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The days are getting shorter…The evenings darker earlier…And the ghosts and specters of Toledo… hungrier.
And those apparitions have many local choices, because Toledo has more than its fair share of haunted restaurants, coffee shops and bars. With Halloween creeping ever nearer, we thought we’d offer you a guide to some of the spookiest spots in the Glass City.
Spaghetti Warehouse – Spooky with a Chance of Meatballs?
42 S. Superior St. 419-255-5038. meatballs.com/locations/toledo-oh
One of the most proudly haunted eateries in Toledo is downtown’s Spaghetti Warehouse. According to the team, basically the entire chain is haunted, with the locations routinely making the “most haunted” lists in their respective cities. General manager, Chad, attests that he’s “heard knocks on [his] office door” and had a “clearly dead” lightbulb that he’d just removed “light up in [his] hand.”
Spaghetti Warehouse also partners with Toledo-based Paranormal Spirit Encounters Investigations for a dinner and ghost hunt. 2024 dates aren’t yet available, but it typically takes place from late September through October. If you’re looking for a more curated supernatural experience, this might be the way to go.
Wandering Bean Coffee Company – Ghosts Need Caffeine, Too!
1119 W Sylvania Ave. 419-469-5960. facebook.com/WanderingBean
If you’re more of a morning person, the basement of the roastery at Wandering Bean Coffee Company seems to be a hotbed of ghoulish activity, which makes sense to the Wandering Bean’s team, as the building housing them used to be a funeral home. “I can tell you beyond a doubt that we have seen things in there,” said a member of the Wandering Bean’s team.
At the time of this writing, the building is fresh off an investigation by Haunted Toledo – a local paranormal investigation group – who came away with some pretty spooky findings, including a presence with an apparent fixation on Haunted Toledo’s EMF tripwire. Christopher Tillman of Haunted Toledo said, “The investigation was pretty active. Wandering Bean definitely has a ‘visitor’ in the building.”
Levi and Lilac’s Whiskey Room and Coffee Pub – A Toledo Landmark with a Haunted History
301 River Road. 567-402-4308. leviandlilacs.com
The “Governor’s Inn” building at 301 River Road in Maumee is “the oldest building in Lucas County” according to Levi and Lilac’s claim and the Coffee Pub/Whiskey Room (coffee shop and whiskey-forward bar, for the uninitiated) is the landmark’s latest tenant. As many old, famous places do, the building has attracted a number of unsubstantiated and eerie legends. From famous guests like (allegedly) Abraham Lincoln to a tunnel that served as a stopping place on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War and an illicit route for Canadian liquor runners during prohibition, as Levi and Lilac’s says, the building has “seen it all.”
And the Governor’s Inn is apparently the proud owner of at least two ghosts – ones who almost certainly give their name to the building’s latest occupants. First is the “Lilac Lady,” about whom little is known other than the fact that she “walks around spreading the smell of lilacs.” The other spirit is none other than the spirit of the building’s departed first owner, Levi Beebe, who allegedly enjoys a drink so much that he’s hung around the bar area during several of the building’s establishments.
Olive’s on Main – Haunted by Ohio’s First Serial Killer
5629 Main St. Sylvania 419-517-4448. facebook.com/p/Olives-on-Main-61556546653183
For those interested in the darker side of Toledo’s spectered establishments, Christopher Tillman highlighted Olive’s on Main, a diner in Sylvania. Per Tillman, Haunted Toledo investigated the restaurant back when it was still called Executive on the Main.
Allegedly, it shares a history with many places in the Toledo suburb that are haunted by Return Ward, “Ohio’s first serial killer” and his victim, Olive, his third wife. The latter, in particular, is apparently the one who is seen most often. In a 2018 YouTube video, Haunted Toledo’s Sarah Chelten recounted examples of sightings by workers, patrons and, surprisingly, even people walking by and looking in the diner window. Interestingly, while it used to be believed that Ward murdered Olive “on the spot where [Olive’s] sits today,” further research has since demonstrated that this wasn’t the case. Nonetheless, people still continue to “come forward with claims of seeing a phantom woman in white” haunting the local eatery.
Oliver House – Maumee Bay Brewing Shares Its Home with Spooky Roommates
27 Broadway St. 419-243-1302. mbaybrew.com
If you like your boos with a side of brews, head down to the Maumee River to Maumee Bay Brewing Company. The beer maker’s home, the Oliver House, is a Toledo landmark and comes with its own share of ghost stories. Maumee Bay claims that its employees have seen a number of different specters, like “a former ship captain, a woman in a white dress, and other friends of years gone by.”
Like many of the establishments on this list, Maumee Bay is very proud of its building and its history and hosts a “yearly ghost ceremony” and numerous spirit-themed events.
Know of any we missed? Contact us at [email protected]
