
For decades, there’s been a place in Austin that people quietly point to when the conversation turns to the most haunted locations in the city. Not just a passing rumor… but something that’s followed the building through generations—through different owners, different businesses… and the many lives that have passed through its doors. Most people people today remember it most as the Austin Pizza Garden—where stories of unexplained voices, shadowy figures, and something lingering in the building became part of its identity. The kind of place spoken about in the same breath as Austin’s most infamous hauntings. But today, that same building lives on in a new form. A kava bar in Oak Hill—SquareRut Kava Bar to be exact —operating inside what’s known historically as the Old Rock Store of Oak Hill… a structure that’s stood here for well over a century. And the stories… they never really died. Now, for the first time, The Night Owl is stepping inside this historic landmark to investigate. I...
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The Night owl Podcast Episode 67 the Haunted Old Rock Store Part 1
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welcome
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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 and go to thenightoutpodcast.com click on the Submit yout Story page and let us hear your ghost story. For decades, there's been a place in Austin that people quietly point to when the conversation turns to the most haunted locations in the city. Not just a passing rumor, but something that's followed this building through generations, through different owners, different businesses, and the many lives that have passed through its doors. Most people today remember it most as the Austin Pizza Garden, where stories of unexplained voices, shadowy figures, and something lingering in the building became part of its identity. The kind of place spoken about in the same breath as Austin's most infamous hauntings. But today, that same building lives on in a new form. A Cava Bar in Oak Hill. Square root Cavabar to be exact, operating inside what's known historically as the Old Rock Store of Oak Hill. A structure that stood here well over a century. And the stories, they never really died. Now, the Night Owl is stepping inside this historic landmark to investigate. In this episode, we'll take you on a journey through time, speaking with the current staff working within these walls today while also uncovering voices and experiences from those who came long before them. Because whatever people were experiencing here decades ago hasn't stopped. Stay tuned. Just want to mention one thing before we begin. If you're enjoying the night out and want to go deeper, consider joining us on Patreon. It's the best way to support the show and get access to exclusive content, early releases, behind the scenes material from our investigations, bonus content, virtual hangouts, and special experiences like the Hidden Haunt Society. Being a patron also helps us keep traveling, investigating and telling these stories the way that they deserve to be told. You can join for as little as a dollar a month at patreon.com thenight owl podcast. Join us and step into the hidden inner circle of the Night Owl. To understand the experiences tied to this place, you have to start with the building itself. Known today as the Old Rock Store, this structure has stood in Oak Hill for well Over a century, outlasting the people who built it, the families who lived and worked within it, and the many businesses that have come and gone over the years. For decades, when it operated as the Austin Pizza Garden, it developed a reputation as one of the most haunted locations in the city. And that reputation didn't come from just a few isolated incidents. Staff and visitors across different years and different ownership described many of the same experiences, often without knowing what others had reported before them. There were repeated accounts of a woman seen inside the building, sometimes described in a long dress, moving quietly through the space or appearing briefly before disappearing just as quickly. Others didn't see her directly, but felt her presence. Something calm, watchful, as if someone was simply there. But not everything reported here felt that way. Many staff describe physical interactions, things that are much harder to explain away. Hair being touched or pulled when no one was behind them, Pinching sensations on the arms or back, the feeling of being pushed or something brushing past with enough force to get their attention. The stairwell, in particular, came up again and again. It was a place people avoided, where that kind of activity seemed to concentrate, where staff were reported feeling uneasy, like they were being watched, or like something was just a little too close. There were also reports of voices, conversations, or movement heard in parts of the building that were empty. Footsteps from upstairs when no one was there, Sounds that suggested someone moved through the space when, by all accounts, it should have been quiet. And then there was something else, harder to define. A presence that didn't feel neutral, Something heavier, unwelcome, not always seen, but felt strongly enough that staff would avoid certain areas or leave the building altogether when things just didn't feel right. And I remember hearing about it myself when I first moved here to Austin in 2005. I kept hearing about this place, the Austin Pizza Garden, and its haunted reputation. So, naturally, I had to go see for myself. One evening, I went for dinner and was seated upstairs in the loft area. After the waitress took my order, I stopped her and asked what I'd been hearing, if the place was actually haunted. She didn't hesitate. She lit up and said, oh, honey, it most definitely is. She didn't go into too much detail, but she did mention the stairwell, that it was a place many of the staff avoided, where things like hair being touched, pinching, and even pushing had been reported. Even then, that was enough. It was my first real confirmation that something might be going on here. Now, over 20 years later, with a new business operating inside these same walls. Square root cavabar. The question becomes, what, if anything, has carried over to begin grounding this story in history. I spoke with Ricky Camargo of the Texas Historical Reclamation Project, who recently restored the historical marker at this very location.
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So this is Ricky Camargo. I'm with the Texas Historical Reclamation Project. And what we do is we refurbish, repaint, and just kind of beautify Texas historical markers. The plaques you see everywhere. And we're all a volunteer, you know, it's a volunteer project. And check us out on all social medias at ATX Historical marker restoration. And we recently did the old rock store in Oak Hill. A lot of people know it as the. What's the former Austin Pizza Garden. It's a old beautiful building right off290.290. The the 290 expansion has almost gone up to right to its doorstep. And history we found out before we did. Our project is the old rock store in Oak Hill, southwest of Austin. It's really a source of pride for people in Oak Hill. If you talk to anybody from Oak Hill, everybody has a story about it, whether it was them, their family worked there, their grandparents took them there for pizza, or back in the day, their great grandparents told them stories about when it was a restaurant or a saloon. Now, this building had two historical markers and no one really seems to know why. There's one by the old front door that faces 290 and then the current front door that faces the parking lot. But the One that faces 290 was recently stolen, and they're working on getting another one back because that, that building deserves that. That respect to have that. That original one back by the front door. So it was originally built 1898 is what the. The stone says by James Patton. He was a former Texas Ranger. He opened the original general store on the site in 1879, and then 1898, he supervised the construction of an old rock store by the German stonemason Henry Marx. And they built the two foot thick walls by local quarried stone. They're in the convict Hill area, which is only a couple miles from the place now. But that's where the stone came from. Now, the original owner, James Patton, is the great grandfather of Austin legend James White. He and his family run the broken spoke dance hall. And for many years, the White family ran a restaurant there called the Fortress. And they had that all the way through the 70s, and that's when the historical medallion was placed on there in the 1970s. Now, Willie Nelson daughter Lana operated a steakhouse there at the old patent stores, or what it was called. By the locals. And he performed there on numerous occasions. And he actually offered to buy it from James White, but he wouldn't. He said no. He said this is staying in the family. And it's still in the family to this day. It's owned by the White family that still own the Broken Spoke and the old Rock store in Oak Hill. Over the decades, it was a post office, it was a lodge hall, a dance hall, an art gallery, a garden center. But I think most people nowadays remember it as the Austin Pizza Garden for many years. And then after that it was a coffee shop and now it's a square rep cava bar. And they still do pizzas and coffee and other things, but that's who the tenant is now. And in our interviews, we talked to some of the staff members and we were able to walk through the building and just the feeling you get in that, that stone building. I know it's something about those old stone buildings that, that just captures the history and you can almost feel it going through there. I remember one of the stories said that when Willie Nelson used to play there in the 70s and 80s, he played right in front of the old fireplace and. And as soon as you walk to the main room, boom, right there is the fireplace. You can almost just imagine Willie and his band sitting there playing in that small place. It's really cool. And we also did hear about the. Some of the experiences the staff and former staff have had. When we posted our video on social media, we had a lot of the old staff and people that maybe had their parents work there talk about experiences that they had, just, you know, hearing different footsteps and things moving on their own. Figures, ghostly figures. And a lot of them mentioned a back stairwell in the building. But even to this day, you know, you walk in there and, and you get just that feeling of history and, you know, not much has changed. So the original building is the two story structure closest to 290. There was a later addition, but I think it was added year by year. There's not an exact year when the, the back addition was added. I know the family did live upstairs while there was different, different businesses downstairs. And there is one stairway going up to the top. I'm not for sure exact timeline of when after the original founder built it. And in a building like this, with this project that I do with historical properties, you walk into these. Oh, I don't know if it's about the stone, maybe the limestone or something that just captures a spirit or just a moment in time, but. But it does. And you can feel it walking in some of these older buildings. You don't know exactly what it is. It's not good or bad. It's more than just a feeling. Know that maybe something's been there before, maybe something's still there. So, yeah, I definitely believe it. And I definitely believe. I mean, there's been so many accounts in this place that that something is there, maybe multiple things, but I don't think it's all bad either. You know, I think it could be a positive that, hey, that they're proud of this building. You can go through Oak Hill now, and so many of the longtime residents will take pride in this building. And I think maybe it's just the generation before them that feels the same, and they didn't want to leave.
