← The Night Owl: True Ghost Stories
The Night Owl: True Ghost Stories
Haunted Freddo ATX - Part I
01:31:53
Tonight, the Night Owl is opening a new case—one that takes us to Austin, Texas, where a striking Victorian home, built in 1876 and relocated to South Congress in the 1970s, has quietly stood with its secrets tucked beneath decades of history. Originally built in 1876 for local businessman and senator, Walter Tips, the house is now home to Freddo ATX, a cozy café and cocktail bar with a growing reputation… not just for its drinks, but for its spirits. Over the years, people have reported strange sensations—feeling watched when no one’s around, hearing voices, whispers, loud thuds, and unexplained electrical issues. Doors rattle or swing open on their own. Some guests swear they’ve seen children staring down from the upstairs windows. And when something unexplainable happens? The staff all say the same thing: “That’s just Walter.” In this episode, you’ll hear directly from Freddo’s three owners, several staff members, and even two local ghost tour guides—each with their own story t...
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- [00:00]
A
The Night owl Podcast Episode 59 Haunted Freddo ATX Part 1 welcome to the Night Owl Podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Ballew, and this is a place for all you restless spirits out there to tune in and hear true tales of the paranormal. I hunt these stories down, capture them from the mouths of those who've experienced them, and share them with you right here. We're currently looking for more personal ghost stories or haunted locations, so if you or someone you know has one, please submit it to us. For consideration, go to thenight owlpodcast.com, click on the Submit yout Story page and let us hear your ghost story. Tonight, the Night Owl is opening a new case, one that takes us to Austin, Texas, where a striking Victorian home built in 1876 and relocated to South Congress in the 70s has quietly stood with its secrets tucked beneath decades of history. Originally built in 1876 for local businessman and Senator Walter Tips, the house is now home to Fredo atx, a cozy coffee shop and cocktail bar with a growing reputation not just for its drinks, but for its spirits. Over the years, people have reported strange sensations, feeling watched when no one's around, hearing voices, whispers, loud thuds and unexplained electrical issues. Doors rattle or swing open on their own. Some guests swear they've seen children staring down at them from the upstairs windows, and when something unexplainable happens, the staff all here say the same thing. That's just Walter. In this episode, you're going to hear directly from Fredo's three owners, several staff members, and even two local ghost tour guides, each with their own stories to tell. Stay tuned. I'm very excited to announce our newest sponsor, Shady Rays, top tier quality sunglasses that rival even the most expensive brands. Get ready for your next outdoor adventure with shades that are built to last. Go to shadyrays.com and use code NIGHTOWL for 35% off polarized sunglasses. In this episode we visit a place many Austinites know and love, Freddo atx, a vibrant coffee shop, Greek inspired eatery and cocktail bar located in a beautifully restored Victorian home on South Congress Avenue. Perched at the bustling intersection of South Congress and Oldtorf, this historic home stands as a testament to 19th century craftsmanship. This grand two story wooden structure exemplifying the Italianate style features ornate cornices, tall narrow windows and intricate woodwork that hearken back to its 1876 origins. Inside, the house retains much of its historical charm with original wood flooring, decorative ceilings and classic wallpaper adorning the walls the narrow original staircase leads to the second floor filled with cozy nooks, vintage furnishings and spaces bathed in natural light, offering a warm and inviting atmosphere. Outside, guests can relax under the shade of majestic oak trees on a patio adorned with string lights, creating a serene setting that contrasts beautifully with the vibrant energy of South Congress Avenue. But this house hasn't always called South Congress its home. Constructed in 1876 for Walter Tips, a German immigrant who rose to prominence as a prosperous hardware merchant and Texas state senator, this two story Victorian abode originally graced the area adjacent to Austin's historic Bremen block, just west of downtown. The Bremen block was and is home to some of Austin's oldest and most fashionable houses. Walter owned and lived in the home until his passing in 1911. The home changed hands occasionally, but eventually the property was sold in 1973 to Lamar Savings association, who intended to build a large office complex on the property, and the house was set for demolition. Franklin Savings association stepped in and took ownership of the Victorian home and had it moved to its present location, where it was restored and became home to a very unique branch office for Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo eventually moved out and the house has been home to other businesses, even including a boot shop at one time, until Fredo ATX took over and turned it into the amazing venue it is today, with all the unique charm and beautiful architecture restored. I've been to Fredo ATX before and always appreciated its charm. But my connection to this house goes back even further. When I first moved to Austin in 2006, this exact building was actually my bank, a Wells Fargo branch. I would come here often, and I can still remember how the tellers would occasionally mention strange happenings, whispering that the place might be haunted. I didn't think much of it at the time, but those stories always stuck with me. And now, all these years later, I've returned, not just for coffee, but to see if those old whisperings hold any truth. Because beneath Fredo ATX's cozy ambiance lies a haunted mystery as layered and rich as the espresso they serve. But before we dive into the haunted history and stories, let me first take you on a brief audio tour of the home so you, the listener, can better picture its layout and more vividly imagine where some of these experiences you're about to hear actually took place. If you ever make it to Freddo. As you step onto the wide wraparound porch of this beautifully preserved Victorian home, the charm of Freddo ATX is immediate. But the moment you reach for the large front door, a Sudden gust of air hits you from above, but don't let it startle you. It's just the overhead entrance fan doing its job, keeping the Texas heat at bay and the cool air inside. Once to the door, you're immediately facing the original grand staircase, its dark wood banister curving gracefully up to the second floor. Just to the left of this central staircase, however, is the main bar area, occupying much of the first floor's large open room, the bar is a stunning focal point, modern in its offerings, but surrounded by history. Walk around the barn. You'll find cozy seating toward the back of the home. A small side door near here leads out to the charming porch and spacious outdoor patio, shaded by mature oaks and strung with warm, glowing cafe lights, one of the venue's most beloved features. Back inside, if you head to the far end of the first floor, you'll come upon the kitchen, which remains off limits to the public, as well as a small guest bathroom tucked away in the back. Now let's take those creaking original steps upstairs to discover the second story. At the top of the landing, you'll find yourself in a long hallway running the length of the house. If you turn right, you'll pass a series of doors and closets as the space opens up. First on your left is a large room filled with tables and soft light, ideal for guests to sip, study, or simply enjoy a quiet moment. This room spans nearly three quarters of the upstairs left side and overlooks the patio down below. Farther down the hallway is a smaller guest seating room to the right, this one looking out over the parking lot and the new Wells Fargo bank down below, a nod to the home's former life as an actual bank branch. Keep walking and the hall continues past a small bathroom on the left. Here, the corridor turns slightly and narrows. This section is reserved for staff only. To the left, you'll see a small office door, and at the very end of this narrowing hallway, and a storage closet marks off the final stop. Every inch of this home has a story, and if you ask the people who work here, they'll tell you it feels like someone or something is still living in it. So let's begin. In this episode, I sit down with the three current owners, Tony, Lefty and Harry, to learn about the building's transformation, its daily life, and some unexplained moments that they and their staff have witnessed. Then you'll also hear from local ghost tour guides who offer their own chilling insights into the Victorian landmark's haunted reputation. First up, we're going to hear from Two of the owners, Tony and Lefty, because it's relevant, I want to let you know that the interviews for the owners was held in their office, which is located at the end of the hallway upstairs, just before the storage room.
- [08:15]
B
So I'm Tony and I was originally born in Austin. I was raised in Greece because my parents were from Greece. And I moved there with my parents when we were three years. When I was three years old. I moved back here in the early 90s, graduated from UT, and right around that time is when I met Lefty, my business partner. And we always said that we wanted to do something together. I am somebody that, despite being raised in Greece and Greeks love coffee. That's what they do every day, drink every day. I never enjoyed the element or the taste of the coffee. I always enjoyed wine. Lefty is a connoisseur from a coffee perspective. So we kind of came together and we said, why don't we do a coffee sub wine bar? And as such, Lefty is the coffee guy and I'm the wine guy.
- [09:09]
C
Hi, my name is Lefty and I'm one of the owners. I was born and raised in Greece, and as you know, or maybe you don't know, in Greece, coffee is very, very popular. And was always a dream of mine to open a coffee house here in Austin. And then when we found this location, we thought that was really a great fit for. For a coffee. Coffee slash wine bar. I will say. And there is history, and now we're here. This place is, I will say, unique because of its history, location, of course, South Congress. And of course, we brought something here that it's a new the Fredo cappuccino. The Fred. The name Fredo is Italian, means cool cold in Italian. So Fredo cappuccino means ice cappuccino. Actually, the name is Italian, but this.
