Linden Street Coffee House

THE GHOST POST - Chapter VI: Burned Basement Beams

How did those beautiful, heavy beams in the basement of Linden Street Coffee House become charred?

Honestly, I haven't found anyone in Lamoni, Iowa, who can answer that question ... who can tell me what happened in our building long, long ago.  I know that there was a fire.  The evidence is there.  The basement, which is two rooms and a crawl space, now houses our stockroom and a storeroom.  The door between the two rooms is an old-fashioned one, made from heavy beams and swinging with a hand-tooled, iron hinge.

The "second room" has a low ceiling.  Really low.  Even those of us under 6' have to duck.  Imagine what Erich and Tyson have had to deal with (they're 6'5").  The door remains open 24/7, but the staff requested that we put up a curtain or partition because - in their words - it's "creepy."  So, rather than shutting that old, hinged door, I hung a sheet there.  It's flowery and cheery and not creepy at all.

As you enter the second room, you can see where a fire has swept through.  The ceiling beams and the old door are charred.  If you let your mind wander, you can imagine the terror someone must have felt decades ago when they realized the building was burning.  During that era, that probably meant someone's home and/or livelihood - or life - were in jeopardy.  Today, it would probably just mean the headache of working through the bureaucracy of paperwork, insurance, etc.  In this day and age, smoke alarms and other gadgets would hopefully prevent any loss of life, but the loss of this beautiful old building would sure be painful.

Why am I including this in our Ghost Post?  Because I - and others - have often wondered if the fire in our building is the origin of our ghost.  Did a child die in the fire, or as a result of injuries from the fire?  Did a mommy and daddy mourn?  Or was it just a quick coal fire - the coal bin (see photo at left for a similar type of bin) is in the very location of the charred areas.  It's possible there was a quick, intensely hot fire but no loss of life or even property.  We are, after all, still using that room and the beams, though charred and sooty, remain strong enough to hold up this beautiful old building.

There could be a sad answer to our question, "How did those beautiful, heavy beams in the basement of Linden Street Coffee House become charred?" or there could just be an uninteresting story from yesteryear.  I like a good mystery, but I'd sure like to know the answer to this one.

THE GHOST POST - Chapter V: Trying Out the New A/C Unit

I would love to say that this is a photo of Mitch at the exact moment the ghost came to visit him at Linden Street Coffee House.  It's not, but it is a cute picture.  :-)  One day last week, we finally, finally, finally put the window a/c unit in the kitchen at the coffee house.  Yea!  Summer in Iowa can be brutal!

So Mitch is enjoying a day at work ... and a day with the new air conditioning.  Smoothies are whirring in the blender, the scent of baking scones is in the air, and customers are enjoying our famous coffees and Ashby's ice cream.  As Mitch walks toward the back of the kitchen, he realizes that the cool air he'd been enjoying had suddenly stopped blowing.  He thought, "a blown fuse, perhaps?" and "did the unit come unplugged, perhaps?" but no ... the a/c was turned off. 

Mitch called me.  "The ghost came to visit.  He must have a sense of humor, because he turned off the air conditioner."  Then he said ... are you ready for this ... "It was cool!" 

The GHOST POST - Chapter I: Footsteps Without Feet

If you had told me three years ago that I'd be writing about ghosts - and not laughing - I would have, well, laughed.  But here I am writing about The Ghost of Linden Street Coffee House. 

When my husband and I first bought Linden Street Coffee House in February 2004, no one told us about The Ghost of Linden Street Coffee House ... hereafter called The Ghost of LSCH, or just Our Ghost.  Our Ghost is the real thing, complete with creaking floors, childlike singing, mysterious activities, and mischievous pranks.

So today we bring you GHOST POST Chapter I:  Footsteps Without Feet

The first time I met Our Ghost it was early afternoon, which is usually a quiet time at the coffee house.  Now, you have to understand that the building where our coffee house is located is about 100 years old.  We still have the original wood floors and some of the original interior brick walls.  It's quite beautiful, but old.  We really can hear the old floor creak ... sometimes when we're in the basement storeroom the only way we know a customer has come in is because we hear the floor above groaning!

So it's early afternoon, I'm the only one in the building, and I hear footsteps crossing the old dining room floor ... they stop at the cash register counter ... I go to the counter ... there is no one there!  (Take a look at the picture ... the green counter on the right is where Our Ghost's footsteps stopped.)

I chalk up the "footsteps" to my imagination and go on with my work.

Later that afternoon, Katie comes in to work and I say, "Katie, the weirdest thing happened to me today."  (Note:  I have mentioned nothing nothing nothing to anyone about my Ghost encounter.)  She smiles and says, "Oh, you met Our Ghost!"

Apparently, Our Ghost has introduced herself to several Linden Street Coffee House folks, and that day she was polite enough to introduce herself to me. 

Stay tuned for Chapter II:  The Open and Shut Case of the Freezer Door