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Before we hear from anyone else, I want to take a moment to lay a more complete historical foundation for this location, building on what Ricky just shared, so we have a clearer understanding of the place itself before we explore the experiences tied to it. The area was originally known as Live Oak springs. In the mid-1800s, after the Civil War, settlers from Appalachia began moving into this region, carving out a living by cutting cedar from the rugged hill country for use in construction and fencing. These settlers became collectively known as cedar choppers. In 1869, a major landowner named B.F. oatman moved into the area, and the community became known as Oatmanville. The local quarry supplied limestone used in the construction of Austin's Capitol building, and a railway was established to transport the stone from this area into the city. In 1879, a Texas Ranger named James Andrew Patton settled in this area. He built a wood frame store and lived there with his wife, Virginia, and their two children, Andrew Lewis and Rosa Selma. Historical records describe James as a frontiersman who participated in violent conflicts with indigenous people, a reality that reflects the broader and often brutal tensions of that time period. It's an important part of the history, but also one that deserves to be acknowledged with care and context. The family also operated a farm, likely supplying meat, milk, and produce for the store. At the time, a post office already existed in the community under the name Oak Hill Post Office, having been established in 1870. On October 1, 1886, Patton's store became the official post office, and he served as its postmaster, further establishing the location as a central hub for the surrounding area. He is also credited with helping solidify the name Oak Hill as an effort to reduce confusion between the post office and the nearby station at Obonville. By 1900, the town had become officially known as oak Hill. In 1898, James tore down the original wood frame structure and and using stone from a nearby quarry on Convict Hill, constructed what became known as the Old Rock Store. With the help of Mason Henry Marks, he continued operating the grocery store there until 1909. In 1901, James and Virginia's daughter Rosa married fellow Texas Ranger John Dudley White. By 1914, city directory records show that John and Rosa were living in Isleta, Texas, in El Paso county, where John had rejoined the Texas Rangers and was serving as a mounted customs inspector along the Texas border. By 1918, that family had returned to the Oak hill area. On July 12th of that year, John Dudley White was shot and killed in the line of duty in White City, Texas. His body was returned to Oak Hill for burial. The 1920 and 1930 federal census records show Rosa and her three children living on and operating a farm in oak Hill. In 1944, Rosa inherited the property following her father's death on July 11th of that year due to complications from pneumonia. She retained ownership of the Old Rock store until passing it on to her daughter, Rosa Margaret White Grunwald. The property was later passed down to Margaret's nephew, James Morris White, who also owned the well known Austin nightspot the broken spoke. Around 1970, James and his wife Annetta opened a seafood and steakhouse restaurant on the property called the Fortress. Over the years, the building has been leased to a variety of businesses, including Cowboy steakhouse in the 1980s, owned by Willie Nelson's daughter Lena. The Natural gardener occupied the space in the early 1990s, followed by the popular Pizza Garden, which operated there from 1994 until 2021. Spanning 27 years. For more than a century, countless people have passed through the doors of the Old Rock store. And their stories and their perhaps even their presence may still linger within its stone walls. So with that historical foundation in place, the next question becomes, what's happening there now? To answer that, we spoke with staff and patrons of Square Root Cavabar, the current business operating inside this historic building. We'll begin with Liz, a member of the current staff. She's often here alone early in the mornings. She says that she has an ability to sense and sometimes even see presences within the space.
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My name is Liz. I have been working at Square Root for one year, and I actually met Scott and Tracy, the owners, at my previous job out in Dripping Springs. And when I applied, I was really excited to find out that they owned Square Root. I actually did not know that, so I am one of our baristas. I open the building and I go in really early in the morning. We clock in at 6:30 in the morning and they're alone opening and doing
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all the cleaning for to start the day.
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So you get a lot of alone time that real early in the morning which is when they like to. The spirits that I have met have come out. The building itself was built in, I think it was 1898 according to the Texas history staff. It's called the Old Rock Store in Oak Hill. It was originally owned by James A. Patton. He is the one that had it built by Heinrich Marcks who was a German mason if I remember correctly. At the Old Rock Shop I have come in contact with two entities personally as well as a cat ghost. I'm able to see shadow figures. So I just see a dark figure that looks like a man and then also a female shaped dark figure. Fairly early into my time of opening at Square Root, probably like a month, a month and a half into working, starting to work there. So this would have been March or April of 2025. I was sitting out in my car waiting, getting ready to go open the building and clock in for work. And I could see a shadow figure standing out in the parking lot over by these two large trees that we have. And it almost seemed like he was guarding the building. I'll see him every now and then. I do think it may have been the same man that the same day while mopping the hardwood floor on the bar side of the building, it felt like I all of a sudden had been. Somebody had run up to my face and started yelling at me. I noticed that my stomach started to get really upset, like in knots. And being that I've seen shadow figures for a long time, I just was like, that's not cool. And so I definitely was like, you're not allowed to my energy. You set those boundaries. And he backed off fairly quick. But it definitely was a jump scare of a moment having someone run up in your face even though there's no nobody else in that building with you. I do sometimes still occasionally see him in like the mirror behind the bar and it almost feels like he might just be like standing over my shoulder with that same male spirit. I was sharing that I had felt a low energy day. So I didn't feel like mopping to one of my co workers and I had told him the male spirit at the beginning of the day, I'm feeling low on energy. I promise I will mop tomorrow. While telling my co worker this plan. The lights on the wall behind Me so I could not see them started flickering. As I was talking of my promise of tomorrow for him, it was noted by the co worker as well as a customer that was sitting there. So the male spirit. When I first came in contact with him, I did call him an aggressive spirit. Sometimes I wonder if he likes scaring people though, because I have had multiple people, especially closers, tell me that something on the Kava bar side of the building has spooked them enough when they're closing. A lot of the times when I see him as a full black figure, I can see like that structured shape of pants. And a lot of times I see him wearing a hat that has a brim. I wouldn't say like a cowboy hat, but you know, one that could keep you shaded in the sun but look fairly normal for the 1800s, I would say I have seen him most on the back cover cava side of the building, but I have also seen who I think is the same one since his shape is very similar to the one that stands outside as if he's guarding the building really early in the morning before it is unlocked. So it's like he can move around on the property and it's not stuck in the building. Besides the Cava bar side, I sometimes see him in the men's restroom, which is the closest bathroom to the Cava bar side. I think he might just enjoy having a space that's more alone and enclosed just so that he's not bothered by people. I don't see him a lot during the daytime when there are people in the Cava bar. He seems to pop up just when very few people. It almost seems like he enjoys scaring people. I felt like he every now and then if I see him in the mirror of the bar, it's almost as if he's trying to surprise me and get some sort of entertainment out of it.
