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  • Eight Really Cool Bars That Are Haunted

    • 10/29/2015
    • ADB
    • 0 Comments

    With Halloween coming up on Saturday, it made sense to get into the spirit by combining the holiday with our passion, bars.  So I set out to find some haunted bars.  As I began my research, there were a few things I found:

     

    - There are a crap load of bars in the U.S. that are allegedly haunted;

    - The spirits that haunt these places allegedly died incredibly violent deaths;

    - The bars were brothels, gambling dens, speakeasies or morgues at various times;

    - The bars were all really old.

     

    Below are the stories of eight haunted bars in the United States.

     

    The Ear Inn - New York, New York

    The Story

    (1) The dining room was constructed when the brewery became a restaurant at the turn of the century. Later it was a speakeasy during Prohibition. The upstairs apartment was variously a boarding house, smuggler’s den, and brothel. Ghosts have been heard and seen, in particular one “Mickey,” a sailor still waiting for his clipper ship to come in.

    I tried to do more research to find out about “Mickey” but as a former sailor, I was a bit partial on this one. 

     

    Capt. Tony’s Saloon - Key West Florida

    The Story

    I guess when a bar has been used as a morgue and you have what is known as a “Hanging Tree” out front, you might have more than a few pissed off spirits milling about.  

    (2) Not only was the building used as Key West's first morgue, it was also the location of the infamous "Hanging Tree," which was responsible for hanging 16 pirates and one woman who had stabbed her husband and two children to death. Ghost hunters claim she haunts the bar to this day. She's known as the "Lady in Blue" (named after both the blue dress she wore when she chopped up her family, and the color her skin turned as she died).

    No offense to Capt. Tony’s, but I have rules about the bars I frequent. 

    If the bar was at any time a morgue, NO DICE!

    If the bar has a hanging tree out front, NO DICE!

    If the bar has a ghost that chopped up her family and was hung from the hanging tree out front, NO DICE!

    You gotta have rules!

     

    The White Horse Tavern - New York, New York

    The Story

    The White Horse Tavern has the distinction of being home to one of the newer ghosts in bar lore.  The writer Dylan Thomas was a frequent visitor of the tavern and noted to his prodigious consumption of whiskey.  This unfortunately led to his demise. 

    (3) The White Horse holds the dubious distinction of being the place where Thomas drank his last whiskey. In November of 1953, Thomas beat his own personal record by downing eighteen shots of whiskey. Soon after the last drink he stumbled outside and collapsed on the sidewalk. He was taken to the Chelsea Hotel and there fell into a coma; the next morning he was transferred to St. Vincent’s Hospital where he died.

    It is said that the author still graces the bar with his spiritual presence and continues to enjoy a good whiskey. 

     

    Pioneer Saloon - Goodsprings, Nevada

    The Story

    This is the classic Old West story of man walks into a bar.  Man joins a poker game.  Man cheats at a poker game.  Man gets caught cheating during poker game.  Man gets in a fight with the person that accuses him of cheating.  Man gets shot for cheating.  Man dies.  Man who got shot haunts the bar.  Here are a few specifics.

    (4) On July 3rd 1915, at the Pioneer Saloon during a poker game, a man named Paul Coski was caught cheating and during a scuffle between him and another man named Joe Armstrong, Mr. Coski was shot several times and killed.

    According to the legend, Mr. Corski still hangs out and people have alleged to have been seen standing over gamblers.  Makes you wonder if he is teaching them how to count cards.

     

    Shaker’s Cigar Bar – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

    The Story

    I’m sure Shaker’s is a lovely place now but it seems like during back in the day it was one of the most violent bars in the country.  Most bars have one or two stories regarding the origins of their paranormal patrons.  However, Shaker’s has multiple stories.  It also looks like they even imported spirits from other places. 

    (5) None of the architecture or antiquities in Shaker's is indigenous to the building, not even the authentic tin ceiling, which actually came from a razed Plankinton Mansion. This could be one reason they have a bevy of different spiritual entities, since each architectural piece came from a different location. In addition to that there was a young girl named Elizabeth, who reportedly died in the 1850s by falling from an apple tree in the orchard that was behind the cemetery where the building now stands on top of many graves that were not moved for the construction of the building. The fall resulted in Elizabeth breaking her neck instantly. She has been spotted several times in the ladies room and has often times frightened guests by knocking on the bathroom door, people have also reported seeing 19th-century style shoes under the door. A photograph of a young girl that is now located in the women's bathroom came with the building when it was bought by the recent owner and there have been many occasions when the photo has been relocated in the bar... but no one moved it.

