Little Miss La Niña had her eye on a mystery, one that is known to many Vancouverites… the mystery of the hauntings at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The building is supposed to be one of the most haunted buildings in North America and has attracted more than its fair share of mediums, ghost hunters, and storytellers.
She started by questioning our hostess. “So… can you tell me about any ghosts that you’ve seen in the restaurants.”
The hostess seemed prepared for this line of questioning but was still a bit nervous. She told us about the last stall in the bathroom, which seems to have a self-locking door and a self-flushing toilet. One night after hours while cleaning an empty bathroom, the last stall door closed, locked, and the toilet flushed with no one else being in the room. This scared her so badly that she had to leave immediately.
This story warranted a trip to the bathroom, which was admittedly very cold. In fact, the entire back half of the restaurant was noticeably colder than the rest of the building.
Upon investigation, La Niña found a stall that was unlocked and seemed normal except for a piece of oddly bent metal on the back wall. “This looks a bit suspicious and I don’t know how that would even get bent,” she determined and did a further check of the rest of the bathroom… twice. No ghosts here.
A bit later she interrogated our waitress. “Is it true that the restaurant is haunted?” This particular waitress declared herself a skeptic but wouldn’t discount the experiences of her coworkers.
“The bartender has had more than his share of experiences. And, another waitress who was a skeptic until recently. One day she was in the back part of the restaurant cleaning a table when she dropped a dish. When she bent down to pick it up she came face to face with a little boy who was playing under the table. Startled she stood up and saw that all the dishes on the table had been rearranged. She was so frightened she had to leave for the day.”
Apparently, this isn’t the only time the little boy has appeared. He’s known to be very mischievous and likes to play on the trolley. Could this be a variation of the train conductor that many have seen haunting the building?
La Niña went to investigate. “It is definitely colder back here… and has a lot of interesting historical artifacts. I could see a spirit liking to hang out here. I wish we could investigate the trolley.” It was currently being used for some sort of get-together. Still, no spirits lurking in the back.
From another server, we were told that the swinging coat hooks attached to the booths seem to like to move on their own. However, no one can determine if it’s gravity or some other force that moves them.
To test the coat hooks, La Niña put them all in the same position and watched to see if any would move. None moved during our meal; however, while taking a picture, the hook next to my face moved 45 degrees. It was disconcerting and neither of us spoke for a bit as we tried to work out if it was an act of gravity, caused by vibrations, or movement from an unknown source.
“That was weird,” was all La Niña said, and we moved on to the next destination.