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Liz says that almost immediately after starting at Square Root Kava bar, she began seeing and sensing things, what she believes are three distinct energies tied to the spirit space. So far, she's described a man, a presence that seems to move freely throughout the building, inside and out, and one that's led to some particularly unsettling encounters. After this short break, Liz will share more about the other presences she's experienced here. Stay tuned, night owls. How many times has this happened to you? I'm sitting outside, scrolling through my phone, looking to purchase an item online, only to get to the online checkout and realize my wallet's inside the house. But no worries. I see the purple pay button that has all my information saved, making checkout as easy as a single tap on my screen. Shopify to the Rescue I would like to give a special thanks to our newest sponsor of the Night Owl podcast, Shopify. Shopify is an all in one e commerce platform designed to help businesses sell their products online, making your life easier and your business operations smoother. With Shopify you can create and customize an online store, sell in multiple places including web, mobile, social media and brick and mortar and manage products, inventory, payments and shipping. Shopify has hundreds of ready to use templates available to help you design and build an online store that matches your unique brand style. If you get stuck, no problem. Shopify's award winning 24. 7 customer support is always there to share their advice and and get you through any roadblocks that arise. Do you want convenience and constant access to your business? Shopify is completely cloud based and hosted so you can run your business from anywhere, even your mobile device. What I love about Shopify is that anyone wanting to create and customize their own online store can do so on this all in one commerce platform. All the tools you need to design your website, sell your product, manage your inventory, get paid and ship your product are all in one easy to use place. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop pay button. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com NightOwl go to shopify.com NightOw that's shopify.com NightOw it's seven o' clock in the evening. I've already put in a long day at my 95 and I still have hours of audio to edit for the show. I need to eat but I'm exhausted and don't feel like cooking. Usually my options are to skip dinner entirely or give in and order unhealthy fast food. But now I have a better, healthier solution. Factor Meals takes the stress out of what's for dinner and makes it easy to enjoy a quality meal without the extra effort. Factor Meals can be a lifesaver for you as well. Head over to factor meals.com SL50OFF and use code NIGHTOWL50OFF to get 50% off and free daily greens per box. Factory meals are chef prepared, delicious and crafted with the best ingredients, lean proteins, nutritious veggies and healthy fats. There are no artificial sweeteners, no high fructose corn syrup and no refined seed oils. I recently had the Jalapeno Lime Cheddar chicken. It consisted of a grilled chicken breast topped with a root rich cheddar jalapeno sauce. It was served over a bed of cauliflower rice infused with cream cheese, jalapenos, onions and cilantro. The meal had 42 grams of protein, only 650 calories, and was the perfect combination of savory and spice. Factor Meals are fresh, never frozen and there are over 100 rotating weekly meals making it easy to find meals to please anyone's palate. If you're looking for meals that are high protein, calorie, smart keto, friendly, Mediterranean diet or high fiber, Factor has a meal for you. Factor does all the shopping, prepping, cooking and delivers your meals straight to your door so all you have to do is heat and eat. Head to factor meals.com Night Owl 50 off and use code Night Owl 50 off to get 50% off and free daily greens per box with new subscription only while supplies last until September 27, 2026. See website for more details.
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The second spirit that I have met has been a the woman. I see her most at these stairs in the kitchen area, which were also photographed in the Capitol Hauntings book. I want to say the old Rock store is like chapter seven and in the book the stairs that I see her on, it's the exact picture of that area where they note that there is a woman up there. For me, mostly she's just a dark figure. I can kind of see like a skirt shape. It's a big shadow and I get this just judgmental like she's making sure I'm doing my job correctly. But she has made her opinions heard sometimes. When I had noted that the trash had forgotten to take get taken out the night before, I bagged it up and put it in our little wagon that we have to take out to the trash, especially if I have big boxes and stuff. And she decided that obviously the trash smelled too bad in her opinion, because three different times that morning, one of them I was standing really close to it. And the second time I also saw it, the trash had been knocked out of the wagon after I had made sure that it was in there well enough that gravity wouldn't do it. The first time I was like, oh, maybe the trash fell out while I was filling a mop bucket and I just was like oh gravity. So I made sure that it was really well in there. And the second time I came back after mopping and it fell out in front of me and as I was finishing mopping, getting ready to open up, it had happened. I'd gone back into the area where the trash wagon was, and the trash was on the floor again. At that time, I had picked it up and just decided to be like, okay, fine, it's finally light enough outside. I'll take out the trash.
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And.
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And at that moment when I'm yelling in a room by myself at somebody, my boss decided to walk in. And I'm sure he was very confused that I was yelling at nobody about the trash. One of the most recent experiences I've had with her was during some orientation of, I think, two new employees. While my boss was giving them a tour and they were over in the bar side of the building. I was in the coffee shop side. And I kept hearing somebody up in the loft area just kept whispering, hey, hey. Almost to the point where while in the room alone by myself, I actually turned around and was like, yes, can I help you? With nobody there, which was pretty interesting. I actually ended up asking if the manager had the phone, her phone with her, because it seemed like somebody was trying to get attention up there on something that was like, potentially needed somebody's interest. The female presence. I have seen her mostly in the loft or in the back stairs that are in the kitchen area for her. When I see her shadow, she's always standing almost at the top of the stairs. She stands very straight. I can see a long skirt. I'm trying to think if I see arms or not. I don't think I do. It's just like torso and skirt. And I just get the sense that she is looking down on me, trying to watch that I'm doing things correctly. I honestly have no idea if she's been there for a very long time. I have read a past article where somebody else has spoken of a judgmental.
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They said aggressive. I've.
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She's never been aggressive towards me lady up in the loft as well. Sometimes I imagine that she may be looking over the loft, so as if maybe if she lived there, she could watch and see that work was being done. Well, as if that was her area to. To watch over her business or whatever it was when it. When she was there. The cat ghost in particular. I was speaking to a couple of our regular customers and I had told them I had seen something that might have looked like a cat. Like it was way down low to the floor, kind of moved like a scared or a cat hiding from something. And they were just like really quick little flashes. And while talking about that specific spirit, I actually felt something brush my leg, almost as if a cat had rubbed up against me. And it was really interesting that it was. While we were discussing that very specific thing, I have been able to almost get a response very rarely by lights flickering. That does seem to be something that somebody is able to do there at the Old Rock Store. And in the exact same bathroom that I have seen the light flickering in response to me talking to somebody, I had an elderly lady tell me that she saw what looked like a veil in that same bathroom. She had come out of the bathroom and said, did you know you have ghosts here? And I was. I said, yes, ma', am, we do. And she said, that bathroom, there was somebody wearing a veil in that bathroom. My personal theories on. On who the the female ghost may be kind of go along with things I have been told from customers who have either been to one of the ghost hunts or by somebody from a previous renter at the Old Rock store that the woman may be Rosa or Rose. I've heard both. Who was. From what I have seen, she may have been the daughter of James A. Patton. And so she inherited the building from what I have read. So if that is her, I can understand her wanting to make sure that we are doing our jobs and making sure her building is clean. I've not tried to communicate a lot with them. I've been able to see them, but since I can't hear or really communicate with spirits, I haven't really tried to push that a lot further. Personally, I like to set the boundary where I have control of my own energy in those situations. I think just because this building is such a really cool environment and with being able to see shadow figures, I think it was a very good kind of just a culmination of experiences. Because I have had the most experiences in this year of working at square root than I have in most of my life. I sometimes wonder if the kava that we serve could be involved. I have read about legends that kava can be used for meditating and can help people kind of access the. The music of the spirits and hearing what they talk about and stuff. And I had a couple coworker, a previous co worker, tell me that most of her experiences were after drinking kava. And I think it just helped a little more open up to where I was able to see these spirits a lot more than I have been in the past. I have been able to see shadow figures for a while of my life. I can remember even back into elementary school. Either I had a great imagination or there was a shadow girl that hung out in my choir room at the elementary School. So at square root in particular, since I had my first experience so early on, I had been told by a friend who is into the paranormal that the building was haunted. When I told her that I had gotten a job there. But I didn't really know a ton about it. When I had the first surprise experience with the male where he ran up to me and just tried to intimidate me. I didn't really know a lot about the spirits at the time since it was the exact same morning that I had seen the shadow figure out in the parking lot and questioned if there really was a man standing there or if it was just six o' clock in the morning and I was tired and paranoid and then just going about my day because it seemed like he had just disappeared after I'd gotten out of my car, getting ready to go unlock the door less than 30 minutes later while I'm doing the mopping over on the Cava side. For him to rush me like that definitely was a big surprise, but it really let me know that I was dealing with something otherworldly. Especially since there was just me and the mop in. In that building. Soon after I had seen the mail while filling a mop bucket was the first time I had looked up the stairs and seen the woman figure standing up there. And it was after that that I finally started actually looking into the kind of lore that I could find on the Internet. I looked at brief amount of historical records just to kind of get an idea of the building. Like James Patton, which is on the. The historical landmark that the building received in the 1970s. That was also where the first time I had seen the name Rosa. It just to me felt like it
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connected to the woman.
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I don't really know if it was her or not. Surprised to find out that there were people, people that kind of matched what I had experienced. I do think it'd be cool to at least know if I'm, you know, really am experiencing these people.
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It.
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While it does kind of line up with stuff I've heard, there's that always that little voice in the back of your head that says, am I crazy? When you're telling people about this? Sometimes I think it would be cool to actually know their names instead of
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just like the guy and the lady on the stairs.
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I have heard a few theories and stuff, but I don't know, I feel like it would be cool to know who they are.
