They call me ouija
The way i.
Bored
Oh, and also the hauntings I guess
If this post gets 3 likes, I'll post pictures of my job's haunted basement
After months of amulet curse (my shit memory and the pictures not rendering properly) here it is. Let me take you on The Haunted Basement Tour. Long Post Incoming!!!
So some context first: I've said before that I'm a community organizer, and yeah I do that. I've also said that I work at the Combination Coffee Shop, Gay Bar, and Grill. This is also true. Community organizing does not pay the bills and we live in a capitalism. We're talking about the Combination Coffee Shop, Gay Bar, and Grill.
Second: Yeah, you heard that right. It's vibes only in this place. I live in the rural midwest (usa) so we stick out like a sore thumb, and yet we persist. The point here is, we are in "historic downtown" (read: poorly maintained buildings that because of legal technicalities have never had to be up to modern code.) Keep this in mind as we delve into The Horrors.
Third: Yeah, I promise I'm mostly joking when I talk about ghosts and demons, but I shit you not, this place is very likely haunted. Not to just drop this and run, but someone very recently died in this building and yes I will tell you the story in this lovely saga, so trigger warning for that.
Disclaimer: I do not own this building. I do not have any authority position here. I'm just the resident gay bartender who loves causing problems and decided to do a silly little photo shoot for the little gay people on my phone.
With all that out of the way: Allow me to be your guide through... whatever the hell is going on down here. We begin our decent with these stairs.
These stairs have tasted blood. The photo doesn't show, but some of them are straight up ) shaped. As long as you mind the stairs, they will mind you. It's been roughly 5 months since they last demanded blood. Let's move swiftly on while they still allow us to.
Shitty editing to remove anything branded that might get me in trouble idk. Yeah, this is the vibe for this place. The light (don't get used to it :) washes this place in a cozy off yellow. Believe it or not, we keep this place as clean as we physically can. The floor just Looks Like That. Oh, and yes
That is a hole. There's no reason for the pipes to be installed like that. this building is from the 1800s, ok?
Now, I bet you're wondering what's behind that door. Put a pin in that, ok? We'll get back to her later. We're actually going to peek behind this room.
I think this is supposed to be a sink. It doesn't work. I've never seen it work. I'm scared. 6/10 vibes. Not haunted, just icky.
We use this basement mostly for storage, and you can vaguely see some of our shelves in that last photo. We're going to go behind those, to look at something fun.
It's another massive hole! This takes us under our doorway. We're actually going to climb into the hole a tiny bit. Don't be scared, we're not at the haunted part yet.
This hole used to straight up lead outside! That's the wonders of 1800s midwestern architectural design, and yes it was a pain in the ass to get anyone to plug up out hole! That's capitalism babeyyyyyy
Let's look at more shelves :)
Haha, is it getting darker in here or is it just me? Anyway this photo is less about the shelves and more about the weird almost hallway getting blocked by these chairs. Don't touch them. They're not for keeping us out, they're for keeping the demons in.
Next to the Hellway, I mean Hallway, we have this room, I like to call Snowman Jail.
This room was a semi recent addition, at least in comparison to the last renovations down here (like 50+ years ago.) It's one of few good things the previous tenants did with the space. Here is where most of our supplies will be, but you must first survive The Snowmens' Gaze (I did that to be funny when we were putting christmas supplies away and no one moved them to a normal position yet.) We like having our supplies here because there's actually light :) ... uh... yeah. Anyway, I'm running out of photos allowed on a single post, so sit with that for a bit while I write out part two.
Part 2 coming soon. Nothing spooky going on yet, just some blatantly non-compliant shit that we can't technically get in trouble for because again, the building is
Historic
Well anyway, part two is where we'll go to the Other Side.
oh, and we're going to have to talk about the body
Oh boy, The Hauntings! Same disclaimers and whatever as above.
I'm also going to restate the tw too: We will be talking about someone's death in this section. It's also going to have a lot to do with grief.
So we last left off in Jail. Yeah, so here's the thing about the rest of the basement...
The lights only work sometimes. We have to Go In The Dark, but first check out this mirror!
Idk, I just think it's neat. Also, partial corporeal form reveal. I have at least a lower half of a human body. So this mirror came with the building. It's just been hanging out right here. We're not even sure the last business in this place used it. Doesn't seem haunted though.
1% to the mother!
Ok, we can go on with the tour now. In part 1, I ominously said that this part of the basement is the Other Side. This is because there are actually two businesses in the same space. Lucky(?) for us though, we get the side with basement access. Right now, we are below [REDACTED], a recently re-opened business after the sole owner passed away. His heart gave out suddenly in the late fall due to a combination of factors that we will not be getting into, but please, if you begin noticing an irregular heartbeat or tightness in your chest, go to the hospital. Not to be morbid, but the world won't stop for you. Take care of yourself.
Now, I'll be honest, there's no nice way to transition from that to the next thing. With nothing but my phone's flashlight to guide us, let's check out the corner.
