Amid the many businesses located on the busy Brambleton Avenue area of Roanoke, Virginia, one seems to stand out. With its bright red windowed percolator sitting atop the rustic log cabin design, The Coffee Pot Roadhouse just might cause a newcomer to do a double-take.

There’s no mistaking, The Coffee Pot certainly does have both a unique look and feel all its own.

It was a late October evening, when I was invited to join parapsychology professor Deborah Carvelli during her after hours visit to Roanoke’s  Coffee Pot Roadhouse.

The last of the evening’s customers were headed out the door and to their cars when I pulled into the parking lot.

Walking in, I got a warm sense of a downhome atmosphere.

Off to the left of the entrance, stood a stone fireplace encased by two paralleled facing benches, creating a cozy and inviting alcove. Above the mantel, a mounted deer head sporting an infamous hockey mask welcomed me, while lit-up jack-o-lanterns, a werewolf bust, and stringed eyeball garland lights were displayed in celebration of the October season.

A giant spider-engulfed chandelier hanging in front of the rich-colored oak bar showed off numerous framed photographs of music acts, while the black and white tiled floor created a comfortable sense of nostalgia.

My first impression of The Coffee Pot definitely made me smile.

I pulled up a bar stool and joined Ms. Carvelli as we waited for bartender Morgan Blankenship to finish up her closing duties, and owner Carroll Bell and his daughter Tiffany to arrive.

 

The History

Photo courtesy of Laurie Platt,  History of Roanoke Va facebook page

With its one-of-a-kind novelty architecture, The Coffee Pot has been a favorite watering hole for the Roanoke Valley, constantly for over eighty-two years.

Constructed by Clifton and Irene Kefauver in 1936, The Coffee Pot started out as a tea room and briefly served as a filling station, before being converted into a roadhouse shortly thereafter.

Photo courtesy of Laurie Platt, History Of Roanoke Va facebook page

Built on the then “new state highway 221,” The Coffee Pot was the first stop that offered travelers a hot meal when heading into Roanoke from the rural surrounding areas.

Back in those days, when The Coffee Pot was open for business, you could see it for miles around!  Steam from the 15-foot rooftop structure would escape through its lid, as a result of the exhaust pipes from the furnace below, giving the illusion of a freshly brewing hot pot of coffee.

The Coffee Pot has remained in continuous operation since 1936. It was known as “Joe’s Ranchhouse Restaurant,” for a brief period of time in the 1960’s, but soon returned back to its original alias as “The Coffee Pot.”

The Coffee Pot holds quite a history, for sure.  It was rumored to have once been the scene of many a high-dollar pool game back in the day. Often times, the winning billiard player would walk away with hundreds or sometimes even thousands of dollars in his pocket.

Back in the 1950’s, a manager and short-order cook by the name of Marie Crowder birthed a baby right there in the restaurant’s dance hall when a traveling couple stopped in one morning and the woman suddenly went into labor.

The Coffee Pot has been well known for its musical acts, both big and small, offering up the talents of well-known performers such as Ritchie Valens, Mighty Joe Young, Rick Derringer, Matt “Guitar” Murphy of The Blues Brothers, and Allman Brothers’ member Dickey Betts, just to name a few.

Perhaps one of the most memorable musical performances occurred back in 1978 when Willie Nelson wandered into The Coffee Pot after a performance at the Roanoke Civic Center and joined in with the performing band, playing up until last call.

The Haunts

 

Something’s been a brewin’ at The Coffee Pot Roadhouse, and has been for quite some time now, according to Carroll Bell who has been the roadhouse’s owner for the past forty years.

 

“Things just started happening to us at The Coffee Pot.” Bell explains of its haunted history.

“When things start flying off the shelves and hit you in the head and stuff like that, that’s the only logical explanation.” Bell laughs as he recalls a couple of these strange instances, one in which he was the only person in the kitchen and was making a pizza when a packet of fry powder flew off the shelf from behind him hitting him in the back of the head.

“Well, I also got locked in the walk-in freezer. The door slammed shut and I was there by myself and I didn’t have my phone. So, I figured I would put my shoulder into the door, maybe it would open and I hit it, and buddy, that door was solid! It wasn’t going anywhere! So, I thought, I’m gonna back up and really hit it hard. So, I backed up and started at the door and by the time I got to the door, it flew open!” He laughs, “And I flew into the canned food rack!”

He blames some of these seemingly humorous kitchen shenanigans on a previous cook and musician who worked at The Coffee Pot for years before passing away.

“He loved The Coffee Pot and loved a good laugh.”

Carroll mentions other things that happen late at night during closing time.

“Sometimes the girls will be out at the bar after closing, and they will hear racket coming from the kitchen and come back here and this rack will be swinging.” Bell points to a ceiling rack that holds pots and pans.

