Columbia House Restaurant


The Columbian House Restaurant on US 24 in Waterville was once a tavern and way station for prisoners in transit in the stagecoach era. As befits any restaurant with its historical pedigree, it is plagued by the activities of several ghosts.

One was a prisoner who died while spending the night in the building's holding cell, a small room today used as a closet and adjoining restroom. He complained of stomach pains but his complaints were ignored and he was discovered in the morning.

Another undiscovered death in a Columbian House closet occurred on the third floor. This time it was a flat-out murder. The victim was an attendee at an event held in the third-floor ballroom, and his body was left in one of the closets on that floor to be found the next day. Today you can hear the distant sounds of music, clinking glasses, and conversation in the ballroom.

Finally, there's Jenny--the name workers came up with for the child ghost seen walking through the bar room and playing pranks on employees. They say she died in the 1918 "Spanish flu" epidemic which burned around the world, killing about thirty million people. Now her ghost resides in this Toledo-area restaurant.

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