- [10:02]
B
Golf is Greek in terms of us getting the building. I was actually driving one day, was going down South Lamar to meet up with Lefty. I saw the historical building, which I'd seen it before, but it was the first time that I saw it of having a For Lease sign. It used to be a Wells Fargo bank. I actually have come and I've banked in this Wells Fargo branch before. And we actually, to this day, we get a lot of customers that come in and they go, oh, my God, we're so grateful that this building is still here. This used to be Wells Fargo. This is where I came with my mom and my dad, or when I opened up my first checking account. So they have a Connection from what they used to do in their childhood to how it is now. That's kind of what we also try to maintain with the building. It's an old historical building. We wanted to maintain that element, but we also wanted to make sure that we were able to bridge the gap with the modern. And the modern comes into place of having Fredo Cappuccino. And in addition to that, of course, the wine and the food that we have. But we've also introduced the cocktails, which is the new trend over the last few years. And that's kind of for us, bringing together the old and the new. From a building and architectural standpoint, what we did is we maintained the building and the color and everything outside. Inside. We have maintained every single room has a fireplace. We have maintained that as it was originally. We maintained a lot of the wallpaper that was here, and we've actually been maintained downstairs. When you go in front of our register and you look up, that chandelier is an original chandelier from when the house used to be here. The reason that we named the business Freddo is because we wanted to give Emirates to the most popular Greek coffee, which is Fredo Cappuccino. Freddo is actually in Italian, it means cold. And because we do use the espresso being in it, which is Italian as well, it's Freddo Cappuccino. Despite the name, quote, quote, being Italian, that coffee was invented. And I shouldn't say that coffee was invented the way that you make this coffee was invented in Greece. And that's why it's the number one coffee in Greece. Whenever you go out, the number one thing is you last name is say coffee. People know automatically you mean to. You mean to order. You're saying Fredo Cappuccino. They will ask you, do you want, how do you want it? But predominantly, that's the number one coffee that everybody gets. And for all the listeners that have visited Greece, I'm sure that as soon as they hear Fredo Cappuccino, they recognize it. But even more easier where they recognize it is when you are seeing, especially downtown Athens and see everybody walking around with a cup and it has some ice and it has a straw in it, that's a Fredo cappuccino.
- [12:54]
C
99% of the time, this place is a historic landmark. So we knew that's a historic place. I heard about things happening here, you know, that people were talking about it. I heard noises. You know, it's something that I cannot explain. Sometimes I will hear noises and actually as we speak. Most of the times I will hear noises when I'm in this office here. People work here in the past. They. Which at the closing time. No, that's a two story place. So when they were cleaning the place upstairs at the end of the night, they told me the same thing. Sometimes it was kind of spooky. They were like, oh, you know what I mean, they hear things, noises. And they were comfortable. They were not like, you know, scared or anything. But it was interesting. They were very.
- [13:48]
B
I think the word is eerie. You kind of get this eerie feeling sometimes. When we originally got the building, of course, to left this point, we knew it was historical because the owner made us aware of that as well. But I mean, there's the plaque in the front from the state of Texas that designates this as a historic building. And then when we took over, that's when Covid and everything happened. So we were not able to opened up immediately. Especially going through Covid. Everything was shut down. The permit process and all takes a while being a historical building and needing to preserve everything. So during that time, we spent a lot of time in here because we had a lot of equipment. I actually remember we had the wine cases downstairs and it was one evening. They brought them late. We got them downstairs, we unpacked them and then we came up here because I had to write them a check or something. And that's kind of when I heard some of those noises. Usually we would hear those either early in the morning or in the afternoon. Never in the middle of the day. Whether. And I'm not talking now that the business is open. I'm talking about before we open where there was no people in here.
- [14:58]
C
From that perspective, a true story was the girl. She was the. She's the. What was her name? She was from ily. From Dallas.
- [15:06]
B
Yes.
- [15:07]
C
It was right before we opened. So we're downstairs. We still doing. Was the final stage of construction, right?
- [15:12]
B
Lauren.
- [15:13]
C
Lauren, Lauren, Lauren. That's right.
- [15:14]
D
Yeah.
- [15:14]
C
Yeah. Was the. I still remember that. So we're downstairs. She. She. She loved the place.
- [15:19]
B
She.
- [15:19]
C
What Not. Oh my God. So good. So we're there by the bar downstairs and she's coming downstairs and she. She got like, who. Who's like, who's upstairs? I'm like, no, nobody's upstairs. Only the people were here right now. Like, no, no. I heard voice upstairs that there's someone's upstairs. I'm like, no one's upstairs. You know what I mean? We're just the people. I mean just us here. It's like, I'm not kidding, guys. There are people upstairs, they're talking. And I still remember that. That's.
- [15:48]
E
That's.
- [15:49]
C
Now that's.
- [15:50]
B
Lauren was the one that experienced. And again, she was coming here before we opened.
- [15:55]
C
Yeah, yeah.
- [15:55]
B
Because we do carry the ily coffee. Yeah. And I remember that she would come here. She said that she grabbed Lefty by the hand and every time, whenever she would come, she would sit downstairs or outside on the patio and just have a pizza and actually a bottle of wine, which is, you know, she would always come to me for accommodations for wine. But yeah, Lauren, you're right. Yes, I remember Lauren.
- [16:19]
C
That she came. Yes, that was the first time that someone came. And she did. Let me make that clear. She did not know about this place behind him.
- [16:28]
B
I mean, when we originally got the place and all that was in December. But that's when we experience something. But it's not. I cannot say that we only experienced it in December. So there was no specific period or season necessarily that we experienced that. For me, it was more. The times would be from 8 to maybe 10 or 11 in the morning and then it would have been after four until seven or eight. And to be honest, I tried to never stay that late here or when it was dark because again, this was completely closed. And you know, it's exposed building. All the windows, they're visible from the outside. So that's. That's kind of when I heard some noises. But some of the staff, lefty were saying that stays here and closes at 10 or 11 o' clock or midnight. They're the ones, especially when everybody's gone and the AC is off and everything. That's when you're able to hear a little bit more of either a noise. And I'm not talking about a noise of just the old house creaking or something like that. It's different kinds of noises, whether it is knocking a few times that they have communicated. They heard Lauren, you know, our coffee reps. He had heard noises and people voices, people talking. So it was a bank. And then for a short period of time there was a boot store. But when all of those tenants moved out, what he did is while he was trying to list the building, he had a couple of people that he knew. They were engineer, architect, and they had an office upstairs and they had a dividing wall in between those two rooms. They tended, just because of the nature of their job, to stay here late 8, 9, 10 o'.
- [18:05]
A
Clock.
- [18:06]
B
And they were the ones also at the beginning that kind of communicated to Us of Hey guys, we just want to let you know, this is the history and the word about the house. And certain times at night we have experienced some kind of those effects in terms of either a weird noise or a voice or. Or something that kind of gave them that eerie feeling that some people get sometimes. But they were here briefly. They were only here for three, four months, I believe. And actually when we were doing construction and remodeling, they were still up here. And they kind of told us that they had experienced that a few times.
- [18:43]
C
What's really strange for me, to be honest, every time I'm coming to this office, we're gonna. I'm gonna hear like a knocking noises that comes from up there. There's no plumbing or anything. There's nothing, Nothing. Usually I hear a knocking noise all the time. We have a plumbing that's near the wall or something. You know, it will hit the. It will hit the wall, but there's nothing. I'm done knocking.
- [19:04]
B
Like there is no water pipes that.
- [19:06]
C
Are running, something like that. So. And I thought, to be honest, that when I heard of today, somehow it's extremely quiet. It's the first time that this place so quiet to me and it's so common that noise that I mean, it surprised me that you know, here today. This is the one. I tell you I'm not surprised because I hear the noise. I'm surprised because I will. I did not, you know, hear the noise today.
- [19:32]
B
So.
- [19:33]
C
But use as a knocking, you know, something like knocking on the wall, something like that. About a year, year and a half ago, I would come and open the place early, around 7 o' clock in the morning. I was here by myself. I do not hear any noises. But you have that strange feeling. I will say that something is next to you. Something. I cannot explain that it's something. It's not scary, it's nothing, you know, to. They'll be like, oh my God, you know, it'll freak me out. But you know, that something, you know, it's coming around you. That's something like that, I would say, but that's it. This is what I've experienced, you know, here so far. Again, the people who worked here before and ex employees, they told us about that, you know, stuff, you know, things moving, door not open, lights will be on and off. You know, a few things like that, but that's it. But the most I will say again, the. The Lauren, the red from Eli Coffee. That was the one that she told us about her like conversation, hearing, voice and stuff. Upstairs.
