In historic venues across America, you can warm your belly and chill your bones at restaurants that serve delicious courses and spooky tales in equal measure.
Have you heard the one about the former owner who just won’t leave, or the janitor forever searching for his hidden treasure? Pull up a chair.
New Orleans
This French Quarter restaurant welcomes the spirit of Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan. As legend has it, Jourdan built his home where Muriel’s stands, but lost it in a poker game in 1814. Rather than move out, he killed himself on the home’s second floor where today, guests will find Muriel’s two seance lounges where employees and customers claim he remains as a sparkling light. A single table is forever reserved in his name and stocked with bread and wine daily.
St. Louis
The Lemp Mansion was built in 1890 by Johann “Adam” Lemp, a German immigrant who founded a successful beer brewing empire. Today, it functions as a restaurant, inn, and wedding venue. It’s also popular among ghost hunters due to three deaths that occurred in the home. Lemp’s son and successor, William J. Lemp, died by suicide in his office in 1904, shortly after the death of his fourth son, Frederick, and friend, Frederick Pabst. Two of his sons, Billy and Charles, also died by suicide in the home in 1922 and 1949, respectively. Some of the Lemps — and Charles’ dog — are said to still roam the halls in spirit, at least according to the mansion’s many ghost tours.
Detroit
Built by lumber magnate David Whitney Jr. in the 1890s, this 21,000-square-foot estate has operated as a restaurant since the 1980s. Whitney’s wife, Flora, died while the home was under construction, and Whitney remarried her sister. The estate is said to be haunted by Whitney, who died there, and Flora, who missed her chance to live there. Some claim the elevator moves on its own sans passengers, but The Whitney isn’t scared; it embraces the legend through ghost tours and even calls its third-floor lounge Ghostbar.
Goodsprings, Nevada
Nevada’s oldest bar, established in 1913, is in a former mining town about 40 miles outside of Las Vegas. Its walls are marked with bullet holes, supposedly from a fatal dispute over a card game in 1915. Some claim the victim is still there, along with a woman who weeps in the bathroom at night, a telephone that rings when unplugged, and spirits who move things around. Video game fans may recognize the Pioneer Saloon as a location in “Fallout: New Vegas,” though it’s called the Prospector Saloon in the game.
Charleston, South Carolina
Poogan’s has been a restaurant since 1976, though it was originally built in 1891 as a residence. Poogan was a stray dog who roamed the neighborhood and frequented the restaurant. Legend says Poogan’s spirit remains alongside Zoe, a school teacher who, after showing signs of mental illness following her sister’s death, spent her final days in a hospital. Some claim sightings of Zoe, moved objects, and doors opening and closing on their own.
Tombstone, Arizona
Big Nose Kate’s dates back to the 1880 when it was the Grand Hotel, lodging the likes of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Though much of that building was destroyed in an 1882 fire, the saloon remains. A saloon in the Wild West’s most famous ghost town wouldn't be complete without a paranormal tale or two, but Big Kate’s best-known ghost isn’t a gunslinger — it’s The Swamper. Supposedly a hotel janitor who tunneled from the basement to a silver mine, he is said to search the premises for his lost treasure, sometimes appearing in photographs.
Los Angeles
Hollywood’s century-old steakhouse, Musso & Frank, is famous for its martinis and serving the silver screen’s biggest stars, including Charlie Chaplin, Lucille Ball, and Marilyn Monroe. Rumor insists that Chaplin never left, his spirit occasionally seen lingering in his favorite booth, No. 1, located next to the window.
Mesilla, New Mexico
This restaurant is inside a home built in 1849, and it is gorgeous inside, replete with chandeliers, art, antiques, and opulent touches. The restaurant claims to be haunted by Armando and Inez, two young lovers murdered by Armando’s mother, the wealthy former owner who couldn’t accept that her son had fallen in love with Inez, a servant. The teen spirits engage in mischief, moving things around and leaving imprints from where they’ve sat in two overstuffed chairs.
Salem, Massachusetts
Turner’s Seafood has been open Salem’s old Lyceum Hall since 2013, but the property where it sits was once an apple orchard owned by Bridgit Bishop, the first person hanged in the infamous 1692 witch trials. The town’s many ghost tours tell of purported hauntings, including flickering lights, the scent of apples, and a wandering woman who may be Bridget herself.
New York
James Brown, a Black veteran of the Revolutionary War, built the James Brown House in the 1770s as both a residence and tobacco shop. The ground floor became a bar in 1817, while the top floor has served as a doctor’s office, brothel, and boarding house. Its supposed spirits include Mickey, a sailor who was either struck by a car outside or who drank himself to death at the bar, and mysterious specters upstairs who can be heard walking around and opening doors.
Cassadaga, Florida
The Spanish-style Hotel Cassadega, built in 1927, is not just a place to lay your head, but a place where psychics and healers come to congregate and share their work. In fact, the entire town of Cassadaga, purportedly home to multiple vortexes, is a spiritualist sanctuary. Guests may see various apparitions and orbs — but no mean spirits — and enjoy dinner and dueling pianos at Sinatra’s, its on-site restaurant.
Little Falls, New York
This three-story Irish castle replica was built in 1860 by railroad investor Augustus Beardslee. Today, it’s a restaurant and bar — the latter called The Dungeon — that hosts weddings, murder mystery dinners, and more. Its collection of spirits may include indigenous victims of a gunpowder explosion in tunnels beneath the estate, a mysterious man in black, and a woman in white.
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