‘Not as brave as I thought’: Haunted Moose Jaw diner serves up terrifying tales

When Linda Lin bought a beloved Moose Jaw restaurant, she didn’t believe the rumours of ghosts that haunt the home.

Her stance on who inhabited Hopkins Dining Parlour changed three and a half months after she took ownership.

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“I was scared,” Lin recalled moments after she sprinted from the restaurant one evening. “I couldn’t sleep that night.”

The house Hopkins Dining Parlour lives in was built in 1905. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

The four-tiered home was built by Edward N. Hopkins in 1905.

His wife, Minnie, is believed to be the primary ghost and mistress of the house.

The parlour’s staff say they have experienced flickering lights, swinging chandeliers, and loud bangs since the Hopkins house became a restaurant in 1979.

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Lin learned quickly that Minnie didn’t appreciate it when visitors overstayed their welcome at the restaurant.

One evening, while she filed paperwork with a co-worker in the dining area, heavy footsteps hammered on the floor above her.

Lin asked her co-worker if it was a trick, but the footsteps didn’t stop.

“We were both so scared at that moment,” she said. “Right away, we just ran away. Say get out of this house. We just ran. We didn’t care about the cash on the table.”

When closing up the resturant at night, some staff said they felt eyes watching them leave. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Lin’s staff member chuckled at her the following morning when Lin revealed she was frightened by the footsteps the evening before.

The co-worker explained that Minnie will occasionally get heavy-footed when people stayed at her home too late.

“That made me feel better,” Lin laughed. “Now even finishing the work, even (on) late time, I just wave in the air ‘bye, Minnie.’

“Now I feel good. I’m not scared. I told myself we just needed to respect the good spirit.”

A portrait of Minnie Hopkins, the original owner of the house, sits on a table in the resturant. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Even though Mrs. Hopkins died in 1943, she still has a hand in laying down the law at her house.

An unexpected birthday party guest

Tara Hockley has come to accept some eerie incidents that can’t be explained.

Like Lin, the waitress learned Minnie wouldn’t tolerate any disrespect in her home when she worked at the restaurant for several months when she was 18.

Hockley was kidding around with other staff about hosting a séance on the third floor.

A loud clatter interrupted them.

“Minnie was standing at the bottom of the stairs,” she said. “That was kind of like my notice of I’m gonna behave and not cause issues at work and try to just toe the line.”

Tara Hockley said the bottom of the third-floor staircase is where she saw a shadowy figure she believes was Minnie Hopkins, after joking about having a séance. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Greeting the ghosts has become part of Hockley’s routine to start the work day.

A medium who visited the restaurant once informed Hockley the ghosts – particularly one who’s believed to be a former servant’s son – were happy to see her return to work at the restaurant a few years ago.

The medium explained the little ghost liked Hockley because he could play at the bottom of the staircase without getting in trouble.

Hockley extended an invitation to the younger ghost while setting up her daughter’s birthday party a month later.

The third floor is a spot she knew the servant’s son liked to haunt.

“I’m like, ‘you know what, little one? We’re having my daughter’s birthday up here. She’s turning nine. You’re more than welcome to attend if you want to,” Hockley said.

Tara Hockley stand on the third-floor where she invited a little ghost to her daughter’s birthday party. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Her other daughter asked about a party guest she didn’t recognize that evening.

“When I got home that night and I was tucking my daughters into bed,” she said. “I got a little question of, ‘Mommy, who was the little boy at Sonora’s birthday party?’ ”

Hockley’s eldest child relayed the little boy they saw peeking around the corner of the wall must have been the ghostly guest.

“All three of my children saw him that night, but I’ve yet to see him,” she said. “I only hear him when I’m working.”

A banquet room staff didn’t book

Ashley Ambrose didn’t realize she got a glimpse of the spirits until she explained the situation to a server.

The waitress first visited the restaurant as a guest.

Hopkins Dining Parlour has four-tiers with many banisters separating different areas. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

She and her friend were touring the building when they came across what appeared to be a celebration in the basement banquet room.

Ambrose and her companion could hear the party from down a long hallway leading into the room.

“We’re coming down the hallway; we can see through the mirrors that the lights are on,” she said. “We can hear people talking, clinking glasses, and there’s a short table.

“Actually, one of these tables was in the back corner, and there was a lady bent over like she was grabbing a tray.”

Ashley Ambrose could only see a blonde waitress pick up tray of drinks and walk into the banquet room from where she was standing in the hallway. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Ambrose didn’t want to barge into someone’s event, and she and her friend returned upstairs to the dining area.

When she asked the server about bookings for the banquet room, he replied: “What people downstairs?”

Ambrose insisted the server come to check the banquet room with her.

The server turned on the light to reveal an empty room she had heard filled with life moments before.

“I just thought it was so cool,” she said. “I was like, wow, what did we experience?”

Ashley Ambrose stands in the downstairs banquet room where she got a glimpse of what the ghosts get up to when no one is looking. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Ambrose began serving at the parlour and found, like Lin, the ghosts would let you know when it was time to head home for the night.

“The moment that you’re the only person left in this house, I’m telling you, the energy changes,” she said.

Ambrose told the cook to head home early, insisting she “wasn’t afraid of no ghosts.”

As she finished cashing out that evening, she heard the kitchen door open but found that nobody had come in.

Many antique portraits watch customers while they have dinner. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Ambrose said her big and brave façade melted.

“I kind of do that nervous laugh because I laugh when I’m nervous, and I’m like, ‘Oh, OK guys, I know you’re here, I’m almost done, leave me alone, I’ll be out of here in a minute,” she said. “(It) kind of went quiet, but it’s just like that feeling where you feel like somebody’s watching you.”

As Ambrose reached to turn off the light above the till, she heard a child running on the floor above her.

“I was out. I was like, ‘I’m out of here,’” she said. “OK, nope. It turns out I am afraid of the ghost this time. Not as brave as I thought I was.”

Late at night, Ambrose said the restaurant was the last place she’d want to be caught alone.

Ashley Ambrose said being stuck alone is Hopkins Dining Parlour after dark can be an unsettling experience. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)