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Liz's experiences offer a glimpse into what it's like to be in the building when it's Quiet when things tend to make themselves known. But she's not the only one who's had experiences there. On Halloween night in 2024, the building hosted a late night ghost tour and investigation, bringing in a group of people curious to see what they might encounter for themselves. One of those people was Alicia.
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Hi, my name is Alicia and we are going to talk about the old Rock Shop today. So the old Rock Shop is made out of Texas white rock, river stones, I believe. So you walk in through the main entrance, you have a little coffee shop stand off to the left. You go a little further in and you have like the balcony where the second floor is. Once you turn into the right, it opens up to a big communal area. There's like a bar that wraps around, there's a piano off to the right and up against the wall is a fireplace. So at the coffee shop when you make a left, this also used to be an old a pizza restaurant. So they have a massive commercial sized kitchen. So when you make a right at the coffee shop, it opens up to this very deep style kitchen. And also the back way on the second floor, like the second stairs actually ends up into the kitch. So you have a couple different stairwells that are there. In the old Rock Shop, they actually still have the safe. When I believe it used to be either the store or maybe even a bank. It's all locked up. No one has the combination to it. So maybe one of these days the medium can go in and kind of discover the lock. That'd be amazing. I know there is a rumor of a woman in white. There is a child there. And there's also a bad energy there. I don't know what to define it as, but that's what I've heard. The rumor is it likes to hang out in the office. There are people who've walked down the stairs and received scratches on their back getting pushed around, being bullied up there. I didn't personally have that experience. I'm also a Reiki practitioner. I'm very sensitive to energies. I'm very sensitive to all sorts of stuff. This isn't my first experience with ghosts in general. I've been to a couple haunted places. I'm more clear audience and more of a sensitive when it comes to like physical touch. I don't really necessarily see anything. It's more like third eye hearing and then feeling. So the first time I went there, I wanted to check out the new space. Square Coffee bar is a great place for like, so for people who don't want to Drink and just hang out and have tea, relax, what have you. And as soon as I walked in, there's a overlook on the second floor floor. And I felt a small child. And before I knew any of this background story, I felt the small child staring down and looking at me. And that was the strongest sensation I got. And it hung out there and it just watched me walk to the bar. And it wasn't aggressive, it was curious. And so that was the first initial interaction before we even did the ghost investigation. So a couple years ago, on a Halloween night, October of 2024, I believe they held a ghost investigation on Halloween at midnight. Fantastic. Love it. The gentleman leading it, I guess he's done a few ghost investigations there. He brought dowsing rods, he bought EMF readers. And he was telling me, or he was still in the group because there's a couple, couple of us there. There's about like seven or eight of us there, including my fiance. He was going over the history of it and talking about the school, what people seen the lady in white. She's usually normally at the back of the stairs. I was too excited, so I didn't pay attention to the story very well. I was like, give me the tools, I want to go explore. Because I've always wanted to do this. So they say the most active places are in the kitchen and upstairs. They went upstairs to play with the little child that hangs out there. And it's interesting. That's where it's more commonly known, without even being told it. So they brought toys out to see if they would move him, paper, what have you. There wasn't too much activity out there. And a friend of I walked to the back of the stairs and he was telling me about the story of the lady in white. And there's an EMF reader at the very bottom of the stairs. And every time he said the lady in white, it would light up. And I wasn't even paying attention, but I noticed it was like lighting up every time he said it. And so that lasted for about 15 minutes. They turned off all the air so there wasn't anything blowing. It was getting kind of hot and stuffy up there. So we decided to join the rest of the group in the kitchen. In the kitchen is where they were using dowsing rods. And I guess they were talking to the little child. And I've always wanted to try these. So I asked if I could use the dowsing rods to talk. And as soon as I got the dowsing rods, we started asking the kid, you know, are you Boy or girl? It didn't really like that question. It was just like, I'm a kid, let me hang out and we were asking questions and it was really responding to me. When I was interacting with the dowsing rolls, I would pass them off to someone else. It wasn't as strong and would ask if they would like to go back to me and they would say yes. So I held onto the dowsing rods probably for over an hour that night, just talking to the child. At one point I heard this name Sam or Sammy, just really strong in my head. And I'm like, is your name Sam? And I said yes. And I believe the kid was around like 10 or 11. And after a while abusing the dowsing rods, I felt like small hands are around my wrists. So I literally felt like a thumb on the inside of my wrist and the other fingers on the outside. So literally felt like someone was holding on to me, kind of guiding me through the building. Little kid likes cats and he loves chocolate. We left some chocolate up on the fireplace for him before we left. He or they, I'm not sure they really like the cats that come by. His parents are there. I think his dad is very strict. I didn't feel any negative energy except for in the closet underneath the back stairs where all the electrical stuff was. That was the strongest thing. And I did not like being down there.
D
So we're out in the main area.
F
There's like a piano. The fireplace and we're still talking to is kind of like a chatterbox. It was kind of cute. And someone decided to start playing the piano and they started playing jump and they put the EMF reader on the piano and would light up at specific notes in the song. And it was, it was fantastic. It was so cool to see. So the three different type of entities that I have heard of that were there. So there's a woman in white. I don't know too much about her, honestly. They mentioned it might be the child's mom that's there, but she's just in this white, I think, old prairie dress. And she likes to stand and stare at the back set of stairs that lead down into the kitchen and it comes off the second floor balcony. So she likes to hang out there. I don't know too much about her. The dark entity that stare apparently likes to hang out in the office, which is also upstairs. It's in like further back corner of the upper floor balcony. Also that energy likes to hang out in the stairs that lead up to the balcony. So you have the Walk in the front, you have the coffee barista area right there off to the left. Go past that, you have those small narrow stairs that lead up to the balcony. And apparently that dark entity or what have you likes to hang out there. People have been shoved down the stairs by it. People have been scratched by it, shown up with red marks, stuff like that. I don't know know the background of that. As far as the dark presence, I don't know of anyone who's actually seen it. Just of the sensation and the response it's. It's had regarding, like interacting with others. There's an electrical closet under the back stairs that is in the kitchen. Once again, I noticed the door was open and I was curious. Something was pulling at me to look in. But physically I did not want to go in. It did not feel safe. It did not not feel welcoming. There was something off about it. And that's all I could describe as like, I do not want to be around that space in particular. Everything else is fine, but that there's something that happened or something there that I do not want to get close to. I feel like anything with large amounts of history will collect different types of energies, especially river rock and Texas river rock. I feel like there's a lot of courts involved. So that's just my belief. And as far as the child, Sam, I think their name is Sam. I believe they're around 10 or 11. I believe his parents actually owned it while it was a store. That's the sensation I'm getting. So the most active places are the main area and the kitchen. The kitchen in particular was very, very active. That was probably the most active spot outside of us, walking through the main area of the night. And I feel like the energy kind
D
of traveled with us.
F
So some of the people that I've talked to that used to work there, or even actually one thing the owner's son told me is that he feels a little kid running around. And there was a situation where I believe there was a pitcher of water that was poured out. Like no one touched it. And I believe it was in the main area where the bar is that was being poured out. There were noises of like footsteps going up the stairs and just people working there were just having this overall uneasy feeling of someone else being there with them. Like they weren't alone the entire time. Like some of them did not like closing by themselves, which is completely understandable. But sometimes bottles be knocked down, glasses would be moved, stuff like that. That's another thing I have heard from that location as well. So that was my full experience with the building, the old rock shop, and the ghost investigation I had there. A couple months later, I went back and there was a stronger sensation around me when I went there to the point where I was feeling disoriented and dizzy. So that was new, and I think that was the other energy that hangs around there, and it was to the point where I had to leave. So that was my experience. It was amazing. It's really cool. There's a lot of history to the building, and it's fascinating to see how it's progressed and all the different energies that are there. I believe that there are spirits here that really, really love that space, that still love that space, that are very social and still like to see people come in and hang out and have fun. I also feel like it holds a lot of memories and like, very active memories that are still there. So I think it's partially a haunting, but also partially like a recording of something past that reoccurs.
