Haunted Spaghetti: When The Breadsticks Come With Footsteps

Welcome To The Oddity Shop, Where The Bizarre is Always on Sale.  This Week, Your Curator Kara is taking us on a haunted food tour.

Spaghetti is supposed to be comfort food. So why do multiple spaghetti restaurants have decades of ghost stories, full-body apparitions, and the kind of after-hours noises that would make any sane person quit mid-shift?

Tracking three locations tied to the Old Spaghetti Factory and the Spaghetti Warehouse. In Gastown, Vancouver, staff and visitors describe a uniformed tram conductor appearing inside a trolley car you can actually dine in, plus a prankster “little red man” and sightings of a child spirit. In Houston, we unpack the tragic elevator-shaft legend, reports of footsteps and moving objects, and the creepy shoulder-tap stories. In Duarte, California, the building’s past as a 1909 schoolhouse drives the haunting, including lights switching, hallway voices, and an intercom laugh that is nightmare fuel.

Listen, share with a friend who loves ghost stories, and leave a review if you want more haunted location deep dives. Then answer this for us: when you die, what type of restaurant are you haunting, and why?

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Transcript

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Welcome Back And Arizona Heat

SPEAKER_00 0:36

What's up, Audibles? Welcome back to the Oddity Shop, the podcast where we tell you creepy, odd, weird, strange, and bizarre stories from around the globe. I am your curator, Zachary, sitting here with the lovely curator Karae.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

I knew you were gonna say Karae.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

And you've been waiting for me to do it for so long I had to this time.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Because you used to always say that. You don't call me that much anymore.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

I know. How are you, Kara Ree? I'm great, Zachary. How are you? I am hot. Actually, right now I'm cool. I will say, so trade-offs, right? It is much hotter. I've finally made it to Arizona. But when we used to record, I used to have to turn my window AC unit off because it made too much noise. And now I got that whole house AC. So I'm no longer dying while recording. I'm just dying every time I step outside.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

And you wanted to be there.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

It really hasn't been too bad, I will say. Like at night it's fine. I've been going for like 6 30 walks. No, we've been going out, you know, and you can go out for like five, 10 minutes at a time. Today was definitely the hottest day I've been here at like 108. Oh, today was Monday. You worked anyway. So it's windy, which you would think helps.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

No, it does not.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

No, it feels like an oven. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:49

It's a hot the hot wind doesn't help it like no.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

No, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Ay, ay, ay.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

What's been going on with you though?

A Griddle Explosion Safety PSA

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Um wow, we haven't recorded in so long.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

I feel no, no, we had a nice little break.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

And um, yeah, so I feel like we're all out of whack. But I I guess I can give my horror story slash PSA to all of our little oddballs. Y'all, it is grilling season and griddle season. And let's just be careful because I forgot we haven't talked about this.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Your girl literally is a couple weeks ago at this point, but I my husband made food on the griddle, and then whatever. I was just outside sitting outside, and I'm like, let me clean it. So I always clean it. First off, I primarily use the griddle, which is kind of like like a blackstone if you guys aren't familiar. Yeah. So I always like I primarily cook on it, I primarily clean it, whatever. So it's nothing that I'm not used to doing. I don't know what happened, but I turned it on and it was like a gas explosion. It was so high, I don't even know how I didn't burn the lights that are like hanging on my deck. I fried a very decent portion of my hair. I fried off pretty much the majority of my eyelashes on my left side and my eyebrow on my left side. It was very traumatic and it smelled.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Okay, so a couple things.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

The sound though was so loud that my husband could hear it like in the garage on the other side of the house.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

I am one so proud. I know you might not agree, but I think you handled it very, very, very well. Like, because you and I were talking on the phone right before you went to clean it. And the next day I like went to call you and you're like, hey, just so you know, like and it could have that could have and should have started a huge meltdown for a lot of reasons. And I think you handled yourself very well.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Well, I cried a lot. I did burn my face, but we had burn cream, so I put it on right away. And I do have a weird discoloration like above my eyebrow, which I think is kind of just gonna skip. It's like my skin is like weird. I don't know, but anyway.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