- [20:43]
B
They were up here. They were up here right at this office. Because we made this office right from the beginning. And you know, the one that I mentioned is when they delivered the two wine or three wine coolers that we have downstairs. And it was about seven or eight o', clock, I had to come up here, write a check. And that's kind of when I heard some noise. And I got this eerie, weird feeling actually Lefty was not here. He was here when he helped me with delivered those inside. And I said, because he had an injury on his foot. And I said, I'll go upstairs, don't worry about it. I'll go and write a check. And it's like, okay, I'm leaving. I said, that's fine, I'll lock up and close up and all that. And then the other times, again, it's weird. It's never in the middle of the day. It was either earlier, between 9 and 11, give or take. And then after 4 o', clock, well, I will hear either some knocking or some kind of a noise I've not heard. Personally, I have not heard voices, but I've heard the knocking, definitely have. In the beginning when I was hearing it, actually, and it was during the phase of when we're doing the remodeling and the construction, trying to get the place up and running. I actually brought the AC guy and I said, let's make sure there's no pipes up there that were from the past because, you know, they tend to break. And they break because this house doesn't have insulation, because none of the old houses did. And if the insulation is not there, the pipes won't either and they will break. So he actually went up and I've gone up on the attic as well. And you can walk all the way through above to this office here. And there is no AC units or heating units up there. There is no pipes or anything like that whatsoever. Usually the old houses have pipes that run through the walls, but there's nothing on this side at all. My girlfriend at that time, we were here one afternoon and we were up here in the office and I was doing some paperwork. And then I had to go downstairs because I noticed somebody was making a delivery on the camera. So I go downstairs and then she experiences, or she tells me, maybe I heard the door being slammed and it was the bathroom door that's near here. And from what she communicated to me, she went and she saw and she didn't see anything. And when she came back, then she heard the paper towel rolling off because we used to have the automatic paper towels. We no longer have those, but. And then she went back in and then that's when she called me and she was like, okay, I don't know what's going on, but I didn't slam the door. She goes, well, you're messing with me. Because I heard the paper towel rolling off and I said, no, no, absolutely not. And when was it? Was it two or three weeks ago that there was somebody downstairs and mentioned about the house being on the top 10 or 20 haunted places in Texas? And there's a website that lists that there's. And then she brought that story up and that's kind of why it's fresh in my memory. And she was like, hey, you remember kind of the beginning when I told you about the door and I told you about the paper towel and you're kind of saying, haha. And it was like, it's true. So that's what she experienced. I didn't experience it personally, but she did. And she was telling me that I cannot be specific because I've not personally experienced it or recall anybody being that specific. Most of them were. And it's kind of like when you see a car passing by, right, and you become a witness. It goes, ah, it's a blue car. Okay, what kind of car was. I don't know. I think it was more of that. Of oh my God, I heard noises. And I think the, the instinct that we have in us as humans is like, okay, something is off and let me just try to avoid this. And maybe that's why there were no more specifics.
- [24:19]
C
Me, as I said before, that I don't know about, but didn't hear any children voices. So the only thing I've experienced was that eerie feeling and that knock it noise, that happening all the time in this room. And the first time, that's not happening today. I know. I mean that's not to me seriously. It's just so sometimes ready to record them. Like that's, that's. Yeah, like a loud noise. Not like something like that. A lot was knock, knock, what's going on? I'm like, what? What is coming from. It's nothing there. It's absolutely nothing over there. So that's coming from there. Next to this, next to this room there's a storage. You know, it's another room, same size as is. Right. So that noise was coming from the ceiling over there. I have no idea. And it's the first time, like I said, even sometimes I will come here, do some Paperwork sometimes. Not like late afternoon. Right. You know what I mean? Like six, whatever.
- [25:20]
F
And.
- [25:22]
C
That noise, you know, I don't know. It's going on all day, you know, but I will hear that.
- [25:28]
A
As you can tell, Lefty had experienced this knocking or thudding quite frequently. He showed me. It was up on the wall near the ceiling that is opposite the storage closet. Just then, Tony remembered something about this initial move into the office room we experienced.
- [25:43]
B
I remember this. I remember when we originally got this place, our plan was that this room there would be our office. And we actually had the DEs there for like, a day or two. But then we. Even though that would make more sense in terms of having the office there so it's easier for the employees to come in and get supplies or what have you from here. The way that this desk and all that would fit and how the plugs and the Internet and all that was there, it was just difficult to get there. And we moved it here, like, within a day or two. And that's actually when we started hearing noises. So I don't know if there's any connection or not, but this just popped into my mind. We were there for a couple of days, never heard anything. And then we made this our permanent office.
- [26:29]
A
This was something I wanted to note because there would be another experience reported later on that tied to the storage room as well. But Tony had an interesting anecdote to share with me regarding this house's history. The photograph he's referring to in the story is hung prominently in the small upstairs lounge room on the right side of the hallway. And it's an actual photo of this home being moved in 1975. What's unique about the move was it was the first home of its size to be moved in one piece successfully.
- [26:56]
B
The picture that this North American statesman has, which is the building being hauled down or towed down on Congress Avenue, there's a kid that is up that is sitting on the front on the porch, per se of the house. And that is actually the grandson of Mr. Tibbs. And he came and visited us when we opened. He came from San Antonio. He owns funeral homes in San Antonio. And when he came over, the one thing that he did tell us is he was super happy to see the building preserved. The fireplaces were very special to him because every room has a fireplace. And he would spend some time there in terms of, you know, warming up, especially as a kid. And then the other thing that he told us is that his grandfather's room was upstairs, which is. He never told me Per se, that when he lived, that he experienced that. Of course, he was very young and he didn't really live in this house. He only would come and visit his grandfather. But him telling us that his grandfather's room, main stateroom was upstairs, and people saying that this is where they hear noises predominantly from, and we do as well, that may have a connection there. One more thing is that the rooms next to us, the large room, does have a pull down ladder that gives you access to the attic. And then the attic is fairly tall. You can actually stand up in there. And then there's yet another ladder that takes you all the way to the rooftop. Excuse me. And the rooftop has a terrace. Like a terrace. Thank you. Yeah, a terrace which has a small fence around, like a small terrace balcony. A couple of people have said that they've seen an image over there.
- [28:36]
A
Just to clarify, Tony was mentioning that there have been reports of a figure being seen on this terrace above the attic. But now I was curious to hear from both of these owners who now operate out of a pretty well known haunted historic home, what their stance was on the paranormal itself.
- [28:52]
C
Yeah, I believe, you know, in that there's something after death that's, you know, of course. And you know, I have my own experience too in the past as far as ghost stories, you know, whatever energy. Yes, I believe in that, you know, I mean, some things, you know, they're unexplained and I'm okay with that, you know, I mean, that's it. Yes. Like I said, I have my own.
- [29:16]
B
Experience in the past in terms of believing in ghosts, the cliche word and all that. Or that people say I'm more on the spectrum of not as much. And it's not that I criticize it from perspective of there's a ghost or there's not. I think a lot of it has to do with personal experiences. To your point, I have not had experience that growing up here or growing up in Greece and then coming back here again. Granted, the house that I used to live was very tiny, very small, but it had all windows. And predominantly the noises I would hear at night would be from the windows rattling. This place was the first time where I would say the experiences that I've had and some of the more importantly, the experiences that other people hadn't described to me moved me a little bit more towards the spectrum that says there is something there. I mean, I always believe there is something, but it tipped me a little bit towards, okay, this is not just somebody making up a scary movie or Or a ghost story where they used to scare the kids with ghosts and all of that element. But in terms of there is something that can be explained. And when we tend to not being able to human nature not explain it, that's when you start thinking and say, okay, maybe there is something beyond that. What is it? I don't know. Can I explain it? I don't. I think a lot of people would like to be able to do that, but I can't. But can I say now, from now to 10 years ago, am I more influenced to thinking that, yes, there is something to that element, either energy or paranormal or something towards that spectrum? Yes. Just based on what I've seen and heard from others and myself here, I think the way you approach it is very respectful and very admirable and trustworthy from that perspective. Because you were telling me, where is the process you guys do? So we have zero concerns about you coming and doing that. And we appreciate you that, you know, the way you approach it and you want to come in and respect the place. We respect what you do as well. And as such, we would like to hear if the psychic and everybody you bring along the lines, they come up with something that they discover. And if there is to certain extent, some elements of. Maybe this was the fireplace that he used to sit at night and read a book. And therefore it disturbs him when something happens from that perspective, we can make adjustments. Hopefully, in a joking way, it won't be like, oh, my God, I hate coffee and wine. Because that would be a little bit on the extreme side. But if there's some small things that is discovered and all that, we would love to hear it and see how we can possibly accommodate it. Because at the end of the day, whether you are alive or not, we're all humans. And in spirit, we all need to coexist in a harmonious way.
