Southern Fried Spirits: A Guide to Haunted Restaurants, Inns and Taverns [Paperback]

Robert Wlodarski (Author), Anne Powell Wlodarski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

Ghosts are part of a magical universe embraced by every society and culture, and telling ghost stories has been a way to communicate ideas, fears, and history since the beginning of mankind.

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About the Author

Robert Wlodarski has co-authored several books, screenplays, and articles. His background is in history and anthropology, and he is developing a syndicated television series on the paranormal.

Anne Powell Wlodarski, a San Antonio native and member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, is a registered art therapist. She has co-authored books, screenplays, and articles with her husband. The Wlodarskis also co-authored Spirits of the Alamo.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556227760
• ISBN-13: 978-1556227769
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,784,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rooms With A Boo, August 21, 2000

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Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Southern Fried Spirits: A Guide to Haunted Restaurants, Inns and Taverns (Paperback)

Ghosts, goblins, specters, and apparitions have always fascinated. Now, for those who might enjoy bedding down by a phantom or supping with a spook here is a guide to many of the South's supposedly haunted spots. Which state leads in the number of addresses for the adventuresome? Why, Texas, of course! San Antonio's Alamo Street Restaurant, which was the Alamo Methodist Church until 1976, has a dining area and kitchen on the first floor while the second floor is home to live theater, concerts, and weddings. That's not all its home to - the owners boast "friendly spirits" who make their presence known by moving dishes around, pushing cooks into the refrigerator, and turning lights on and off. Does the staff mind? Not at all. Every once in a while a waiter will holler, "Now you just stop that!" Spring, Texas, a bit North of Houston, also has its share of unexplainable happenings at the Wunsche Bros. Café & Saloon. This two-story turn-of-the-century building has been turned into a country style eatery. Evidently, Charlie Wunsche, a former owner, likes the arrangement because it is said that he visits frequently - making ghostly appearances in linen closets and wandering the second floor. Austin's Driskill Hotel not only has registered guests but registered ghosts. Colonel Jesse Driskill, the builder makes his presence known by smoking cigars in guests' room and playing with their bathroom lights. Mrs. Bridges, a former employee, returns to the front desk near the witching hour clothed in a Victorian dress. Regrettably, not all of these spirits are affable as some current guests have complained about being awakened in the middle of the night "to the sensation of someone pushing them out of bed." Waxahachie, South of Dallas, also reports eerie events perpetrated by a trio at the Catfish Plantation Restaurant. It seems that when the house that now contains the restaurant was built in 1895 the owner had a daughter, Elizabeth. According to reports, she was throttled in the house on her wedding day by either or lover or groom. A second woman died in the house in 1970, and a third ghostly visitor is "believed to be a farmer named Will, who lived in the house during the Depression and died in the 1930s." Management, guests, journalists and psychics give the threesome credit for flying coffee cups, refrigerator doors opening and closing, and coffee brewed by non-human hands. The Country Spirit, a two story restaurant in Boerne, serves spirits and hosts a few, too. Evidently, these phantoms like to party as the beer spigot has been known to operate at the touch of unseen hands, and laughter has been heard coming from downstairs when it is unoccupied. Add to this list the LaBorde House Inn in Port Aransas which has a few invisible guests, the Grey Moss Inn near Helotes which has mathematically inclined specters who operate the adding machine, and Houston's La Carafe with exploding glasses and a painting that flew off the wall. According to Southern Fried Spirits, Texas has a surplus of the supernatural!