It'll peel off like a sunburn eventually. I don't know. It doesn't look like it's gonna.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

But anyway, uh, I cried a lot and I called off of work the next day because I didn't know what was I just was such in shock. Right. My poor husband had to like I literally sat on the floor like little kid as my husband just like cut pieces of my hair and like picked out all the dead as I was just face tapping. My mom crying hysterically. So anyway, I then spent $200 the next day on serums for my hair, like professional scissors that I could cut it all. Because of course, my mother, who's a hairdresser, literally went out of town that night so I got horse, of course. And lash serums, eyebrow serums. So that's my PSA. Everybody be careful when lighting a griddle grill back up, just because you never know.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

I think you did well given the circumstances, but I was up visiting my parents too, right after, and I like you sent me the picture of you from the night of, and I showed it to my mom. She goes, Oh my god, like poor Kara.

SPEAKER_03 4:58

I sent it to my manager, and she was like, I can see the heartbreak in your face in the future because it's like mid. I'm like crying because I went to send it to my mom. That was a rough time.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Rough. Okay. Well, we're both hot.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

What do we have for shop talk this week?

Dealing With A Hater Comment

SPEAKER_03 5:16

Um, I have a just a funny little comment on one of our.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Is this YouTube?

SPEAKER_03 5:24

No, this is actually Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Gosh, it's usually it's always YouTube. I know. We've been getting some good crazy ones over.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

So it was on one of our reels for oh, it was our debate where we're going on about poltergeists.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Would you rather see the thing or feel the thing?

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Yeah, so that episode. And we're going back and forth and like we're really into it. And I'm, you know, I'm gonna put you on blast, Larry Kell, because he commented with his smug little old face picture. This is the biggest waste of time I have seen in a long time.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

You know what though, Larry? You still sat through the whole video enough to figure out that it wasted your time and wasted even more of your time to comment on it. So thank you for the engagement, good sir.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

Well, I commented back. Larry Kell, thanks for being the best part of the internet with a smiley face. He did not like it.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Nor did he respond, I'm guessing.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

No, he didn't like it. He didn't respond, he did none of the things.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

But Jack Diddley.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

I thought it was really funny.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Uh I I appreciate those kind of comments.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

I like those type comments, they make me laugh. So I just I don't know why those bring it's so bad. I love all of the good comments and the good stuff that you guys do for us, but like sometimes I just really the haters just they bring me so much joy.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

It's true, it's true.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Okay, I've got I've got a very exciting shop talk after a very short shop talk.

Eloise Asylum Is Reopening

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Uh, and this is one my first one. Sorry guys, you're hearing this on every episode. I am echoey again today. It's because I'm in the new office and still don't have things on the walls, so our audio quality will get better. And two, my god, did I get the biggest case of FOMO immediately after moving? So we didn't talk much. I don't think we actually talked about it on here at all, but our favorite haunted location that we've done a lot of work with Eloise Asylum in Westland, Michigan, closed down unexpectedly at the end of last year.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

And it was really sad.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

It was very sad. I don't think we need to get into any of that part of it, but let's get into the exciting part of it.

SPEAKER_03 7:28

We're just devastated, yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Uh, they are back, they are coming back, they are reopening. We have great friends who are running it. And I've already started to plan my trips back so I can go hang out there. Of course, you know, that was a big factor of me moving. I'm like, well, we're not gonna be able to work with Eloise anymore.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

It kind of was, which is really funny.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

That literally, like the day I land here.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Yeah, I didn't fly, I drove, but drove, but like the day you got there, you're like, Are you kidding me? And I think it's hilarious. So Zach will be coming back for us to be able to do some stuff with them.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

I mean, listen, my friends, you, family, those were big draws. I'm not gonna undersell that, but uh Eloise.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Eloise just took you out.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Eloise, man.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

It did because we have so many little ghosty friends there, and it made me so sad that we were never gonna get to say goodbye to them. And no, we don't have to.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

We'll see more of them than ever. Okay, so that's exciting. Um, I think that's all the shop talk I've got. Do you have anything else or do you have a question for me?

