1907 Hayes and Hopson Building behind Pack Square — restaurant and bar above a Prohibition-era moonshine basement with a tunnel under Eagle Street
20 S Spruce Street, Asheville, NC 28801
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Standard restaurant pricing; full bar. Basement tunnel viewing on request from management.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored historic warehouse with main-floor accessibility; basement and tunnel access involve stairs.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1907 · Hayes and Hopson Building (1907) · Prohibition-era moonshine distribution hub · Underground tunnel under Eagle Street · Restaurant conversion (2010)
The Hayes and Hopson Building was constructed in 1907 by a local lumber supply company on what is now South Spruce Street behind Pack Square. An additional structure was added in 1912, and together the buildings form the footprint of the modern Pack's Tavern restaurant and bar.
With the start of national Prohibition in 1920, the basement of the building was converted into a moonshine distribution hub operating behind the legitimate lumber business as a front. Liquor was loaded from a side dock and moved discreetly through an underground tunnel running south under Eagle Street to a redistribution point — a setup that, according to the Diglocal and 828 News NOW write-ups, ran for roughly a dozen years until the 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition in December 1933.
The tunnel system became part of Asheville's broader downtown underground network. As later regional reporting has it, an electrician working in the passageways in the 1960s accidentally surfaced inside the Asheville Police Station; police subsequently sealed the tunnel approximately eight feet from the building's entrance.
In 2010 the building was converted to Pack's Tavern, a restaurant and bar. Current management will, on request, show diners the basement door at the sealed tunnel entrance.
A separate building stands directly behind Pack's Tavern at the same Spruce Street address complex. Local tradition holds that this structure occupies the site of Asheville's old city jail, though specific dates and the alleged jail fire said to have killed prisoners are not firmly documented in the regional press write-ups consulted.
Sources
According to Asheville Terrors, 828 News NOW, and the AVLtoday haunted-buildings feature, Pack's Tavern's principal ghost story is the 'Woman in White.' In the legend, a man encountered his wife in the basement tunnel with bruises around her throat and her eyes white and rolled back; he cried out, suffered a fatal heart attack, and died alone in the dark passageway. Bootleggers are said to have refused to use the tunnel after multiple sightings of the white-eyed woman.
Reported phenomena in the modern restaurant include the Woman's apparition in the basement, toilets flushing on their own, and unexplained cold spots in the cellar near the tunnel door. Tour operators present the Woman's identity and the husband's death as folklore; no primary record establishing either individual has been located.
A second body of lore attaches to the adjacent building, which staff and guides describe as the site of Asheville's old jail. Tradition holds that the jail burned down at some point, killing a sleeping guard and locked-in prisoners; tour material also references a Sheriff John Lyerly suicide tied to the property. These dates and details are inconsistently reported across sources and are best treated as folklore until a primary record is produced.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Eat or drink at Pack's Tavern in the restored 1907 Hayes and Hopson Building behind Pack Square. Management will, if asked, show diners the basement door to the Prohibition-era tunnel that ran under Eagle Street to a moonshine distribution point.
Pack's Tavern is a regular stop on the Asheville Terrors haunted pub crawl, where guides recount the Woman in White and Prohibition-bootlegger lore tied to the basement tunnel.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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