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Reported phenomena — as catalogued
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The 1905 Miller family home turned restaurant, where a young girl's ghost is heard bouncing a ball on the wooden staircase and staff report voices from empty floors above
301 E 5th Street, Owensboro, KY 42303
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Restaurant and bar pricing; see website for current menu and hours
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story 1905 home converted to restaurant; wooden staircase; historic construction
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1905 · Elmer and Lizzy Miller Family Home (1905) · Survivor of 2007 Tornado — Restored to Restaurant Use 2009 · Consistently Listed as One of Owensboro's Documented Haunted Sites
Elmer and Lizzy Miller built their home at 301 E 5th Street in Owensboro in 1905. The two-story structure, designed in the residential style common to prosperous Owensboro families in the early 20th century, remained a private home for most of the century. By the time the 21st century arrived, the building had passed through several uses, but the wooden interior — including its prominent central staircase — remained substantially intact.
In 2007, a tornado damaged the structure significantly. Rather than demolish it, the building's owners undertook a restoration that converted the historic home into a restaurant and bar operation. The Miller House reopened in 2009, with the original woodwork and staircase preserved as central features of the dining experience.
The building operates as a neighborhood landmark in Owensboro's downtown corridor. The Spirits Lounge — the bar component occupying an upper floor — takes its name from both the restaurant's beverage focus and its haunted reputation. Owensboro's tourism materials have repeatedly listed The Miller House as one of the city's documented haunted sites, a distinction the establishment has leaned into as part of its identity.
Sources
The Miller House's most consistent reported phenomenon is auditory: the sound of a ball bouncing up and down the wooden staircase when no child is present. This account has been repeated independently by locals, patrons, and staff across multiple years of the restaurant's operation. The figure associated with the ball sounds is described as a young girl whose identity has not been traced to any historical record connected to the Miller family or the building's subsequent owners.
Visit Owensboro — the city's official tourism arm — lists the Miller House among Owensboro's haunted sites and describes locals regularly encountering the sound of the girl playing near the staircase. The building's preserved wooden interior, with its resonant staircase, gives any sound source — real or imagined — significant acoustic presence.
A former bartender who worked the Spirits Lounge documented a late-night incident while alone in the building. From the floor above, he heard footsteps moving across the empty space, followed by a woman's voice. He confirmed no one else was in the building at the time. WBKR, an Owensboro radio station, reported this account as part of their coverage ranking the Miller House among the city's five most haunted locations.
Staff accounts of unexplained sounds on upper floors — described separately as footsteps, a woman's voice, and crying — have been logged by multiple employees across the restaurant's years of operation, rather than by a single witness on one occasion.
Dine or drink in the 1905 Miller family home, where the wooden staircase is the focal point of the most frequently reported phenomenon: sounds of a ball bouncing up and down the stairs, attributed to the spirit of a young girl. The Spirits Lounge on an upper floor is where staff have logged the most reported incidents.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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