What Counts As A Weird Haunting

SPEAKER_03 8:28

I do have a question. Perfect. So, kind of speaking of like haunted, um, what's the weirdest place you've ever heard of being haunted?

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Ooh, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Or maybe not place, maybe like object. Have you heard of like a weird?

SPEAKER_00 8:42

I'm trying to think because a lot of times it's like the super old places or whatever that you expect to be haunted, you know?

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

I think for me, what and I I don't know. I I'm not gonna think of a specific one, but for me, one of the things that always surprises me that are haunted, and it has it's such a stupid thing in my brain, but it's like really, really small residential houses.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Because I, you know, it's like you can investigate the whole place in like five minutes, but it's like for me, it I I don't know why, but like when ghost hunters and they would go from these huge asylums or mining towns or whatever, and then they would be doing like a three-bedroom house. And this is like old, old um ghost hunters. Because you know, now now you have the big locations and the draws, but it'd be like no, you're yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

See, I'm so weird.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I think even though I've lived in those houses, like I don't I don't know why I find that weird, but like when the team is going to investigate it.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

So I think um not necessarily weird, but like your correlation with that. My brain always thinks like when people have like new houses or like new builds and it's like super haunted, you're like, What does this make sense? But it's more of like the land or an item honey the land.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

You set me up perfectly for that. That TikTok just got out of my head. Thank you. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Um, so yeah, that's like, but it, but like when you break it down, you're like, well, it makes sense because anything can be haunted.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Oh, what? One more one last thing before we open the shop.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I have a special request that I almost forgot to put in this episode. And Karen, I want to give a shout-out to my cousin Peter, who is a big fan of the show and has been writing in stories and chatting with us on socials and everything. And he asked for a shout out. So hi Peter to you and to all your siblings. Hopefully you're listening, and thank you for uh being one of the best cousins, you know? Not all of them listen. Not all of them.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

I just saw a thing that came through the other day was like a notification, and it was like Peter left a voicemail or a call. I called in, and it was like, it's Peter, your cousin. And I'm like, I don't have a cousin named Peter. And then I was like, oh, the two hosts of the show character.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

I know.

SPEAKER_03 10:49

Like, who's Peter? I don't have a cousin named Peter. Then I was like, oh my god, did I find like a long lost something? Like, does something happen? And then I was like, no.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Almost started a new mystery, Peter. Oh, hey Peter.

SPEAKER_03 11:01

Okay.

Why Spaghetti Spots Have Ghost Lore

SPEAKER_03 11:02

So I heard about this thing place, and then I really wanted to talk about it, but then I kind of like went down a kind of like a rabbit hole of like, let me just get into it.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Um the ghosts and the hauntings of spaghetti factories.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Multiple?

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

So I had heard of one, and I don't actually now know which one, because then when I was like haunted spaghetti factory, multiple came up, and I was like, that is the strangest thing I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

I yeah, I would not have thought of more than one. Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

Okay. Cause obviously when we think of haunted locations, we probably picture the uh uh asylums, the hotels, creepy Victorian mansions, like we were just talking about. And we probably don't picture a plate of cheesy spaghetti. Oh, but if I could be haunted by anything, but for decades multiple locations connected to the old spaghetti factory and spaghetti warehouse have collected an unusual amount of paranormal lore. Employees, customers, and ghost hunters have reported apparitions, disembodied voices, moving objects, and strange encounters inside restaurants where families are just trying to eat their dinner.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Maybe it's because when you're there, your family.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

Tonight, we uh tonight, tonight, whenever. It's always night when we record, so I always write tonight. It's it's night for us. We can say that. And it's a Monday night, which is so bizarre for us recording on a Monday night. Is it Monday?

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Yeah, it is Monday.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

Okay, so we are talking about three. Three, isn't that weird? I'm sorry, guys.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

That's wild.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

So we are talking about the old spaghetti factory in Gastown, Vancouver, the spaghetti warehouse in Houston, Texas, and the old spaghetti factory in Duarte, California.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

It's such a Texas name with the whole everything's bigger. We can't just call it a spaghetti restaurant. It's a spaghetti warehouse.

SPEAKER_03 13:09

So three restaurants, three haunted histories, and some ghosties. Perfect.