A
What stands out about Alicia's experience is the nature of the presence she and others seem to connect with that night. Much of what they describe centered around something playful, what they came to believe was a child spirit, one they even gave a name to. And that's notable because when you look at the long, long standing reports tied to this building, that's not what typically comes up. For years, people have described the woman presence and at times, something else, something heavier, more difficult to define. But a child isn't commonly part of this lore, and that made me curious because Alicia wasn't there alone. Her fiance, Bryce, was also with her that night and had his own experience inside that building, one that, at least from what I was told, may have been something more direct. We'll hear from Bryce right after this short break. I don't know about all my night owl friends out there, but I find myself constantly on the move when springtime arrives. It seems like I'm always traveling more at this time of year, whether it be for business or pleasure. One thing I never have to worry about when I'm traveling is how to stay consistent with my health. AG1 travel packs make it super easy to maintain my healthy routine, no matter where the road takes me. Go to drinkag1.com nightowl to get an AG1 flavor sampler and a bottle of vitamin D3K2 for free in your AG1 welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription. Order only while supplies last. AG1 is a daily health drink designed to support gut health and provide a broad range of essential nutrients to help you start your day strong. With over 75 ingredients, including five clinically studied probiotic strains, it offers a convenient way to cover multiple aspects of daily nutrition in one simple routine. I've made AG1 part of my personal daily routine for better health. One scoop once a day, every day is the absolute best and easiest way I know to provide my body with the healthy support it needs without juggling multiple supplements or complicated schedules. AG1 includes a blend of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, probiotics and functional mushrooms to help support energy, immune function, digestion and gut health. I know AG1 works. That's why it's been a consistent part of my morning routine for over two years now, and it's helped simplify how I approach my nutrition. If you want to simplify your health routine, why not do it with the best nutritional health drink on the market? AG1 Go to drinkag1.com NightOwl to get an AG1 flavor sampler and a bottle of of vitamin D3K2 for free in your AG1 welcome kit with your first AG1 subscription order. That's a $72 value. Yours free only while supplies last. Go to drinkag1.com night owl many people say that edible gummies get them way too high or make them feel off. What if there were edible gummies that made you feel just right and not too high? Well, look no further. Lume Gummies are just what you're looking for. 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 or a midday mood boost, Lumi Gummies has a strain that's right for you. Night Owls do you ever find yourself looking for a way to relieve stress after a long day? I've found that what works best for me is a solid workout followed by some time and in the sauna, a quick dip in the cold plunge. And recently I added something new to that routine that's made it even better. Now I take a hybrid strawberry cookies gummy from Lume Gummies and ease into a deeper state of relaxation, rounding out my wind down routine perfectly. Lumi Gummies come in many different flavors and in different strains to match your personal needs. Instead of making you feel stoned and uncomfortable, Lumi Gummies are made to provide you with a noticeable move, mood boost, plus a range of targeted benefits. There are gummies for boosting energy, soothing tension, sparking creativity, relieving pain, and my favorite Winding down at the end of a long hard day. Lumi Gummies are also delicious and have zero weird aftertaste. Do yourself a favor and give Lumi Gummies a try. 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 code night owl.
G
My name is Bryce and I went with my fiance to a ghost hunt. To what is now called Square root Cava, historically known as the Rock Store. And this is way back in the day and since then it's been a million different things.
B
It was a.
G
When I first moved to Austin in the 90s, it was a pizza place and then I think it was a coffee place after that. And then now it's a cava bar. A really cute cava bar. So we got invited to do a ghost hunt there on Halloween. I'm not sure how much your listeners are used to the term the veil, but the veil was very thin that night. You walked in and you kind of just got like a little, a little chill because there was nobody there. It was just the other people that were there for the ghost hunt and a professional investigator that had all the tools and the guidance to help kind of guide us along. And at first we came in and they gave us a little bit of back history about the place and about some of the experiences that some of the people working there have kind of on a daily basis, which was interesting because I hadn't been there in probably 10 years.
B
And so.
G
But apparently this is really consistent with certain areas of the building. And there's a kitchen towards the front which used to be the front of the store when it was a drive in store, kind of like just regular store. And that seemed to be the area where they had. The people that work there now have the most experiences kind of towards the front. So we started just kind of getting a feel for the place. Just walked around a little bit. I'll back it up a little bit. My fiance is a sensitive and so she's really good with communicating with things that are unseen using dowsing rods and other devices and stuff like that.
B
That.
G
So she's used to that sort of thing. Those types of things are kind of drawn to her. And I'm also sensitive in that I can see things that most people can't see and I see them often, but I'm not really good with communicating with these things. And so together, my fiance and I are really good at zeroing in on good spots to try and talk to whatever's there. So we walk into the general area to kind of look around. There's this old safe off to the right that has been there since like, who knows, Looks like It's from the 1890s. And also it's called the touch sensitive. And so whenever I touched it, it went off the charts with where it used to be and what it was used for. And I was like, okay, there's. There's some spooky stuff around here. And I walk into the main area, main coffee bar area. There's a fireplace on the far side. And I saw this little girl reaching out for the candy bowl on top of the fireplace. And I thought it was just somebody's kid looking for, looking for candy. And I was like, cool. And I kind of turned around and walked back out and I walk back in there with my fiance and the girl's gone. And I was like, oh, she must be part of the group or something. So I walk over there and I see something whining behind the bar. And again, this is just a corner of the eye kind of stuff, you know, not like I saw a fool anything, just kind of little glance, whatever, some there kind of keep moving and the lights are all on. You know, we're just kind of again just getting a feel for the place. And I see something running behind the bar. And again I think it's that kid. And I'm like, man, that kid is running behind the bar stuff. So I told my fiance, I was like, whose kid is that? And she's like, what are you talking about? And look over there and there's of course nothing there. The kid looked to be about like seven, seven years old, I don't know, about three feet tall, you know, not too tall, but advertised for a seven year old, dirty blonde hair. And it was a little longer and I'm trying to remember, kind of stringy and hanging down by her back. And she was wearing a little white, not a white dress, it was kind of off white dress with like a brown overall looking thing over it. Again, I thought it was almost like a little costume. And that was it. And she had her back to me and she was reaching for the mantle. I remember she kind of noticed me at first when I walked. I was walking up to the fireplace at first before I turned around to go grab my fiance. And I know she kind of looked over to her, right? So I didn't really get a good look at her face, but she was Caucasian. But then she just looked back at the mantle like she was trying to again, reach that candy bowl. And I turned around, so that's about
B
what she looked like.
G
We did the investigation, and when it wasn't open to the public, so we did this after hours, they closed. And then it was just our group. And we originally met in the foyer area with the investigator, who had, I think, brought two boys, two younger boys with him. And then there was another couple. I feel like there was, like, one more mom and kid that was there and an older gentleman, but they were all present and accounted for when we first got there. So there was nobody else there. There were no other families.
B
It was closed.
G
It was just our little group. So we started getting the idea that there might be a young person running around there. And we asked the professional investigator more about the family that used to live there. And they didn't really know a lot. They knew that there was a father and a mom and two kids that had been reported being seen there at different times. Mostly the mom and occasionally the kids. And so we're like, okay, so maybe it's just a kid excited about Halloween
B
and kind of running around.
G
So we saw.
B
I saw a little bit of that.
G
And then we turn off all the lights and start walking around with the little ghost detection devices that, like, the lights flicker. If there's something there, you ask questions and dowsing rods. And I know a lot of people are kind of skeptical about the dowsing
B
rods, and I am, too.
G
I mean, like, hand tilts and flickers and stuff can make those things move pretty easily. But we all sat down in a big circle around that fireplace and start asking questions if anybody's there. You know, we're all taking turns on the.
B
On the rods.
G
And finally gets to my fiance's turn. And again, she's a. I don't know, she's just a magnet for this sort of thing. And she sits down and she puts some stable in front of her, you know, not tilt or anything, and starts asking questions about who's there. And she starts getting a response from something by them swinging, like, wide open and then swinging close and wide open, swinging close. And it kind of narrowed it down to a little kid. A little kid named Sam or something was kind of going by Sammy or Sam that was a girl, but didn't like being called a girl, something like that. The rest of the evening, we kind of did the fireplace thing, and then the group split up to kind of just go to different areas and just see if they could feel anything. You know, play with the ghost detection toys and devices to see if we get any responses. And we were getting responses mostly by that fire, fireplace, and then back in the kitchen. We went back into the kitchen area and down the base of the stairs, and all the devices there were just going nuts. People were just asking general questions of
B
like, who are you? What are you?
G
What happened?
B
Why are you here?
