Kelly's Korner - Billy's Bar & Grill [VIDEO]

BILLY'S BAR & GRILL

If you look online, there are lists and lists of supposedly "real" haunted houses in Minnesota. Over the next week or so, I'll be featuring many of these locations on Kelly's Korner. Today we're headed to Billy's Bar & Grill in Anoka, Minnesota.

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THE STORY

Billy's Bar & Grill in Anoka, Minnesota is inside an old hotel that was built in the 1800's. A swedish immigrant named Charles G. Jackson build the hotel, and if you drive by, you'll notice that his name is still on the front of the building as "C.G. Jackson." It was originally named "The Anoka Hotel" but was changed just a few years later to "The Jackson Hotel." The hotel had both a bar and a restaurant at that time.

On August 16th of 1884, a terrible fire swept through Anoka and wiped out over 86 buildings. The Jackson Hotel was severely damaged and didn't reopen until 1885. On August 22 of 1885, right after the first anniversary of the big fire, the hotel became the scene to Anoka's first murder. Drunk friends Peter Gross, a German immigrant, and his friend W.F. Mirick got into an argument. Mirick opened fire of Gross with a revolver. One of the shots hit Gross in the back. He drug himself into the hotel and died the following evening. Mirick was eventually caught and convicted of his crime.

The Jackson's eventually moved away, and the hotel was passed down through inheritance to a relative named Fred Jackson. Eventually the hotel was turned into apartments until 1975, and has changed ownership a few times since then.

THE HAUNTING OF BILLY'S BAR & GRILL

Oddly, the phantom that appears in the window of the building is said to be a woman So...it apparently is not the ghost of Peter Gross. The woman that appears is said to have red hair and appears in the third floor window of the building. The ghost is also said to be seen walking through the restaurant. Locals call the ghost "Mrs. Jackson"...with rumors that she committed suicide in the building, but Charles wife actually died of pnemonia near Crooked Lake, Minnesota. Some belief that it is the ghost of a red headed prostitute that vanished from the hotel, while she was working there.

The restaurant also has unexplained noises, and other odd occurrances. The lights will turn on and off, objects and pictures shift and move without anyone near them. Cases of beer once shift inside a closed room and blocked the door.