- [32:14]
C
I'll be happy if you guys come here and see what's going on, if you're hearing noises or if you guys can, like, communicate or see, you know, some energy, somebody else here. And what I would like to know is if he's happy with what we're doing. That's the bottom line with me. Nothing else, to be honest. And if not, what will make him happy? That's it. That's the bottom line.
- [32:41]
B
You know, part of the quote, quote, joke. When we hear something or, you know, we talk with Harry and let's say there was a mistake that was done or something was wrong. A lot of times he, quote, quote, he goes, oh, it was Walter that did it, it was Mr. Tips that did it. So it's kind of a little bit of a joke, but you know, you know how they say in a lot of jokes there's always some truth into it and if you discover that truth, like Lefty was saying and then I want to echo that as well, would like to know if there's something could be adjusted that is bothering, we'll be open to it.
- [33:13]
C
He needs to know that he did a great job. Such a beautiful place.
- [33:18]
A
Tony and Lefty clearly had a love for this place, but it's clear they also have a healthy curiosity regarding the many unexplained experiences they both have had, as well as the many had by their staff and patrons. After this short break, I'll have a sit down with the other owner of Freddo atx, Harry. Harry spends a lot of his time in the building alone, and his experiences paint an even more eerie picture of this mysterious historic home. Stay tuned. Want to thank our new sponsor Shady Rays again for supporting the Night Owl Podcast. Are you looking for great sunglasses that are built to last but won't break the bank? Go to shadyrays.com and use code NIGHT OWL for 35% off polarized sunglasses night Owls I spend a lot of time outdoors. As a matter of fact, I spend as much time outdoors as possible. I hate being cooped up inside, so when I don't have to be inside behind the desk and on the computer for work, I head outside. One thing is a must though. I have extremely sensitive eyes and absolutely must have my shades on when I'm out in the sun. Whether it's yard work, exercising or even just driving, I recently received a pair of Navigator Black Gold polarized sunglasses from Shady Rays. These shades have the classic styling and perfect fit that I like in a pair of sunglasses, and I've been completely satisfied with the look and durability of my new shades. Shady Rays has a wide selection of styles and colors guaranteed to help you find your perfect pair as well. The durable frames and crystal clear optics make these glasses perfect for any outdoor adventure. Top tier quality that rivals even the most expensive brands and you can exchange or return them for free within 30 days, making shopping at Shady Rays completely risk free. And here's the best part. If you lose or break your Shady Rays, no worries. Shady Rays sunglasses have lost and broken protection for up to two years. And if all that doesn't sound good enough, listen to this exclusively for my listeners. Shady Rays is giving out their best deal for the season head to shadyrays.com and use code NIGHT OWL for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. You probably already know this by now listeners, but I like to have absolute control over what goes into my body. That includes food, medicine and supplements. I literally read the ingredients on everything I consume. I even have apps that check it for me. That's why I love using Lume Gummies because of their dedication to having a product that is guaranteed to be made with completely organic ingredients, consistent, mellow and super delicious. Lume Gummies are specifically designed to make you feel good, not stoned. Whether you're looking for an end of day de stressor, a midday mood boost or or help Getting the Best Sleep Ever Lumi Gummies has a Strain that's right for you. I received my Lumi Gummies in the mail recently and couldn't wait to give them a try. Like some of you out there, I sometimes have an extremely hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. I tried one of the Granddaddy Sour OG gummies about an hour before bedtime and I had no trouble falling asleep. What's more, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go the next morning. Lumi Gummies come in nine different strains to fit each individual's specific needs and are a natural solution for mood enhancement, stress relief, sleep aid, and more. Each strain is designed to meet specific needs and each gummy has a precise amount of THC so you know what you're getting each and every time. If you're looking for high quality, delicious flavors and consistent dosing, then Lume Gummies are a perfect way to enjoy the benefits of cannabis in a controlled and enjoyable way. Lumi Gummies are available nationwide. Go to lumigummies.com that's L U M I gummies.com and use code night owl for 30% off your order. Again, that's L U M I gums.com code night owl lumigummies.com night owl.
- [37:23]
F
Well.
- [37:24]
D
Hello, my name is Harry, one of the owners and GM of Fredo ATX here in South Austin. The center of the universe. Basically I was involved in this project of creating this wonderful space with my business partners. Both very Greek. I am actually the Californian from the west coast and we bring a lot of flavor to this business. One of the owners, Lefty, is actually very fanatical about coffee coffee professional and this is his baby and we've all joined in this business project to create something for Austin to come let the world dissolve, enjoy the best parts of life and bring back some of that old school Austin feel. This house is something that has been eyed for a long time due to its location and of course its beautiful architecture. The building was built in 1875 made for Walter Tipps who was a politician. He lived here throughout his life and he actually even died in the building as well. The house used to be off 7th street, was part of a hardware chain. It's known for Walter Tips himself, which has quite a vast amount of history. But in 1974 the house was supposed to be demolished. Luckily one of the banks saved it under the condition they moved this building. Turns out they actually had to hoist the building onto a trailer in 1974 June and then drive it here to this location in one piece. A lot of people find that hard to believe, but we do have photos of the actual moving of the building in one of our rooms so people can see the the history of the building. It was a multitude of businesses. Most people remember the Wells Fargo bank, but now luckily it is us, Freighto, atx and we'd like to welcome everyone to come here and enjoy the atmosphere that we have to offer and of course the day atmosphere and of course the night vibes as well, which we'll get into later on. Myself personally, when I first became involved with building, I had no idea its previous darker history until one day while I was installing some of the shelving in this office that we're at currently and some of the furniture. At that point the building was empty except for what I had in the office. There was no ac, no anything. So it was a quiet building. But while setting up one of the drawers next to me, I heard rustling like there was an animal inside. One of the shelves, one of the drawers, this one specifically, opened it up and there was nothing. Closed it again. Later on, heard more rustling inside of this drawer. Again it was empty. Thought nothing of it at the time. Fast forward a few more weeks. I came by the building to do some more work. After hours I had to go through the attic. While in the attic, that's when I heard noises coming from not the attic, but I thought was just below the attic of a person in the building. Sound like someone groaning or someone uncomfortable and making those bodily noises. It sounded more male. It's had a deeper sound, but of course that could be male or female. If it's the sound of someone in pain, kind of a moaning, but almost muffled in sound. So I figured, okay, I'll go see what it is. You know, I follow the sound downstairs, followed it to a corner of the building of what is now the bar downstairs. There was no one there. Again, I'm the only one in the building. There's nothing here. There's nothing making sounds. We haven't even opened yet. Then it came from somewhere else. After I went to a few more corners, that's when I stopped and realized, something's going on here. I got creeped out. I stopped what I was doing. I went home. To be honest, it kind of scared me a little bit. You know, it was the uneasy aspect. So it's almost like I was chasing a shadow. It was just an auditory thing that was just moving around the building. And again, to understand what it was, I mean, it's hard for me to put a finger on it because we had no machinery and we had nothing here. The only explanation was another person or a recording of some sound like that. Thought nothing of it until a few weeks later. I'm looking up information about the history of the building, the previous owners, anything to add to, you know, the conversational aspect of what this building used to be. And that's when I discovered some of the aspects of it being haunted. Putting two and two together, it really triggered my response of a little bit of fear and knowledge, knowing that I just had those two experiences here by myself. An empty building. The only sounds would be my breath. And yet I've heard stuff in drawers, and I've heard a person inside the building when it's empty. Let's fast forward to when we finally opened up. You know, yay, hooray. Things are moving along. And then it would. We would have instances of electrical stuff, things that we can rationally explain. For example, we're sitting here, let's say we close at 11 at night, and all of a sudden, nine at night, all of our lights upstairs would be shut off. In order to turn them off, you have to individually go and push all these different buttons. So I thought, okay, that's bizarre. I can't even blame my staff for trying to close early. But it turns out it just did on its own. Thought maybe something electrical. But then it happened one other time. Come to find out that we had no other electrical problems. So that's one minor thing. At one point, maybe a month later, I removed a bunch of light bulbs that we have above our bar because it's too bright. Went home that night, and the barista actually sent me a message telling me to stop turning on and off these lights above her, because it's kind of freaking her out. She's probably going to quit. Turns out the bulbs that I removed somehow lit up and she thought I was doing it from home. I have no idea what that was. I can't explain that myself because that's, you know, beyond physics here. Besides that. We would have on occasions for the first three months, a person would appear staring at the menu, Wouldn't say anything, wouldn't acknowledge anything, Would just sit there and look and we'd ask, can we help you? Would not acknowledge that. All would just stare. And then we look away after a few minutes and then look back and this person would be gone. Now what's bizarre about it is we have a fan above our front door. So every time it opens, it's super loud. You can hear people coming and going. At that time, people didn't use our side door either. So the fact that this person would show up without the door ever opening, we know, okay, what is going on here? And it kind of added to the whole mystique, the fun of working in the building. But same time kind of creeped a lot of us out. I had not seen it, but I had two staff members that worked nights and, and one the day that saw it specifically, I think about three different times. It was an older gentleman, he had, I believe it was like a leather or a brown jacket and pants. And it seemed like there was a scarf of some kind. Long, dirty, blonde, kind of, I wouldn't say mangy, but messy hair. And that's all they could describe. And it was the same description each time. And I even asked a couple of times, okay, are you sure?
