By Tim Binnall
The owners of a coffee shop in Utah suspect that the site may be haunted following a series of strange events that have occurred there over the last few weeks. According to a local media report, the restaurant at the center of the potential paranormal activity is Country No Nonsense Coffee in the community of Willow Park. Shortly after it opened three years ago, employees began noticing that the lights and music in the restaurant would mysteriously turn on and off, while some witnesses said that they heard the sounds of disembodied voices arguing in the building when no one was in there.
Although the staff and owners of the shop had largely gotten used to the inexplicable weirdness over the years, the odd events seemingly increased in recent weeks with security cameras capturing an unsettling growl emanating from outside the building, a spring-loaded door somehow got stuck ajar, and a new cash register has repeatedly rung up sales on its own. "I was thinking it was maybe a glitch in the system," co-owner Sarah Avalos told an area TV station about the puzzling 'purchases,' "but it's never the same item and it never does it with me, it's only with my sister and my other employees."
In response to the apparent uptick in eerie activity at the shop, Avalos enlisted a paranormal research group to investigate the site and the overnight visit produced an array of odd moments, such as when a computer mouse appeared to move on its own and a motion-sensor light was repeatedly triggered without anything there to activate it. Perhaps the most chilling incident occurred when the group first arrived and activated their 'ghost box' device, which some investigators believe can be used to communicate with the 'other side.' When the group asked if there was a spirit present, they heard an unsettling "yes" from the instrument.
While it is uncertain who or what might be haunting the coffee shop, a nearby park once served as a Nazi POW camp during the waning days of World War II, and it was also the site of a shooting in 1996 which later resulted in the victim dying years later from injuries sustained in the showdown. The building itself had also sat vacant for the three years prior to Country No Nonsense Coffee opening its doors, which might have disturbed whatever spirits may call the site home. In the hopes of dispelling any negative energy that could be lingering in the shop, a second paranormal group is set to visit the establishment soon in order to perform a cleansing ritual.