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Masquerade Dupre Excelsior Mill

Atlanta

For a two-day period from the evening of September 12, 2010, through September 14, 2010, agents of the GASPS conducted a formal investigation of the facilities of the Masquerade for paranormal activity.

Written by Kyle T. Cobb, Jr.

Nos tibi credere.

Haunted Places

Mitigation of Reported Paranormal Activities

The first duty of a Scientific Paranormal Investigator is to discover and present the truth no matter what it may be.

Part of the process of analyzing the probability of paranormal activity is to interview and record first hand witnesses accounts to understand the nature and extent of the phenomenon.

Urban Legends of the Mill

In the case of the Masquerade, the legends of hauntings are numerous but vague (and strangely generic). Almost every report in the popular culture is a copy of a small previous review.

One web site claims:

The building has a history of fires, structural collapses, numerous accidental deaths of young employees during its turn-of-the- century mill years, and whisperings of a vampire that has long called the Masquerade its home.

The vast majority of the articles echo the following information:

The main report of a haunting at this location is that of seeing the apparition of a tall, black man walking around inside the club. Who he is however is sadly unknown. Also there are many claims from staff about how the very heavy music amplifiers are turned upside down, [sic] sometimes on a nightly basis when no one is in the rooms they are kept.

Other reports include footsteps from unidentified sources, cold spots and horrifying screams coming from the back stairs. Could these screams be caused by the spirits of several young girls, who all died in freak accidents in the mill? As well as the various stories of deaths on the property, there have also been an unexplained fire and several structural collapses, not to mention the outbreak of tuberculosis that took the lives of several employees.

Aside from the impossible task of the redressing urban legends, GASPS research of the allegations mentioned above are as follows:

The Name

Most casual researchers will be unable to find any information on the Mill because most of the historic record is imprecise. Even though many sources claim 1890 as the facility creation date, as of 1899, it was not on the Sanborn-Perris Map Company’s maps. When the facility appeared in 1911 (no maps of this zone exists between 1899 and 1911), the name of the facility was DuPre Manufacturing Company Excelsior Factory. The incorporated name was actually the Standard Excelsior Works according to three 1907 lawsuits. The

name “DuPre Excelsior Mill” is a modern construct.

The Address

The current address of 695 North Avenue Northeast is unsearchable prior to 1925. In 1925, the City of Atlanta agreed to extend North Avenue as part of the opening of Sears, Roebuck & Company's giant Atlanta retail store.(Cite) When the Mill first appears on the Sanborn-Perris Map Company’s maps, Angier Avenue was the only road nearby and that ran North South. North Avenue East ended on the opposite side of the rail track and North Avenue West which ended at Randolph.

Tuberculosis

As early as 1863, there were reports of Tuberculosis (or Consumption as it was called then) in Atlanta. After reviewing the records from that point forward, there are no particular indications that the Mill has any higher rate of infection than the general population. If any particular disease were named for a high number of casualties at the Mill, it would have been the Spanish Influenza outbreak of 1917 that killed 20% of the American population (7% of all Atlanta residents) and is directly responsible for many of the mass graves at Oakland Cemetery.

In fact, as of February 1919, it had killed 17,000 across the State.

Freak Accidents

Since 1860, there have only been 4 major reported accidents at the Mill. In addition to the death of Neal in

1899 and the collapse of the backstairs on December 31, 2001, two other non-life threatening injuries occurred in 1907.

As far as the stair collapse, it was reported as:

A stairway collapse at the Masquerade night spot on North Avenue near City Hall East sent more than a dozen people to the hospital just before midnight Monday night. Fire officials said that at least 14 or 15 people were injured but that none of the injuries was more serious than a fractured ankle.

Not surprising for a building of its age.

