16 Most Haunted Restaurants in America: Real Ghost Stories You Can Visit

Imagine sitting down to dinner and realizing you are not the only one at the table. At America’s most haunted restaurants, the staff set a place for the living and quietly accept the dead.

Many of these buildings began as colonial taverns, frontier waystations, or worse. Murders happened in the basements. Deaths happened upstairs. The spirits, it seems, never finished their last round.

We pulled this list from our directory of haunted restaurants across the country. Each one earned its place through decades of consistent reports, not a single spooky night.

Here are the 16 most haunted restaurants in America, the spirits that linger there, and exactly how you can visit.

Why Old Restaurants and Taverns Are So Haunted

Old eating houses are where life happened at full volume. Travelers drank, brawled, fell in love, and sometimes died under the same roof where meals are served today.

Many of these structures predate the country itself. A building standing since the 1600s or 1700s has absorbed centuries of births, deaths, and violence that newer places never could.

Basements add another layer. Slaughterhouse wells, embalming rooms, and Shanghai tunnels turn up again and again in these stories, anchoring the activity to the lowest and oldest parts of each building.

1. Bobby Mackey’s Music World – Wilder, Kentucky

Bobby Mackey’s Music World is widely called one of the most haunted spots in America, and investigators have described it as a portal to Hell. The honky-tonk sits on a building that began as an 1850s slaughterhouse along the Licking River.

The horror centers on a basement well. Pearl Bryan was murdered nearby in 1895, her severed head never found, and many believe it was thrown into that well. A dancer named Johanna later died in the same basement.

Patrons report being scratched, pushed, and choked by unseen forces. The smell of roses drifts through the air, and the jukebox plays when it is unplugged. You can still come for live country music and a drink, if you dare.

2. The White Horse Tavern – Newport, Rhode Island

The White Horse Tavern has poured drinks since 1673, making it America’s oldest operating restaurant and tavern. Rhode Island’s colonial legislature once met in its main dining room.

The signature spirit is an elderly gentleman in colonial dress and a tricorn hat, often seen sitting at a corner table near the fireplace before he vanishes.

Staff treat the cold spots, slamming doors, and phantom footsteps as routine. You can dine here today on fine New England fare beneath the same low colonial beams.

3. King’s Tavern – Natchez, Mississippi

King’s Tavern is Natchez’s oldest standing building, serving travelers along the dangerous Natchez Trace since 1769. Its cypress walls are eighteen inches thick.

The famous ghost is Madeline, a mistress of owner Richard King who was allegedly murdered by his jealous wife. In 1930, renovators found three skeletons sealed inside a chimney, turning the old legend into something far more real.

Madeline appears most often near the upstairs fireplace, and footsteps echo through empty rooms. The tavern still serves Southern food and craft cocktails today.

4. The Pirates’ House – Savannah, Georgia

The Pirates’ House opened in 1753 as an inn for sailors and buccaneers near Savannah’s busy port. Robert Louis Stevenson is said to have drawn on it for scenes in Treasure Island.

Captain Flint, the pirate from that novel, allegedly died upstairs crying out for rum. Diners still report seeing a large bearded man in sailor’s clothing stumble through the rooms before vanishing.

Men were once Shanghaied through tunnels below, and visitors sometimes feel suddenly dizzy in those rooms. The Pirates’ House remains a sprawling restaurant you can tour and eat in.

5. Poogan’s Porch – Charleston, South Carolina

Poogan’s Porch serves Southern comfort food from an 1888 Victorian home on Queen Street. It is one of Charleston’s most actively haunted addresses.

The resident ghost is Zoe St. Amand, a schoolteacher who lived in the house in the early 1900s. Guests see a woman in black Victorian clothing in the upstairs dining rooms, and feel unseen hands on their shoulders.

Furniture rearranges overnight behind locked doors. You can book a table here, named for a neighborhood dog buried in the garden out back.

6. Arnaud’s Restaurant – New Orleans, Louisiana

Arnaud’s Restaurant has anchored the French Quarter since 1918, famous for classic Creole cuisine and a Prohibition-era speakeasy hidden inside.

The main spirit is its flamboyant founder, Count Arnaud, who still seems to inspect the service. Staff feel watched, then glimpse a dapper older gentleman in vintage formal wear smiling before he fades.

A woman in 1920s attire is also seen drifting through the dining rooms, trailing perfume. You can still enjoy white-tablecloth Creole dining where the Count keeps watch.

7. Kells Irish Pub – Seattle, Washington

Kells Irish Pub sits in Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the 1903 Butterworth Building, which spent decades as a mortuary. The basement was the embalming room.

Renovators found old embalming equipment and strange stains downstairs. Glasses slide across the bar, footsteps echo through empty rooms, and staff avoid certain areas alone after dark.

The pub leans into its past rather than hiding it. You can pull up a stool for a Guinness above what was once the body-storage room.

8. The Olde Pink House – Savannah, Georgia

The Olde Pink House is an upscale restaurant inside a 1771 Georgian mansion, one of Savannah’s oldest buildings. Its original owner reportedly still runs the place.

That owner is James Habersham Jr., a Revolutionary War patriot who died in the house in 1799. Staff find candles relit after being blown out, chairs pulled from tables, and silverware rearranged overnight.

His apparition in colonial dress appears on the staircases and in the dining rooms. You can dine on Southern fine cuisine while Habersham supervises.

9. 17Hundred90 Inn – Savannah, Georgia

17Hundred90 Inn is a brick inn and restaurant built in 1790, home to Savannah’s most romantically tragic ghost.