Vancouver Trolley Conductor And Trickster

SPEAKER_03 13:16

All right, so first we are going to start at the old spaghetti spaghetti? Spaghetti factory in gas town Vancouver. Okay. The old spaghetti factory opened in 1970 inside a historic brick building in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, which is obviously the perfect place to have spaghetti. I feel like just like brick old spaghetti. Not old spaghetti.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Nothing better than a paint of old spaghetti.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Okay. So this area is already known for its ghost stories, and over the years the restaurant has developed a paranormal reputation of its own. The most famous spirit is known simply as the tram conductor.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Okay. Odd place for a tram conductor, but Well, well.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

Inside the restaurant sits an antique trolley car known as number 53. And you can actually dine inside of the trolley car. Isn't that so cute?

SPEAKER_00 14:19

I would do that.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

So here's my thing, though. It's like, how do you have to book how far in advance to be like on Friday night I want to dine in the trolley car? Because like I'm imagining everybody wants to dine in the trolley.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

It's very exclusive, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

Okay, so according to staff and local legends, after closing time, a uniformed conductor has been seen setting sitting quietly inside the trolley.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

That's kind of cute.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

I know. And witnesses describe him as completely solid at first glance, only realizing something is wrong when he suddenly disappears.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Less cute, more creepy.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Or is it like he's just trying to like kind of chill in his tram alone, and then people notice him, so he's like, Yeah, I gotta go.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

It kind of reminds me of that old episode of Hay Arnold with the ghost train.

SPEAKER_03 15:06

I knew you were gonna say that. I know we don't know why on here. Yes, it is one of those, like, I don't, I think it's because I we need to re-watch it now as adults.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

It's just that chilling moment at the end with the conductor sitting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

When you're the little like that, it's like it was like unsettling, but also my favorite episode. It's also like uh uh we probably have already talked about this too, but the boy meets world episode, the Halloween one, where she's gonna be like, I think it might follow that with this. Them all. That's my favorite one. It was like whatever. Okay, anyway.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

This is why we're as fucked up as we are now.

SPEAKER_03 15:43

Exactly. Okay, no one is entirely sure where the conductor came from. Some versions of the story claim he died in a transit accident, but others suggest that the spirit may have arrived with the trolley itself when it was installed in the restaurant, which like kind of makes sense, unless like it was somebody like maybe a conductor that died and he was like from that town and then was like, Oh my god, there's a trolley car in the spaghetti factory.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Maybe a conductor, conductor, can I don't know what that word was. Conductor died eating spaghetti there and was like, I'll stay with the train.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Trolley.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Trolley. Whatever the origin, reports of the conductor have circulated for decades, but he's not alone. Stories from employees describe a small red-haired figure known as the little red man.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Like, what a name. At least we got real creative with that one.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

According to witnesses, he enjoys practical jokes, whispers to workers, and occasionally calls people by name when no one else is around. So he's like a little jokester.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

I do like that. I know. That would be me as a ghost.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

You have little practical jokes that like nothing to like, but just give you a little KBG.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Unless like you deserve to be scared. Like my enemies, I would like haunt you. But like, if I die before Aaron, I'm just gonna like, you know, fuck with him.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Just gotta poke him in the butt every once in a while.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Right in the butthole.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Like, how do you explain that to other people? You can't tell other people about a haunting like that.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

I'm pretty sure there was a Reddit story that was like, I got poked in the butthole by a ghost.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Anyway. That would soby us. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Then there's the ghost of a young boy, um, often identified as Edward, and staff members have reported seeing a child running through the restaurant only for him to vanish around the corners, which is also kind of like, uh, come get me. And then he just Right. Some say he likes to play near the trolley, which I could understand if you're a little kid.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

I'm sure the real kids do too.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

Oh, for sure. Various paranormal researchers and local historians claim there may be four resident spirits in total, making the restaurant one of Vancouver's most talked-about haunted locations.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 17:47

I know. So whether the ghosts are real or simply part of Gas Town's rich folklore, the stories have become such a major part of the restaurant's identity that now they openly discuss in local ghost tours and Halloween features. Like we all kind of know that I feel like we've talked about this too, but like a long time ago, it was like, let's not draw attention to the fact that like our facilities are haunted, but now it's like a draw, like people want it. So it's like, let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

It's mainstream now, you know. Okay, so I love that it's not only multiple spaghetti factories, but there's multiple unrelated spirits. Like maybe you just want comfort food in death.

