Pasta made its way to the New World through the English, who discovered it while touring Italy. Colonists brought to America the English practice of cooking noodles at least one half hour, then smothering them with cream sauce and cheese.

But it was Thomas Jefferson who is credited with bringing the first "macaroni" machine to America in 1789 when he returned home after serving as ambassador to France.

The first industrial pasta factory in America was built in Brooklyn in 1848 by, of all people, a Frenchman, who managed the entire operation with just one horse in his basement to power the machinery. He spread his spaghetti strands on the roof to dry in the sunshine.

Spaghetti really didn't become popularity in the United States until about fifty years ago during the Prohibition era. This is because the only place where a glass of wine could be had, more or less legally, were the Italian speakeasies that all served spaghetti.

Something about spaghetti has attracted children to the dinner table for years. Remember the fun of rolling the pasta with your fork and how messy it got. Maybe that explains why a franchise of spaghetti eateries has spread across the country. The most popular being The Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurants.

More than one of these restaurants attracts patrons from the ether. In Houston the restaurant located in the old warehouse district at 901 Commerce Street hosts a couple of ghost.¹ Lone Star Spirit paranormal researchers report on their web site that they have conducted several investigations in the building that was once a cotton storage facility and a pharmaceutical warehouse. Most of the paranormal activity is limited to the second floor. Busboys, waiters and dishwashers have reported table arrangements changing spontaneously, dishes and silverware flying off of the racks in the kitchen, and a lady-in-white apparition. Late night crews sometimes feel that they are being watched from the second floor. The specter of the former owner during the pharmaceutical period has been spotted near the elevator shaft where his body was found. The lady-in-white it has been speculated to be his widow looking for her long lost husband.
 

AUSTIN

The building at 117 West 4th Street in Austin is the home of the Spaghetti Warehouse for the capital city. ² A young boy has been reported by several employees laughing and running in the direction of what is now the rest rooms. It's anyone's guess who the boy is or why he stays at the restaurant. The building was once a brothel in the very famous red light district of Austin called "Guy Town" in the late 1800s . It's also next door to the haunted Bitter End's B Side, 311 Colorado. Could the child have died during an out break of yellow fever or perhaps he belonged to a prostitutes and died mysteriously?

The below photo was taken at the Spaghetti Warehouse in Austin June 6th, 2003 at a paranormal groups monthly meeting. Notice the pretty "blue" orb in front of the chair.  This room is in the area that employees have spotted the child running and laughing.  (Faces have been blurred to hide their identity.)

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	SOURCES
	1.	Lone Star Spirits - Paranormal group in Houston, TX
	2.	Austin Paranormal Research Society - Paranormal group in Austin, TX
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