G
That kind of thing. You know, just. You don't get a whole lot of specifics. But we saw a ton of activity with just all the devices just going crazy every time you ask a question, particularly when my fiance was asking questions. That was the majority of the activity. Like, I saw a little bit there. All the devices were going crazy. This is Halloween night. Not a stormy night or anything like that. Just a normal, you know, group of people kind of going around. There was a family there with a couple of kids. They were having fun, you know, trying to communicate with the ghosts and stuff. And I think the ghosts themselves were also having fun. The kitchen area, though, was phenomenal. This, apparently, as we found out, was the main concentration of where most people that work there see stuff. They see a woman at the top of the stairs a lot, kind of moving into the back area. I didn't personally see anything there, but when you walk up to the top of the stairs, there is a significant cold spot that was there. The top of the stairs and kind of through this little corridor to the back. It's noticeable. It's real noticeable.
B
Like, there was.
G
Maybe that was a living space.
B
Maybe there's something there.
G
You definitely feel it. We definitely had the feeling that there were several individuals there. I think during the kitchen interviews and we were asking a lot of questions, an adult figure started speaking a little bit. Again, general questions like, you know, man or woman? Kept asking the kid, are you excited that it's Halloween?
B
You get to have candy?
G
And, like, we kept getting the affirmative and stuff like that. Do you like the people that work here?
B
And it was like, yeah, yeah.
G
The adult figure that we spoke to in the kitchen area, I think was most probably more. A little more feminine. And she responded that she was older and that she was a woman and that she used to work there. And so, again, pretty vague. You know, you gotta get those questions real vague because it's hard to be like, hey, is your name.
B
Did you.
G
You're not gonna get an answer like that. But we got a lot of white responses off of the devices that Flickr like, is this for you. This for now, that kind of thing. It was a lot of fun, and it was really cool to do the experience with a professional ghost center that has done a lot of things like that to help guide and just be a good conduit for the experience. And setting up little sessions and devices so people can ask questions, experience it
B
a little bit themselves.
G
Didn't feel anything, like, ominous or bad, like, just. Just felt like a. Honestly, like a family that was just hanging out there and a little kid that wanted to talk.
B
That was that night.
G
It was a great ghost experience or whatever the entity was. I'm not really sure if it was a ghost or just an echo or who knows, but it was a lot of fun getting to see a little bit of the history, just also getting to explore the building after hours when nobody's there.
B
That in of itself was fun because
G
it's an old building. Even though it has had some stuff added onto it over the years. The main front part of it is still the original building, and you can
B
tell from the brickwork.
E
Hi, my name is Sarah. I worked at Square Root Cava Bar for a little over a year and a half. I got acquainted with the Kava bar when I had a really stressful job for a little while. And some of my friends introduced me into the great community that Kava Bar has to offer. And just the relaxing attributes of what Kava brings to the nervous system. Working there was an absolute delight. And just being in that type of atmosphere, there's something very mysterious but very euphoric about working in that space.
B
Space.
E
Well, my first experience, I feel like I definitely believe that there is spirits that exist in that space with some of the experiences. And from my experiences, there's a very protective spirit. And it seems that when you first start, they, they. Because it does feel like there's more than one, but they. They have this, like, very protective nature of kind of trying to scare you off at first. And so one of my very first experiences, I was closing. It was night. I had turned all the lights out. I was behind the bar, just cleaning up and about to leave, and I heard one of the wooden chair, and it just moved. And these. These chairs are very heavy wooden chairs. So the AC didn't just kick on and kick that chair. Something had to have moved it. So that was my first experience. I'd always get a really good creepy feeling at night by myself. That was probably one of the most uncomfortable things. There was definitely moments where I got really comfortable being in that space. I feel like Whatever spirits are there when you're taking care of the space and they start to get more acquainted with you, they kind of. They make you feel comfortable and they don't really mess with you after you kind of prove yourself at least is what like. It's seems like what my experience was. So a couple. One of the craziest stories that I had is that I believe that there is something that would try to play jokes with me. And what I mean by that is there is one day this woman came in and she just got a pot of tea, which normal winter day order. And so nothing, nothing out of the ordinary as far as what this woman wanted. And so she sat down the front table and she drank her tea. And then, you know, eventually she left. When I went over there to get the teapot, it was gone. I didn't know where it went. So I literally searched the entire area thinking that, oh, maybe she took it outside. So I went outside looking for it. I looked everywhere. I looked behind the espresso machine, anywhere that she could have just set it down. I looked there and it was just gone. And I was very sure that she bought that she stole this expensive teapot. And I sent a message to my boss like, hey, I think someone stole one of the teapots. Just a heads up, just to let you know it's gone. I'm closing and my fiance is helping me bring in chairs and stuff. And so we would stack these chairs over by the espresso machine. And so he went by that area multiple times. He knew I'd been looking for the teapot and nothing was there. He leaves and goes outside. I lock up, I close everything. I go to get some water and then I go over to turn off a light over by the espresso machine. And guess what's right there? The teapot. There's no explanation. And it's not just me that couldn't find it. There's no way that it just appeared
D
there out of nowhere.
E
The woman who was drinking the tea was sitting on the couch that was kind of near where the stairs are. And the teapot reappeared behind the espresso machine. So when you walk in from the front door to your left, you'll see the espresso machine and then there's a counter. And it was sitting right there on that counter. It's a very obvious place that you
D
would not be able to miss.
E
And I definitely know. I looked there multiple times trying to find it. Nothing bad in that space. I think it hit a sponge from me once too. A lot of times we'll use those grub daddy smiley face sponges, and that's what we need to use and wash all the dishes that's behind the bar. And so I was just literally looking everywhere because I needed some dishes that I needed to clean. And so I'm looking, you know, in the sink. I'm going through the whole sink. I'm going. There's three different sinks. I'm going through all of those things to make sure I can't, you know, where the. The sponges. And so I even go all the way to the back to go get another sponge. And then I come back to the back of the bar and there's the sponge in the middle of the water. It makes me think that with the, like, the playful trickster spirit that that could be a child spirit that is just trying to play, especially with it being like a sponge in the water and a tea kettle gone missing or that sounds like something a kid would do. So I. I do believe that these spirits are very playful. They like to mess with you, and they want to make sure that you want to protect that space just as much as they are protecting that space. I know as far as the history is concerned, the man who made that building, I think his daughter got married in the courtyard, which I think the courtyard is going to be. When you walk into the. The Cava bar, the courtyard is kind of where the. The espresso machine is in the coffee area. And I've heard stories about a woman named Rose, and she likes to lurk around. And you definitely will feel a presence kind of watching you no matter where you are, no matter what time of day, just in that area over by the stairs. There's definitely some heavier energy throughout the space, but Rose is a very important one. I remember when I first started working there, there was a woman who would come by and she would bring us roses. And she said that the ghost Rose
D
really loved the roses and to keep
E
them around because it makes her happy. But there's just so much that we don't know or can't see. I know that originally the front where the pizzas are made and over by the back of the espresso machine, that is the original part of the building. And so there have definitely been stories from other workers that have come in that maybe worked at Pizza Garden or they were at Madrona Drones. And they came in and they're like, oh, I had some crazy experiences because I used to wash the dishes in the back and sometimes the water would turn on Things would just move and rock around. I personally never had any experiences back there, but there's definitely a very heavy, dense energy that doesn't really make me want to stick around in that area. I just kind of avoid it. The stairs specifically are really heavy. You walk through, it's almost like the air feels thicker while you walk in. Almost like there's like a pressure just pushing you down, even though there's nothing. And then the stairs over in the front. Every time I go up those stairs, I feel chills going up and down my back. And it's just. I want to, like, walk up and down the stairs as quickly as possible with the types of chills that kind of like, follow me going up through those stairs. So there's a staircase that is over by where there's dishes being washed that is not part of where anybody who isn't an employee can go into. And then you walk up those stairs, and that goes into the man who sells watches. And then if you wanted to there, you could go all the way around to the upstairs loft, which will take you all the way around. And then you can go down the stairs. And you'll see those stairs over by the entrance where you can order your coffee or go to the right to go to the cava area. So that's kind of like in the foyer. And I know that that particular area used to be the courtyard. So going upstairs, none of us really
D
want to go up there.
