McMenamins Bagdad Theater

A movie theater built by Universal Studios in 1927 in Portland's Hawthorne District. Site of the gala premiere of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975. Now a McMenamins cinema pub.

The Bagdad Theatre opened on January 14, 1927, as a grand movie palace and vaudeville house on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, financed in part by a $100,000 investment from Universal Studios. Portland architect Lee Arden Thomas designed the building with a lavish Middle Eastern theme inspired by the public's fascination with the recent discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt. The interior featured a large stage, a fountain, Middle Eastern decor throughout, and female ushers dressed in uniforms meant to appear Arabian. With approximately 1,400 seats, a balcony, and an orchestra pit, it was one of Portland's premier entertainment venues. The theater hosted the gala premiere of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 and My Own Private Idaho in 1991 before Mike and Brian McMenamin purchased it and reopened it as a cinema pub. The Bagdad was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The theater's most persistent ghost is said to be a young stagehand who wanted to be a performer rather than work behind the scenes. According to accounts collected by Portland Ghosts and other researchers, the man took his own life in the backstage area. His spirit is now often seen crossing in front of the movie screen during showings and heard whispering behind it. Staff members have described glimpsing a figure moving across the stage area when the theater should be empty, only to find no one there when they investigate.

A second spirit is associated with the women's restroom, particularly the downstairs bathroom. Female patrons have reported being bumped into by something unseen and feeling a strong presence watching them while they are in the stalls. Some women have hurried out of the theater altogether after encounters in the powder room, describing an overwhelming sensation of not being alone despite the restroom being visibly empty.

Beyond these two primary spirits, staff and visitors have reported a range of additional phenomena throughout the building. A young woman has been seen sitting in different seats in the theater, never making a sound and visible for only a few seconds before fading away. Small children have been spotted running through the aisles during screenings, only to vanish when staff approach. In the pub kitchen, the swinging doors open and close on their own. A supervisory spirit seems to oversee operations after hours, moving paperwork on desks and relocating cleaning supplies, while staff on nighttime cleanup duty hear footsteps following them through the building. One employee described the sensation as resembling a protective family member looking over their shoulder, saying it felt like a parent or grandparent making sure they were doing things the right way. The distinctive scent of inexpensive men's cologne has also been reported in areas where no one is present.

The theater's history includes several deaths beyond the stagehand's suicide, though specific details of all incidents have not been fully documented. The combination of nearly a century of continuous use, the building's dramatic architecture with its hidden backstage passages and basement spaces, and its location in the heart of Portland's Hawthorne District has made the Bagdad one of Portland's most reliably reported haunted locations. McMenamins embraces the reputation, and the theater remains a popular stop on Portland ghost tours and haunted pub crawls.