Ghosts Who Like Brushes? &#8211

During my occasional free evening, I research the history of our storefront at 837 Willard St. in Covington. While I’ve learned a lot by digging through official records, I’ve learned more by talking to the neighbors – many of whom have lived on our street for 60 or 70 years.

The juiciest story? There were a couple murders in our bar, and neighbors and former employees say the place is definitely haunted.

I haven’t been able to confirm the murders, despite several evenings of looking through newspaper archives. But I am half-convinced the place is haunted.

Recently we had a scrub brush disappear from the slop sink. And I really mean disappear. One moment it was there, and shortly after it was gone gone gone. We looked for it for weeks. Last week I bought an identical replacement, which is shown above.

Last week, Megan Fitzpatrick reported that her favorite paint brush had similarly disappeared. She’d had this brush for 15 years (yes, I know that’s odd). She brought it to the shop to paint a tool chest for a customer and put it in the chest. The next day it was gone.

What kind of ghost steals brushes? I hope I catch them cleaning things up or painting the gutters. Otherwise, I’m going to pay a visit to exorcism.com.

— Christopher Schwarz