Carroll shares what was captured on a security video late one night after closing.

“The girls had left and I was watching the video screen to make sure they got out okay, and the minute they walked out of the door, all these orbs, there must have been seventy-five of them, came out from around the fireplace. I called the guy who set the camera system up, and I was like, ‘You’ve got to see this and make a copy of this for me!’  And he came out and looked at it and was like ‘Oh my gosh!’ I also let some of the regulars come in and see it because they didn’t believe it until I showed it to them.

“Then the guy came and downloaded the video onto a thumb drive and when he went to put it onto a cd, he couldn’t find it and it wasn’t there! It would have given so much more creditability to it. The people that actually saw that film are true believers now.”

Morgan Blankenship is one of The Coffee Pot’s current bartenders. It was because of a recent experience that she had with another employee after closing one night that prompted Deborah Carvelli’s visit.

“The really scary one for me was after we had closed, the doors were locked, and we were cleaning in the kitchen. It was around 3 am and we heard a door inside the bar slam and we were the only ones there. We turned around and looked out the windows of the kitchen door and we saw a man walk through the bar!”

Morgan admitted she and the other employee had a plan to escape out the back door, but after a prolonged period of silence they worked up the courage to check the bar area.

“When we checked the bar, no one was there. We really thought someone had broken in, it scared us to death! The doors had been locked for over an hour! For about the next thirty minutes after that, it sounded like someone was cooking back in the kitchen and no one was there but us! We were too scared to go back there. We just wanted to get done and get out!” She laughed.

Ms. Carvelli, an intuitive parapsychology professor who has taught the mental phenomena for thirty-five years, has been featured on Sci-Fi channel’s “Sightings,” had partnered with WDBJ 7’s Steve Pardon for nine years offering annual predictions for the Roanoke area, and was featured in The Roanoker Magazine in 2007 offering her thirty-year predictions for Roanoke.

Morgan was a student in one of Carvelli’s classes when she taught at Virginia Western Community College.  After speaking with Morgan and Carroll, Deborah agreed to come for a visit.

During her two-hour investigation, Carvelli explained that the strongest activity she felt was in that of the kitchen and a back entertainment room which was surrounded by photos of decades past and the regular customers that frequented The Coffee Pot. The photograph collages were put together for Carroll by a close customer and friend who has since passed away.

Several things that were mentioned by Carvelli during her visit, were corroborated by Carroll including that of an Irishman who was once a cook there.

Carvelli mentioned feeling different vibrations from all the people who had ever been at The Coffee Pot and that a lot of caring energy was everywhere.

Another story that was shared by both Carroll and Morgan, was about a manager who was washing out glass ashtrays after closing late one night and had them stacked on the counter to dry. Apparently, as she was tending to her other duties and was turned slightly away, the ashtray stacks raised up off the counter and went back down. Puzzled, the manager thought she had jiggled or bumped the counter causing this to happen, but when she saw it happen in full view a second time, she immediately grabbed her things, locked the door, and left the building.

Morgan talks about a recent closing with one of the employees that is skeptical about all this ghost talk.

“So Carroll has this Halloween ghost set up on the other side of the bar and it’s motion sensored. It goes off in this horrible voice that says something like, ‘There’s many ghosts and monsters here!’

Morgan giggles about the decoration.

“Well the other girl had run out to her car and the whole time she was outside, for about five minutes, that thing was going off in that horrible voice! I don’t know what was triggering it, but it would not stop! As soon as she came back in, it quit, and I was like ‘You’re never going to believe this…’”

Weird noises have been heard, shadows have been seen, and a bottle or two has been known to fly off a shelf throughout the years.

Tiffany, Carroll’s daughter, who now helps run The Coffee Pot, has grown up here, and admits “I’ve been hearing these noises since I was three, so I’ve kinda gotten used to it.”

“It’s all playful stuff,” Carroll says, “just to tease us.”

Carroll admits when things are busy and when the mischief gets out of hand, he simply notifies the spirits that he’s busy and doesn’t have time for it and the shenanigans, usually, temporarily cease.

“They do little things, not to hurt you, but just to let you know they’re there. And I’m sure that they’re just laughing their asses off!”

Carroll talks of one day selling The Coffee Pot in hopes of retiring soon, but jokingly admits, “Fact is, I’ll probably die with my hand on that beer tap, saying, ‘How many Sonny?’” And laughs.

Carroll smiles, saying, “I’ve always heard that ghosts go back to places where they were happy. A lot of people met here and married. A lot of people were happy here.”

As the evening ended, Deborah smiled and added,

“This place is never empty. Even when it’s closed.”

The Coffee Pot is open seven days a week and offers a lunch buffet Monday through Friday,

Live entertainment, and some of the best barbeque in town!

The Coffee Pot,

Where there’s “Always something perkin!”