Share A Meal With A Ghost – 5 Haunted Eateries

Here’s five haunted eateries where you can enjoy a meal with the possibility of a paranormal presence. You don’t necessarily have to be a ghost hunter to get out there and have an experience, one can come in the everyday settings. In fact, we’ve heard theorists say that if you’re relaxed, you may be more response to the other-worldly, and what better way to relax than with a nice meal.

Old Town Pizza, Portland, Oregon, USA

The ghostly presence of a Nina, a murdered sex worker is said to haunt the historic Pizza restaurant in Portland. Nina was thrown into the elevator shaft for turning informant to try and help the local clergy clean up the vice in the then Merchant Hotel. Customers and staff alike have experienced the smell of strange perfume and seen the ghostly black figure. The Pizzeria’s website has this to say about it:

A constant presence at Old Town Pizza is Nina (pronounced Nigh-na), our resident ghost. If you feel a presence behind you, or smell a faint waft of perfume, you may have just received a visit. Nina is often seen in a black dress observing diners and wandering the basement below.

Scary stuff, we think we’ll have that pizza to go!

Craig Y Nos Castle, Wales, UK

Set in the bleak Brecon Beacons, Craig Y Nos Castle is both a hotel, a restaurant and a ghost lovers paradise. Featured in the infamous Most Haunted TV show, the Castle offers a number of places to eat, be it attending the bar or dining as a hotel guest. There have been reports from guests of ghostly singing emanating from the dining rooms at quiet times, maybe down to the ghost of renowned opera singer Adelina Patti who once owned the castle. The castle is home to many ghosts, and the bar has seen a number of spooky events including the one in the video below.

In recent years Dave Cottle, a musician with our Jazz players, one evening was having a conversation with fellow band members by this fireplace. His two companions left: one to answer the call of nature, the other to the bar. 

Dave entered into conversation with a lady in black sitting next to him, in the corner; she was asking him, ‘do you sing?’  

He said, “No, I don’t sing, I play instruments.” And the lady said, “So you don’t sing then, it’s a shame.” The two other members returned to the fireside and he was still having a conversation with this lady – so they asked him who he was speaking to. He said, “The lady in the corner,” and they couldn’t see her. 

When he realised he had been speaking to a ghost, he went very quiet and pale. This is not something he has ever wanted to talk about since and seems to be a genuine experience.

So if you’re passing through the Beacons, be sure to drop in to Craig-Y-Nos Castle and treat yourself to one of their delicious meals, you never know who might be joining you!

Muriels, New Orleans USA

If ever there was a town likely to evoke ghosts, it would be New Orleans. With its elegant architecture and famous graveyards, the spooks are rampant around the city. Muriel’s in Jackson Square is one such place, where you can both eat and get the chill visit of the paranormal.

The Inner Seance is where our resident ghost, Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, prefers to spend most of his time, perhaps reminiscing about the lovely beauties of yesteryear… described as a long cylindrical luminescence with sparkles on the outside as he “walks” thru the Séance although there is no defined legs or arms—around 50 times in the last 5 years or so.

Said same Pierre committed suicide in the upstairs room called The Séance Lounge in The Soiree on the 2nd floor of the building after losing ownership in poker game. If that’s not enough, there’s said to be a mischievous spirit in the courtyard bar area that flings glasses around. High spirits indeed!

The Golden Fleece, York, England, UK

York is an English city full of history and old world charm, with more ghosts than you can shake a stick at. One place in particular can boast five separate spirits on the premises, and we don’t mean whisky, vodka and gin. As well as gourmet pub food, The Golden Fleece in York is able to serve up lots of ghostly things,

Many guests have reported seeing the late Lady Peckett wandering the endless corridors and staircases in the wee, small hours and, including ghostly apparitions and moving furniture, hers is just one of the five resident spirits.

The pub dates back to the 16th century, and is so spooky it’s thought to be one of the UK’s most haunted pubs. So spooky in fact, like Craig Y Nos Castle it attracted the attention of the Most Haunted team who shot an episode of the show there. The pub has ghosts from all ages, with soldiers and fancy ladies being seen around the place. If this doesn’t sound like the sort of place you’d like to dine then we don’t blame you, but if you want an extra helping of scared, the Golden Fleece is the place for you.

Waitomo Caves Hotel, New Zealand

With a reputation as New Zealand’s most haunted hotel, the Waitomo Caves Hotel can boast a range of spooky happenings. Diners in the hotel’s restaurant have had a particularly scary meal time, with reports of cold spots and hearing disembodied laughter. And that’s not all…

There have been claims of bathtubs dripping blood, orbs bouncing around the driveway and a Māori princess stalking the corridors. Some people have also reported experiencing the dining room going cold, laughter, the feeling of ‘something’ walking through them and the noise of a maid’s trolley going along the long stretch of hall in the lower part of the hotel.

Dating back to 1908, the hotel like has featured on New Zealand TV where ghost hunters investigated the claims, and found themselves feeling things move through them and blocked out of a room by an angry spirit. Our advise, if you soup arrives cold, it could be a gazpacho or it could be the haunting chill of the paranormal joining you for a bite.