This week’s Halloween Spooktacular brings you two real-life tales from folks in the Fort Worth craft beer industry. Jodi Rudel, a Rahr & Sons Brewing Company employee, shared this unsettling story.
“A few years back, strange things started happening around the [Rahr] brewery,” she said. “Doors would close without anyone around, blamed on the foundation. Things started being lost, blamed on forgetfulness. Freezers that were never locked started locking without anyone taking credit for it, blamed on irresponsibility. At one point, everyone had a suspicion about who was causing all of the mayhem, but she left the company and the incidents kept occurring. The breaking point was when a volunteer entered the cooler during an evening tour. Several minutes had gone by, and he had not returned.
The employee running the tour that night asked why the keg had not been changed out, but the answer was the same all around: ‘Ben went to change it a bit ago. He should be back now.’ After hearing that for long enough, the employee went to check the keg cooler. It was locked. This cooler had not been locked in ages. Locating the keys was a challenge. At this point, it had been nearly an hour since Ben had gone to change the kegs. Several other beers had blown, and Ben was still nowhere to be found. Finally, a key that worked was found. The cooler was opened, and Ben was sitting there shivering with nothing but his undershirt and boxers on. He had no explanation for this and his clothes were nowhere to be found in the cooler.
Everyone thought maybe he had just had indulged in too much beer or was playing a joke, but his explanation was as follows: ‘I walked into the cooler, leaving the door slightly propped as usual. Once I entered, I felt a burst of warm air and the door slammed behind me. I wasn’t concerned because I knew it would have to be locked from the outside. So I began reaching for the keg. The next thing I know, I am stripped down laying on the ground. I tried the door. Nothing. So I have been sitting in here hoping that someone would come when they noticed no keg changes had happened.’
After hearing the story, staff members gathered around to watch the security video. He was seen entering the cooler fully dressed. You see the door slam seconds later. Then, no one touched it again until the employee went looking. Everything in the cooler was removed and placed back to find Ben’s clothes. Nothing! The only explanation is some sort of outside force. Ben never returned to volunteer, and all of the occurrences ceased. It seems some force was after Ben, and when they got what they wanted they had no reason to stick around.”
Rabbit Hole Brewing Company “Jack of Clubs” staffer John Lammers shared an uncanny personal account.
“In the summer of 2006, I was in college at Texas Tech University in Lubbock,” he said. “This particular summer, I was pretty tight on money. I ended up moving into a back house apartment with my girlfriend to cut expenses. The understanding was that we would help take care of the landlord’s children, who lived in the house in front of ours; take them to school, pick them up, babysit, and just generally help out around the house. Well, the house was old and generally creepy. The back house we lived in was a converted carriage house with no heat or air conditioner; the rent was $100 a month, so we dealt with it.
The kids were really pretty great, and I enjoyed hanging out with them after school. We’d all do homework together. The young boy was about seven years old and had a real love for drawing, so I sat there one day watching him draw. I was only paying partial attention to him when I noticed the figure he was drawing. It looked like a woman but without one crucial feature: She was missing her head. I asked him about her, and he just kind of giggled and referred to her as a ‘friend.’
Creepy on its own for sure. But fast forward to two years later. I’d since moved out of the house and was working on my degree. This particular night, I was in the basement of the library looking through old articles to support a paper I was writing about when an old article caught my eye. It must have been from the late ’50s or so, and it was talking about seat belt safety and how over the weekend a young lady had been thrown partially through the windshield and was decapitated.
The photographs of the crash were taken in the front yard of the house where I watched the boy draw his picture.”
Don’t forget to follow On Tap in Fort Worth’s Facebook page.
On Tap this Week:
October 27 through November 5. Fourth annual North Texas Beer Week
NTX Beer Week is a 10-day celebration of all things craft beer-related in our neck of the Lone Star State. Now in its fifth year, the annual event includes (but is not limited to) beer dinners, bottle shares, festivals, glass giveaways, meet the brewer events, and tap takeovers. Last year, NTX Beer Week boasted hundreds of events at dozens of venues across North Texas. To see what your city has planned, visit here.
