Ghost sightings reported at Isabella's
Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
With Leonard Cash
No one is exactly sure who or what roams the Isabella’s building late at night, but one thing is sure: Many people claim to have seen or heard something, and rumor has it that it’s a ghost. Because there have been many reports on strange happenings, including personal ones, historian Leonard Cash decided to end this seven-week installment of the “History on Main” series with the Isabella’s resident “ghost.”
Before sharing the stories from several community members regarding the ghost, Cash first talked with former owners Kenney and Debi McKee, who bought the building from Angilil Cregger on Aug. 8, 2003.
“Thanks to Leonard Nack at First State Bank, who pointed out the big blue building
with the marshmallow roof, right outside his office window,” said Debi, in an interview with Cash.
A local contractor was hired to fix the water-damaged roof and convert the former studio and art gallery into a restaurant, which meant that the floor plan had to be redone. Kenney and his two sons aided the contractor, and on Feb. 1, 2004, Isabella’s was opened.
“We didn’t know if Newcastle was ready for salads made with mixed greens instead of iceberg lettuce and carrots, but we wanted to offer a menu that was something entirely new to the area – one of specialty salads, homemade soups, sandwiches, gourmet pizzas, pasta, and desserts, and let’s not forget the homemade bread,” Debi said.
Later, steaks, burgers and fries were added to the menu. The upstairs (which once housed the mortuary, along with other businesses) was used as a 1,200-square-foot apartment, and the other part was used for “small venues.”
“It was quite an experience, since we had never ran a restaurant before. But due to a change in circumstances, it was time to turn over our baby to let it continue to grow,” Debi said.
On Nov. 1, 2013, the restaurant was sold to Hattie Conley, who added a bar in the back of the building, and from the get-go, she noticed something was off.
Her dog, Jack, was uneasy on the first night. He jumped off the bed and started attacking something in an unexpected way. This made Conley think that someone had entered the building, but when she checked, nobody was there.
Conley also noted that many of the employees mentioned that it seemed “creepy” at night and “they regularly feel as though there are presences.”
For example, before the bar was opened, two teenage girls were walking down the hall leading to Conley’s office and thought they saw someone. They screamed and quickly came back, afraid to go there alone. Whatever they saw was enough to convince them to travel that way only when using the buddy system.
In 2016, cameras with motion detectors were installed, and they’ve already detected some peculiar activity.
“They record small things regularly – in many cases, when the motion detector goes off at night and I review the clip, … there is nothing there. Sometimes you think you see a slight wave to the picture,” Cash’s notes with Hattie state. Cash also talked with several townspeople to gather their Isabella’s ghost tales.
Karon Wieburg, an employee at the restaurant, also claims to have seen something.
“The history of the building is awesome. This building has served this town as many things. In doing so, I and others believe part of the past is still here with us,” Wieburg said. “We at Isabella’s have a resident ghost that we have affectionately named Melvin. I personally have seen him on many occasions. He can be moody, but for the most part – very nice and easygoing.”
But the sightings and rumors of ghosts started long before then. Cash said that when Bob Cregger still owned the building, one of the furnace installers had a strange encounter.
It all started when Cregger needed to put a new furnace on the second floor to keep the building from getting so cold. According to Cash, the installers had to go to the attic to hook up some stuff, and one particular man who went up came back down, vowing that was his last time going up there.
“He really looked peaked and would never go
back in that attic again,” Cash said. “He never would talk about it.”
To this day, nobody knows what he saw because he wouldn’t say why or give a reason, but it was enough to keep him from the attic, according to Cash.
“So there must have
been something up there,” Cash said.
Linda, Cash’s wife, has a few ghost tales of her own. Although her store, Cashbox Ceramics, is now located across the street from the Antler’s, the business started out in the Isabella’s building.
Linda said that there was a light bulb hanging at the bottom of the stairs, and every night at 9:30 p.m. whenever they were still working there, the light would shut off for a minute, then turn back on.
“That was our warning. We usually left. If we were still there at 10, it would go off and would not come back on,” Linda said.
One particular evening, she had a late class, and after it was over, everyone was sitting and visiting. The light went off at 9:30 as usual, but they continued visiting.
“About 15 minutes later, a bag of recycling pop cans (that had been bagged up for a long time) came crashing down off of the table in the back room and came open and spewed pop cans the entire length of the hallway,” Linda said.
That made everyone start getting ready to leave, but because it was such a nice, enjoyable night, they continued visiting some more.
“All of a sudden, one of the women there said, ‘Oh! I am leaving now!’ I said, ‘What’s up?’ and she was sitting very still. She said, ‘Look at the chair next to me.’ There was a perfect behind impression on the chair seat. We all left,” Linda said.
Another time, Linda and her daughter, Annette Koester, were working, when Annette’s husband came back from the bathroom and sarcastically said, “Nice. Thanks, ladies,” because the light for the bathroom (which was on the outside) had shut off and the door locked, so he thought they had pulled a prank
on him.
“We had no idea what he was talking about. He said we had turned off the light and locked him in. We didn’t – really!” Linda said.
On a different night, Linda sent her son-in-law to fetch an airbrush. This time, when he came back, he looked as if he had seen a ghost – and maybe he had. As he was locking the door after retrieving the brush, he looked up and claims to have seen a cowboy just standing there watching him on the other side of the door’s glass window.
“Many times, I would come in in the morning to find a row of ceramics all lined
up down the middle of the aisle. Just playful. Never anything broken, just moved,” Linda said.
So the mystery remains of what caused these curious events. But, to this day, Isabella’s is still operated as a bar and grill restaurant, so maybe if you’re lucky, you can see for yourself who this mysterious “ghost” is.
And that finishes up the history of the Isabella’s building. Next week, Cash will begin his discussion on the A.M. Nichols Supply Co. on lots 4 through 6.