    In the basement, employees experience a lot of activity due to the murder that happened down there. Two men were reportedly killed during Prohibition in the ’20s. A group of city officials were having a meeting here and drinking—as they usually did—when a fight got out of hand. Today there’s a 7-foot by 3-foot line in the foundation and no clear reason for it, leading many to believe a murder victim was buried here. Also, there are many psychics who have witnessed many spirits in many investigations that could also be linked to the bodies from the cemetery that the building now rests on top of.

    In addition to the spiritual activity inside the bar itself, you can sleep over in the *haunted Penthouse which was a former Prohibition Era Brothel - the scene of the brutal hacking murder of a poor ill-fated bordello girl. When the penthouse was being remodeled by the owner, he found several human bones in the walls that were confirmed as human.

     

    The Tavern, Austin, Texas

    The Story

    This is the only place on the list that I’ve actually been to.  Fortunately the only spirits I encountered with distilled.  That being said, the story pretty much is the same.  If your business was a brothel and one of your employees was brutally murdered, the probability of her coming back and haunting your ass is substantial. 

    (6) Rumored to once have been a brothel, the tavern is supposedly haunted by a murdered prostitute named Emily. The story is Emily and her daughter were (both) killed by soldiers during the 1940s. Witnesses have been pinched, tapped, and watched by an unseen presence, and have heard the sounds of footsteps and a phantom pool game. Cold spots and hazy apparitions have been reported as well.

    There are two things about this story that I find fascinating.  The first is that the ghosts make physical contact with the patrons.  This seems to be pretty rare.  The second is how do you know you are being watched by an unseen presence?

     

    Kell’s Irish Restaurant & Pub - Seattle, Washington

    The Story

    How do you become the most haunted pub in America?  Build a bar over a former mortuary and let the hijinks begin! 

    (7) Kells Irish Pub in Seattle is believed to be the most haunted pub in America. Ghost hunters, bartenders and patrons have all witnessed some spookiness going on in the Irish pub, which was built over a 1900s mortuary. The mortuary, in the Butterworth building, had been purpose-built in the early 1900s to deal with the flood of dead bodies resulting from the spread of disease, mining accidents, and violence. The bar’s owners agree that the dark history has clung to the establishment. Otherworldly forces, including mirrors shattering, plaster falling from the walls and glasses inexplicably falling to the ground, have convinced them that there’s paranormal activity going on at this Irish watering hole.

    Here is a specific little gem, which might also account for significant paranormal activity.

    (8) One Seattle story tells of those dead who arrived at the mortuary having been patients of Doctor Linda Hazard, a physician who believed she could treat disease with starvation. She starved her patients, feeding them only a thin broth and giving them regular enemas.

    While I am not entirely sure that I do believe in ghosts, there are two major rules that I would have for location scouting for my business.  If the spot was where a bunch of people died or were stored or buried, (think morgues, mortuaries, cemeteries, Native American burial grounds) I might take a pass on plopping my business down on top of them.  The second rule is that if I was sick and the treatment was starvation and enemas, I would do everything within my power to come back and haunt the place myself. 

     

    Moon River Brewing Company - Savannah, Georgia

    The Story

    If you live in the most haunted city in America and you have the most haunted place in that city, you probably have a bar that is really, really, really, really haunted.

    (8) In 2003, the American Institute of Paranormal Psychology named Savannah the most haunted city in America. And what’s widely regarded as the most haunted place in Savannah? You guessed it!

    There are two notorious spirits at Moon River Brewery and it seems they are pretty legit.  The brewery has been visited on multiple occasions by paranormal activity television programs to investigate the activities.  Its most notable haunters are James Jones Stark, a loudmouth gambler who lost a duel to someone and has been pissed off since and a lady of the evening who was pushed down a flight of stairs. 

    (9) The Moon River Brewery was crawling with ghosts but James Jones Stark happened to be one of the more enduring haunts. Another noted ghost was of an unnamed soiled dove. The story was that she stole from a john who retaliated by pushing her down the stairs to the first floor bar. Her figure has been reported reliving that fatal fall over and over. Her neck twisted 360 degrees before her phantom body dissipated in front of horrified witnesses.

    If you live in the area of any of these bars, it goes without saying that they probably have some pretty cool stuff planned for Halloween.  Who knows?  One of the spirits might decide to join the party.  All eight of these fine establishments can be found in our Bar Directory so look them up.  Have a great and safe Halloween.

