by Alex Brody
Spooky season is upon us! Along with scary movies, creepy costumes, and haunted housesAMP, there is spooky food at haunted restaurants. I am not referring to the candies you get from trick or treating around your neighborhood, but the places you can eat and have some supernatural experiences.
Spooky season is upon us! Along with scary movies and creepy costumes, there is of course spooky food at haunted restaurants. I am not referring to the candies you get from trick or treating around your neighborhood, but the places you can eat and have some supernatural experiences.
Below I have compiled five restaurants here in Texas where you can sit down, grab a bite to eat, sit down and have a drink, and feel a tapping on your shoulder or hear the ghastly sounds of the spirits of these restaurants.
At the outset, The Clay Pit is one of the best restaurants for Indian food in Austin, Texas. However, the Bertram building in which the Clay Pit resides holds nearly 100 years of secrets. Rudolph Bertram built the building right when Austin became the capital of the state of Texas to serve as a grocery store and general store. The building contained a network of underground tunnels whose function was to connect the many brothels, bars, a secret wine cellar, and the rumored gold supply of the State of Texas. The tunnels allowed higher-profile individuals to travel to these locations without being seen by the public.
Many spirits from the Bertram Building’s past have decided to stay in the building. The most famous ghost of the building is known as the Scarlet Lady, who was once a prostitute who worked in the brothel. An unknown patron strangled her. Today, people who work at the Clay Pit report hearing her whisper their name or phrases as they take a break in the restaurant’s basement.
Another ghost who haunts the restaurant is the spirit of one of Rudolph Bertram’s sons. Throughout his life, Bertram lost five children due to illness and disease. Bertram would quarantine his ill children in the Bertram room, which now serves as a banquet room for private events. One restaurant worker reported seeing a young boy waving to her as she was closing the restaurant one night, believing this to be one of Rudolph Bertram’s sons who died of typhoid fever in that room. This boy likes to play pranks like knocking over dishes, breaking glasses, and leaving the restaurant in a mess.
Austin is home to many haunted restaurants and bars, the second one on this list is the HandleBar. While the HandleBar is now known as an adult playground with a giant set of Jenga and even a teeter-totter, the establishment has a darker history. In the early 1900s, HandleBar was a funeral parlor and was the first place in Austin to provide cremations even when that practice was illegal.
The spirits of the cremated have decided to stick around to this day. Some specters include a young girl and an old man. Ghosts also make themselves heard by the patrons. People have reported hearing someone from the bar’s basement yelling “Hey” to them.
In Houston, Texas, La Carafe is not only one of the most haunted locations in the state of Texas but is also the oldest building in the city of Houston. La Carafe started as a bakery in 1860, transitioned to a drug store, then a hair salon, and finally into the bar known as La Carafe in the 1960s.
With the establishment existing for over 150 years, many patrons have stuck around in the afterlife. One of the spirits is a former manager of La Carafe. Patrons see him in the windows of the bar. La Carafe workers have seen bottles fall off shelves for no reason. They also hear the sound of a child playing with a ball on the bar’s second floor.
Faust Hotel and Brewpub is one of the oldest sites in Texas. The hotel opened its doors in 1929. It became home to those who lost theirs from the Stock Market Crash that year.
The Faust has three kinds of hauntings: the glasses in the bar fall for no reason, a man in a black trench coat and a black hat walking around the kitchen, and the sound of children playing. The man in the black trench coat is believed to be Walter Faust. He founded the hotel and died in 1933.
The final restaurant on this list is the Sons of Hermann Hall. The Sons of Hermann Hall is a bar and music venue built in Dallas in 1911.
There have been many reported sightings in the establishment over the years. The hauntings include tables and chairs moving, hearing children playing, and apparitions of former patrons. One account includes the sight of five figures dressed in Victorian dress walking in the hall.
Check out thisAMP for more first-hand encounters from Sons of Hermann Hall.