Haunting Ghost Stories: Chef Fritz Roadhouse Ghost Story

A ghost story from Angels & Ghosts and LC Duplatt.

Located in Fairport Harbor, Ohio not far from the haunted Fairport Harbor Lighthouse, is a little haunted bar called Chef Fritz Roadhouse.

I had the opportunity one evening to pay a visit to this "watering hole," completely unaware of its legendary haunted history. In fact, the longer I was there, the more I became attune to the atmosphere of the small pub. Visiting with a local paranormal investigation group, our monthly meeting soon turned to the owner of Chef Fritz, Mike, sharing his ghost pictures and stories regarding the spirits in

residence. "Yeah, sure..." I thought, as I listened to him speak. I just couldn't help but think that the tales were concocted to drum up business from those interested in the disincarnate. I would soon find out that maybe Mike was right about the Chef Fritz Roadhouse being haunted.

Fairport Harbor has an interesting history. Being an old port on Lake Erie, visitors would come and go, and thus bars sprung up to compete for their business. The building where Chef Fritz now resides appears to have been one of the many bars found within the small village. The structure has been remodeled and added onto over the years, probably being built in the 1800's. When I did some

digging, I was able to determine that a new immigrant, Frans Arthur Lundberg, claimed the location as a residence as early as 1903, so I am pretty certain the building had been erected prior to his arrival in America. Before Mike owned Chef Fritz Roadhouse, Fritz Barhol owned the bar for 32 years (until 2002) and of course lent it his namesake.

Mike believes the ghosts that haunt Chef Fritz Roadhouse are either former patrons or workers at the bar. Being well over 100 years old, the bar at one time supposedly was an all-male bar with a piss-trough located at the bar for convenience. During its days as a "sailor's bar," a brothel was also housed upstairs. During this aforementioned time, Mike believes a prostitute named "Mary" was gang-raped in one of the upstairs bedrooms, then murdered, and her body disposed of in the river nearby. Today, Mike says over time she has come to trust him, though she understandably does not like men. Another ghost of an older woman is said to also be seen there, and Mike calls her "Mary Mae." We wondered if she could possibly have been a madam watching over the prostitutes.

The ghost of a constable who Mike calls "Steve" is said to be a friendly ghost, as Mike enjoys talking to him regularly. The constable was shot and killed in the building. Another male ghost whom Mike calls a "dark spirit" primarily haunts the basement area. Mike says this negative ghost, which he calls a "poltergeist," has physically fought him. Other ghosts have been seen, such as the ghost of a little girl, and I am also told the ghost of a former patron whom Mike knew (prior to the man's passing).

Chef Fritz Photos courtesy
of Darla Marvin and used
with her permission.

Content copyright 2008
Angels & Ghosts, LLC
www.AngelsGhosts.com

Chef Fritz Roadhouse sign

Shadow ghost mist at basement steps...

Stairway where the ghost box recordings were made...

Left: Darla Marvin photographed a shadow ghost mist coming up the steps from the basement.

Top: Stairway where we recorded the ghostly voices at Chef Fritz. Photo courtesy of Darla Marvin.

Bringing my ghost box prototype which I've dubbed the "Spirit Box," I decided to sneak away and up to the top of the stairs that was the former entranceway to the brothel. At the time, I didn't know the upstairs was formerly a house of ill-repute, yet I had been "drawn" up there. As I ran my device which is used to communicate with ghosts and spirits, I could hear what I deemed spirit voices coming through it. In fact, I thought I could hear numerous cries for "help." After a few minutes, I went back down the steps and returned to the bar area. As I was talking to a friend of mine, I felt the presence of spirit upon me (I felt goosebumps suddenly). I immediately said, "What just happened?" At the same time I was saying this, a psychic-intuitive friend asked me if I had seen the older lady who had just whizzed past me!

Perceiving Chef Fritz Roadhouse to be a very active haunting, I decided to run two more sessions up at the top of the stairs with the Spirit Box and several members from the group. As we gathered around the device and listened to the audio, we soon became amazed at how we could hear about 20-30% of the messages "live." Usually, I have to analyze the recordings I make and listen closely afterward for any replies from spirits. But this night at Chef Fritz, the spirits were very active and very determined to communicate with us. As we worked to hear their pleas, it became evident that there are ghosts of people there who want help. Maybe their cries are so desperate, because they are lost and trapped in emotional trauma. It made me sad to think that there could be people who are all around us that are unseen, yet, hurting and desperate to gain our attention in the smallest way.

As we tried to receive more information from the ghosts at Chef Fritz Roadhouse, some of the women in the group began to sense an unseen, male presence touching them inappropriately. This male spirit communicated through the Spirit Box, and tried to explain his behavior as only being "playful." It seems that some ghosts do indeed have intentions to interact with the living in ways that can be negative. Ghosts are just people without physical bodies, so I find it not surprising that their personalities, motives and desires might not differ too much from those of the living.

After our experience that night, I not only wonder how many of the ghosts at Chef Fritz might be trapped there due to past, emotional trauma, but how many also remain there in an attempt to satisfy various addictions through the living.

The following are a few examples of the messages we received that night:

1) Many stuck at Fritz - I asked, "Do you need help?" The reply sounds like, "Many stuck at Fritz."
2) Barkeep - I asked, "Why are you here?" The reply was, "Barkeep."
3) Your body - One of the ladies asks, "What's going on with this game, here?" (after being inappropriately touched by a male spirit). The reply, "Your body."
4) Spirits here playful - After hearing, "Your body," Darla Marvin asks, "Why do you have to be so nasty..?" The reply, "Playful." Then, Darla asks, "Playful?" and you will hear the spirit reply, "Yeah."