The 1929 Moorish-Egyptian movie palace at 660 Peachtree Street offers official Haunted History Tours through its sub-basement, organ chambers, and named-spirit lore.
660 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30308
Age
All Ages for general tours; haunted ghost-tour events recommended for 10+
Cost
$$
Standard historical tours of the Fox are offered through the Atlanta Preservation Center. Seasonal Haunted History Tours run in September-October with ticketed admission ($40 general, $80 VIP cited in 2025 coverage).
Access
Wheelchair OK
Active concert venue with elevator access to main public levels; some haunted-tour stops (sub-basement, backstage areas) may involve stairs.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1929 · National Historic Landmark (1976) · Original Yaarab Shrine Temple / 1929 movie palace · Möller 'Mighty Mo' pipe organ
The building that became the Fox Theatre was originally commissioned by the Yaarab Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine — the 5,000-member Atlanta Shriners chapter — as a Moorish-themed headquarters and auditorium. Construction was capitalized in the late 1920s; when costs ran beyond the Shriners' resources, the organization leased the auditorium portion to William Fox of Fox Theatres Corporation, who converted it into a movie palace.
The Fox opened on December 25, 1929, just two months after the Wall Street Crash. The interior was designed by Olivier J. Vinour of Marye, Alger and Vinour to evoke a courtyard within a Moorish fortress, with an Egyptian-themed ballroom (the Egyptian Ballroom) and a fully detailed faux-night-sky ceiling featuring twinkling stars and projected clouds over the main auditorium. The Möller pipe organ — affectionately nicknamed 'Mighty Mo' — was installed for original silent-era film accompaniment.
The Great Depression bankrupted Fox Theatres within months of opening. The Fox passed through several operators and by the early 1970s was facing demolition for a Southern Bell office tower. A grassroots 'Save the Fox' campaign succeeded in preserving the building, and it was designated a National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976.
Today the Fox Theatre is operated as a nonprofit by the Fox Theatre Inc. and presents Broadway in Atlanta touring shows, concerts, ballet, and film series. It is the centerpiece of the Fox Theatre Historic District in Midtown Atlanta and one of the most-visited theaters of its size in the United States.
The Fox launched its own producer-run Haunted History Tours during the fall 2025 season, complementing the long-running ghost-tour stops outside the building.
Sources
The Fox Theatre's paranormal reputation is unusually well-documented for a still-operating major venue. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's October 2020s 'Meet the ghosts who live at the Fox' coverage named two recurring spirits — 'Mary the nurse' and 'Roosevelt' — and described the preserved 1929-era hospital room (with original hospital bed and chair) as 'just the creepiest space ever' per Fox VP of sales and marketing Jamie Vosmeier.
The most concrete on-site memorial connection is to the Fox's two long-serving house organists. Bob Van Camp served as house organist from 1963 to 1987, and Larry Douglas Embury was named permanent Organist in Residence in 2002 and held the post until his death in February 2016. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's reporting on the Mighty Mo organ and subsequent coverage of Embury's passing confirms that the ashes of both Van Camp and Embury are interred in chambers beneath the organ pipes. Tour materials and Atlanta Ghosts cite phantom organ music and a 'whisper or rare appearance' attributed to these organists.
Reported phenomena in the backstage and sub-basement areas include a freight elevator that has been said to operate on its own between the first and fourth floors, clanging metal in the stage underbelly, self-opening doors, and footsteps in the empty house when no one is on stage. The elevator story is sometimes attributed in tour narration to a deceased girlfriend of a former Fox manager.
The Fox launched its own ticketed Haunted History Tours in September 2025, running through October, and the venue's own marketing references 'shadowy figures in forgotten rooms, unexplained sounds and tales of performers and patrons who never truly left.' Hauntbound notes that the documented historical anchors (the organists, the hospital room) are strong; the named spirits and the elevator-girlfriend narrative are tour-tradition lore that the Fox itself now packages and presents.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Tour the 1929 Yaarab Shrine Temple turned movie palace, designed by Olivier J. Vinour of Marye, Alger and Vinour in a Moorish/Egyptian Revival style. National Historic Landmark since 1976; 4,665 seats; one of the few surviving grand movie palaces of the late 1920s.
Seasonal September-October ghost tour produced by the Fox Theatre. Tour visits the sub-basement, backstage corridors, and the preserved 1929-era hospital room with original artifacts. Tour content includes the named spirits 'Mary the nurse' and 'Roosevelt' documented in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, plus the Bob Van Camp and Larry Douglas Embury organ-chamber legend.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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