The Spirit Guide: Mitten Brewing Company

Someone needs to tell the spirits of Mitten Brewing Company that the drinking age has gone up over the years. Kids… am I right?

Mitten Brewing opened in the Fall of 2012 in the historic Engine House No. 9. Situated on Grand Rapids’ West Side, this Victorian-era firehouse opened in 1890 and was only decommissioned in 1966. Work began to transform the fire hall into a brewery in 2012 with the philosophy of “restore” rather than “remodel.” Today, this vintage baseball-themed microbrewery is the first brewery in the area since Prohibition, and they are keeping the locals (and the spirits) entertained and quenched.

Almost immediately, co-owners Max Trierweiler and Chris Andrus began to notice peculiar occurrences throughout the building, including strange noises (typical of a 130-year-old building) and objects moving (not typical of a 130-year-old building). Motion-activated lights are set off when the building is empty. There are even reports of shadowy figures wandering through an otherwise empty building, and the speaker on the second floor has been known to have music, static, and voices come through even when it is turned off.

But the #1 claim (and most fascinating claim that acts as physical evidence for their haunting) is all thanks to a small child that likes to play in the building after the lights are turned off, and everyone has gone home.

This little specter first frolicked through the brewery just two weeks after opening, catching the attention of Chris Andrus. He was the last person out for the night and the first person into the brewery the following morning. There, on the freshly mopped floor, was a series of footprints. Aside from no doubt being annoyed that he would have to clean the floor yet again before opening, two things struck him:

1. These were the tiny footprints of a child.
2. They began and ended in the middle of the lobby—no one had entered or left the room.

Luckily, Andrus snapped a photo of the phantom footprints, and operations returned to normal… for a while…

Learn more about Mitten Brewing Company’s haunting (and see the photo of the ghostly footprints) in The Spirit Guide: America’s Haunted Breweries, Distilleries, and Wineries coming July 2020! 

If you own a haunted bar, cafe, hotel, or restaurant and you’d like us to check it out, reach out to us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.  If you have a favorite haunted hot spot with great food and atmosphere and you’d like to share it with us, hit us up on social media or leave a comment below! We’d love to hear from you… Thanks for joining us, and Happy Haunting!