     

    References:

    (1) http://earinn.com

    (2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roadtrippers/key-west-bar_b_5094066.html

    (3)http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5747     

    (4) http://www.pioneersaloon.info/history/poker_and_bullets.aspx

    (5) http://monstermobsters.blogspot.com/2011/09/shakers-cigar-bar.html

    (6) http://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/austin-tavern/

    (7)(8) http://www.irishcentral.com/news/ghosts-are-regulars-at-americas-most-haunted-irish-pub-video-144344765-237437891.html

    (9) http://wordpress.moonriverbrewing.com/about-us/the-ghosts/

    (10) https://lynnesutherlandolson.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/ghost-stories-moon-river-brewing-company/

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Eight Really Cool Bars That Are Haunted

With Halloween coming up on Saturday, it made sense to get into the spirit by combining the holiday with our passion, bars.  So I set out to find some haunted bars.  As I began my research, there were a few things I found:

 

- There are a crap load of bars in the U.S. that are allegedly haunted;

- The spirits that haunt these places allegedly died incredibly violent deaths;

- The bars were brothels, gambling dens, speakeasies or morgues at various times;

- The bars were all really old.

 

Below are the stories of eight haunted bars in the United States.

 

The Ear Inn - New York, New York

The Story

(1) The dining room was constructed when the brewery became a restaurant at the turn of the century. Later it was a speakeasy during Prohibition. The upstairs apartment was variously a boarding house, smuggler’s den, and brothel. Ghosts have been heard and seen, in particular one “Mickey,” a sailor still waiting for his clipper ship to come in.

I tried to do more research to find out about “Mickey” but as a former sailor, I was a bit partial on this one. 

 

Capt. Tony’s Saloon - Key West Florida

The Story

I guess when a bar has been used as a morgue and you have what is known as a “Hanging Tree” out front, you might have more than a few pissed off spirits milling about.  

(2) Not only was the building used as Key West's first morgue, it was also the location of the infamous "Hanging Tree," which was responsible for hanging 16 pirates and one woman who had stabbed her husband and two children to death. Ghost hunters claim she haunts the bar to this day. She's known as the "Lady in Blue" (named after both the blue dress she wore when she chopped up her family, and the color her skin turned as she died).

No offense to Capt. Tony’s, but I have rules about the bars I frequent. 

If the bar was at any time a morgue, NO DICE!

If the bar has a hanging tree out front, NO DICE!

If the bar has a ghost that chopped up her family and was hung from the hanging tree out front, NO DICE!

You gotta have rules!

 

The White Horse Tavern - New York, New York

The Story

The White Horse Tavern has the distinction of being home to one of the newer ghosts in bar lore.  The writer Dylan Thomas was a frequent visitor of the tavern and noted to his prodigious consumption of whiskey.  This unfortunately led to his demise. 

(3) The White Horse holds the dubious distinction of being the place where Thomas drank his last whiskey. In November of 1953, Thomas beat his own personal record by downing eighteen shots of whiskey. Soon after the last drink he stumbled outside and collapsed on the sidewalk. He was taken to the Chelsea Hotel and there fell into a coma; the next morning he was transferred to St. Vincent’s Hospital where he died.

It is said that the author still graces the bar with his spiritual presence and continues to enjoy a good whiskey. 

 

Pioneer Saloon - Goodsprings, Nevada

The Story

This is the classic Old West story of man walks into a bar.  Man joins a poker game.  Man cheats at a poker game.  Man gets caught cheating during poker game.  Man gets in a fight with the person that accuses him of cheating.  Man gets shot for cheating.  Man dies.  Man who got shot haunts the bar.  Here are a few specifics.

(4) On July 3rd 1915, at the Pioneer Saloon during a poker game, a man named Paul Coski was caught cheating and during a scuffle between him and another man named Joe Armstrong, Mr. Coski was shot several times and killed.

According to the legend, Mr. Corski still hangs out and people have alleged to have been seen standing over gamblers.  Makes you wonder if he is teaching them how to count cards.

 

Shaker’s Cigar Bar – Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Story

I’m sure Shaker’s is a lovely place now but it seems like during back in the day it was one of the most violent bars in the country.  Most bars have one or two stories regarding the origins of their paranormal patrons.  However, Shaker’s has multiple stories.  It also looks like they even imported spirits from other places. 

(5) None of the architecture or antiquities in Shaker's is indigenous to the building, not even the authentic tin ceiling, which actually came from a razed Plankinton Mansion. This could be one reason they have a bevy of different spiritual entities, since each architectural piece came from a different location. In addition to that there was a young girl named Elizabeth, who reportedly died in the 1850s by falling from an apple tree in the orchard that was behind the cemetery where the building now stands on top of many graves that were not moved for the construction of the building. The fall resulted in Elizabeth breaking her neck instantly. She has been spotted several times in the ladies room and has often times frightened guests by knocking on the bathroom door, people have also reported seeing 19th-century style shoes under the door. A photograph of a young girl that is now located in the women's bathroom came with the building when it was bought by the recent owner and there have been many occasions when the photo has been relocated in the bar... but no one moved it.

In the basement, employees experience a lot of activity due to the murder that happened down there. Two men were reportedly killed during Prohibition in the ’20s. A group of city officials were having a meeting here and drinking—as they usually did—when a fight got out of hand. Today there’s a 7-foot by 3-foot line in the foundation and no clear reason for it, leading many to believe a murder victim was buried here. Also, there are many psychics who have witnessed many spirits in many investigations that could also be linked to the bodies from the cemetery that the building now rests on top of.