SPEAKER_03 18:25

Honestly, like, why not? It probably smells good still.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

I kind of want spaghetti now.

SPEAKER_03 18:29

I'm not that big of a spaghetti person, but I like like I used to hate spaghetti when I was younger. Aaron loves spaghetti. I will not eat it like on the regular, but I like it.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

I don't go out of my way for like a pasta restaurant or Italian food, but I'm never disappointed when I have it. And I will say, like, my dad made the best homemade spaghetti in the world, and when he makes that, I'm just like a kid again at their dining room table.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Okay, I need Mark to make me spaghetti then.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Oh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Because I've never had somebody like make me a homemade spaghetti.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 19:03

Aside from like a restaurant, but I don't feel like that's the same, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

No, no, not the same at all.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

All right, dad. I need that.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

Mark it down, Mark.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

You sound like Mark when you said that. Mark it down, Mark.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

I didn't even mean to do it at first, but yeah, it was a good dad pun. That one's for you, buddy. I spent a lot of time with him recently. The dad jokes are just pouring out.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

I love it. You guys had such a cute little adventure.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

I know. I'm gonna that I'll talk about it more in the next episode.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Okay, okay.

Houston Warehouse Elevator Death Legend

SPEAKER_03 19:31

So the second that we're gonna talk about, my foot is cramping. I'm so sorry. Uh, this is um where we're gonna head down to south to the Houston. And this is a spaghetti warehouse occupied in a historic warehouse building in Commerce Street built in the early 1900s. The structure served multiple purposes over the decades, including where a warehouse and pharmaceutical operations, before becoming a restaurant in the 70s.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

I was just gonna ask that. What is it an actual spaghetti warehouse where they're making the noodles, or is it okay, that's the name of a restaurant?

SPEAKER_03 20:08

It's kind of like the Cheesecake Factory. It's not a goddamn factory.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

I gotcha. It's just like a callback to what it used to be.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Yeah, I guess. Well, yeah, that yeah, duh. But this one kind of makes sense though, because it's like, okay, it's been multiple other things. So, like, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

Yeah, it's not that shocking.

SPEAKER_03 20:26

So, like Vancouver's location, Houston's restaurant also featured an antique trolley car. Which what is this with these spaghetti places and trolley cars? I don't understand.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

I've never thought about the two of them being related before, but but I've also never thought about ghosts and spaghetti.

SPEAKER_03 20:44

True.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

So I still imagine like a little ghost with the cheese. Say what oh my god, they should like play into that. I know.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

We need to call them up.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Okay, we have ideas.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Okay, so and like Vancouver's location, ghost stories soon followed. So the most famous legend centers around a young pharmacist. According to the story, the man was working late one night when he accidentally stepped into an open elevator shaft and fell to his death. Oh, we've talked about this so many times. Where were we that that happened?

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Stimson Hospital.

SPEAKER_03 21:18

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

When I when we were investigating over there in in January, February. When it was way too damn cold. I think it was February.

SPEAKER_03 21:26

Was it?

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Yeah.

unknown 21:28

Whatever.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Yeah, because it was right by your birthday. Missy's birthday is in February. It was January. Okay, whatever. It doesn't matter. Does not matter. Why are we arguing about this? But that is like one of those fears that I have. Like when I push an elevator button, I wait a couple seconds before I even get in it.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

I I even when you're inside elevators, sometimes I just get the worst feeling. Or when they stop for Have you ever been stuck in an elevator?

SPEAKER_03 21:56

No.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

I have twice for like short periods of time. I was gonna say maybe I. The worst. I might have for like a really short time, like literally like a hostel in London with three people who didn't speak, none of us spoke the same language, but we all had a conversation with our faces.

