Moderne 1928 former dairy plant in Glenwood South, now home to Ark Royal Tiki Bar, with documented paranormal investigations and reported activity tied to two unsolved 1980s deaths on the property.
410 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27603
Age
21+
Cost
$$
Ark Royal Tiki Bar operates inside the historic Pine State Creamery building. Specialty cocktails and tiki menu pricing apply. The Creamery building itself is a mixed-use space; check operator hours for current bar service.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Mostly level interior in an adaptive-reuse industrial building
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1928 · 1928 Moderne-style former dairy plant · Operated as Pine State Creamery cooperative 1928-1995 · Anchors Glenwood South historic district · Distinctive three-story corner tower · Adaptive reuse hub for downtown Raleigh
The Pine State Creamery was established as a dairy farmers' cooperative at the end of World War I, encouraged by the State College Agricultural Extension Service. The Moderne-style building at Glenwood Avenue and Tucker Street was completed in 1928. Its corner facade is accented by a three-story tower.
The creamery operated continuously as a dairy products plant from 1928 until its bankruptcy in 1995. After the plant closed, the building remained vacant for years before being adaptively reused as commercial space. It now houses retail and food-and-beverage tenants, including most recently Ark Royal Tiki Bar (the former location of Xoco, a Mexican restaurant). The building anchors the eastern edge of Raleigh's Glenwood South entertainment district and is one of the largest surviving early-20th-century industrial structures in downtown.
The building's later 20th-century history has a darker thread. According to the Candid Slice writeup 'Ghosts and Tacos' and Visit Haunted North Carolina, Deborah Elliot's body was discovered inside the then-vacant creamery building, and a separate woman, later identified as Cynthia Brown, was found along the railroad tracks behind the building. These deaths are widely cited in local accounts of the building's reputation.
The Pine State Creamery building is a recognized Raleigh historic resource and is featured in the city's preservation literature.
Sources
The Pine State Creamery building's paranormal reputation has been built up over multiple tenant occupancies. The most-cited writeups — Candid Slice's 'Ghosts and Tacos,' Visit Haunted North Carolina's location entry, and the Association of Paranormal Study's investigation page for Xoco Raleigh — agree on a consistent set of reports: employees and patrons describe items falling or flying from shelves when no one is nearby, lights flickering, voices whispering personal names directly in someone's ear, and faucets and lights cycling on their own. The women's restroom is repeatedly singled out as a hotspot.
The local explanatory frame for the activity points to three documented or claimed events: a creamery-era employee reportedly found dead in a freezer on the premises; a 1986 ammonia flash-fire industrial accident in the plant that injured two workers; and two unsolved 1980s deaths of women — Deborah Elliot, whose body was found inside the then-vacant building, and Cynthia Brown, whose body was found along the railroad tracks behind it. The connection between these specific events and the reported phenomena is a matter of local tradition rather than independent confirmation, but the underlying deaths are documented in local press coverage.
The Association of Paranormal Study has conducted on-site investigations and the local Ghost Guild has also publicly acknowledged the building. Per Candid Slice, two separate investigation teams have independently described the building as paranormally active.
Given the seriousness of the underlying deaths — particularly the still-unsolved murders — this entry frames the lore with care and does not romanticize the historical events that anchor it.
Visit Ark Royal Tiki Bar inside the 1928 Pine State Creamery building — a Moderne-style former dairy plant that operated as the Pine State Creamery from 1928 until its 1995 bankruptcy. Local lore places the building's reported activity in the public-facing bar areas and especially in the women's restroom.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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