HAUNTED MICHIGAN: The Haunted Boom Box at the Riviera Restaurant

There are a handful of sites that list the Riviera Restaurant in Marine City as one of our state’s most haunted.

It seems at one time there was an overly playful poltergeist that terrorized the employees for a certain amount of time. Kitchen appliances like the dishwasher, mixers, slicing machine, etc. would turn themselves off and on. Utensils and silverware kept disappearing, even ones that were being used at the time! They would re-appear where they would ordinarily be stored or hung.

Vegetables and fruit somehow would find their way to a cutting board, even though they wouldn’t be needed…and would have to be put back. An entire shelf of secure pizza pans fell onto the floor, followed by three metal hotel pans, making an extreme amount of noise.

But the weirdest occurrence concerns a radio - an employee had a boom box that seemed to be possessed. One Sunday, during a breakfast rush, the radio was on for some background music while employees did their job. The volume kept increasing on its own, no matter how low the volume knob was turned down. This went on a few times – the volume would be turned down, only for the radio to turn itself back up. Finally, in frustration, the box was completely turned off…but it somehow turned itself back on again, full blast. Frustrated, the employee unplugged it, wrapped the cord around it, and set it under a table.

All was fine until the following Sunday.

It was during another breakfast rush when the radio started turning itself up again. The radio’s owner again battled with it every 15 minutes or so, continually turning it down. He finally turned it off…only to have it turn itself back on.  Totally ticked off, he unplugged it as he did the week before, and wrapped the cord around it. After remaining quiet and still for about an hour, the radio "hurled it's self towards him", missing the employee by inches. It smashed on the floor and never worked again.

All these events and more happened in a brief period of time, and abruptly stopped, never to happen again.

Did the poltergeist get bored or did it have some kind of vendetta against the staff? Pay a visit and have a bite at the Riviera sometime soon and, if you can screw up the courage, ask an employee about the poltergeist.

Located at 475 S Water Street, Marine City.

Find more "Haunted Michigan" locations HERE!