Around this time of year, we like to find ways to scare the crap out of our buddies (and ourselves sometimes). That’s what Halloween is all about, right? If possible, we like to combine this quest with drinking beer because a) beer is awesome and b) it will help calm us down a little if we see a scary ass ghost. The answer? Haunted breweries, of course.
Bube’s Brewery, Mount Joy, Pennsylvania
This brewery is pretty legit – they’ve been on the Syfy channel’s show “Ghost Hunters” for god’s sake. Bube’s Brewery houses several restaurant venues and a microbrewery and it’s the only intact brewery from the 1800s left in the United States. People have seen an apparition of a young woman down in the catacombs where they store the beer until it’s aged. She’s thought to be the former owner’s granddaughter who went insane in the 1920s. Apparently there are other ghosts too, which is why the brewery actually offers a ghost tour.
Moon River Brewing Company, Savannah, Georgia
The Moon River Brewing Company started operations in 1999, but the building is from 1821 and was home to the town’s first hotel and post office. In 1864, after an increased wave of violence, the hotel closed when General Tecumseh Sherman led the Union Army through Georgia. Today, there’s some weird stuff happening there; bottles have been thrown, and people have been touched, pushed, and slapped by invisible spirits. Freaky. They don’t have ghost tours, but the brewery definitely doesn’t hide the fact that they have some ghostly inhabitants.
Greengate Brewery, Middleton, Greater Manchester in England
We know some of you guys are really cultured and classy, so we wanted to include a brewery that’s across the pond. Also, this place is really damn scary. The deed of the property refers to the Greengate house being built on the site in 1791, but then John Lee bought the buildings in 1828 and created a brewery under the name JW Lees & Co. People have seen a woman in the boardroom, another woman wearing a long brown dress walking into the kitchen, and a figure in a white cloak in the brew house. One night watchman was also hit across the face by someone as he passed the boardroom. If that had happened to us, we probably would have scream like a little girl.
Plan a trip to one of these breweries without telling your friends about the whole haunted aspect. Here’s hoping a ghost or two shows up and scares the crap out of them.