I visited Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe to go on a haunted tour of the pub, which is housed inside a 130-year-old creamery and ice factory.
The tour began in the back cellars. The lights were dim and machinery hummed.
Pub Events Manager Carter Nacke told me the brewery has identified at least five ghosts.
“We've had people see full body people, shadow people. They've been touched. They've had phantom smells. They like, feel really creeped out. You feel like you're being followed,” he said.
But I didn't have to believe in ghosts to know that tragedy had struck near the brewery. Our guide told us about a train crash that occurred near the Eighth Street crossing, killing two men. This story was confirmed by a 1898 newspaper article.
I also learned about the life of Victor Vogel. According to archived articles, Vogel started managing the creamery in 1929. He died in 1972, but the pub’s head brewer claims to have had a conversation with him in 1995.
Marketing Director Trevor Needle told me that just walking around the brewery late at night is scary.
“There's just these little, kind of almost hair raising moments that you kind of just want to get the heck out of there,” he said.
On the last stop of the tour, our guide showed us the brewers’ office that was abandoned and locked after an employee reported paranormal activity. And when he let us look inside we saw a mannequin covered in fake blood, which led many attendees to scream.
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