Spirited Happenings At Connecticut Haunted Restaurant
SEYMOUR -- You could call Carousel Gardens by Candlelite one of Seymour's favorite haunts.
The ghosts inhabiting it certainly would.
The restaurant recently reopened after about two years as a consignment shop. Over the years, it has attracted as much interest for its history as for its food.
The sprawling Victorian structure at 153 North St. was once the home of William Henry Harrison Wooster, founder of the Seymour Manufacturing Co. He built it in 1894.
Legend has it that Wooster, his daughter Ruth and son Horace still call the building home.
Their presence has been blamed for to several spooky incidents over the years, including flickering lights and a cash register flying off the shelf. Some photos taken in the building show unexplained flashes of light.
"The atmosphere of this -- being an old Victorian [house] with ghosts -- is fun and exciting," said Gena Sciaraffa, who runs the restaurant with her mother, Deborah, and three siblings. "We tell ghost stories all the time."
The tales have attracted not only diners, but also professional ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren and a television crew from the now-defunct talk show, "Gabrielle."
During the Warrens' visit, a glass levitated and exploded, said Gena Sciaraffa.
Her mother recounts another time when the music in one room suddenly changed from quiet dinner music to loud Guns N' Roses.
Deborah Sciaraffa said the ghosts are benign, despite the occasional disruptions and taste for heavy metal.
"They're good spirits," she said. "They want to be here. There's no reason to get them out of here."
Carousel Gardens originally opened in 1993 and was operated by Deborah Sciaraffa and her husband Paul. It closed in 1999 because improvements were needed. Shortly after, the building was turned into a consignment shop. In January, the family reopened the restaurant, which specializes in American cuisine.
Gena Sciaraffa said the specialties include prime rib, seafood dishes and pork chops.
"Basically they have everything," she said.
There is dining on the first floor of the four-story house, and visitors are free to walk around and look at some of the old Victorian touches.
Both Gena and Deborah Sciaraffa said there hasn't been any ghostly occurrences lately.
But they say the idea of the hauntings still capture patrons' imaginations.
"I find the young crowds are the ones that are really interested in it," Gena Sciaraffa said. "They're the ones who come here for it."
• Story originally published in •
Connecticut Post / CT | Amanda Cuda - March 25 2001
