Stockyards Restaurant Serves Up Steaks With A Side Of Ghosts
10/29/2009 12:54PM
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Once known as the world’s largest feedlot, the Stockyards Restaurant has become one of Phoenix’s most historical steakhouses believed to be visited by ghosts after closing time.
While busboys and service staff are cleaning up the restaurant after a day of work, they say they experience paranormal activity. The lights will turn off and on, chandeliers shake and they’ll catch glimpses of shadowy figures dart across the room behind them.
The Stockyards Restaurant was built on the side of the Tovrea Land and Cattle Company’s packing house in 1947. The original restaurant, a small shop with 35 seats, was established to host cattlemen who came to the packing house to do business with the packing owner, Edward A. Tovrea.
Six years after the shop was built, a fire destroyed the building in 1953. A new larger restaurant and bar replaced the small shop a year later. The new restaurant was decorated with hand painted murals, one of which is of a woman in a red dress. Patrons and owners say the woman, whom some believe is the first wife of Edward Tovrea, comes alive and roams the restaurant at closing time.
Restaurant owner, Gary Lasko, invited the paranormal group “Ghosts of Arizona” for an overnight visit. That night, staff members could hear strange voices and more than one employee saw a woman in the ladies room mirror. Others saw a woman in a red dress walk from the saloon, where the murals are hung, to the hallway.
Along with the woman in the red dress, another mysterious figure appearing in the restaurant after hours among a group of phantom cowboys is recognized as Della Tovrea, Edward’s second wife. While Della was alive, she spent most of her time at the restaurant so tenured staff members of the Stockyards Restaurant recognize her silhouette walking through the halls.
When the “Ghosts of Arizona” were finished at the Stockyards, they had recorded paranormal activity at the Stockyards including a wine glass mysteriously ‘pinging’ in the dining room. Read more about the experiences and proof collected by “Ghosts of Arizona” here.
If you’re in the mood for one of Phoenix’s finest steaks or want a chance for a real life experience with the paranormal, visit the Stockyards Restaurant at the corner of 48th Street and Van Buren.
Learn more about the Stockyards Restaurant here.