HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
East End Charleston music bar and a stop on the Charlie West ghost tour
410 Elizabeth St, Charleston, WV 25311
Research updated September 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$
No cover for most shows; ticketed cover for some touring acts. Standard bar pricing.
Access
Limited Access
Bar occupies the ground level of a relocated three-story house with a raised brick base; interior is a single tight room.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1985 · Charleston Live-Music Institution · East End Neighborhood Landmark
The Empty Glass occupies the ground floor of a relocated three-story house at 410 Elizabeth Street in Charleston's East End, a historically mixed residential neighborhood east of the downtown core. The structure was moved to its current lot during a flurry of highway construction in the 1970s, jacked up after it arrived, and given a brick lower section to meet street level.
The bar itself opened in 1985 under bartender Jimmy Kaysar, who named it for Pete Townshend's 1980 solo album "Empty Glass." For four decades it has been a fixture of the Charleston live-music scene, hosting local and touring acts in a single small room and building a reputation as one of the city's defining dive-and-music rooms.
The Empty Glass is not a historic landmark in the formal sense and does not appear on the National Register, but its longevity and its place in the regional music community have made it a recognizable Charleston institution. It is that local standing, more than any documented dark event, that put it on the city's ghost-tour map.
Sources
The Empty Glass earns its place on Charleston ghost-walk itineraries through bar lore rather than any documented tragedy on the premises. The most-repeated story attaches to a former bartender said to have been killed in a car accident; staff accounts describe the jukebox starting up on its own after closing in the empty room, playing songs the man is remembered for, and one report of a shadow crossing a worker's path as it did.
Separate accounts predate the bar itself. Because the structure was a house before it was moved and converted, some regulars say the upper floor carried activity in with it: small objects shifting and a restroom door that sticks closed without obvious cause. None of this rises above neighborhood storytelling, and there is no formal paranormal investigation on record for the site.
A Charleston-Mail feature on a new local ghost tour confirms the bar's inclusion among the route's stops, placing it alongside other East End and downtown locations. We pass the jukebox story along as bar folklore, noted as community lore rather than verified fact.
Where this legend is told
The Empty Glass operates as a working neighborhood music bar in Charleston's East End. Patrons can stop in for a drink and live music; the building's ghost stories circulate among regulars and staff but there is no formal paranormal programming on site.
A commercial Charleston ghost-walk lists The Empty Glass among its haunted stops alongside other East End and downtown sites. The tour is run by an outside operator, not the bar; check the operator's schedule for dates and booking.
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