SPEAKER_03 22:13

How long were you in it?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

It probably stopped for a minute and a half, two minutes. That's still too long. That's way too long.

SPEAKER_03 22:20

Ugh. Okay. Well, some versions claim his wife discovered the body and was so devastated that she died not long afterward. Uh, visitors and employees later began reporting sightings of both figures throughout the building. So him and his wife. Staff described hearing footsteps when no one was there, objects moved on their own, chairs reportedly vibrated or shifted position.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

The vibrating chair would be an interesting. Were people on them when they were vibrating?

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Oh, I don't know, but that reminds me what was vibrating when you got a reading?

SPEAKER_00 22:55

It was uh the in the gallery reading. The first time I saw Xie, it was that chair in front of me.

SPEAKER_03 22:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

I was like, I know that we had a vibrating chair by us at some point. Okay. So anyway, guests occasionally felt somewhat trapped. Trapped. Someone tapped their shoulder only to turn around and find nobody standing behind them. And the second floor became particularly notorious. So employees claimed they heard children running through empty rooms after hours, which we all know how I feel about that. If they're like love children or not. Others reported shadowy figures and unexplained noises coming from areas that should have been vacant, which is also like uh one former worker even described entering the basement after flooding and discovering furniture stacked neatly in a corner despite no one having been inside. And I think that's nice because if it was flooding, my basement flooded. I wish I had a ghost to be like, let me help her out.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

You know, I was just saying I need to organize that garage. If that spirit would like to pop over here for a day or two.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Right. And then obviously, like, you know, paranormal enthusiasts have pointed to stories like that as evidence of intelligent haunting, but skeptics, of course, suggest there are plenty of ordinary explanations, like somebody living in the basement or something.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

We know how that goes. What vibrates a chair though? Well, I guess that there's a lot of things. Right. I don't know. I like the thought of a haunted spaghetti factory better anyway. I know.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Uh the original restaurant eventually closed after Hurricane Harvey caused significant damage to the historic building. But even though the spaghetti is gone, many locals believe the spirits never let.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Do they still make spaghetti there? The spirits.

SPEAKER_03 25:57

I don't know if they ever made spaghetti though.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Like, do you think that because you can't really it's such a family dinner thing, you know what I mean? I I like to think they're still eating ghost spaghetti.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

That would be really cute.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Spaghetti.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Especially like the husband and wife that like passed away there or whatever. That'd be nice if they were just like also like having like family spaghetti nights.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

I dig it. I really want spaghetti now.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

I know, but like if I were a ghost, like and let's say we we like don't eat, we just smell the smells. I don't know if a spaghetti factory is where how a restaurant is where I would go. Garlic bread do be smelling good though. Garlic bread does smell really good, but like grilled chicken smells so good, or cookies, like if you went to like a you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Like, yeah, but that would get old fast.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Yeah, the cookies. I love like the smell of grilled chicken.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

You would find me in a Leo's Coney Island.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Yeah, you would be.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

If I would haunt any, any restaurant, oh conies, euros.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

I don't know what restaurant I would haunt.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

I gotta think about it.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Okay, well, moving along. This brings us to the old spaghetti factory in Duarte Calapornia.

Duarte Schoolhouse Voices And Intercom

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Okay. Okay, so again, for our final stop, get it because of trolley. Yeah, got it.

unknown 27:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

So unlike the other location, unlike the other locations, the paranormal reputation here is tied directly to the building itself.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Okay. What was the building?

SPEAKER_03 27:28

The Duarte restaurant uh accompanies nope, it occupies a former schoolhouse dating back to 1909.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Say less.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Yeah. Before becoming a restaurant, generations of students attended classes there, and much of that history remains visible today. So there are old photographs, classroom artifacts, and school memorabilia are still displayed throughout the building. Which remember when we were at where were we in Ohio? Where we were in the old school schoolhouse.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

It was some uh Augley's village.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

Okay. That was so creepy in like not like a scary way, but just like spooky, like with all of the old um class photos on the walls.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Remember, it just had an eerie vibe to it.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

It had a really eerie vibe, but like I was getting so much responses of like one of them being one of the students in those pictures. And I was going through and I was like, are you and I was reading all the time? And it would like light up when you certainly and I was like, Oh my gosh. And so, like, I can just see I can feel the vibe of this restaurant with all of these pictures. It'd be really cool to be in the old schoolhouse, but it'd also be really eerie even if it wasn't haunted.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:42

You know, so like we were just kind of saying, but some visitors find the atmosphere charming and others find it unsettling. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Okay, so I can see it being a little like a fair mix of both.

