Sometime in the early summer of 2010 I was driving home from work on a particular route I was very accustom too. Not much ever changed in my small town and if something ever did the residents surely knew about it. That said you can imagine my surprise and disbelief that late fog infested summer night when there off to the right of that old county road just on the other side of that fog sat an outdated but classy looking diner I have never seen in the town before.
I pulled into the pothole infested parking lot to get a closer look at the decaying but modern classic looking building and saw what looked to be a sign in the dark glassed window that said “Paul’s Diner 24-hour service” I was shocked at what I was seeing there was no diner named Paul’s in this town.
Hell, this town never even had a diner to begin with let alone one that sat on the side of an old county road surrounded by woods on each side. I stepped out of my car approaching the diner where I noticed I was the only car in that poorly lit parking lot. The door of the diner swung open as I approached the front door and an older lady, (I’d say mid to late 50’s) said “Hello darling welcome to Paul’s come on in”.
I stepped back a few feet taken clearly by surprise at the situation on hand. Was this lady watching me? I looked back up at her and spoke with a shaky voice, “hello I don’t really have the time to come in just kind of curious how long have you guys been here”. She looked at me and opened her mouth to reply when the sound of glass breaking in the back of the diner caused her to spin around on her heels.
“Damn it Charlie will you stop breaking them dishes”. She yelled out more flustered than she was when she opened the door to greet me. “Now where was I oh yes well we been here for about 50 years I want to say give or take”. 50 years I thought to myself “No way are you sure I would have noticed this place before I drive this route almost every night”.
She looked at me puzzled. “Are you ok sugar” she said looking at me with a concerned look now washing over her face. “You look a little pale why don’t you come on in and have a nice warm cup of coffee”. I looked at her and contemplated for a second before following her inside the poorly lit diner. “How do you take it sugar or no sugar” she said looking down at me with a notepad in her hand. “Black please” I replied rubbing my eyes and yawning.
There alone in some diner I’ve never seen before on some old county road in a small town east of no man’s land I sat thinking to myself could I really be that tired had I just never noticed this place before how could I have missed it the place is antient looking. There has to be some kind of explanation diner’s just don’t appear out of nowhere maybe I’m in another town that’s it maybe I took a wrong turn I continued to think to myself. The waitress returned with my coffee, and I decided to ask her “What town is this”? her answer shocked me to the core when she named my town as the town, we were in.
I grabbed my coffee with trembling hands and forced a sip as the waitress continued to ask me if I was ok. Quite frankly I did not even begin to know the answer to that question. I forced a nod, and she walked away leaving me alone to dwell in my thoughts once again. I took a glace down at my phone while taking sips of the coffee and realized no service was detected on my phone. How could this be I thought to myself I always get service on this road.
I got up and walked over to the hostess stand where the waitress from earlier was now standing. “Excuse me by chance do you have a phone I could use I have to call my brother and my phone seems to not be working”. She looked up from the pile of papers she had in front of her and smiled, “Of course follow me” I followed her into this even more poorly lit area of the diner where on the wall sat one of those phones you would see in a 50’s retro looking diner you know the ones your grandparents would have had back in the day.
I picked the phone up from the receiver and dialed my brother’s number. “We are sorry the number you have dialed cannot be reached at this time or is no longer in service please check the number and dial again”. My face turned even paler as I heard these words how can it not be in service, I was just talking to him like 20 minutes ago. I placed the phone back on its receiver and thanked the waitress as I walked by back towards the lobby.
I walked back over to where I left my coffee and placed a 5 down on to the table telling the waitress to keep the rest for a tip. She thanked me and I headed to the door only to realized something was really wrong. Other than the fact of a mysterious retro diner appearing overnight of course. There outside in the night about 20 meters from the front door of the diner sat a full parking lot. I turned back to look at the diner which was now full of people who were dressed in 50”s clothing and singing 50’s music that was playing on the jukebox.
What the hell I said out loud now seeing that ever car outside other than mine was a 50’s style vehicle. My head started to spin as I lost my footing falling into the door almost headfirst the waitress running over to catch my fall. “Is everything ok sweetheart” she said looking on with a look of concern washed over her face.
I went to look up and respond to her when I screamed instead there holding me was a burnt corpse. I pushed her away screaming and brushing myself off as I entered the parking lot taking one look back, I saw it a diner full of corpses. They all were just lining the diner seats as if they were always there, but they weren’t I know they weren’t.
When I returned to the parking lot, I noticed I was the only car there again. Even stranger was the fact that time it self-seemed to have stopped as when I looked down at my phone, I was in utter shock to see the time was 3:01 am. Only 1 minute had passed since I stepped inside that diner.
I got in my car and floored it out of that parking lot not taking one look in my mirror as my headlights past the sign for my town. When I got home, I told my wife the story and of course she didn’t believe me who would? I was driving home and got sent back to the 1950’s? yeah, ok get real.
I finished that night by searching Paul’s 24-hour diner online and after literally hours of nothing I found a post with one article stating If you see a diner on old county road 9 DO NOT STOP. I thought this was weird and by clicking on it more and more people reported this happening to them. Another link on the dreadfully long forum page brought me to the town’s historical site where I read a newspaper article dated June 10th, 1955.
“Local Fire and rescue responded to a 3-alarm fire along county road 9 at Paul’s diner and rest stop earlier today. All people were confirmed dead on the inside according to fire chief Todd Richards fire started in the kitchen when 22-year-old Charlie Banks left the grill on, and it shorted out.”
I was stunned at what I was reading 1955 how the hell? I couldn’t sleep that night and decided to upload my experience to that very forum all of them did. I stopped taking that road soon after this and I have not had an encounter with the ghost diner since.