In either 1987 or 1988, Hutch's restaurant on the beach strip was demolished and the business moved down the beach to a building which had been the area's public restrooms and a snack bar before being renovated. It was in the kitchen where unexplained things began to happen while I worked there.

While working in the new storage/prep room (which was built onto the existing kitchen), you would often see a figure walk very quickly past the stove area where the former back door was located to the walk-in fridge door (hidden from view by a tall bun rack). You would see it out of the corner of your eye and we always thought it was a delivery guy, one of whom had the habit of checking to see what we'd need before he unloaded the truck. We'd see it go by, then not re-appear, so we'd check and there'd be no one there. Many of the staff members noticed this. It would happen anytime, and would happen while different people were working.

Another incident usually took place late at night. After the cleaning up was done in the kitchen, the crew normally went into the seating area if it was slow, to wait until orders came in. While there was no one left in the kitchen you could still hear things being moved around and banging, things clattering etc. When someone actually went to check it out, everything became quiet; however, when they would return to the seating area, it inevitably began again.

I don't know what it is, or who, but it went on for many years while I worked there. I don't know if anything had happened on that location prior to its being renovated, but that could explain the strange phenomena.

I am presently employed with Hutch's Restaurant on the beach, and would like to report that we had our own haunting experience last night, December 11, 2000.

It was a very slow night due to the major storm that we had, and so we spent most of the night just cleaning up and waiting in the front of the restaurant for customers. We had about 5 in total. At around 8pm when an employee went to make a hamburger, she found that the grills had been turned off. There were only four of us working last night, and we all swear that it wasn't us.

As far as noises go, we all hear noises when we are in the dairy. There is no staff in the winter time for the dairy so the front staff has to run over whenever people want ice cream. Every time that we are in there doing orders, or closing up and counting the money, we always hear noises from the back freezer room. It always sounds as if someone is opening the door and walking around back there, which is impossible because the doors there are almost always locked up and never used.

I have been an employee at Hutch's Restaurant and want to tell you about more stories of the Hutch's ghost.

Recently, at around 11:00 I was asked to go to the stock room to find a couple of new brooms. I walked into the room and didn't know where to look so went to the back where the decorations are kept. As I was walking to the back I heard a creaking noise and the door behind me shut.

Normally it closes but leaves a gap between the door and the wall... but in this case the door was completly shut and I had to pull it open. Usually the only way it will stay shut is if you lock it up. I didn't know if this was a prank so I walked quickly to the door, pulled it open, locked it and went back to the kitchen. I didn't know why it shut or who shut it so I went back to the hallway beside the men's washroom which is in front of the stock room. I'd blame the wind but the only source of a breeze would have blown this door open rather than shutting it.

This happened late in the shift, therefore there weren't many customers in the restaurant, and I didn't notice anyone in the hallway when I went into the stock room (which was only for about 30 seconds before the door shut).

The same night I went back to the stock room with another employee. I was going to play a prank on him and shut the door so he couldn't come out, but walking to the stock room I found him standing outside of the door. He said it wouldn't open because the lock was jammed. He asked me to try it and it opened on my first try. He walked into the room to the same place I had been standing earlier (in the back of the room).

He noticed some screeching and cracking noises coming from the roof and the back walls of the room. We both left the room, locked it up and went back to the kitchen for the remainder of our shift.

Another story comes from another employee at Hutch's Restaurant. As usual for the time period this happened in, it wasn't busy due to cold weather. Two employees were playing cards out front in the seating area waiting for orders to come in. The place was very quiet and they both heard a clanging noise coming from the kitchen, sounding like the banging together of utensils. It startled them and they walked into the kitchen to find the source of the noise but nobody was in there. The calmly returned to playing cards and the shift ended.

The next night the same two employees were working and again, playing cards because there were few if any customers. Once again they heard the clanging noise of the utensils but ignored it this time figuring nobody would be in there if they went into the kitchen.

Later that night they heard water running. They figured it was the water running to fill up the fry tank but one of them remembered turning the water off before going out to the front. As the 'water noise' was still happening they decided to investigate. As they walked into the area of the source of the noise they found the floor was flooded with water. One of the taps was running full blast onto the floor and water was everywhere. There is no way somebody could have came into the restaurant to do this because the back door was locked and the last person to leave besides the two employees still there left at 8 o'clock.

Both employees guessed it was this ghost who left the water running because they had ignored his appearance earlier that night. The only possible way a person could have snuck into the restaurant was if they came into the front and walked by the employees playing cards and walked into the kitchen. There is nothing that could explain these happenings except the old Hutch's Ghost.