HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A 1920s downtown Casper soda fountain where customers ask about the old man smoking behind the bar.
100 E 2nd St, Casper, WY 82601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Old-fashioned soda fountain menu at counter-service prices. No admission charge to visit as a haunted site.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown storefront on paved sidewalks; ground-floor counter service
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1922 · 1922 downtown Casper commercial building (McDonald's Cigar Store) · Soda fountain added 1925; run by the Panos family 1929 into the 1980s · Featured location in a 2025 Ghost Adventures Casper episode
The storefront at 100 E 2nd Street opened in 1922 as McDonald's Cigar Store, on a downtown Casper block built up during the city's early oil-boom decades. A soda fountain was added in 1925, and the business became known as the Rialto Soda Fountain and Cigar Store, operating alongside a basement billiards hall in the building's lower level. The block is associated with one of Casper's oldest movie-theater addresses, tying it to the early downtown entertainment district.
The Panos family owned and ran the soda fountain from 1929 until the early 1980s, making it a long-running fixture of downtown Casper before it eventually closed. The space passed through other uses over the following decades.
Rob Piotter and his wife Vivian came across the building while looking at downtown locations in 2017 and decided to restore the old soda fountain, reopening it in June 2018 under the Rialto name. Cowboy State Daily profiled the revival in December 2023, documenting the building's century-long history and the couple's restoration of the counter.
The building drew wider notice in October 2025, when the Travel Channel series Ghost Adventures filmed a Casper-focused episode and included the Rialto among the downtown locations its team investigated. Casper's convention and visitors bureau, Visit Casper, lists the Rialto Soda Fountain among the city's haunted-history stops. The address remains an active dining storefront in the heart of downtown Casper.
Sources
The Rialto's reputation as a haunted address took shape after Rob and Vivian Piotter reopened the soda fountain in 2018. In a December 2023 Cowboy State Daily feature, Rob Piotter described watching a napkin holder slide across a surface on its own and then launch, and employees have reported cool spots and objects moving without explanation. Piotter's own framing stayed measured, summarized in his line, 'I believe that you believe.'
Visit Casper's roundup of the city's haunted-history stops repeats these accounts and adds the detail that has become the site's signature: customers asking about an older man seen smoking behind the bar, a figure the owner cannot place among any living employee. The owner connects the sightings to a former proprietor from the building's early cigar-and-soda years.
The Rialto's profile rose in October 2025, when Ghost Adventures filmed in Casper and included the Rialto among the downtown buildings its team examined for the episode. Cowboy State Daily covered the production and confirmed the Rialto's place on the route.
The building operates as a working soda fountain rather than a paranormal attraction. There is no organized ghost tour or overnight investigation on site; the accounts circulate through the owners, customers, and the city's tourism listings.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Order hand-pulled sodas, phosphates, malts, and floats at the counter inside the historic Rialto building on East Second Street in downtown Casper. Staff and customers have asked about an older man seen smoking behind the bar; there is no formal ghost tour or paranormal investigation offered.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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