Liberty Theatre

Handsome Paul, in formal evening dress, has been spotted in this 1925 Astoria theater for decades. The underground beneath is heavier.

At the Liberty Theatre, the ghost named Handsome Paul earned his nickname for his wardrobe. Witnesses describe him in formal evening attire, white tie and tails, impeccably dressed for a night at the theater, as though he stepped out of the audience in 1925 and forgot to leave. Nobody knows who he was in life. Everyone agrees he looks great.

Paul has been turning up since not long after the Liberty opened on April 4, 1925. The theater went up in downtown Astoria three years after a December 1922 fire destroyed more than 200 buildings across nearly thirty blocks of what was then Oregon's second-largest city. Astoria rebuilt, and the Liberty rebuilt with it, designed in Italian Renaissance style as part of the larger Astoria Building complex of offices, shops, and dance studios. Local artist Joseph Knowles painted twelve murals of Venetian canal scenes for the interior. A Wurlitzer organ was installed for accompaniment. On opening night, Portland organist Heri A. Keates played live to Harold Lloyd's silent comedy "Hot Water." In its first decades, the Liberty hosted Jack Benny, Guy Lombardo, and Duke Ellington. Al Capone is said to have taken an interest.

The theater also sits on top of something. The Astoria Underground spans nearly two square city blocks beneath the streets of downtown, remnants of the city's waterfront commerce and smuggling history. The Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures filmed an episode there, with Zak Bagans and his team entering through a lower-level door at the Liberty to investigate the passages running beneath the town. Investigators describe the underground as enormous, easy to get lost in, and heavy in a way that doesn't lift after you leave it.

Paul gets the top billing, but he isn't alone. Two more men in top hats and tailcoats have been seen near the elevator, dressed for the same opening night Paul never quite finished. An elderly woman has been observed on the premises as well, though her identity and her time period are both unknown. The Liberty has a small ensemble cast, all dressed for the same era, all behaving like patrons who never quite went home.

The activity at the Liberty extends past sightings. Employees arriving for early morning shifts have found the soda fountain and the popcorn machine running on their own, having apparently switched on overnight while the building was empty. Doorknobs rattle without anyone touching them. Doors knock from the inside of empty rooms. Objects shift from where they were left. A volunteer who worked at the Liberty between 2016 and 2019 had their hair pulled sharply while standing alone in the lobby. Another witness, recalling a visit in 1980, described blankets pulled off a bed and a grayish mist emerging from a closet.

The Liberty went into decline in the second half of the 20th century, and a citizen-led restoration effort spearheaded in the early 1990s by Steve Forrester, then publisher of The Daily Astorian, brought it back. The theater has been fully restored. It hosts touring performers, local music groups, and a Kids Make Theatre program that reaches hundreds of students weekly. The Liberty also partners with Ghostoria for paranormal investigation nights in the underground, opening the tunnels to anyone willing to spend a few hours down there.

The Liberty turned 100 in 2025. Handsome Paul, give or take a decade, has had the best seat in the house the whole time.