E
There's always a. An uncomfortable energy. There's always this feeling of wanting to leave and not wanting to be up there. And every time I walk down those stairs, I want to run down those stairs as fast as I can or walk up those stairs as fast as I can, getting from one part to the other, because the staircase is not comfortable and it doesn't feel safe. And not the staircase isn't going to fall apart or anything, like I'll be safe in that manner. But it feels like there's a presence just watching you, and you're not really sure what that presence will do. So we all avoid the stairs as much as possible, and there's no need for us to go up the stairs because it is closed off. I mean, I could say that I'm unsure of the spiritual activity when presented in a way of. Is this something that maybe I thought I experienced? Because I've heard that there could be experiences to be had, but seeing a chair move that would not be able to be moved other than someone actually moving it and having a teapot and a sponge Just disappear and reappear. I'm pretty convinced just by that there is definitely something there, because I can't just make that up in my mind. So I believe that spirits exist. I believe that there is an interdimensional world out there that we don't necessarily have. We have a sixth sense for, but some of us are more connected to it than others, which I think that's. Actually, some of us are more connected because we have more interest. I think we're all connected to it. But whether we're interested in exploring that or not kind of heightens our. Our experience of what we can experience. It's very clear that there is a very, like, protective, masculine energy in the space that definitely feels like the owner of it. I know my. My fiance, he had an experience where he heard the ghost speak to him, but it was more of like he heard it in his mind's eye, and I didn't hear it myself. So it wasn't something that both of us heard. But the. The spirit was very protective of the other spirits that were in the space and wanted to make sure that they were being talked to properly and being respected. So in general, I just get this feel that there is just a very protective, respectful spirit that wants the space to have its respectful dues.
A
Up until this point, most of what I'd heard about this presence was based on how it felt or in some cases, briefly seen. But Sarah mentioned something different. That her fiance John, had an experience where he believed he actually heard the male spirit. And that was the first time I'd come across anything that like that tied to this particular presence. Thankfully, John was willing to speak with me and share what happened.
B
Howdy. My name is John, and I met my fiance, Sarah in August of 2024. And she started working at Square Root the following month.
G
And her beginning to work there coincided
B
with some studying that I was doing.
G
It became the normal study spot for me.
B
So I got some decent familiarity with. While with her up there doing her thing. And I was studying as well as the premises itself. There's one night that she was closing, and we were. I was kind of sitting in the chair, and I was like, so this Rosa. Like, I was like, rosa, are you around here? And I've had paranormal encounters and seen stuff like that. And to be a bit flippant like that was a little bit ridiculous. But I said, you know, where is she? I was like, I. I hear that you're sweet, you know, and you got nothing to hide. So, Rosa, where are you? Kept calling her by name. And I was sitting in this particular chair, and it's next to this hallway,
G
sort of the front hallway, which is
B
right next to the safe, which I'm
G
sure was a much guarded item, Stands
B
to reason, back in the day. So I'm sitting there, you know, saying, rosa, you know, like, with this familiarity that, you know, I don't have. And I felt this very heavy presence just. Just the air just got real dense. Felt it in my chest. And I heard almost on a vibrational level. I don't really know how to. How to put it, but this. It came from behind me, where I'm sitting in this.
G
In this chair.
B
It kind of came from that hallway where the. Where the safe is. Felt tall. I don't know what to say, but. And he said, you know, who do you think you are calling out like that, like, you know us.
G
You don't know Rosa.
B
It was this very like, why are you acting familiar with us, dude? You know, and that was. And I told Sarah, I was like, okay, I think maybe. Maybe that was the man that built this place. I don't know. Maybe it was Rosa's old man. I don't know. But it was a moment that instilled a lot of reverence in me for, you know, whatever's inhabiting that place. Because while it didn't seem threatening, it
G
definitely had a real vibe of look
B
here, you know, so that's kind of, you know, definitely one that stuck with me. Nonetheless, I was there when there's a
G
disappearing tea kettle once, which was just bizarre because she thought I brought it in.
B
I was helping her, you know, just bring some chairs in from the patio, and that thing just materialized. And I was joking with her. I was like, yes, it's an interdimensional tea kettle. But. But for real, it was not there.
G
Like, we were, like, always thinking the
B
best of everyone coming in and out of there. It's like, well, that lady didn't just
G
walk off with a tea kettle, did she?
B
And she'd closed up shop. And that thing just so pretty bizarre.
G
Still a really, really cool place to hang out.
B
But, you know, being over familiar with
G
the spirits, I would probably, you know, suggest otherwise.
A
John's experience gives us insights into what people are still encountering here today. But as I mentioned before, the stories tied to this building go back much further. The next voice you're about to hear is that of Billy Driver, co creator of the PBS series Strangetown, a television show where he and his team investigated haunted locations across Texas. And in 2013, one of those locations was the Austin Pizza Garden. His perspective will offer something we haven't heard yet. A first hand account from over a decade ago, during the time when this building's paranormal reputation was at its peak.
B
My name is Billy Driver and I am one of the co creators to a show that was produced in Central Texas called Strangetown. What began as a web series eventually evolved into a full on episodic show that was eventually picked up by Austin PBS for local distribution and also Digital pbs, which kind of put all our episodes up nationally through their app. I grew up in a haunted house and ever since I was little, I've always been having strange experiences that I could never understand. And as an adult, it kind of repeats my interest to try to figure out what exactly it was that I experienced as a child. Even though I know I could never really explain anything that I've seen or heard or experienced. But you know, that kind of led to the creation of strangers. We were very fortunate enough to investigate the Austin Pizza garden back in 2013. It was an investigation that we actually did on Halloween night. And I remember arriving at the location of late at night. It was probably 11 o'clock in the evening. Reason being so late is because they were functioning restaurants. So before we could even load in all our gear to even start this episode, we had to wait till it was clean and all the patrons left and all the staff left. We were needed in the parking lot by the night manager. Her name was Jamie. And she kind of gave us a little tour of the old Rock Store and just a little history about this place it was originated. It was built as a general store in the late 1800s in Oak Hill, Texas, which is just south of Austin. The original owner was, I believe he was the original postmaster to Oak Hill. His name was James Andrew Patton and he had a daughter. Her name was Rosa Patton. And one of the paranormal sightings of this building was a woman in a white gown. Rosa Patton actually had her reading reception in this building, which was confirmed by her great grandson, James White, who also is a legend in Austin, who was the founder of the Honky Tonk Broken spoke. So as the night began, we loaded in our gear into the main part of the the Austin Pizza Garden. It's kind of like the hostess station. And I believe there was a bar in the middle part of the old Rock store. There was a newer extension built. I believe that would be to the west of the building. But we were in the original part of the. When you enter the doorway. So I was in there. Mark the other co creator to the show. And Jamie disappeared. I think she was giving him a tour of the building, whatnot. But believe it or not, this is actually my first time in the building. And as I was unpacking all our gear, because doing a show, there's lots of cameras and all our gadgets, and we have to get all the batteries charged. And as I was unpacking my gear, right above me, there's like a little hallway and there's like a dining area right above me where they also had their offices. And. And as I was unloading my gear and taking my batteries out and getting all the stuff ready for our show, I hear these real heavy boots walking from the far side of where I was standing. On my left, which would have been the front of the building on the second floor, these heavy bootsteps were walking towards me, like, clunk, clunk, clunk. And it just got louder and louder and louder. And I looked up and obviously there's nothing. And obviously, as soon as I looked up, the sound stopped. I was. I was speechless. I was like, well, okay, I just walked in the building and I really have an experience. So I was like, mark, Jamie, nothing. They weren't responding. I was like, where are they? And I was looking around, and Mark and Jamie was not there. And I went outside, and they're in the parking lot talking about the. He was telling her what we're going to do and how this whole thing works. And I was like, mark, I was like, I just heard footsteps, like somebody wearing these really heavy boots walking towards me. That was you this whole time? He's like, no, we've been out here. I was like, okay, well, that was an interesting start to the night. So we eventually set up all our stuff, and we start in the kitchen. And Jamie, who was a prominent figure in our show, she's kind of. In my opinion, she had most of the experiences because she was the night manager. So she stayed there late a lot of times. So she told us the stories in the kitchen, which was, you know, pots and pans moving, clanking around. And right at the kitchen, there's a stairwell that goes upstairs, which and goes into the old dining hall or dining room. And she said she actually saw an apparition of a lady in white standing at the top of the stairwell. This was like the biggest story in terms of apparitions that were seen there. So the point of our story or the episode was to see we can actually make contact with this person or figure out who it