Throwback Thursday: Hauntings at the Cliffs of Moher building
Continuing our October throwbacks with spooky, unusual, paranormal, and haunting tales this week, we visit a historic building on Downtown Bowling Green’s Fountain Square. On East Main Ave., the Cliffs of Moher building stands between The Capitol Theatre and Morris Jewelry, two staples in the historic neighborhood. Management of the Cliffs of Moher Irish Pub have recorded stories of hauntings and happenings for as long as the business has been open, even dating back to the past couple of businesses that inhabited that space over the past twenty years.
Cliff’s management says they believe multiple spirits have been haunting their place over the years, as it seems the odd happenings are not limited to a specific space in the pub. For instance, up by the front window, the staff believe a ghostly spirit of a young boy livens up that space. There’s a jukebox and stairwell, and the staff have been told through the years that the little child by the jukebox is just poking around and having some prankster fun.
On the other hand, management says another spirit tends to be a little more hostile when, for some reason, it may be rattled or upset by patrons. The spirit tends to hang around the men’s restroom and large triple sink area. Most people on staff and patrons tend to have more stories about the unusual happenings in that area, and have reported feelings and sightings to management without realizing they were reporting the same version of the same stories at different times.
Staff says the most spirited action tends to happen around full moons, especially large blood moons like the one we had in September. For instance, motion sensor lights will flicker on when no one seems to be present. They say “something brushes past” staff close enough for them to feel the nudge of a presence, when no one living is standing nearby. Glasses that were securely sitting on balanced shelves have conveniently fallen into the floor to shatter and scare staff. Do knives ever take on their own personality and fall out of their containers? They do here. Staff even report seeing a figure inside the bar after they’ve locked up and closed down from the night, as they’re peering through a front window.
Staff says patrons have reported instances of feeling like there’s someone else present when no one was there. Multiple patrons have reported moments like this on the same evenings within minutes of each other, without having known the others have talked about it. Management says they do not know the history of these ghosts, or whatever it is, but that they’ve heard from previous building tenants that the hauntings are not new. The hauntings were happening when the space was Patent Pending restaurant, before Cliffs, and even before that, when the space was Verdi restaurant nearly two decades ago.
Phantoms and feelings of paranormal are no stranger to the historic buildings around downtown Bowling Green. In fact, most of the buildings around Fountain Square have their own ghost stories. Check out the Cliffs of Moher Irish Pub during a full moon and see if you have any encounters too.