SPEAKER_03 28:54

Yeah, and I think that I would think it was both. Just like I thought that the c that classroom that we were in, it was so charming. It was so quaint and awesome, but like unsettling. Okay, so ghost stories, ghost ghost, ghost stories surrounding the former school have circulated for years, and employees have reported hearing footsteps when the building was empty. Some claim lights turn themselves on and off without exclamation.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

Or exclamation would also work. Both.

SPEAKER_03 29:25

Um others describe hearing a young girl laughing through the intercom system after closing time.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

No, absolutely not. Could you imagine? Like, because you know the closing staff, it's like usually two people.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

No, no, I would lose my goddamn eye.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

I'd be running.

SPEAKER_03 29:45

I the I would quit. That would actually make me quit. Can you imagine though, a silent like restaurant you're just closing up? Because like it's probably not, or maybe you have music on, I don't know, but like not that sound, and then the on the is the inner con even is it connected still, or is it like coming over like a dead inner con? I don't know, but either way, either either way, that is so effing creepy.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Yeah, I don't like that.

SPEAKER_03 30:13

That would send me no.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Take the apron off, throw it on the counter, I'm never coming back.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

Yeah, even though it's most likely just like one of those little kids' spirits, maybe that liked being at school and was just like it's probably just residual, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Like it's not trying to do it to creepy. It's residual energy. That uh that's what I'm gonna go with to make it less creepy from.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

It's fine, but residual energy to me, would it be coming through the intercom?

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

If I worked there and I had to continue working there, that's what I would tell myself. But that would send me. It reminds me though, on Hocus Poke. Oh, never mind. You don't even remember that movie.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

I did finally watch it.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

The original one. When they put them in the kiln to burn them, but to get them in there, they're like on the intercom.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

And he's like, Okay, I do need to watch it again.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Okay, so um one particularly strange report involved diners hearing an elderly man's voice over cell phones while sitting in what was once the principal's office, like over their own cell phones?

SPEAKER_00 31:21

See, I think this is something residual. It's somehow picking it up on like the electrical wires or something.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Maybe. I would have to tell myself that then. You actually might be right.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

I have the frequency or something just right.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

That actually, I guess I didn't think about that until you just yeah. In the principal's office, so so it's clearly like one of the principals. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

According to a local paranormal lore, the room may be connected to a tragic event from the building's past, which I'm not really sure what it was, but people just says there was a tragic tragic event that happened there. Additional stories include sightings of figures in bathrooms, chairs moving on their own, and unexplained voices echoing through the old school corridors. Which that kind of makes sense. Like that, you know, the whatever. Unlike Vancouver, which has its trolley ghost, or Houston, which has its tragic pharmacist, Duarte's haunting feels more like a collection of like lingering memories, which is kind of like what you were saying. Yeah, yeah. Which was kind of just left behind by a century old schoolhouse. So I guess I do get some of that being residual, but I don't know. The intercom freaks me out.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Yeah, I mean, ghost children always freak us out, but I think like it's that unbound energy of kids can definitely residual.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

And I let me let me clarify in this this thing, if it was any type of voice coming over the intercom laughing, I would be out.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Oh, absolutely. Not even I would almost prefer, well, I was saying I'd almost prefer kids, but no. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

Um, so anyway, kind of like what you just said though, like schools are places filled with thousands of lives that go throughout them, um, and moments and decades of like all that emotional energy and stuff. So that this one really does make sense to be this haunted. Like, if any building were going to leave something behind, yeah, this makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

This would be it.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

So that's kind of what I have. Like, why do we think that so many spaghetti factories and warehouses are uh seem to attract ghosts?

