Pianist Captures Photo of Ghostly Woman in Austin's Paramount Theatre

Solo pianist Chad Lawson posted a photograph to Facebook on September 16th that appears to show a woman standing in the mezzanine of the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas.

Lawson said he snapped a series of three photographs prior to performing a live showing of the Lore podcast, and the woman only appeared in the second.

"So, I wasn’t gonna post this because it freaked me out a good bit and hadn’t noticed until returning to the hotel," Lawson wrote in a caption accompanying the photo. "After soundcheck for our Lore Podcast show, I took 3 quick-tap photos from stage to share. In the photo you can clearly see someone in the mezzanine. Noticing it, I looked at the 1st & 3rd pics and the person is absent. So, i google 'ghosts paramount theatre, Austin' (see 2nd pic). Needless to say....I didn’t sleep too well last night."

Because of the woman’s seemingly supernatural arrival and departure, some are saying that she might be one of the ghosts said to haunt the historic theater.

The information shared by Lawson regarding the building’s reputedly-haunted nature seems to have come from an article written by Natalie Groves and published in the Argus Leader.

People said they've seen a woman, dressed in a white dress, roaming the aisles on the Mezzanine floor.
She is seen in the same area where a freestanding wall from the War Department of the Republic of Texas stands.
The Paramount Theatre used to be Sam Houston's war office. It was built in 1839.
Urban legend has it that she might be a mourning mother or wife from the Civil War.

Responses to Lawson’s photograph have been largely positive, and some were even inspired to share their own corroborative feelings and experiences.

"For some reason, I’ve always sat on the other side of the balcony. I’ve never felt comfortable over in the area where this figure appears," commented one person.

And make-up artist Melanie Steele, a former employee of the Paramount Theatre, confirmed the legends.

“Yep. I used to work there. She’s there,” Steele said. “There is also the spirit of a former projectionist that had a [heart] attack up in the booth. He worked there for decades. He’s famous for being smelly. He roams all over the building.”

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