So I'm eating my spaetzle and ... a ghost?

I've been on vacation all week so tonight the Bubbler clan decided to hit the local German restaurant. The place is good, but it's one of those places that's been around forever and is kind of taken for granted by the rest of the city. We were the only ones there for most of our meal. Like nearly every other German restaurant, the interior is all wooden with all manner of steins, Bavarian nomenclature, etc. Real dark, intentionally poorly lighted, etc.

Anyway, as we were eating our appetizers, we heard a huge crash from the adjoining dining room. My 5-year-old jumped a mile. At first I couldn't tell what fell down, it turned out it was a bunch of those plastic trays you fasten into hi-chairs. All of the restaurant staff was in the kitchen or at the bar, in fact, no one came to pick them up for about five minutes. No one was in that room, the lights weren't even on.

It didn't immediately strike me as weird -- shit happens -- but then I remembered that this restaurant was allegedly haunted. I whispered to my wife, so the kids didn't hear, "I think I read somewhere that this place was haunted? Maybe it was the ghost?"

She sort of rolled her eyes like she normally does when I say something she perceives to be stupid, which is like, every hour on the hour.

The wife of the restaurant owner came out and found the mess. She apologized repeatedly, saying she thought the crash came from the kitchen. We told her it was no big deal and she blurted out that it was probably, "Ed ...

"... he's our ghost."

My wife looked ashen. Fortunately she didn't say it loud enough for our kids to hear, otherwise, we would have had a problem. And after a second or two to let it sink in that she uttered it out loud, I said, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I read somewhere that the restaurant was haunted."

"It's on the back of our menu, sir."

"Oh yeah, that."

The ghost wasn't considered threatening, the wife of the owner seemed totally nonplussed about it, so it was kind of cool. But all eyes shot over into that dining room for the remainder of the dinner. A few more groups came in from there, and they sat two of three of them in that room, I had never seen them sit anyone in there before.

As I walked out, I made a point to look where those trays fell down. It's just conceivable enough to think they fell on their own, but just plausible enough to buy into the ghost.

Either way, thanks Ed The Ghost for making it an interesting night out.

 

You should have a camera crew following you around.

 

Nothing says Lanford like german noodles and ghosts.

 

Here's the quote from the, ahem, menu ...

"The restaurant was first opened in 1963 by German emigrant Leni Hanna and her husband Ed. (Ed's ghost is still blamed for many occurrences such as broken glasses, dishes, and anything else for which no one will take the blame!) ..."

 

That Ed is a clumsy bastard.

 

Maybe it's all the ghost beer he drinks

 

So, would that make Ed a scapeghost?

 

BOOOOOOOOOOO

 

You know you love it, Chef.

 

You eat a lot, Bubbler.

 

Next time order Jägerschnitzel. You might see a will-o'-the-wisp.