Which Haunted Restaurant Would You Choose

SPEAKER_00 33:18

Don't as my original theory when you're there, you're family. It's the uh the Olive Garden way, you know. Why do you think?

SPEAKER_03 33:24

I don't know. I think that it's just like coincidental that they happen to be spaghetti places. I find that so freaking bizarre, though.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

I mean, we could probably find any three of any single location.

SPEAKER_03 33:35

It's just so funny, though, when I had literally heard something like quickly on a podcast that was like, oh my god, and it wasn't even like a paranormal one, right? You're like, oh yeah, the spaghetti factory, I think it was the Houston one is haunted. I'm like, that's so crazy. I want to look into that. And then it literally popped up with multiple locations of haunted spaghetti factory.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

It's not the place you would anticipate for sure. Okay, I have a question for you though. Sure. Of the three, if you only had to pick one to eat at, which one are you going to?

SPEAKER_03 34:01

Okay, so we either have the conductor and the little red man.

SPEAKER_00 34:06

Yes. And that was which one?

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Vancouver.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Vancouver.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

So Houston was the tragic death of the pharmacist and potentially vibrating chairs and an organizing ghost. And then the last one though was Haunted School Children.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

I know that's not I know that's not gonna be your pick.

SPEAKER_03 34:25

Here's the thing. I wouldn't be opposed to it just because like they're not let me. I I I know for some new listeners, let me just clarify this. The reason that haunted school children like haunted school children, children and hauntings freak me out is because most of the time they're not actually children, is something posing as a child.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Oh, see, I just don't like children. I know you don't, living or dead.

SPEAKER_03 34:46

In this case, the kids wouldn't bother me because I know that they're probably most likely children because it was a schoolhouse. But I would be thinking, why are the children still here unless it is just residual, then they probably wouldn't bug you.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

You would never be able to enjoy your meal. You'd be thinking too much.

SPEAKER_03 35:04

Yeah, okay. So where do I want to go? I think probably Vancouver, because the conductor just seems like a nice man that I would want to sit in the trolley and eat.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

Yeah, have dinner with him, you know. I would pick that too, not only because the trolley, the trolley would be cool, haunted or not, and the conductor for the whole Hay Arnold, you know, live out that memory. Vancouver's just a city I really want to go to. I've never been.

SPEAKER_03 35:28

Okay, let's go because I'm our Ben, and then we can go there.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

All right, we'll add it to the haunted road trip that we've hit so many stops on together. Is anybody out there keeping track? If anybody has ever kept track, send us the road trip because we're certainly not.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

No, we're not. But anyway, that is my haunted spaghetti.

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:46

All spaghetti.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

I I got stuff for us.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

What?

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Emoji for this episode. Obviously, spaghetti. But our listener asks this time when you die, what type of restaurant are you haunting? And tell us, is it for the smells? Is it for the experience? Where and why and what food you want to smell the whole time. I also want to know because you're dead.

SPEAKER_03 36:09

Yeah. I also want to know if anyone's gone to any of these places.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Perfect. Or any other haunted restaurant. Yeah. We I was gonna say we need write-ins, but we actually have a decent amount. So stay tuned for sure. We always have write-ins, we always need more and phone calls. I just don't have to beg today.

SPEAKER_03 36:25

If you guys don't remember because we're totally bad hosts to keep remind you, after each episode, we head on over to Patreon

Listener Question Patreon And Closing

SPEAKER_03 36:32

and we do a little bit of more bonus around whatever topic that we talked about. So if you'd like to head on over there and join us on Patreon, we do some fun stuff. We'd love to have you.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

We should have planned for this one and been eating spaghetti on that episode. Oh my god. That would have been just awful.

SPEAKER_03 36:49

Okay. Well, we love you guys, we appreciate you, and hopefully, Zach's move didn't interrupt anything too much in your lives and your sound quality.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

I'm so sorry, guys.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

Um, obviously, that's not really that big of your concern, I'm sure. It's more mine because he's gone.

SPEAKER_00 37:09

Let's wrap it up. Let's close the shop up.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

Okay, we love you, we appreciate you. The most important thing you can do for us is to creep around my little ad balls.

SPEAKER_00 37:17

Goodbye.