Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Ghostly plantation
By James Zwilling
Staff Reporter

Halloween is just another day of the year for restaurant proprietors Melissa and Tom Baker.

About 50 miles from TCU, nestled in a quaint residential neighborhood in historical Waxahachie, the Bakers own and operate the Cajun restaurant Catfish Plantation out of a Victorian home built in 1895, which is reportedly haunted by three ghosts: Will, Caroline and Elizabeth.

James Zwilling /Skiff Staff

Catfish Plantation opened in 1984 when the Bakers purchased the home as an investment opportunity, Tom Baker said. Previously, the home was a private residence, a doctor’s office and the location of three failed restaurants, he said.

“We were looking for an investment that could get me out of the corporate world,” Tom Baker said. “I wanted to be my own boss. It got me out of the corporate world, but before I knew it we were the center of a national media frenzy.”

Tom Baker said the height of that media frenzy came in the mid-1990s after an article appeared in D Magazine, giving substantial evidence to paranormal activities at the restaurant.

Tom Baker said the reporter’s intentions were to disprove any claims they had made, but after spending a week in Waxahachie interviewing citizens and police officers and examining records, he proved the existence with as much certainty as anyone could.

“I am not some small town fool,” Tom Baker said. “I graduated with an MBA from SMU. I didn’t believe in ghosts, but the evidence the reporter showed me made me a believer.”

When the Bakers opened Catfish Plantation they were completely unaware of any paranormal activity that was taking place, and it wasn’t until after about two years of “odd occurrences” that he and his wife even considered the possibility.

Paranormal activity: the first signs

Shortly after opening the restaurant in June of 1984, Melissa Baker came in one morning to find the large, stainless-steel iced tea urn in the center of the kitchen floor filled with coffee cups.

James Zwilling /Skiff Staff

“I thought it was odd, but I really didn’t pay that much attention to it,” she said. “We had quite a few employees and it could have been any one of them.”

On another morning, a pot of coffee was freshly brewed in the kitchen when Melissa Baker unlocked the front door, Tom Baker said. Over the years, objects in the restaurant moved around by themselves, clocks reset themselves to different times, mysterious noises were heard and visitors have reported strange phenomena such as drastic changes in temperatures, Tom Baker said.

“We just kind of laughed about all of these occurrences for a couple of years,” he said. “This is a very religious community. We weren’t about to start making claims about ghosts.”

The Bakers said witnesses to these events include themselves, customers, employees and even local police officers.

The lingering spirits

Melissa Baker said she was a little more apt to believe in ghosts than her husband, so one morning, when a local radio show was discussing the paranormal, she called in.

After the show, a psychic contacted Melissa Baker and arranged an investigation by a professional crew including engineers, scientists and psychics, Tom Baker said.

Tom Baker said the psychics determined that there are three spirits haunting the house.

Will was identified as a depression-era farmer who died in the house in the 1930s. He stays in the area of the old front porch, which has now been enclosed as the entry to the restaurant. However, Will may be responsible for some of the cold spots in the restaurant and some of the other phenomena that occur, Tom Baker said.

Tom Baker said officers from the Waxahachie Police Department approached the restaurant at approximately 3 a.m. one day responding to a security alarm and saw a man dressed in overalls standing in one of the windows. As an officer shined his light the mysterious fellow vanished into the shadows.

Tom Baker said that man was actually Will’s ghost.

“By the time I arrived, the officer was incredibly shaken and said he would not go into the house,” Tom Baker said. “The next thing I knew, he was throwing up in the front yard. He had seen a ghost.”

Melissa Baker said Caroline is the most active spirit at Catfish Plantation, and she doesn’t seem to be pleased with all the strangers who are continually passing through the house.Caroline is described as a woman who lived with her husband and family in the house from 1953 until 1970. According to psychics that have visited the house, Caroline died at the age of 80, but doesn’t know that she is actually deceased. She is often present in the kitchen, but does venture out to interact with the guests occasionally, Melissa Baker said.

Elizabeth Anderson is another ghost and has been identified as the daughter of the farmer who built the house. She is most often seen in her wedding dress, Tom Baker said.

According to the article in D Magazine, she was strangled in the house on the day of her wedding around 1920 in the area that is now the ladies’ restroom. Her ex-boyfriend, or an old girlfriend of her fiancé, reportedly committed the murder.

Tom Baker said Elizabeth’s presence can be detected by the scent of roses, cold spots or her spectral appearance. She likes to materialize by a bay window, he said, and she also likes to reach out and touch diners.

Tom Baker said one time, a couple eating dinner reportedly had a ring drop from no where onto their table.

“They took the ring with them and didn’t say anything,” he said. “A couple of weeks later, when they found out the restaurant was haunted, they sent it back and told us about the story.”

The Bakers both agreed they probably never would have believed in ghosts if it had not been for the D Magazine article confirming that three individuals with the same names as those given by the psychic had lived and died in the residence.

The restaurant tradition
Tom Baker said the media attention the restaurant has received really gave them no choice but to market it as a haunted restaurant.

During the 1990s, the restaurant was featured on the tabloid television program “A Current Affair,” numerous radio shows, the front page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and in other media outlets, Tom Baker said.

“We’re just a Cajun restaurant (that) serves good catfish,” he said. “We just happen to have three permanent customers.”

The Catfish Plantation is located at 814 Water Street in Waxahachie and is open from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sundays.

James Zwilling
j.g.zwilling@student.tcu.edu