- [44:41]
B
Sure.
- [44:42]
D
Are you just trying to engage in conversation with me about the ghosts and everything. But then when the other barista told me about it too, that they saw it and their eyes turned wide. I know, wow. They're not lying. This is. They want. They're both saw something a few times and I almost kind of felt like I was missing out because I didn't get to see this. But yeah, something. Something a little bit older, maybe in their 40s or something kind of rustic and kind of messy looking, but didn't look like they were homeless or in pain or. But something of an older style dress, nothing that was modern. And being that this house is built in 1875, you know, that's many ages ago, many generations ago, many lifetimes ago for all of us. So how that relates to what was seen, I do not know. Fast forward to the Halloween that year. I was closing up shop by myself. And this time I Would just hear my name in the distance outside. So I thought maybe a staff member or someone, a regular, was here, wanted to have a conversation. So, yeah, hey, what's going on? I go down there and there's nobody there. For about five minutes, I chased this out. Nothing. I could not tell the gender. It was kind of in a distance. I wouldn't say a whisper, but you can tell it was from a distance. If someone was trying to say Harry or Harry, but from a distance, it sounds almost like a whisper. And that's kind of how the sound was. And again, I would follow the sound and then would come from somewhere else at that point. Again, I'm trying to put logic to this, thinking maybe it's the sound of cars in the distance. You know, the sounds can change if it's leading away or towards. But there were no cars at that moment. So it was basically still air. And of course, it has to be on a Halloween night when all this happened, but it really opened my eyes and my ears and made me. Made me think, wow, it's outside. I'd never seen it. I've never experienced something going on outside. It's always been inside with me. That's when we started blaming everything on Walter. We blame everything on Walter. It's the ghost. Now, I don't know the gender of this ghost, but it's a Walter Tips house, so might as well have fun with it. Besides that, you know, we've had other various instances of people, you know, feeling something brush against the arm, going up and down, down the stairs. Stuff that I've been told from the outside. The first time I was telling people about, you know, this is a haunted building. And explaining my. My stories of what I've experienced, someone said, yeah, we see kids staring out the windows. And of course, me being me, thinking, well, sure you did whatever. But, yeah, really, tell me more. I kind of wrote that one off, but I've had a lot of people, more people than I have fingers. Tell me about the kids. One couple threatened to call CPS on me. Thought we were smuggling children. At that point, I really took seriously. Something's going on with the windows outside, and I let people know about it. And some people come and say, yeah, they see a girl. Why a girl? I don't know. Upstairs windows, all them facing the Wells Fargo side, which is north, but especially the hallway by the office. That's where people see the girl, specifically. And of course, in this little hallway, it's 10ft away from this bathroom. So I think something with this hallway is where a lot of stuff happens.
- [47:54]
A
The girl. Has there ever been any sort of, like, reports on looks, age, that.
- [47:58]
D
All I know is the little girl. I've never gotten to specifics. How does something appear like that which is not really related to some previous owners that I know of? Unless something happened that we don't know about. Maybe something that happened that was brushed aside, something that was covered up. Maybe someone decided to take care of a girl and maybe she's buried outside. Heaven forbid me for saying that, but it brings up a lot of questions of why. The one situation that happened that really hit me the hardest, which I actually, you know, grew pale and, you know, felt myself fear. Fear. One morning, I was helping train somebody. I was upstairs in the office we're in currently. The other barista was downstairs in the kitchen, way far away. You can't hear anything from him. But as I'm walking towards this office, the door in the bathroom right next to it started shaking. Of course, I've had doors move before. You know, the AC turns on, someone opens the front door. Things shift, shift. Except this wasn't a gentle nudge. It shook violently. Loud. I mean, my finger was next to it. It probably would have hurt. When I heard that door shaking violently and kind of saw it out of the corner of my eye, I took about two more steps before my brain registered, Wait a second, that just happened. I turned around, there's no one near me. I opened the bathroom, there's no one in there. And I shouted, hey, are you up here? And I can hear him faintly saying, no, I'm in the kitchen again. That's downstairs, the far corner of the building. At that point, my heart rate just jumped big time. My face turned pale. Right now, talking about now the back of my hairs are standing up because that was the closest I've heard and seen here, something moving, which is totally unexplained. Even to this day. I tell that story, and I still get chills about it, because how did the door shake violently with nobody in there? AC's not turning off and on. There wasn't an earthquake. No one shook the building. And yet this door did that right there next to me. And there's no way I could have hallucinated that from that door point on. I knew for a fact this house is haunted. I have not noticed of anything that has, say, a negative type of energy downstairs, strictly because we. We have such so much positivity that happens down there with all of our events, our staff and the beautiful people that come by. I mean, we're, we're very blessed to have a great vast range of personalities that love this building. It helps create this atmosphere that we have. And I think that might overshadow for me any feelings of anything negative downstairs. But for myself, as soon as I start ascending these stairs, that's when things start to change a little bit. I can feel that creepiness, that uneasiness. But downstairs for myself, I haven't, except for maybe a few times I felt a little uneasy in what I call the red room, which has the red wallpaper. And that for me just become. Because it looks kind of creepy, might be why I'm feeling that. I don't know. Who knows? Nowadays, all I know is something happens in this building and I, I do feel it. And sometimes is it in my head or like the instances I told you something I actually physically saw and felt?
- [51:33]
A
When we get back from this last Sponsored break, we'll dive deeper into the eerie happenings here at Fredo ATX through more interviews with with two local ghost tour guides as well as two actual staff members from the establishment. Stay tuned. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp Therapy Online. For 10% off your first month, go to betterhelp.com Night Owl Hey Night owls. I know that all of you, like me, are constantly striving for happiness in our lives. It's true. We as human beings seek out the things that take us away from the tiring drudgery of our everyday lives. Who doesn't crave a night out with friends or the prospect of having an evening or fine dining with family? How many of us splurge on a much needed vacation or a night at the movies? All these things do bring us happiness. But it's what I like to call short term happiness. Things that are great for the moment but become only memories all too soon. Why not invest in something that will bring you long term happiness? Investing in our personal mental health is a way to bring that long lasting happiness into our lives. Fortunately, it can be affordable as well. Traditional in person therapy can cost anywhere from $100 to $250 per session. But with BetterHelp online therapy, you can save on average up to 50% per session. You get quality care at a price that makes sense and it's super convenient as well. The click of a button helps fit therapy into anyone's busy schedule. Reach for that long term happiness and invest in your mental health today. Your well being is worth it. Visit betterhelp.com nightowl today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com night owl.
