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A haunted restaurant

Halloween is only a few days off.  This is when we hear and read a lot about haunted houses.  Would you believe a haunted restaurant?  Those who run the place don’t keep it a secret.  In fact, they brag about it.  The restaurant is Ashley’s on U.S. 1 in Rockledge, a Brevard County town just north of the Treasure Coast.  The Tudor-style structure, which dates back to the 1920s, sits next to a railroad track.  But the strange goings-on inside Ashley’s cannot all be attributed to vibrations caused by passing trains.  Waitresses have felt something nudge them from behind on the central staircase.  After closing time, screams have been heard, and alarms have gone off, but police found nothing.  In the ladies’ restroom, patrons have seen a young woman staring out at them from the mirror.  Feet in old-fashioned shoes were visible behind a stall’s partition, but when a manger looked inside, the stall was empty.  Legend has it that Ashley’s is haunted by a 19-year-old local woman named Ethel Allen, who was brutally murdered in the restaurant before her body was dumped in the nearby Indian River Lagoon.  You can learn more about Ashley’s spooky history by going to ashleysofrockledge.com.  Want to dine there on Halloween?  They expected to be fully booked well ahead of time.  For 88.9 FM, this is Paul Janensch.