Funnily enough I do not like going into public restrooms on my own, okay maybe I am a wimp but I find them sometimes a little creepy. Now after reading this tale I do not think I will ever use one again!

Residents flock to Houston's landmark Hofbrau for succulent steaks served sizzling in garlic butter, heaping quantities of potato wedges, and the signature "wilted" salad. But long time customers and staff know an evening at the Hofbrau sometimes means going easy on the liquid accompaniments. Too much, and you end up frequenting the restroom. Though you may travel to the restroom yourself, you often find you're not alone. "I wasn't going to say anything because people don't believe you," says Starr Powell, a Hofbrau waitress of four years. "If someone had told me they thought there was a ghost, I wouldn't have believed them." For years staff have talked about odd noises or have seen suggestive shapes out the corner of their eyes, but have conferred only among themselves. Then, a year ago, a female regular exited the restroom, saying she had sat next to a ghost. While in a stall, she heard the outer door open, and someone take a seat in the stall next to hers. She heard toilet paper unroll, then the toilet flush. But when she exited her own stall, no one was there. This happened to her on a number of occasions, until one night upon hearing the toilet paper dispenser she looked under the stall. No feet. Powell has experienced the same thing. As has another customer, Jessica Flores. "It was closing time and there were just a few of us left. I went to the first stall and I could hear the door closing and the toilet paper roll going and I said, ‘Okay, who's in here with me?' There was no answer and then I remembered that earlier that stall had been out of toilet paper. I got a real eerie feeling." Rick Tynes laughed until he had his own encounter in the men's bathroom. "I heard a light, slight cough, like a clearing of someone's throat. I paid no attention to it. Then it did it again. I glanced toward the stall. Then I heard a mumble and I leaned over to see if there was anyone there and there was no one. I hit the door so fast I must have been halfway down the bar before I slowed down," says Tynes. For a brief moment on his flight, Tynes had been unable to open the restroom door. "I asked him why he was kicking and banging on the door and he said he thought he was locked in. His face was white as a sheet," says night manager, Dianne Bennett, laughing. Several staff have seen a manlike figure near a kitchen prep room. "Coming through the prep room, I saw a tall, shadowy figure of a man," says Powell. "I thought nothing of it. But I didn't hear anyone come back through so I followed him and no one was there. I met Dianne coming through and I told her I thought someone was hiding in there and I was freaking out." A search, however, revealed no one. A noise reminiscent of a jingling dinner bell or the dropping of keys is frequently heard. Recently, a clicking noise was heard near a soda machine in the party room. Hostess Kathy Johnson thinks it was the ghost pressing on the soda gun. "I guess the ghost gets thirsty," she says. Although there have been many guesses to the ghost's identity, Tynes thinks it's a former retired FBI agent, Andy Tulley. "He was a regular here, a real nice guy. And he'd be the kind of person to mess around with people as a joke." In recent years several customers have been affected by suicides or murder, but no one thinks the ghost is the "bad spirit" responsible. Still, a ghostly encounter is frightening. "I always thought I'd be really cool if I experienced the ghost," says Tynes. "You know, I'd ask who he was, what's going on, if he wanted a beer. Instead I was absolutely unnerved."



Source: "Spirits with Dinner?: Friendly Ghost Haunts Hofbrau Staff, Patrons," Deborah Mann Lake, The Houston Chronicle, Wednesday, May 2, 2001

Better than a ghost peeping in on you -- which there are stories of, and quite smurfing strange at that.

Thankfully, I've never heard a ghost story with the head popping out of the toilet after use. Though now I wish I'd not just thought it up.

how embarrasing. haunting a public rest room. but i do agree. when i went to the toilets at my old primary school, i was so scared of thm i didn't go. and when they got some new ones, me and my friends saw a door close and kept on hearing it flush. it was scary.

If a ghost wants to peep on me, that's his own issue, I wouldn't care.. but if he's just using the restroom, why get nerve wrecked about it? If he gives you a swirlie, then you can worry about it.