McMenamins Crystal Ballroom

A historic dance hall built in 1914, restored by McMenamins in 1997. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979, known for its mechanical "floating" dance floor.

The Crystal Ballroom was built in 1913-1914 on Burnside Street and opened as Ringler's Cotillion Hall, a formal dance venue founded by Michael "Montrose" Ringler. His friend, German-born architect Robert F. Tegen, designed the three-story building, whose centerpiece was a mechanical floating dance floor -- a layer of maple floor boards laid atop a network of rockers and ball bearings that caused the floor to rise and fall fluidly when danced upon. Patented by Charles R. Hunt in 1905, it was thought to be the only such floor on the West Coast and may be the only one still in existence in the United States. Ringler opened the hall just as jazz music was reaching Oregon, but local authorities deemed the new dances indecent and heavily persecuted jazz venues. Ringler lost the ballroom in the early 1920s. Dad Watson took over in the mid-1920s, and after his death in the 1930s, Ralph Farrier purchased the venue and renamed it the Crystal Ballroom. Through the decades it hosted Tina Turner, James Brown, the Grateful Dead, and countless other performers before falling into disrepair. The McMenamin brothers restored it in 1997, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The ballroom's ghosts appear to be former patrons who never stopped dancing. Staff and customers report seeing apparitions dressed in 1920s attire moving through the ballroom, as though the dance hall is still packed with guests from its jazz-age heyday. The most striking encounter came from a staff member cleaning up after hours who witnessed a couple performing the jitterbug on the floating dance floor. Before she could react, the two dancers dissolved into thin air. Even when no apparitions are visible, the sounds of leather-soled shoes gliding across the dance floor can be heard accompanied by the murmured tones of lively conversation, as if an invisible crowd is enjoying a night out.

A child spirit has also been encountered. After a live performance, a staff member heard the sound of a child's laughter coming from behind one of the tables near the stage. When he went to investigate, he felt a tug on his shirt and looked down to see a small child staring up at him. The child then turned to mist and vanished. Visitors to the ballroom have independently reported ghostly fingers pulling at their clothing and sudden cold spots in areas where no drafts should exist.

The building's managers have had their own experiences. One manager heard groups of people talking and laughing when the building was confirmed to be empty, with the sounds stopping abruptly the moment he went to investigate. Another watched a person walk past his office doorway who then disappeared completely, melting into the air. Staff throughout the building report flickering lights in specific rooms, unexplained loud noises that cease upon investigation, and the elevator operating by itself, traveling between floors with no one inside and no one pressing the call buttons.

Paranormal sensitives who have visited the Crystal Ballroom report detecting significant energy emanating from the building's walls, theorizing that decades of joyful social experiences have been absorbed into the structure itself. Unlike many haunted locations where spirits are tied to tragedy, the Crystal Ballroom's ghosts seem to be having the time of their afterlives, lingering in the venue where they once danced, laughed, and listened to music. The venue remains one of Portland's premier live music halls and a regular stop on haunted pub tours through the city.