Diner patrons, workers spooked by sneaky ghost

Maybe the ghost at AJ Diner is just hungry for attention.

It certainly caught the attention of diner employee Robin S. Quintana. She doesn't know where the ghost comes from or what its purpose is but she is certain of one thing: it's got to be a male because it's been touching her buns ... and we're not talking about the things served up with hamburgers.

Other employees and at least one customer report other unusual happenings, such as items that have come up missing and/or were moved.

"A lot of funny stuff happens here all the time," said owner April Williams, who bought the diner's site at 455 Court St. five years ago. "It's once or twice a week."

The property, once the location of Red Moon Diner, sat idle for several years before Ms. Williams opened it as the AJ Diner about a year-and-a-half ago.

Mrs. Quintana discovered that when a "ghost" touches you, it grabs your attention.

During a break after serving early afternoon customers Monday, Mrs. Quintana stood between the bar stools at the diner and a table and explained how she was harassed while doing dishes one day about three months ago.

"I felt a hand go like this," she said, as her right hand solidly patted her buttocks. "I turned around and went 'Ahhh!' — Just like that."

She said there was no one around her, so she went out front to the dining area and asked people there if anyone had been in the dishwashing area. She got all negatives and went back to her dishwashing.

"I felt it again, but not as forceful," she said.

She just chalked it up to another ghostly happening at the diner.

"He must have liked my butt that day," she said.

At first, Mrs. Quintana didn't believe the ghost tales. "I felt maybe they inhaled too much vegetable oil," she said of the others.

Ms. Williams said she first took notice of unusual happenings at the property when she was working to reopen the diner.

"Stupid stuff would happen, but we thought it was just us," she said.

A dishwasher, who declined to be identified, said he witnessed a plastic-wrapped muffin sitting on the center of the counter suddenly fall to the floor.

Employees say they have heard what sounds like someone walking up the cellar stairs. Lights have turned on and off on their own.

Then there's the case of the missing calculator. Ms. Williams gave up finding it again and replaced it with a new one. But when she came into work one day, the old calculator was on the counter beside the new one.

Ms. Williams's sunglasses came up missing for three days until they were found in plain sight wrapped around the leg of the diner's sandwich preparation table. Rolls of toilet paper set out at night in the bathroom have mysteriously found their way back into shopping bags the next morning.

Customer Monika M. Allen of Cityview Apartments comes into the diner every day but there's one table where she won't sit — since the iced-tea incident.

Ms. Allen said she was sitting at the table about seven months ago when a glass of iced tea in front of her tipped over on its own. She managed to catch it before it spilled its contents.

"I jumped back and screamed," Ms. Allen said. "It didn't make any sense."

Sitting at a diner stool Monday afternoon, Ms. Allen gave the table, which on this day held wrapped loaves of bread, a suspicious look,

"I wonder if it'll come back and do something like they do on TV, like scratch you or bite you," Ms. Allen said of the "ghost."

Ms. Allen believes in ghosts and said she often has experienced the presence of a friendly spirit she attributes to her late grandfather.

"But he's a good ghost," she said. "I don't know who this one is," she said.

Decades ago, Court Street was known for different kinds of spirits, said Robert Houghtaling, Evans Mills, father of Ms. Williams.

"This street was the main area for bars and pool and whatever," Mr. Houghtaling said. "This street went 24 hours a day."

Ms. Williams has begun doing research on the site and the surrounding area to try to uncover any unusual happenings which may account for the ghostly presence.

She also plans to attend the psychic and holistic fair Saturday and Sunday at Days Inn on Commerce Drive. She knows it's a long shot but said maybe she'll find "some answers."