was. We had ideas, but you know, nothing was really set in stone. So we went upstairs, and she told us the stories about the old dining hall. And it was. Chairs would scoot and they would move around, and there would be sound. Are clanking and, you know, just the typical kind of ghostly things. And so from that old dining room, she let us back down the little hallway, the same hallway where I heard these boots. And she said the. Her biggest experience there was she saw this black mass come up the stairwell and go down the hallway where I heard these boots. And we were just like, do you mean you saw this with your bare eyes or was it a shadow? And she said, no, she literally saw something fly up the stairs, like a big clouded figure thing. And it just went down the hallway and disappeared. I was like, okay, that's interesting, because this is where I heard the boots. So we thanked her, and so we're like, okay, so now time for Mark, who's my partner at the time, and us to do our show. So we set all the stuff up, and as we were setting the stuff up, Jamie was kind of like, in the background because. Because she, you know, making sure we didn't damage the place. So she was kind of, like, behind the camera, just kind of observing. And while we were setting up, we heard this huge door slam, like, going bang. And of course, this was before the cameras were rolling. And so we were startled. And we looked at Jamie and we go, what is that? And she goes, I don't know. I've never heard that sound before. And it was coming from an area where there was no. No door. We were in the old part of the building, and this. This noise was coming from the new extended part or the new dining hall area. So we went back there, and we're like, yeah, there is no door that would make the sound. And everything was locked and secured. Okay, that's another interesting thing. So Mark and I started investigation. We started in the kitchen. All this is in our episode that we recorded. And so we started in the kitchen. It was kind of, you know, energy felt fine. We didn't really feel anything strange in there. So we went upstairs to the old dining hall area, and we were placing our cameras. And as I was up there placing. I think it was a light stand or whatnot, I felt something tug on my pant leg. It was like two small tugs right in the back of my thigh. And I looked back and I looked at Mark, and I go, something just tugged on my pants or something's trying to get my attention. And the weird thing about this Is since the tug was right above the back of my knee, it must have been a child of some sort. So I was kind of taken aback because there were no stories there of child spirits or anything like that, but there were stories of things moving around and chairs being mischievous and whatnot. So I was like, maybe there's a child ghost up here that is responsible for making all these chairs move. But we didn't know. So we did our investigation up there in this old dining room area. And then I felt it again. Something pulling my pant leg. I just brushed it off because I was so focused on figuring out who to this lady in white was, which was actually in that same area, because we came up the stairwell from the kitchen, and we did, you know, like the EVP sessions and whatnot. And I think we did catch something that could have said a name. And that name, what we believe it said was Rosa Patton, which was, like I said earlier, was James Patton's daughter, who actually had a wedding reception in that room that we were in. And I believe that that family lived there for years as well. So leaving that room, we went into the next area, the down the hallway part, where I heard the footsteps and kind of sat there to see we can catch or figure out what these footsteps were or what this black mass thing that Jamie saw. We didn't see a black mass, but we did see an orb come up the stairs with our two eyes, not through the camera. It was a little shining white ball that came up, and it went down the hallway right by us. It kind of freaked us out. And we were just sitting there going. I don't know what we just saw, but there's definitely something that is either trying to get our attention or maybe it's a residual thing. We really didn't know. But our whole time we were there, we never felt threatened, or we never felt negative energy. There was a heaviness in certain parts. We never got, like, the cold chills. Never experienced anything like that. But we did hear a lot of things, and we did see something. And of course, I felt something pulling my pant leg. But besides all that, those were some of the stuff that didn't make the episode. Like, the pants being tugged on never made the episode. The first door slam that we heard never made the episode. But we did catch the same sound that did make the episode that was caught in a GoPro camera that we set up in the kitchen. The orb that we saw with our bare eyes never made the episode, but we did catch more light anomalies. Through our cameras that did make the episode. So there was a good mixture of things that didn't make it and things that happened off camera. For example, like the pant leg. Our point of the show was to focus on finding the lady in white, which we believe could be Rosa Patton, but there's no confirmation with that. The night ended, and we packed up all our gear and we went back home, of course. And I do feel like there is definitely and then energy in that building. And I know that the building has changed hands with different businesses. The Austin Pizza Garden was there for, like, 27 years, and I believe they closed right after the pandemic. And if you go and speak with, like, the current workers that work there, you could ask them if they have any paranormal experiences. And a lot of times they'll look at you like, either you're crazy or they're too afraid to tell you exactly what they saw. But the Our strange sound episode was called Slice of the Past, and it's available up in YouTube world. And I do believe that there's energy there, and I do believe that there's a mixture of residual hauntings and possibly even something intelligent. It's something which trying to grab my attention.
G
What's so weird is I just did
B
a call last night with a guy named Bryce, and what's weird is there isn't much lore about the child, but he saw a kid. The rumors right now from current. There's one staff member there that shared a lot, and she has seen that they're only in shadow. She sees the man and the woman a lot. She doesn't see the child. Yeah, I believe that because those goose steps have to come from a male. And then, of course, the stories of the female, as in this child that was tugging my pants. So maybe there is three man, a woman and a child up there.
A
What we've heard so far paints a complicated picture. A building with more than a century of history and no shortage of ghost stories tied to it. From Liz, who says she sees shadowy figures moving through the space, one a man and the other a woman, both still present in their their own way. To Alicia and Bryce, who, during a single Halloween night investigation in 2024, connected with something that felt entirely different. Something playful, childlike. Whether one presence or perhaps more was still unclear. And from Sarah and John, who described experiences that blur the line between curiosity and confrontation. Objects disappearing and then later reappearing. And a male voice, firm, unmistakable, responding when called out. And then going back over a decade, we have Billy investigating this very same building when it was still the Austin Pizza Garden during the height of its haunted reputation. He shared experiences that never made the final cut of his show. Moments that suggest something physical, something interactive, like something tugging at the back of his pant leg. And when you begin to look at all these accounts together, a pattern starts to take shape. A shadowy male presence. A woman at the top of the stairs. And now possibly something more playful. A child perhaps. If not three distinct presences, then at the very least something far more layered. Just as much as we've heard, there's still a lot we have in the episodes to come. We'll continue digging deeper into the history, into earlier accounts, and back into this building, ourselves alongside our psychic mediums. Not to prove anything, but to understand. Because if something is truly tied to this place, if these experiences are more than just coincidence, then maybe it's not trying to be noticed. Maybe it's to trying trying to be understood. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Night Owl podcast. Be sure to join us as this paranormal adventure at the Old Rock store continues on May 25. For information about some of the things our featured guest referenced, check out our show notes. There you'll find direct links to the ATX Historical Marker Restorations Instagram page and a link to Strangetown's episode on the Austin Pizza Garden. I'd like to thank my investigative team, Alexis, Franklin, Jeffrey and Kate for lending their abilities on this case and our additional help Alejandro 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 david@driftworksound.com that'S-R-I f t worksound.com and set your creative self free.
The Night Owl Podcast, Episode 67: "The Haunted Old Rock Store - Part I" (April 27, 2026)
In this immersive episode, host Stephen Belyeu and the Night Owl Paranormal Research Society dive deep into the haunted history and ongoing paranormal activity at the Old Rock Store in Oak Hill, Austin—now home to Square Root Cava Bar but known for decades as one of the city’s most notorious haunted sites, especially during its years as Austin Pizza Garden. Through interviews with historians, current staff, paranormal enthusiasts, and past investigators, the team uncovers generations of ghost stories, eyewitness accounts, and mysterious happenings tied to this storied building, dating back to its 1898 construction.
[00:09–11:54]
Key Historical Points [11:54–16:20]
[16:20–22:16, 26:31–37:50]
[38:22–48:57]
[53:27–62:41]
[62:43–73:19]
[73:44–76:37]
[77:21–90:08]
This episode weaves a rich, multi-generation tapestry of shadow figures, playful poltergeists, and residual energies that appear to interact across time with those inhabiting or visiting the Old Rock Store. By aligning first-person narratives, historical research, and field investigations, Stephen and the Night Owl team not only document the persistence of the supernatural in Oak Hill but also invite listeners to reconsider both the identities and intentions of the ghosts said to dwell within these Texas limestone walls. The adventure, and search for deeper understanding of these entities, will continue in Part II.
Listeners are encouraged to check the show notes for resources, references to past investigations, and ways to share their own stories.
End of Summary – The Night Owl Podcast, "The Haunted Old Rock Store - Part I" (Episode 67)