1915 Congress Avenue theater that hosted Houdini and the Marx Brothers, known for the long-running apparition of "Emily" on the mezzanine.
713 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by event; the Paramount programs a year-round mix of film, comedy, music, and theater. Lobby access free during box office hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored 1915 theater with accessible main-floor seating and elevator access to mezzanine; some upper balcony rows reached only by stairs.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1915 · National Register of Historic Places (1976) · Original 1915 Majestic Theatre vaudeville palace · Hosted Harry Houdini, Marx Brothers, Helen Hayes, Katherine Hepburn · Classical Revival design by John Eberson
The Majestic Theatre opened to the public on October 11, 1915, on Congress Avenue between 7th and 8th streets, two blocks from the Texas State Capitol grounds. The theater was designed in a Classical Revival style by Chicago architect John Eberson and built for the Interstate Amusement Company. With approximately 1,200 seats, it became a flagship Texas venue for traveling vaudeville circuits.
In its first two decades the theater hosted performers including Harry Houdini, Helen Hayes, Katherine Hepburn, Ethel Barrymore, and the Marx Brothers. In 1930, Karl Hoblitzelle's Interstate chain renamed the Majestic the Paramount Theatre as part of a national rebranding effort.
The Paramount declined with the broader collapse of urban movie palaces in the 1960s and was threatened with demolition in the mid-1970s. A grassroots preservation effort led to the formation of a nonprofit operator and a 1976 listing on the National Register of Historic Places. A long-running restoration campaign returned the building to active programming.
Today the Paramount and its neighbor the Stateside Theatre are operated together by the Austin Theatre Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and the venue runs year-round programming of film, music, comedy, and theater. According to reporting by KVUE, theater staff hold the ghost stories as part of the building's living tradition and have published several local-news features on them.
Sources
The most often-cited apparition at the Paramount is "Emily," a woman in a white nineteenth-century dress reported on the mezzanine. According to Ghost City Tours and KVUE's coverage, witnesses describe her gliding across the mezzanine toward the south wall, where she vanishes. Local tradition ties Emily's presence to the former site of the War Department of the Republic of Texas, which once stood on the plot adjacent to the theater; she is said in tour-operator accounts to be the wife of a soldier who never returned. KVUE reported on photographs taken in 2021 by a visiting pianist that the photographer described as showing an apparition near a balcony door, drawing widespread regional news coverage.
Two additional recurring figures appear in Austin ghost-tour accounts: "Walter," reported as a former projectionist who remained with the building after death and who staff connect to phantom rehearsal sounds and projection-booth disturbances, and an unnamed older man in formal evening wear who is described smoking a cigar in one of the upper box seats. Staff also report phantom applause from the empty house and the smell of pipe or cigar smoke decades after the building went smoke-free.
These accounts are documented in multiple local-news features by KVUE and KHOU, in the Reporting Texas student-journalism feature "A Timeless Legacy and Its Friendly Ghosts," and in ghost-tour-operator narratives. HauntBound treats the building's haunted reputation as well-attested local lore associated with a verifiable historic theater.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Attend a film, concert, or live performance inside the 1915 Congress Avenue theater. The mezzanine, where "Emily" is most often reported, is publicly accessible during shows.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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