- [53:24]
F
Hi, my name is Kaelyn. I am a tour guide at Haunted atx. We are a ghost tour that resides in Austin, Texas. Are actually the only mobile ghost tour that is here in Austin, Texas. We specifically do hearse tours and we also have a van tour. So you can do a public hearse tour, a van tour or a private tour in our hearse if you would like. Specifically Fredo ATX is our pickup and drop off location and we also do tours here as well. If you wanted to find us you can look up haunted atx.com and it'll take you to our website and you can check out what we are about. We also do paranormal investigations on Saturdays if you want to check that out. We're going to be talking about Fredo ATX today. We came across this place because we were trying to find a brand new pickup and drop off location and also a new tour stop. And our owner came across this place. She talked to the owner and they were totally okay with us coming. And so one day we needed to come check this place out. We were going to have a meeting with our owner. We got a rundown of some of the history and we also knew some of the experiences. I'm going to go ahead and talk about the history of Freddo ATX. This place was built back in 1876 by German immigrant Walter E. Tips. This place is actually first located more on downtown Austin. It used to be located quite kind of off Guadalupe and Lavaca. That is basically near where the fallout comedy club is now. When it was built, it was built to be a family home. It's a very beautiful historic Victorian home and it was with the Walter family until 1911. That is when Walter E. Tips passed away. He passed away in his dining room just one morning. He just dropped dead while he was eating breakfast. And I saw, I read his obituary to kind of get that information and honestly I don't know. I would assume that it would be downstairs for them to eat in a dining room. And then they kind of moved into having somebody else own it until the 30s and then it laid vacant for a couple decades. 1970 are rolling around. It's 1975 and the city of Austin does not want the building anymore. The 70s, everything was really changing in Austin and they didn't want the building so they were going to demolish this place. But it's about to turn 100 years old. They do not want that. There are people that don't want that. So there was a company who came in and saved it, but they had to move it. So what they did is they picked this place up, they put it on wheels, and they drove it down, down South Congress, which at the time was the largest moving house, and then they plopped it here on a plot of land. And it has been here ever since. It's changed hands many times after that. Before it being Fredo atx, it actually used to be a Wells Fargo. And they were here for quite a while, and with the experiences that Wells Fargo was having, they did not want to be here anymore. And so they moved directly next door. It's been Fredo ATX for a couple years now, and they have had a lot of experiences. So going back to us first coming here, we just needed to come here to do a meeting and we again, we had a rundown of the history and the experiences and that is when my first experience happened. Happened for me. I personally was not expecting anything to happen. We were just going to walk about the house and then have our meeting. Many different things have been experienced here, but the main thing that I remember is this feeling of being unwelcome. A lot of people have experienced that. The second I walked in the building, this wave just hit me of, I'm not welcome here. Get out. I don't want you here. I'm kind of looking around, I'm looking at my other 20 tour guide friends and I'm like, hey, is anybody else feeling this feeling? And even though all of them knew that this was an experience, they're like, we have no idea what you're talking about. Nobody's feeling anything else. So I'm just like, okay, I have to be here, even though I don't want to, because my fight or flight is kicking in and it's taking everything in me not to leave the building. We're walking about the first floor and I'm still really feeling this unwelcome feeling. We get to the stairs, which is directly next to the the entrance, and I start walking up the stairs and that feeling goes away. I'm no longer feeling unwelcome. We get to the top of the stairs and I'm still feeling okay. We walk into the large room. The there is an entrance on the left side, you can go in, and it's just this very beautiful big room that people can go in, have coffee, do work. I'm walking about that area again. I'm still feeling fine. And then we go out, out of the door that's on the right side and that feeling hits me again. And now I feel like there's somebody standing behind me and all my co workers are in front of me, so I know that nobody's behind me. And at this point, I just shut down. I don't want to talk to anybody anymore. I don't want to be here anymore. So we go into the smaller room that's in there, and we start our meeting with our boss through video call. And I'm kind of near the back of the room. I'm not really talking. I don't want to talk, talk to anybody. And I still have not brought up the feeling that I'm experiencing with somebody standing right behind me. And I have a tour guide friend who at the time, she was almost brand new. I've only met her a couple times, and she had informed me that she actually can see spirits and she can talk to them. And I believed her, and I do believe her. But in that moment, she kind of tapped me and she went, hey, I just want to let you know there's some. Somebody standing behind you. And then she went, oh, they're gone. And then everything kind of lifted away. I never felt like there was somebody behind me. And then that feeling just completely lifted away from me. And in that moment, even though I believed her, it just validated even more of her abilities and the feeling that I was feeling. I've experienced this a couple more times since coming here and doing my tours. The next time I experienced it was a few weeks later on a tour. And whenever I experience this, it's the second I walk into the building, it's all over the place. On the first floor, you get up the stairs and it's gone. You get to the top, you go in that big room and it's not there. And then I get out of the room and it's back. And then it doesn't go away until I leave the building. And on this specific tour, like I said, again, I walked in, I felt this feeling. But I'm on a tour tour now, so I can't leave. I have to be here. And I'm not really saying anything too much. I'm having a hard time even talking. And I bring up this experience of sometimes people walk in here, they feel like they're unwelcome. And there's a little boy on this tour, and I can tell that he's a little uncomfortable. And then he's like, yeah, the second I walked in here, I got this unwelcome feeling. His parents are like, oh, my God, like Do we need to leave? He's like, no, I want to finish out the tour. Tour we're walking about, and it's just the same thing. When I leave, I'm perfectly fine. There are other experiences that I've had here. I have done an investigation here as well with my tour guide friend, who can see the spirits here. And we were here for, like, an hour, just catching up, eating some dinner. I was perfectly fine the whole time. She was perfectly fine the whole time. We get upstairs, and we're by the window that there are children experienced a lot. And all of a sudden, I just don't feel good. I can sense that there's something around us, but we're continuing to go on. We bring out our equipment. The EMF detectors start going off, which really lets us know that there's stuff happening around us. My tour guide friend is now letting me know that she can see a little boy. And this is really when we start having experiences. We head into the smaller room that's upstairs. There is quite a few people in there, so we kind of have to keep it down. We don't really want to disturb anybody. And on this day, she was really wanting to tap into her mediumship and really, really connect with the spirits. We set up an EMF detector, and she starts trying to communicate. And all of a sudden, I get this pinpoint headache, which just in my life, I've never experienced that. And it's a very intense, intense headache. Like, somebody, like, is stabbing me in the head. And I let her know, hey, I'm not feeling good. She asks if we need to stop. I say, no, like, it's okay. We can continue. And she's channeling this little boy that she had seen out in the hallway. He's kind of talking to her, and she says that he's saying, I'm sorry that, you know, you have a headache. And he's wanting to talk to us, but he's also very curious about everything that's kind of happening, because there's a lot of people. People in Freddo this night. And apparently he was very intrigued with a dog that was down the hall. We were doing this for about five minutes, and then all of a sudden my headache went away. It was just so, like, fast it was gone. And I'm about to open my mouth to let her know, like, hey, my headache is gone. And before I can say anything, she goes, oh, he went away. He's gone now. Which is then another experience of me with her just validating what I am experiencing. And it's just so amazing. We've done other things here. Our biggest thing that we like to talk about is the children standing in the window. Since Fredo opened up about two years ago, there have been 30 to 40 separate reports of children standing in the window. They're not doing anything insane. They're not even trying to get anybody's attention. They're just standing there. And there was one insane time where there was was a woman. She saw the kid standing in the window. She barged in, asked for the owner, and she said, I'm reporting you to cps. You're trafficking children in this building. Obviously, nothing came about that they're not trafficking children at Freddo atx. So with the children standing in the window, it's going to be on the side of the building that's right next to the Wells Fargo atm. If you're looking at the windows on the top side of the building building, it's going to be the. The third window from the left. So the biggest thing with Frito ATX is this feeling of being unwelcome. That is one of their main things that they feel, whether it's with us tour guides or just regular people walking in to have a cup of coffee or eat something in here. And then we also have the children that are standing in the window. They, like I said, they just stand there. They're not doing anything too crazy. From what we can find, there were not a whole lot of child deaths in the home. So it's very, very interesting that there are children being experienced in the home. It really doesn't make a whole lot of sense for us as tour guides and with the history that we know about this building and also the disability embodied voices for the owner, Harry, he has experienced this everywhere in the building. And honestly, it's not very gendered. I think it can be a woman, but it also can be a man. But it's not like the same thing every single time. I think it just depends on maybe what's going on that specific day. So one thing that I forgot to add is that prior to this being building being moved in 1976, there was never really any paranormal activity reported. It wasn't until this building was plopped down on this empty plot of land that stuff started to be reported. So there are a few different theories as to what was really going on. One theory is there was already something here and it just kind of got shaken up in the move. We do know for a fact that Walter is here. Obviously he passed away in the home. There have been other investigations here, and his name has come up. Another theory is while they were moving the building, there was something on the path that just kind of jumped in, made it its home. The other theory is that there was already something connected to the land. Whatever was here decided to make Freddo ATX its home. And I believe two of those three theories that when this building was moved, things got stirred up because it's no longer where it initially was. And then I also believe that there was already something connected here to the land and it jumped in. And that is what I believe with this oppressive feeling, this oppressive dark spirit, just because nothing was ever reported prior to it being moved. And now all of a sudden it's moved and now there's this oppressive feeling. So I believe that something at one point happened here on this land, and now this place is more haunted than it was in the past. So with, with the kids being sighted in the window, personally, all I have heard and from what I can be told is that there's just children standing in the the window. Nobody has ever said it's two boys, it's two girls, it's a boy and a girl. From what I was able to pick up during my investigation here with my other tour guide, I believe it was a boy and a girl that stand there in the window. And one thing that you were talking about is, could it be a residual energy? There were eight children that lived here when Walter was alive. And honestly, I would believe that is that there is some kind of residual energy here at Fredo ATX because of how long this place has been around. It's been around for 149 years at this point. A lot of people have lived in this house. So there's no doubt in my mind that there is some kind of residual energy here at Fredo atx.
