HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
A circa-1866 Mississippi riverfront warehouse turned restaurant where staff and patrons report a female apparition in 19th-century dress called Belle near the bar.
19 N Water St, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Full-service restaurant; dinner menu pricing
Access
Wheelchair OK
Ground-floor restaurant in a historic warehouse building; riverside location
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1866 · Circa-1866 Mississippi riverfront warehouse (Warehouse Row Building B) · Civil War-era commercial structure in active restaurant use · Part of the Warehouse Row National Register historic district
The building at 19 N. Water Street in Cape Girardeau is identified in the Warehouse Row National Register nomination as Building B, constructed circa 1866; a local downtown preservation account instead dates the three-story portion of this building to around 1864, during the Civil War. The adjoining Building A in the same historic district, the oldest of the original Warehouse Row buildings, was built in 1864 as a warehouse. Cape Girardeau's riverfront position on the Mississippi made it a strategically significant location; the town changed hands multiple times during the conflict, and Union forces occupied it for extended periods.
The warehouse structure, built to serve river commerce, survived the war years and subsequent decades of economic change along the Mississippi. By the late twentieth century, the historic building had been converted into Port Cape Girardeau, a full-service restaurant leveraging the waterfront setting and the building's Civil War-era character.
The restaurant occupies a stretch of Water Street that reflects Cape Girardeau's identity as a river town. The riverfront district has undergone redevelopment over the decades, but the warehouse's original construction makes it one of the older commercial structures still in active use in the city.
Sources
The ghost at Port Cape Girardeau has a name: Belle. A bartender encounter is among the most cited reports — a woman in nineteenth-century clothing standing near the bar who was not a customer and was not present when approached. Staff accounts describe the apparition as appearing clearly visible before disappearing.
Belle is described consistently as dressed in period clothing from the mid-to-late 1800s, which aligns with the building's construction era. The specificity of the dress detail and the bar location have made the reports unusually consistent across different witnesses over time. Patrons have also reported orbs in photographs taken inside the restaurant and footsteps in areas that were unoccupied.
The Cape Girardeau ghost community has documented the Port Cape Girardeau accounts since at least 2009, when the blogspot-based local ghost compendium recorded the Belle encounter in detail. The ongoing restaurant operation means the building continues to generate new witness accounts.
Notable Entities
Dine in a circa-1866 Mississippi riverfront warehouse. The building's Belle ghost — a female apparition in 19th-century dress reported near the bar by staff and patrons — is part of the restaurant's established lore.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
11 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cape Girardeau, MO
Katy O'Ferrell's occupies 300 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau, a building whose core dates to an 1806 structure built by Charles Ellis. The Turner Society demolished most of that building in 1868-1888, keeping only the rear sandstone foundation, and the Masons later ran it as the Opera House and Masonic Lodge from 1881 to 1891. A fire on March 8, 1990 destroyed the building's upper two floors, which were rebuilt before Katy O'Ferrell's opened in 2014. The second floor is closed to regular use, and staff associate it with unexplained activity.
Nutley, NJ
The Old Canal Inn was built in 1908 at 2 East Passaic Avenue in Nutley, New Jersey, just steps from the former Morris Canal towpath. Originally operating as JoJo's Tavern under the Skorupski family from 1934, it was renamed the Old Canal Inn in 1948 to honor the canal that once ran through Nutley. The building has been a neighborhood institution for over a century.
Winchester, VA
The federal-style redbrick building at 8 West Cork Street dates to the 1830s; two neighboring buildings acquired for the tavern's later expansion were demolished, and the enlarged three-property space opened in December 1995. Originally private residences, the ground floors housed a feed store and a Baptist church before possibly operating as a speakeasy during Prohibition. The Rustic Tavern opened in 1932; the current Cork Street Tavern began in 1985.