No Young Women Perished while working at the Mill

There also were no young girls working at the Mill. Many of the reports concerning young girl deaths seem to be confusion between the cotton mills located to the south and the Dupre Excelsior Mill. Almost all the reported Mill stories from 1868 until 1977 concerning mills are specifically referring to the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, (located in Cabbagetown to the South). The Fulton Mills employed hundreds of workers to create cloth and paper bags. The bulk of the Fulton workers were actually women and children. In contrast, the Dupre Excelsior Mill which supplied the Fulton Mills with excelsior employed very few people and almost all were men.

One other possible source of confusion is the Excelsior Knitting Mill in Union, South Carolina. With similar names appearing in early 1900’s Atlanta newspapers the association is probable.

Uneasy Feelings

Some of the uneasiness experienced within the facility may be attributed to the “Fun House Effect”. This is further discussed in Appendix B.

Legends Start

Prior to its conversion into the Masquerade in 1989, there are no reports of any paranormal legends or stories indicating the building was considering as anything other than the “Old Mill” on North Avenue.

Employee Reports of Activity

As part of the standard practices of the GASPS, we strive to induce real world alternative answers to potential paranormal events. This is not to say that it is our intention to discredit witnesses’ personal experiences or to in anyway doubt their credibility. Our goal is simply to provide alternative explanations where possible.

In interviews with current employees at the facility, the following paranormal activities were reported:

An office employee reported seeing a shadow figure running up stairs in front of them when emerging from the South internal stairwell ladies restroom mid-landing room (7). According to the witness, the door at top of stairs, which is always propped open by a metal stool, was slammed shut.
Multiple employees reported first and second hand reports of hearing the sounds of little girl screaming for help originating from the south internal stairwell ladies restroom mid-landing room (6,7, 8, 11).
An employee reported the second hand story of a delivery man’s encounters. According to the employee, the delivery man frequently delivered inventory. While at the facility, he routinely observed a little girl playing. One day he asked whose daughter was always playing outside later to discover there wasn’t one.
The current night manager, Charles. reported hearing a female voice call his name in the kitchen room (5).
Multiple employees, including the night manager, reported observing a full body apparition of a male crossing from the kitchen, room (5) to the opposite bar in the south section of the main room of Heaven, room (1).
Berta, an initial employee of the Masquerade, reported seeing, shortly after the change of ownership in 1989, a full body apparition of male dressed in a white shirt and dark pants standing next to a basket ball game that remained from the Excelsior Pizza operation. The figure was in the Northwest corner of the main Heaven room (1) next to where the left speaker array presently sits. When approached the figure apparently vanished.
Multiple employees reported uneasy feelings (or the feeling of being watched) while moving or standing in the liquor room hallway, room (10).
Multiple employees reported uneasy feelings (or the feeling of being watched) while in the liquor room next to room (10).
Multiple employees reported uneasy feelings (or the feeling of being watched) while in the LEFT (NW) Green Room (2).
One employee reported uneasy feelings while in the rafter level of Purgatory, the original bailer building. No other paranormal activity was reported in that building.
The current night manager, Charles, reported observing what appeared to be a moving microphone stand on the stage in the north section of the main room of Heaven, room (1).
Multiple employees reported hearing the sound of something walking behind them while moving the main room of Heaven, room (1).
Multiple employees reported hearing the sound of something walking behind them while moving the main room of Hell, room (9).
Multiple employees reported hearing phantom footstep on the south internal stairwell (6, 7, 8, 11) as well as in the main room of Hell, room (9).

Attempts to Authenticate Employee Reports of Unexplained Phenomenon

As part of our standard methodology, every effort is made to explain reported paranormal events with concrete, tangible causes. The hope is by applying Occam's razor (the idea that the simplest solution is usually the correct one), the investigation can come closer to discovering the truth.