In addition to the spiritual activity inside the bar itself, you can sleep over in the *haunted Penthouse which was a former Prohibition Era Brothel - the scene of the brutal hacking murder of a poor ill-fated bordello girl. When the penthouse was being remodeled by the owner, he found several human bones in the walls that were confirmed as human.

 

The Tavern, Austin, Texas

The Story

This is the only place on the list that I’ve actually been to.  Fortunately the only spirits I encountered with distilled.  That being said, the story pretty much is the same.  If your business was a brothel and one of your employees was brutally murdered, the probability of her coming back and haunting your ass is substantial. 

(6) Rumored to once have been a brothel, the tavern is supposedly haunted by a murdered prostitute named Emily. The story is Emily and her daughter were (both) killed by soldiers during the 1940s. Witnesses have been pinched, tapped, and watched by an unseen presence, and have heard the sounds of footsteps and a phantom pool game. Cold spots and hazy apparitions have been reported as well.

There are two things about this story that I find fascinating.  The first is that the ghosts make physical contact with the patrons.  This seems to be pretty rare.  The second is how do you know you are being watched by an unseen presence?

 

Kell’s Irish Restaurant & Pub - Seattle, Washington

The Story

How do you become the most haunted pub in America?  Build a bar over a former mortuary and let the hijinks begin! 

(7) Kells Irish Pub in Seattle is believed to be the most haunted pub in America. Ghost hunters, bartenders and patrons have all witnessed some spookiness going on in the Irish pub, which was built over a 1900s mortuary. The mortuary, in the Butterworth building, had been purpose-built in the early 1900s to deal with the flood of dead bodies resulting from the spread of disease, mining accidents, and violence. The bar’s owners agree that the dark history has clung to the establishment. Otherworldly forces, including mirrors shattering, plaster falling from the walls and glasses inexplicably falling to the ground, have convinced them that there’s paranormal activity going on at this Irish watering hole.

Here is a specific little gem, which might also account for significant paranormal activity.

(8) One Seattle story tells of those dead who arrived at the mortuary having been patients of Doctor Linda Hazard, a physician who believed she could treat disease with starvation. She starved her patients, feeding them only a thin broth and giving them regular enemas.

While I am not entirely sure that I do believe in ghosts, there are two major rules that I would have for location scouting for my business.  If the spot was where a bunch of people died or were stored or buried, (think morgues, mortuaries, cemeteries, Native American burial grounds) I might take a pass on plopping my business down on top of them.  The second rule is that if I was sick and the treatment was starvation and enemas, I would do everything within my power to come back and haunt the place myself. 

 

Moon River Brewing Company - Savannah, Georgia

The Story

If you live in the most haunted city in America and you have the most haunted place in that city, you probably have a bar that is really, really, really, really haunted.

(8) In 2003, the American Institute of Paranormal Psychology named Savannah the most haunted city in America. And what’s widely regarded as the most haunted place in Savannah? You guessed it!

There are two notorious spirits at Moon River Brewery and it seems they are pretty legit.  The brewery has been visited on multiple occasions by paranormal activity television programs to investigate the activities.  Its most notable haunters are James Jones Stark, a loudmouth gambler who lost a duel to someone and has been pissed off since and a lady of the evening who was pushed down a flight of stairs. 

(9) The Moon River Brewery was crawling with ghosts but James Jones Stark happened to be one of the more enduring haunts. Another noted ghost was of an unnamed soiled dove. The story was that she stole from a john who retaliated by pushing her down the stairs to the first floor bar. Her figure has been reported reliving that fatal fall over and over. Her neck twisted 360 degrees before her phantom body dissipated in front of horrified witnesses.

If you live in the area of any of these bars, it goes without saying that they probably have some pretty cool stuff planned for Halloween.  Who knows?  One of the spirits might decide to join the party.  All eight of these fine establishments can be found in our Bar Directory so look them up.  Have a great and safe Halloween.

 

References:

(1) http://earinn.com

(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roadtrippers/key-west-bar_b_5094066.html

(3)http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5747     

(4) http://www.pioneersaloon.info/history/poker_and_bullets.aspx

(5) http://monstermobsters.blogspot.com/2011/09/shakers-cigar-bar.html

(6) http://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/austin-tavern/

(7)(8) http://www.irishcentral.com/news/ghosts-are-regulars-at-americas-most-haunted-irish-pub-video-144344765-237437891.html

(9) http://wordpress.moonriverbrewing.com/about-us/the-ghosts/

(10) https://lynnesutherlandolson.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/ghost-stories-moon-river-brewing-company/

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