600 East Exchange Avenue
Fort Worth, Texas
This building served as the former Swift meatpacking plant and later as the Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant. It was while the building on Exchange Avenue was operating as a restaurant that intriguing stories about spirits began to emerge. The Swift and Armour companies came to Fort Worth when cattle were king in the city's Stockyards district. During a tour with our guide, Paula Schermerhorn, she mentioned that the city was very eager to attract representatives from Swift and Armour and brought them in to see the cattle in Fort Worth. A man named Greenlief W. Simpson, who had prospered in Chicago, purchased the Fort Worth Stockyards in 1893 to turn the area into a major center of the cattle industry. He was determined to bring Swift and Armour south. When they arrived, the place was overflowing with cattle; both pens were packed to capacity, and the people in charge were so impressed that they agreed to build meatpacking plants in the city. What they did not know was that a bridge just north of the city had been washed away by a flood, which was why so many cattle had accumulated in the city. And so both companies, Armour and Swift, came, but unfortunately the Armour office building burned down because of homeless people living in it, and the meatpacking plant met the same fate.
Shortly after it closed, the Swift office building was converted into the Spaghetti Warehouse and remained in operation until shortly before the beginning of this century. During the Spaghetti Warehouse's time there, there was a great deal of spirit activity. Workers had problems with water in the kitchen area; the water turned itself on and off and sprayed everywhere. The people who worked there did not want to stay in the kitchen alone. The Spaghetti Warehouse also contained genuine historical artifacts, not replicas. For example, there was a Fort Worth streetcar and an actual elevator cage used by Winston Churchill. These genuine antiques may still retain energy from their previous owners.
Schermerhorn said that after the restaurant closed, the building was dark and fenced off to prevent anyone from entering; today, however, it is illuminated and visible day and night. There were also many reports of people seeing, especially at night on the second floor, a woman who would emerge and walk along the gallery. Schermerhorn said that she visited the Spaghetti Warehouse during its renovation and detected a great deal of activity there. According to her, the people who built and worked in the building were so proud and felt such a strong sense of responsibility that it would make sense for there to be a lot of activity there, as many from earlier times may have remained.
She goes on to mention that the end of Exchange Avenue was the site of demonstrations whenever there was a strike against the meatpacking plant. There were several strikes, and on two occasions, people crossed the picket line and were killed. This means that there is a great deal of energy here. Once the cows boarded the train bound for the meatpacking plant, they never saw daylight again. They got off, passed through the pens, and went underground into the plant, so there are also many powerful emotions from the animals here. There were also reports of people seeing a cowboy on horseback riding up and down Exchange Avenue at this end.
The building is apparently haunted by at least three different spirits. Most reports speak of a girl in the restroom who turns on the water, flushes the toilets, and scatters paper towels, as well as a woman in white who can be seen on the balcony late at night. There is also talk of an old cowboy who is said to throw glasses and overturn stools.
The plant is still standing, although in very poor condition. Part of the plant was destroyed by fire in 1973. The main office building then became home to the Spaghetti Warehouse. One explanation of who the spirits are says that a mother and her little girl were in the office, and the receptionist gave the child a piece of candy. The child began choking on the candy, and her mother took her to the restroom, where she died. The little girl's spirit has been seen and heard in the women's restroom on the ground floor. Also, when the building served as the Spaghetti Warehouse, the second floor was used for offices and a banquet hall. Some people reported feeling a sudden drop in temperature as soon as they reached the top of the stairs. When one employee gave new employees a tour and took them to the third floor, which was never used and was completely dilapidated, she often caught sight of a lady. This lady was apparently the same one who was seen walking along the balcony after the building had closed for the night. As for the cowboy, some people in the past reported that he could also be found near the dry goods area.
Other stories include strange lights and sounds said to come from this area. At night, the eerie screams of cows could supposedly be heard. (After all, it was a meatpacking plant.) One strange story that has been told several times concerns a night manager who was closing the restaurant and saw an old cowboy sitting at the bar before he vanished before his eyes. A minor disturbance prompted him to investigate the bar, but the cowboy apparently wanted nothing more than to make his presence known. There was also a rumor about a man who died in the building during the plant fire. People say they have seen someone watching them from the windows of the old building late at night—someone who misses his job at the meatpacking plant too much to leave.
