You’ll Never Forget Your Visit To The Most Haunted Restaurant In North Carolina

Joe West, the original owner, was from the area and had always dreamed of owning a restaurant. The Country Squire became his dream to life vision in 1961. With a dark, cozy setting and candlelit tables, many describe the Country Squire as charming and romantic. People come here for the 72 oz. steak, the 'Kilt Buster,' and sometimes get more than they bargain for - like dinner with a ghost.

Hauntings revolve around all sections of the restaurant, for one the dart board sometimes doesn't even need a player, the darts just fly in midair. Even diners and guests are sometimes more amused than afraid of the spirits at work here. Many credit it to the original owner himself, hanging around to make sure everything is still done right. Today, the restaurant is under ownership of Iris Lennon who worked at the restaurant for several years prior to owning it.

It's not only a restaurant, but also operates as an Inn. The motel section is over 200 years old and was previously a house. Michael LaChiana the founder and director of Heritage Hunters said he's been investigating The Squire since 2010. When asking about the history and hauntings he said,

"We get a lot of audio and voice recordings. Photos are not that easy to get, even in investigating you don't get a lot of photos. What's really interesting is we've got the name of family members and people who worked there and once we shared it with the owners, they told us who they were. We think there's at least 8-10 ghosts. The property goes back to the American Revolution and all the way up to present day."

Chains rattling, doors slamming, sounds of people walking around with no one in the room - these all occur in the other section of the restaurant which also, when a residence, was home to where a woman died. When asked about the ghosts still lingering, LaChiana says they've captured a diverse amount of audio. He agrees with many that the original owner is still hanging around and said his very unique, distinct voice has been picked up on audio.

"The former owner had a son who passed away and his son's name was David." Strangely enough, LaChiana captured the name 'David' on audio before.

He also said there's been other deaths at The Squire..."There were two men who passed away over the years. One passed away on the dance floor, one had a heart attack and one passed away in the restroom." Captured on audio from the ballroom LaChiana said a man's voice said,"I died here."

LaChiana also captured this photo of what he believes to be a woman from a thermal imaging camera. When asking him what exactly he thought it could be he said it was indeed a spirit still lingering,

"It's definitely a lady and it's very interesting when we converted the photo, we had a retired government specialist who helped us with the photo...We have an actual video of this woman floating and moving in the air. Supposedly a woman died in the house and I've been in contact with the family who owned that house." LaChiana also mentioned capturing the voice of a young girl with an Irish accent, on audio as well.

While The Country Squire is charming and quaint by day, the history behind this building persists through the thin veil of our world and the spirit world.