Plaza Theatre

A spectacular 2,050-seat movie palace that opened in 1930 with Moorish and Spanish Colonial Revival details, including a ceiling painted to look like a night sky. It fell apart over the decades but was fully restored and reopened in 2006.

The Plaza Theatre, El Paso's atmospheric 1930 movie palace, has accumulated ghosts as readily as its ornate Spanish Colonial walls have accumulated history. Named one of the five most haunted places in Texas, this grand dame of entertainment venues hosts not only world-class performances but also a cast of spirits who seem reluctant to leave the magnificent stage behind.

The Smoking Man is the theatre's signature specter--a dapper gentleman in a 1930s tuxedo who appears on the top balcony, eternally enjoying a cigarette in defiance of modern smoking bans. Visitors often smell the tobacco smoke before seeing the small orange glow of his lit cigarette floating in the darkness. One terrifying account describes him plummeting from the balcony, only to reappear moments later and repeat his death plunge--an endless loop of tragedy that staff have witnessed multiple times. An employee once encountered this unusual guest who proclaimed "we all have our time to die" before leaping from the balcony and vanishing.

A young girl's spirit dances through the mezzanine, her giggling echoing through the grand lobby alongside the distinctive sound of a bouncing ball on the stairs. She seems forever lost in the beauty of the ornate theatre, her playful energy a contrast to the melancholy of other spirits. Theatre staff have attempted to locate the source of the laughter countless times, only to find empty corridors.

A rag doll moves between floors overnight on its own, discovered on the top level despite being placed on the ground floor at closing. A mysterious red-orange light travels through the mezzanine, and the theatre's electrical systems seem to have minds of their own--lights flicker on and off in patterns that defy explanation. Visitors have reported seeing ghosts in period clothing who vanish slowly, as if reluctant to abandon their seats.