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    By Dahlen Mitzali

    “The restaurant occupies the oldest remaining building, built in 1860, in a neighborhood that was known as the Point, which was home to upper-income transplants from New Orleans. It is now semi-industrial Butchertown, on the cusp of revival. When we renovated, we discovered an earthen well in the basement floor. We sent a tape down and it never touched ground. It could be more than 100-feet deep. 

    “Staff have reported poltergeist activity: silverware thrown across the bar, pizza trays flung from shelves. One employee says she felt a push between her shoulder blades while entering the restroom. When she turned to see who was pranking her, nobody was there.” 

    — Sarah Balliet, co-owner of Pizza Lupo

     

    “The infrared security cameras in our law office on East Main Street pick up lots of strange objects that often appear out of thin air, then disappear while still on camera. We had somebody from the New Albany Floyd County Paranormal Society come in one weekend, and he claims something paranormal is definitely going on.

    “We previously occupied a different space in the same building. We heard voices, saw window blinds moving for no apparent reason. The voice-recognition program I use on my computer used to freeze up for a few seconds and then spit out something like ‘oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,’ or just ‘ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.’”

    — Douglas A. U’Sellis, U’Sellis Mayer & Associates

     

    “Our first year open, 2011, we had a big event at the restaurant, which is on Frankfort Avenue in a former firehouse from the mid-1800s. It was essentially a reunion for firefighters who had been stationed here, and one of them told us about Kevin the ghost. So the story goes that Kevin was a firefighter who died on duty. When a firefighter dies during duty, they are first supposed to return to their fire station, but apparently Kevin was taken to the wrong one. When he was finally brought back to this one, he decided he was never going to leave.

    “I was in the office upstairs one day and heard this huge crash. We have this little table outside the office with a tablecloth and a candle. The tablecloth had fallen off, but the candle was still in the middle of the table. Whenever something happens to me, I’m like, ‘Kevin, I’ve had a long day, can you please leave me alone?’

    “In the restaurant, things will magically fall off tables in a way that doesn’t have any scientific explanation. People will say, ‘I was nowhere near that drink,’ and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we know, that’s just our ghost, Kevin. We will replace that for you.’ During Christmastime, we hang a stocking for him so he feels like part of the family.”

    — Alex Clever, manager at the Silver Dollar

     

    “Our building in J-town was a church built in 1878. When we moved in, the building had been a Moose Lodge for 60 years, and they left a note that said something like, ‘Hey, little girl, please be nice to the new owners.’ We framed it and hung it on the back wall.

    “Supposedly, an older gentleman and a little girl haunt this place, though I’ve never personally seen the little girl; some people have said she wears Victorian-era clothing. One Saturday, though, I was setting up the bar. It was very common for us to leave the doors unlocked, so people could see the new space. I saw a guy standing there, but I was running downstairs and said, ‘Hang on. I’ll be right with you.’ I popped back up and nobody was there. And all the doors were locked.

    “Another time I noticed an unplugged fan move about six inches. I figured I was just lightheaded from working all day. Then the fan flew halfway across the room.”

    — Ben Shinkle, co-owner of 3rd Turn Brewing

    This originally appeared in the October 2018 issue of Louisville Magazine under the headline "Ghosts at Work." To subscribe to Louisville Magazineclick here. To find us on newsstands, click here.

    Cover photo by Jessica Ebelhar, jessicaebelhar.com

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