Liberty Ghost Story

We do a lot of business with the Historic Liberty Theater so I thought I'd heard all the stories about the spirits that some say hang out there.

Here's a new ghost story just in time for the Liberty's 84th birthday.

Our concert with Julianne Hough last weekend was a sell-out. Patrons lined up early to get the best seats in the general admission venue. Apparently though we had some audience members who never buy a ticket but are always in attendance when we throw an event at the venerable theater.

I'm told that something happened on the second floor construction area that hasn't been seen by anyone before.

The stairs to the second floor from the backstage entrance would be familiar to many who at one time would climb those with their children to take dance classes at the old Maddox Dance Studios. Since the building was taken over by Liberty Restoration some of the old studio spaces have been used as dressing rooms but most of that area has been gutted awaiting refurbishment in the future. We even seriously considered taking the space to build our new studios when we were looking at every possibility of staying based in Astoria.

The old second floor hallway today provides a private passageway from the backstage area to the MacTavish Room and the rest of the public portions of the theater.

There have long been stories of a ghost that would turn on the basin faucets in the old second floor restroom. Another story of a female apparition that sometimes appears in the mirror
in remodeled women's restroom adjacent to the MacTavish Room. Stories from volunteers about feeling like they were being watched somehow in the basement areas of the theater. Stories about a well dressed gentleman appearing in the balcony and stories of theater seats that
stay down all by themselves even after having been folded up.

This latest encounter beats all those.

One of the performers was making her way down the dimly lit second floor hallway when she turned the corner heading to the MacTavish room entrance and came upon a couple walking toward her. They were dressed for a night out but the clothing was not of this century. The performer came face to face with the couple and asked "are you real?". The man said nothing but the woman leaned slightly forward and said " Boo, deary" and both immediately
disappeared.

This is the first time I've heard a story this detailed about what appears to be an intelligent haunting at the Liberty Theater.

It's odd that these stories were not generally known in the days the Liberty served as a movie theater. With one exception. I've been told by people who worked taking tickets and concessions that they would dread having to go to the old basement storage room. They would say that you would get the definite feeling that there was something in there that just wanted to be left alone.

So as we celebrate the 84th birthday of the Historic Liberty Theater in Astoria on Saturday with recognition of the institution's place in our entertainment and arts history we can also recognize it's growing reputation as a place where it may be possible to experience the supernatural as well.

Somebody call Jason at TAPS.