When asked about the relatively frequent unexplained phenomena at the Family Tradition Restaurant on Route 8 in Harrisville, manager Holly Hood heaves a sigh.

“I don’t even know where to start,” she said.

Hood has witnessed or knows of things being thrown, plates being knocked off shelves and breaking, unseen people talking and music playing.

“It’s almost like music box music,” she said.

Having been employed at the restaurant for more than two decades, she has seen and heard all manner of things over the years.

“It gives me the creeps a little bit, but it’s neat,” Hood said. “I like that kind of stuff.”

She said one day she was in the walk-in cooler, and a gallon of blue cheese salad dressing that was against the wall of the chilly room rose above another gallon of dressing in front of it and splattered to the floor.

“People said ‘It probably just fell,’ and I was like ‘No, it came up over another gallon container.’”

She was irritated at the time at the aromatic and creamy mess she had to find time to clean up.

“I was not happy,” Hood said. “I was yelling at it.”

On another occasion, buns were thrown from the counter onto the kitchen floor.

“So we pulled it up on the cameras,” Hood said. “Maybe 10 minutes later, big, heavy plates on the bottom rack, five or six of them shattered on the floor.”

Several months ago, the cameras began flickering, and a shadow figure peeked out of a stockroom.

“It was like it was playing peekaboo,” Hood said. “It was awesome.”

While no employees have run screaming from the popular restaurant, never to return, one young man was terrified when he encountered a misty figure in the basement.

“He would not ever go back in the basement again,” Hood said.

While she enjoys the haunted happenings, Hood said not all of her coworkers do.

“Some of them do not like it,” she said. “They’re like ‘Nope.’ They don’t want anything to do with it.”

She said several paranormal groups have investigated the restaurant, which was The Spot before Family Tradition.

She said one team was able to catch a lady’s face on the window in the restaurant’s swinging door.

“It was a perfect shadow outline of a lady’s face on the window,” Hood said.

The previous owner of the restaurant sat for a video on its haunted occurrences, which can be found by searching “A Traditional Haunting” on YouTube.com.

The video details possible causes of the hauntings and frightening happenings during his tenure as owner.

Regarding the postulations on the source of the haunt, Hood has her own theory.

“A lot of older people come in, older guys who come and drink coffee,” Hood said. “We joke and wonder if it's not them coming back for one more cup.”

Boyers Paranormal Society, led by founder Mark DeMatteis, investigated Family Tradition overnight on Saturday, Oct. 26, with his investigators and restaurant employees.

He said most of those on the investigation had some sort of paranormal experience, and one participant was scratched on the neck by an unseen force.

DeMatteis said he only uses instrumental transcommunication devices on his investigations, like REM pods that are said to light up and make noise when in contact with a spirit; a K-II meter, which detects electromagnetic fields said to represent the presence of a spirit; an Ovilus device, which has a database of words a spirit can use to communicate; and an SLS camera, which is said to show spirits in stick-figure form.

Another device DeMatteis used at Family Tradition was a Boo Buddy, which is a stuffed animal that lights up when electromagnetic energy is near.

He said in addition to Family Tradition, other paranormal hot spots in and around Butler County are Miller Auditorium at Slippery Rock University, the Harmony Inn, and the Old Stone House in Brady Township. He also has investigated the notoriously creepy Hillview Manor in New Castle four or five times.

DeMatteis said some people are interested in the paranormal because they have had experiences in their homes or businesses.

“It’s also pretty popular on the Travel Channel,” he said. “It’s pretty much 99% (paranormal shows.)”

He said those who want to do their own investigation should always check to ensure they are allowed to be on a property, even if it’s a cemetery.

“You want to make it professional,” DeMatteis said.