Set an extra place at the table

31 days of Halloween Day #12

So from the Island, which is undoubtedly some of the richest stories of Hauntings, spanning decades of the same stories and accounts. Not just in Victoria either, I highly suggest a visit to Bastion Square, Beacon Hill, Ross Bay Cemetery, you can travel up the coast and find similar stories to Qualicum, and Comox, to Port Alberni and Tofino.

We head back to Vancouver, Gastown to be exact. This one is not new, and I actually won't go into my own accounts while dining there in the past, but if sitting in the rear section, you can often feel tugs at your shoelaces from under the table.

The Old Spaghetti Factory in Vancouver is rumored to be the most haunted restaurant in the city. The restaurant has been serving up pasta, good times – and according to some employees, ghost sightings, since 1970. Located in the Gastown district, there have been numerous reported sightings and unexplained events at this popular family restaurant.

The Old Spaghetti Factory has four ghosts in residence. The first and best known is the spirit of a tram conductor. He frequents the old trolley car that’s parked inside the restaurant and contains dining tables. The trolley, Number 53, was once a part of the British Columbia Electric Railway Company’s fleet of electric trams. Built in nearby New Westminster in 1904, it served as a public transit trolley in and around Vancouver for many years. In 1957, it and dozens of other trolley cars were decommissioned in favor of the electric and diesel buses that are commonplace in the city today.

One of the main spirits is known as Edward who is 11 or 12 years old. He’s the playful one and he’s the one who likes to move the cutlery around and unscrew the light bulbs. He gets a kick out of watching the staff stress about it.

The third apparition is a small, mischievous spirit with a reddened face and bright red hair. Simply known as the Little Red Man or Looky-loo, he calls out to staff members by name and strolls through the kitchen. His favorite prank is to surprise female customers in the ladies’ washroom. On one particular occasion, two ladies saw the dwarfish man leave one of the cubicles, dressed in a red shirt and red long johns. After looking at them and laughing mischievously, he left through the washroom door.

The fourth ghost in the Old Spaghetti Factory is a little girl who appears at a table in the front window. She sits and holds a balloon. Nobody knows who she is. Once, a friend of the restaurant’s general manager had a conversation with her that lasted several minutes. The little girl explained to him that she was looking for her mother. When he returned to the table after telling the manager about her, she’d disappeared.

There isn't much more known of the spirits at the restaurant, just speculations between local rail/road incidents, that they have been transported there with installations, and even the story that there is a “vortex” located nearby.

Regardless of how you get there, I do suggest a reservation.

And to try the Manicotti. It's to die for!