- [67:12]
A
Luckily, following Kaylin's interview, the fellow haunted ATX guide that Kaylin referenced in her interview, the one with mediumship abilities, was willing to meet with me at Fredo ATX one evening. So now we'll get to hear this fellow guide Marisol's experiences and also their side of some of the shared experiences had with Kaylyn.
- [67:32]
E
Hi, my name is Marisol. I'm a tour guide for Haunted atx and I am also a generational trans medium. My mom proud practice mediumship and so did my grandmother. But as a tour guide, I am open to all avenues of the paranormal. Haunted ATX kind of introduced me to this building because we were looking for somewhere to pick up the guests, but also have Them enjoy more of a view. We used to pick up right on 6th street at a kind of on the corner of the street. And I think this kind of you gives. Gives the guest more of a chance to enjoy something historical. This is a historical landmark for Austin. It gives them the chance to enjoy it. I mean it's a beautiful, beautiful house just to look at as well as kind of have that experience. Prior to our tours, there's been many times where I will come pick up a guest and they will be having drinks or they will be having dinner before the tour. And they have said, I have felt something touch my shoulder, kick my chair. Or you know, sometimes we do get guests that are not 100 believers on my tour and that's completely okay. But they will say something like, I just felt like I wasn't in the room alone or I felt like somebody was looking over my shoulder or I just felt like I was being watched. But obviously they turn around and nobody's there in the room with them. And it's not like they have an experience where something moves that makes them go, oh, certainly that is something. But a lot of the guests will just kind of be having dinner and just say that they don't feel alone in the room. Nothing strange out of that. But not feeling alone in the room is kind of a little bit of a. Can be scary. So Summer, the residential ghost, of course, Walter Tips, his wife. But more importantly, certainly I do believe his children. Walter Tips believe. I think he had seven children. Don't quote me on that. But his children, I do believe are the ones that tend to show themselves more in the home. From my personal experience, a lot of children ghosts don't know that they're dead. And the reason for that is because at the time that they were alive, they might have known not process the meaning of death in their lifetime, especially with wealthy families. Obviously this was a time in history where disease and illness was very prominent and you know, even access to good doctors at the time was not accessible to lower income families. So a lot of these children don't actually know that we are not supposed to be able to see them. Or perhaps we're to supposed, supposed to be scared of them. Two of Walter Tip's children do reside in the house. I believe it's his son and his daughter. And from my experience, I have only ever felt the son upstairs and his daughter downstairs. But I do believe those are the two residential ghosts that mainly stay here. So one time before a tour, I was coming to meet up my tour at Fredo atu, atx. And I actually had to use the bathroom. So I had a few minutes to kind of get ready. Prior to my tour. I parked the hearse in the parking lot of Fredo atx and I walked in and I went to the downstairs employee bathroom right by the kitchen. And as soon as I opened the door, there was a woman standing right behind me. Now, this bathroom is single bathroom that's not individual stalls. So as soon as you walk into the bathroom, you lock the door and there's absolutely nobody else in the bathroom with you. So as soon as I locked the door, the mirror was to my right. So as I'm turning to use the bathroom, I glazed through the mirror. My eyes kind of have to cross the mirror. I saw a woman standing behind me that was a little bit taller than I am. I'm about to 4:11. She was a little bit taller than me, but not by much. And she was wearing her hair up kind of like you would see in the early 1900s. And she was wearing an all black dress. She had a little bit of white frills to it. But because my eyes just kind of glared over the mirror so fast, I saw it in about a fraction of a second. And I said, oh. And I went to look back again behind me, and nothing was there anymore, but it was very clear, an image of a woman that looked a little bit older right directly behind me in that mirror. As a tour guide, I'm a little bit unstartled by something like that. I kind of took note of it, but I continued. I used the bathroom, and as I'm using the bathroom, the lights turn on and off. Now, the bathroom does have a light sensor that you have to walk by for it to turn on or off. They turn off and then they turn back on, almost like somebody walked right past that sensor. Another incident that I had was actually my very first time here at Fredo atx. We had a little bit of an orientation prior to Haunted ATX making this their permanent pickup spot. We like to, as tour guides, just kind of spend some time in the home, get the energy, maybe have some drinks and some food. We were doing an orientation in the upstairs room facing north. And we had computers that were set up for us to be able to talk to our boss. And there's also a big screen TV on above the fireplace place in that room. And as soon as we start the orientation, one of the tour guides and a good friend of mine, Caitlyn, says, I feel like there's something in the corner of the room right behind you. Prior to her saying this, I already felt that, but because we were during an orientation, I did not bring it up. She says, I feel like there's somebody in the corner behind you. And I turn around and I do also feel like there is a little boy in the corner of the room. So we continue with our orientation and that day none of our equipment worked. So we were trying to facetime our boss to just talk about the pickup location and the connection just would not continuously work. It kept getting disconnected, kept getting disconnected. We thought perhaps, perhaps it was the WI fi, but then we realized that the TV starts turning on and off. It would stay on for a coup or off for a couple seconds only to turn back on. But yes, in that room, a lot of the tour guides did not feel like it was just us in that room. So yes, I sensed a little boy, probably between five and eight years old, very well dressed, kind of had a black vest on with a white button up, shirt collared. And he was just standing in the corner watching us. Didn't say anything, didn't do anything, Just standing there watching us. Because I am the paranormal investigator for Haunted atx At the time we were looking for another location to do our paranormal investigations. And we thought, well, why not the Freddo ATX since we're already here week pick up here. But me and Caitlyn, the other tour guide that does the paranormal investigations set up upstairs to begin. So we start by having dinner, kind of welcoming ourselves into the home. And after dinner we go upstairs to the room that is facing north in the same room that we had the orientation as a trance medium. What I do is I allow myself to go into a trance. I kind of shut myself down and you allow whatever wants to communicate through me, communicate. And so with Caitlyn, I do feel a lot comfortable going into a full trans with her. And I went ahead and completely shut my body down and I allowed myself to communicate to whatever was in there. And this little boy comes through and he starts saying hello. Now he did not want to get very close to us at first until Caitlyn started asking questions like who are you? Is this your house? And then he gets a little bit closer to us. Now this is the same little boy that I saw in the corner. Very well dressed, short dark hair, very well combed, very nice slacks, shoes on, just very well dressed. And he says that this is my house. Welcome to my house. Very welcoming, but very hesitant at the same time. At the time it was an open mic here. So There was a lot of commotion upstairs. And I hear dog, dog, I want to go see the dog. And I looked to Caitlyn and I said, I think there's a dog that he wants to go see. Now, during this trans mediumship, Kin is experiencing a really bad headache. She's very dizzy. As soon as I said, he wants to go see the dog, he just left. I see him leave the room and Caitlyn, as soon as I didn't even finish the second sentence and Caitlyn says, my head just stopped hurting. I said, okay, let's go to a different room. Let's see if we can follow him perhaps. We walk down the hallway and sure enough, there is a dog in the other room. The dog was just sitting, relaxing. So we go downstairs. I thought this little boy is a little more intrigued by the dog than he is about us. So we go downstairs, stairs by the bar. We are by the employee bathroom at the round table in the corner. And I go ahead and open the lines of communication. And at this time we also use emf. So what I like to do is I like to put an EMF at the end of the table. I go ahead and leave an open seat and I welcome anybody that wants to sit in front of the EMF in the empty seat to go ahead. So I go ahead and I do that. I open the lines of communication. I allow anybody that wants to join us, join us. Of course, the EMF goes to red and I start hearing multiple voices. At this time, Caitlyn says to me, I sense the presence of a man looking through the window. I just took a note of it and I go ahead and go into a trans mediumship mode. And a little girl comes through and she says, my brother is upstairs. I don't want to be up there. My brother is upstairs. And she keeps repeating this, but she also said that she is not allowed up there. We try to communicate. Now this little girl is a lot closer. She's standing right, right between me and Caitlyn again. Caitlyn is feeling a headache. She feels a little uneasy. And with me, when I go ahead and go into a trans medium mode, my demeanor can change. My tone of voice, my facial expressions almost a little bit uncontrollable for me. And she says, the little girl says that she is a very simple, sad little girl. She says, I'm a very sad. Caitlyn says, my demeanor completely changed. She said, you looked visibly sad. And then the little girl says, there's a man looking at us out the window. I don't like that man. He's a bad man. And then she disappears after that. I could sense that there was some adults that were trying to communicate Kate. But I wasn't really hearing anything. I'm not getting anything clear at this point, but I do sense the presence of two adults near the table. The little girl was right between me and Caitlyn. These two adults were a little bit, maybe two or three steps back. I do feel like they were trying to communicate but a lot of the times they can't. They have a hard time doing so. They did not say anything to me. I just felt their presence. The little girl was four or five years old. Again, very well dressed, light colored dress. I did see a man's face right in the window. At first he was very far away. He was almost by the atm. And then he gets a little bit closer. I could see him getting closer. But when the little girl starts saying there's a bad man outside, his face will was right in the window. Older, gray hair. I would say not as well put together, but that's it. Older and gray hair. When we first started using Fredo ATX as a pickup location, it was the beginning of summertime. So I would come here June, July, August in the middle of Texas heat. And I would walk to the very top of the the stairs. And as soon as you hit that top stairs, the temperature significantly dropped consistently for months, months. Almost every single day I would walk up to the top of the stairs and as soon as I almost put my foot at the top of the stairs, it would be a significant temperature drop. And we're talking Texas, August, summer heat. Obviously the house was built, built in the 1800s. It does not have good insulation. It wasn't a temperature drop like you're sitting next to an AC unit. It was like you walked into a industrial walk in freezer. I have had guests on my tour and guests in general at the Fredo ATX say that they feel unwelcome. They feel they step into the home and they have a very dark, unwelcome welcome feeling. Personally, I have never felt that. I do know somebody that did a paranormal investigation outside of haunted ATX inside of the home. And he was using the spirit box and he comes through to a man that says my house. Very deep voiced sounded like an older man. He says my house. And the paranormal investigators says are we welcome in your house? And it was a very clear yes, welcome. I do believe personally that that was Walter E. Tips and the reason I personally believe he is so welcoming he was a very good host. He was welcoming presidents at the time, a lot of very important political figures. So from what history shows, he was a welcome man. Of course, we are strangers in his home, but I have personally never felt unwelcome, but I have felt like the children feel a little bit unsafe, particularly the little girl downstairs. Like I said, she said very clear to me, I do not want to go upstairs, and I am not allowed upstairs. She said, my brother is up there. I do believe that there is a reason she doesn't want to go upstairs. I'm just not certain of what that reason is. I guess the reason I do believe it is active is with the moving. Of course, with moving, the home picks up a lot of activity as well as that could make a lot of spirits angry, perhaps whoever is still in the home. Could you imagine looking out your window and you're no longer. Longer looking to what's familiar? That could be upsetting. So I feel like anybody that has a little bit of an unwelcoming feeling is just due to whatever is in that house and stays remaining in that house, perhaps can just feel like this is no longer his home, what has become of his house, and that could be upsetting to somebody.