It's christmas! Wow, what a jarring tone shift. Sorry everyone. Yeah, so when it was time to put the decorations away, whoever was responsible noped out real fast.
Speaking of, my 2 most attentive mutuals may recall that one of the reasons I didn't post this back in February is because some of the photos Turned Out Wrong! I meant to retake this one and fucking forgor, so imagine if you will:
A sketchy wooden door with no handle. A simple brass latch held together with one and a half screws, glitter glue (joke), and hope (not joke) are the only things holding this door shut, were it not for the inconveniently placed stack of chairs. The latch is almost completely dezincified, think oxidized but zinc flavored. The chairs have a checkerboard pattern. They sit, propped directly in the center of the door. You're going to have to move them to open the door. As you slide the stacked chairs out of the way, the low quiet rumble pierces the uncomfortable silence. A chill breeze blows in from beyond the door. You carefully click the latch, cautiously pulling it as it is the only leverage with which to open the door. Curiously, the old door opens without a creak. You take one bold step inside... (And yes, I am a DM for a D&D group. Would love to just play a character one day)
Ok, I'm going to be so honest. I aimed my phone's light into this room, held up my camera in the other hand, snapped this photo and fucking bolted. Maybe for 100 notes I'll actually poke around in here, but hell no. Not for 3 which is what I promised in the OG post. It's the boiler room. I've seen it before, but only ever from this distance.
Let me tell you why I simply don't wanna: Why is this room so long? Why is the air unnaturally heavy? Why is there a padlocked door outside the building that allegedly leads to this room somehow, but no one has been able to find the connected door on this side (at least as far as I've ever been told)? 0/10 definitely haunted, but not the story I have to tell.
No, instead I have to bring us back to the previous business owner for the Other Side's above ground counterpart. I don't mean to speak disrespectfully of the dead. I'm goth. I don't fuck around with the deceased. We let them rest. Now I've never been particularly superstitious, but I've had experiences that are difficult to explain. I've always had a sense of... vibes for lack of a good explanation. In an effort to stay respectful, I'm not going to elaborate because I'd love to not be able to say that I have a sense for the supernatural. I simply have no clue what this is and have no plans for testing it out. If there are things in the world I can't see, they'll reveal themselves if they want to be revealed. Not my business otherwise. I also will not be posting details around his death beyond what I already have, but what I know does add to the reasons for telling it the way that I am.
All you need to know in regard to The Basement is that when he died, The Vibes shifted. The air felt almost hostile on this side of the basement. Eventually, this feeling spread to the then abandoned business above ground. By this point, christmas was on its way, his family was devastated over the business closing, not being able to acquire the building to continue it, having no heir interested in keeping it going, but not wanting it to simply cease. Oh, and merry fucking christmas while we're at it, right? Still, despite it all, the family decided that since the entire family was still in the area and the business had a working kitchen, why not have a big family gathering here on christmas day? Slowly, they began decking the little place out and preparing for the biggest family christmas they've had in decades, but the heavy air and hostile vibes still carried through, until the first moment everyone was in the room together. (This was a few days before christmas. We were still open at the time. I did not snoop on their family plans.) Call it grief, but they all felt the thickness of the air. Christmas came and went. A celebration was had, and on the next day, I came in to open the Combination Coffee Shop, Gay Bar, and Grill. As part of the opening process, I needed to do some things on their side of the business since we were closed the day before (yes, even despite their family christmas.) The air was quiet.
I want to call it grief. I want it to be a simple as that. I'll leave it up to you what you want to believe. All I know is that there's a special kind of quiet that I'm talking about here. There's a break in the night where the stars are still glistening even though they're beginning to fade with the morning sun and the birds haven't quite risen yet. Or maybe you know it in the thin blanket of the first snow when the world begins to slow down and everything seems to stop for a moment to bask in the simple beauty of it. Or maybe I'm just an overly romantic gay boy who doesn't know how to properly put it to words. Point is, there was a sense of peace in the air and since that moment, I haven't felt a thing in that basement.
Except for that horrible fucking boiler room. Fuck that place.
If I can leave y'all with anything, it's this. Treasure the moments you have with each other. Especially if your family are not the people you're related to. Honor the dead and celebrate life and living. Fuck anyone who doesn't want you to live as you are. Something something be gay do crime idk.
On a lighter note, do you remember the door near the foot of the stairs? want to know what's on the other side?
Oohhh it’s another door with no handle! What a mystery!! Well, let's open it, shall we?
It's the haunted bathroom stall!! Perfect for a spooky shitting session or a creepy peepee time! Despite what it looks like, this toilet works. This is the only spot I can comfortably take a photo at, so uh... yeah. Before anyone mentions it, yes the toilet is at a really weird angle, and yes that's a handle on the non-green box on the wall. That's a prehistoric disability aid. Fun times.
And with that, y'all have seen every(ish) inch of The Haunted Basement of The Combination Coffee Shop, Gay Bar, and Grill. Thanks for joining me on this fun little adventure. Sorry it took me so damn long. I hope this was worth it to someone.
(me. it's worth it to me :)
