A restaurant on Historic Commercial Street claims to have a ghost that walks through walls and apparently, it hates the color orange... Ozarksfirtst.com looks at the haunted history of Basilico Italian Cafe. 

The building at 306 Commercial Street was first constructed in 1885. It was originally built by the company Frisco. It was used as a staging place for the company. If someone needed office furniture, they could come via train to pick it up from the building. 

According to the History Museum on the Square, in the 1920's the building was a shoe store owned by the Wennerman family. They owned other stores in Springfield. 

In 1927, it became O.K. Plumbing and Heating Company before turning into a jewelry store in 1940. That store lasted 20 years before closing down and either was absorbed by some other company or became vacant. 

Current owners, Martha and Gina Cooper, said it was a government drug testing facility before they purchased it in 2008. After 12 years, the Coopers decided to change the store from Sisters In Thyme Bistro and Bakery to Basilico Italian Cafe in 2019.

Is Basilico Haunted? 

"There's no denying there are spirits in this building. There are spirits on Commercial Street and there's probably spirits in a lot of places that people just don't want to say," said Martha Cooper. 

Although some strange occurrences have happened, like someone or something making a mess in their storage room during closed hours frequently, the confirmation of a ghost didn't happen until the Coopers decided to change to an Italian restaurant and repaint the walls. 

"When we were painting the walls orange, we were facing this way," said Cooper. She said her employee was sitting on a crate painting a wall next to the kitchen when suddenly a voice caught her attention. A man appeared right next to them. "He's like, 'Orange, huh? I don't like orange.' and then he just misted away."

Read more of this article by Ozarks First here.