JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – You know it as a place that serves tacos, guac and tequila. But did you know it’s also got a haunted history?
Taco Lu on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville Beach has a ghost.
You must go back in time to get to the bottom of the paranormal activity that people who work there tell you is just haunting.
The building was originally a boarding house built in 1932. It was run by Miss Alpha Paynter.
After about 15 years, Ms. Paynter turned it into a restaurant — The Homestead, serving good old-fashioned Southern cooking.
Well, Alpha Paynter died in 1962. Legend has it that her ghost roams the building today.
Waiters, waitresses and bartenders will all tell you — Ms. Paynter never left.
Some people say they’ve seen her reflection in the mirror in the ladies’ room. A place where lights reportedly flicker for no reason.
Her ghostly presence has been felt near the fireplace right there in the middle of the dining room. Paynter — at least they think it’s Paynter —has even been heard humming in the restaurant.
Don Nichol and his wife Deb bought the old Homestead in 2012 and breathed new life into that old cabin.
But there’s one life they apparently couldn’t scare away — the original owner.
Paynter was a woman with a reputation for being charming, kind and a keen businesswoman. And she apparently also has a reputation for — how shall we put this — making sure her legacy lingers!
That’s why the “Lu” has the reputation of being one of the most haunted places in Jacksonville.