A shadow figure running up stairs.
No mitigating evidence.
Sounds of screaming girl in internal stairwell at the south end of Heaven, in the second floor room (6)
Because the stairwell provides a natural cone shape for sounds emerging from the ladies restroom mid-landing room (7), the Investigation of screaming sounds began in the actual restroom. Within minutes an Agent identified a highly squeaky door as the likely culprit. When heard either in the back bar area of Heaven or almost anywhere in Hell, the sound of the squeaking door sound like a scream.
A delivery man’s encounters
No mitigating evidence.
Calling his name.
To formulate explanations for this report, a background microphone was placed in the kitchen, room (5), to attempt capture concrete evidence of this report. During the course of the recording, it became apparent that the acoustic profile of this particular room allows for noise to filter from front stairwell outside of heaven as well as the hall beyond. It is possible that the event could have been caused by a person calling his name in other sections of the facility. Beyond that, we can offer no mitigation.
A male crossing from kitchen to the bar.
Beyond the reminder that the shadows within the main Heaven, room (1), are extremely complex and light filters into the building in unusual and unexpected ways, we have no mitigation at this time.
A male standing near the stage.
Beyond the reminder that the shadows within the main Heaven, room (1), are extremely complex and light filters into the building in unusual and unexpected ways, we have no mitigation at this time.
Uneasy feelings in the liquor room hallway, room (10)
As discussed later in Appendix B, this particular room thanks to its unusual coloration and construction may be causing individuals to suffer from “the Fun House” effect. Essentially, this phenomenon is caused when the optical input and the internal sense of balance do not agree and slight disorientation can occur. In some individuals, this is known to cause uneasiness.
Uneasy feelings in the liquor room next to room (10)
No mitigating evidence.
Uneasy feelings in the LEFT (Northwest) Green Room (2).
Beyond the stairwell leading to ‘no where’ and the free flow of sounds into the room from the street and stage, no concrete migrating data has been collected.
Uneasy feelings in the rafter level of Purgatory
Beyond simple acrophobia from the open area below or the vertigo from looking down into an open area, no mitigation is offered.
A moving microphone stand
Attempting to understand possible causes of the report of a moving microphone stand, we conducted several experiments to replicate it. Generally speaking the stage is stable and the vibrations on the actual stage surface seem minimal even when jumping around next to an object. One possibility which may offer some plausibility is an optical illusion. During low and no light scenarios, light continues streaming in from high windows to the Western wall. Near sunset and beyond, because of secondary light sources in addition to the Western light, the reflected surfaces seem to shift about. It is possible that the inclusion of interfering bodies such as clouds or airplanes could cause more radical shifts in the light. Even so, we were unable to debunk this item.
Sounds of footsteps following person in Heaven
In working to understand the reports of people walking behind employee, a careful analysis of the room including laser measurements was conducted. A review of the acoustic properties of the wooden floors as well as the primarily stone walls quickly leads to an explanation. Generally speaking, the floors throughout the upper floor of Heaven, room (1), react like most wooden floors with a high resonance and sometimes a squeaking noise. Sound travels at about 1,100 ft of a second and the human ear will perceive anything less than 1/10 ft/s to be the same sound. In essence, that means than in a case where there is a reflective surface (or surfaces), the distance has to be at least 53 ft cumulative. Because of the size of the open room and the lack of absorbent materials, rather than someone walking behind them, the individuals, in fact, perceive their own footsteps just a fraction too late to homogenize them. So they are their own paranormal event.
Sounds of footsteps following persons in Hell
In observation of the first floor of Hell, room (9), the same logic used in Heaven did not seem to initially apply. The ceiling is low, the surfaces are multi-leveled and there is a vast open space in the southern end of the floor. The floors are generally made of concrete or wood depending upon the location in the room. Certainly there are many places in the room that clearly have the potential of the echo effect including the liquor hall and the center of the dance floor facing north. However, the complexity of the surfaces diminish this effect.
Phantom footsteps in Hell and the stairwell
Both of these areas are located beneath a wooden floor with strong acoustic properties. Anyone walking in Heaven or on the main stairs can easily be heard in Hell and the Southern stairwell.