Anna Powers threw herself from a third-floor window after her sailor lover abandoned her. Guests in Room 204 wake to find a sad young woman at the foot of the bed, staring out the window.

Perfume fills rooms with no source, and Anna is said to grow possessive of male guests. You can dine in the candlelit restaurant or stay the night in Anna’s favorite room.

10. Double Eagle Restaurant – Mesilla, New Mexico

Double Eagle Restaurant occupies an ornate Victorian mansion built around 1849, during Mesilla’s frontier heyday. It is among the most active haunts in New Mexico.

A wealthy patron once found his wife with her lover here and shot them both dead. The young couple is said to linger in the very rooms where diners now eat.

Dramatic cold spots force guests to change tables even on hot desert days. You can book fine dining in the elegant rooms where the lovers died.

11. White Eagle Saloon – Portland, Oregon

White Eagle Saloon has served drinks since 1905 and ranks among Portland’s most authentically haunted bars. Its basement connected to the city’s infamous Shanghai Tunnels.

Drunken patrons were kidnapped through those tunnels and sold to ship captains, while the upstairs ran as a brothel. At least three murders are tied to the building.

Heavy footsteps and the suffering of past victims seem imprinted on the place. You can still grab a beer in this rough-and-tumble survivor of old Portland.

12. Pioneer Saloon – Goodsprings, Nevada

Pioneer Saloon is one of Nevada’s oldest continuously operating bars, built in 1913 during the Goodsprings mining boom. Bullet holes still scar the walls.

A man named Paul Coski shot and killed a patron here in 1915, and the bullet hole remains visible. Clark Gable later waited three days at the bar after his wife Carole Lombard died in a nearby plane crash.

Whiskey glasses slide across the bar and phantom boots cross the floor. You can drink in this authentic Old West saloon in the desert outside Las Vegas.

13. Golden Tiki Bar – Las Vegas, Nevada

Golden Tiki Bar opened in 2015 just off the Strip, but the activity feels far older. The property saw a fatal stabbing in 1987, and unmarked graves were reportedly found beneath it in the 1970s.

The bar is filled with salvaged artifacts from defunct tiki lounges, some with unknown histories. Staff hear disembodied voices in unknown languages from empty corners.

Cocktails slide across the bar and electronics drain without explanation. You can sip a mai tai surrounded by haunted Polynesian relics.

14. The Buxton Inn – Granville, Ohio

The Buxton Inn has welcomed guests since 1812, making it one of Ohio’s oldest continuously operated inns. Several deaths have occurred within its walls.

The famous ghost is the Lady in Blue, believed to be former owner and actress Ethel “Bonnie” Bounell, who died on-site. Guests in Room 9 see her standing near the bed.

A ghostly cat is also said to curl up beside sleeping visitors, and floral perfume drifts through empty halls. You can dine in the historic restaurant or stay overnight.

15. La Carafe – Houston, Texas

La Carafe is Houston’s oldest bar, a candlelit brick building in the Market Square District dating to the 1860s. It survived the Great Fire of 1866 and was rumored to serve as a morgue during a 19th-century epidemic.

A woman in old-fashioned clothing is seen pacing the upstairs balcony, as if searching for someone. A long-dead bartender is also said to linger behind the counter after closing.

The narrow staircase to the balcony is the most active spot, and many refuse to climb it alone after dusk. You can still order wine by candlelight downstairs.

16. Scarlett O’Hara’s – St. Augustine, Florida

Scarlett O’Hara’s is a beloved haunted pub in historic St. Augustine, built from two connected 1870s homes. It is listed in the National Directory of Haunted Places.

The resident ghost is George Colee, found drowned in an upstairs bathtub in a death many suspect was murder. He haunts the upstairs Ghost Bar where he died.

Candles light themselves, the jukebox plays alone, and the burglar alarm trips in an empty building. You can still visit for food and drinks, now operating as The Scarlett House.

How to Visit Haunted Restaurants

The good news is that most of these places want your business. They serve food and drinks during normal hours, so a meal is your easiest way in.

Call ahead and ask for the table or room with the most activity. Staff at these restaurants are usually happy to point you to the haunted corner.

Go late, when the dining room empties out and the building settles. Cold spots, footsteps, and moving glasses tend to surface after the crowds leave.

If you want to do more than dine, bring the right gear. Our ghost hunting equipment guide covers the tools that help you document what you feel.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most haunted restaurant in America?

Bobby Mackey’s Music World in Wilder, Kentucky, is the most notorious. It sits on a former slaughterhouse with a basement well tied to a murder, and investigators have called it a portal to Hell.

Can you actually eat at these haunted restaurants?

Yes. Nearly all of them are working restaurants, bars, or inns that serve the public during regular hours. You can book a table at places like Poogan’s Porch, Arnaud’s, and the White Horse Tavern just like any other restaurant.

Which haunted restaurant is the scariest?

Bobby Mackey’s is considered the most aggressive, with reports of guests being scratched and choked. The Double Eagle in New Mexico and the White Eagle Saloon in Portland are also known for intense, unsettling encounters.

What is the oldest haunted restaurant in the country?

The White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island, has operated since 1673 and is recognized as America’s oldest operating restaurant and tavern. King’s Tavern in Natchez dates to 1769 and is Mississippi’s oldest standing building.

Plan Your Haunted Dinner

Pick a city with more than one haunted table and build a night around it. Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans each offer several within walking distance.

Reserve early, especially in October, when these restaurants fill with diners hoping for an encounter. The best haunted rooms book out fastest.

When you are ready to expand the trip, explore our directory of haunted places across all 50 states to map out every stop along the way.