1907 lawsuits over workplace accidents at the facility. The mill produced excelsior — fine wood shavings used as packing material — until demand collapsed after World War II with the introduction of foam rubber. All major Atlanta excelsior mills had closed by 1977.
The building was converted in 1977-78 into a pizzeria, theater, and music venue called the Excelsior Mill, featuring a Wurlitzer organ, films, bands, and Shakespearean plays. In September 1989 it reopened as the Masquerade nightclub, with three themed performance rooms named Heaven (top floor, large room), Hell (basement-level), and Purgatory (middle). For more than 25 years the Masquerade was a core venue in Atlanta's alternative-music scene before the operators relocated the brand in 2016.
The building suffered a partial structural collapse during 2018 redevelopment and was subsequently restored by Coro Realty as 'The Mill,' an office, retail, and food-and-beverage complex with direct connectivity to the Atlanta BeltLine. The exterior masonry has been preserved and the building remains an Atlanta industrial landmark.
Sources
According to Wikipedia, an Atlanta Constitution death report from July 17, 1899 described a worker named Hubert Neal who was 'Hurled Against Floor and Ceiling by Belt' at the Atlanta Excelsior Works — though Wikipedia notes there were three excelsior factories in Atlanta at the time and the article does not unambiguously identify the DuPre location. Three 1907 lawsuits document additional workplace accidents at DuPre itself. The building's haunted lore, summarized by Billboard and Atlanta Ghosts, ties most of the reports to these industrial-era deaths and to tuberculosis outbreaks among mill workers.
During the Masquerade era (1989-2016), staff and performers repeatedly reported paranormal experiences. According to Atlanta Ghosts and Billboard's piece on the venue, the most cited account is of a tall, dark apparition seen on or near the stage that allegedly walked over to the amplifiers and turned them off mid-show. A woman's scream is reported near the stairs leading down from the Heaven room and near a restroom on that level. Patrons and staff have also reported phantom footsteps in empty corridors and cold spots throughout the building. The Atlanta History Center's haunted-history coverage groups the building with Atlanta's most-cited paranormal sites tied to industrial labor.
The Masquerade brand left the building in 2016, but the lore is attached to the structure itself. Several Atlanta ghost tours continue to feature the surviving building as a stop. As with the Lemp Mansion and other adaptive-reuse industrial sites, the haunting is best understood as community memory anchored to a documented history of workplace death.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Walk past the surviving 19th-century brick mill building, formerly home to the Masquerade nightclub (1989-2016), now redeveloped as 'The Mill' adaptive-reuse complex along the Atlanta BeltLine.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Savannah, GA
Bradley Lock & Key was founded in 1883 by Simon Bradley and is recognized as the oldest business in continuous operation in Savannah. The shop has stood in the Patrick Duffy Building at 24 East State Street, on the northeast tything block of Wright Square, since 1967. William 'Dini' Bradley — middle-named Houdini after his father Aaron, a stage hypnotist who reportedly traveled with Harry Houdini — owned the shop from the 1950s until his 2019 retirement.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPAthens, GA
Candler Hall was built in 1901 as a UGA men's residence hall and was named for Allen D. Candler, then governor of Georgia. The building, which could house up to 84 students at opening, has been adapted for academic and administrative use.
Athens, GA
Demosthenian Hall, built in 1824, is the fourth-oldest building at the University of Georgia and is home to the Demosthenian Literary Society, founded in 1803 — the longest continuously running student organization in the country. The two-story tan stucco building served as headquarters for occupying Union troops during the Civil War.