- [84:04]
A
I appreciated Haunted ATX guides Kaylin and Marisol, relaying all their info and experiences. It definitely added to the layered mystery that's already surrounding this building. But before leaving, I had hoped I could find a couple of employees that might have experiences to share. Sadly, many of the staff were brand new and reported no current experiences. But thankfully, two eventually stepped forward and offered to share some minor experiences they'd had in just a short while that they'd been working here. First up is Brandon.
- [84:35]
G
My name is Brandon. I've been here at Fredo ATX for about four months now. It's going real good. And I was pretty creeped out at first with all the stories and whatnot, but I kind of brushed it off. And then once I got a little comfortable, we were closing up one night, and basically I was waiting for my kitchen guy. His name is Kane. I was waiting for him to just get done because we were done a little earlier than the kitchen that that night. And basically what had happened is we were just waiting outside, waiting on him, and we were kind of just like, thought it was time to leave. So we walk in the front of the building, and we can't find Kane. I'm like, kane, where you at? Like, it's time to go. And then I said it again. I was like, where are you at Kane. And then from. And we're closed at this point. So from upstairs, I just hear, I'm up here. And it was weird. It freaked me out, out in the moment because I definitely heard it. And I was just caught really off guard, honestly, because Kane was just waiting outside by the kitchen at that point in time. So. But yeah, I definitely heard something loud and clear from upstairs saying, I'm up here. When I heard the voice, it definitely sounded like it was right at the top of the stairs. And it definitely didn't sound like an adult. Kane's not a kid kid. But it definitely sounded younger than what he is. He's 18 right now. But it definitely sounded like a high pitched I'm up here kind of thing. And I couldn't put a gender to it now, especially with it sounding young. Everyone kind of just gets chills, especially when they're new here, if they go upstairs. If they have to go upstairs to restock and whatnot, they come down. It's definitely something in the air, especially when you're here every day, that just feels a little off. You know, when it was really cold and it was freezing here in town about a month ago, I forgot to drip the faucets. So I got all the way home and realized that and had to come all the way back. And it was about like 1:30 in the morning at that point and I had to walk upstairs and turn it all on with all the lights off. No sound. And definitely had goosebumps. Definitely had goosebumps and was getting out of there as quick as I could. It definitely like something is there and messing with me. No shadows or anything, nothing running across. But I have only been here for four months, so we'll see what happens.
- [86:51]
H
My name is Kane. I've been working here at Freddo's for about two months now. About two and a half months. One day, it was around two in the afternoon. I would say maybe around three in the afternoon. The sun was shining outside. So I was in the kitchen. One of my oven screws was loose and I went upstairs to the storage room to grab a screwdriver to put it back in. I was walking upstairs alone, by myself, and I closed the door behind me to the storage room. It's all the way at the end of the hall. So you walk. So you go upstairs and you go all the way to the end and it's that last room. I grabbed the drill, put the battery in it and everything, made sure it was working. And then the door like flung open behind me. It was closed. I closed the behind me. The door is kind of broken anyway. It doesn't have a handle on it for that specific reason, I think because it was slamming and I think it happened before. That's why. It might have been already broken. But yeah, it happened to the entrance of the storage room. I was in the room, but it had flung open behind me and hit the window on the wall and it almost cracked. It like moved the wall and everything and shook everything around. I wasn't exactly sure. I thought someone was playing a prank on me like Tracer or somebody, but no, it was just nothing was there. So. Never really believed in ghosts or anything like that. I've always had family that have believed in ghosts and orbs and spirits and stuff like that, but never been a true believer myself. But that definitely felt supernatural in some type of way. It definitely felt like a warning. It didn't feel like angry or anything. I didn't feel any. Anything on my body like feelings or anything. But it definitely like, I guess intent wise. It didn't feel like it was in an angry way or it was trying to hurt me. It was just seemed almost like a warning or like I shouldn't be in there kind of thing. So it was just very, very strange to have a ghostly presence like that during the day. It was wild.
- [88:47]
A
As we wrap up this episode, it's clear that the Walter Tipps house, now Fredo atx, is more than just a charming historic venue. Through candid conversations with owners, staff and local guides, we've heard about voices, footsteps, flickering lights, and sightings of figures that seem tied to the home's past. While many attribute these events to the spirit of Walter Tibbs himself, others have seen a woman and even children. What's most fascinating is the contrast. The owners, who spend less time there, feel the presence is comforting and feel it mostly upstairs. But for others, there's an unmistakable sense of being watched, particularly on the first floor. To get closer to the truth, my father and I will soon be diving into deeper historical research, trying to separate fact from folklore. Who exactly was Walter Tips? And could something in the home's layered history explain these lingering presences? But we're not stopping there. Our next step is to return, this time with our trusted team, including our psychic medium friends who know nothing about the location or its past. Who or what will they sense when they visit Fredo atx? We'll find out in the next episode. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Night Owl podcast. Be sure to join us as this paranormal adventure continues on May 26th. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter on our website thenight owlpodcast.com follow us on Instagram or Facebook the Night Owl Podcast and consider becoming a patron and supporting our show on patreon.com thenight owlpodcast to stay up to date with our show's news and events. Stay restless out there. I'd like to thank my investigative team, Alexis, Franklin and Jeffrey for going on these crazy adventures with me Nicholas Fair for his talented musical contributions to this show my dad Sam for his incredible historical research Mikey for his assistance editing Beau Tristan and Devin for their help with our Night Owl events and tours Sandra for keeping us all on schedule and on budget and last but not least, David Dalton of Driftworks Sound for mastering every single episode on the tight turnarounds I give him. Please support their works by visiting our website thenight owlpodcast.com and clicking on the about tab. There you can find links to all their individual works and websites. This podcast was mastered by David Dalton of Driftworks Sound. Do you have a song that could use a professional touch to get it across the finish line? Do you wish you could remove the sound of a loud air conditioner or distracting mouth noises from your podcast recording? Whatever your issue, David can repair and enhance your audio and help you achieve rich, full professional sound at industry standard loudness levels. Quit struggling with audio engineering and get back to creating. To discuss your options, reach out to davidriftworksound.com that'S-R-I f t worksound.com and set your creative self free.