Pizza and ghost stories are two of my favorite things, so when I learned that there is a reportedly haunted pizzeria in Haughton, I hopped into the Mystery Machine and headed straight there.
Stocky’s Pizza, located at 4615 Hwy. 80 in Haughton, found itself in the national spotlight in July 2012, when surveillance footage from inside of the restaurant showed cooking utensils mysteriously being tossed around the kitchen in the middle of the night. In subsequent interviews with local and national media, employees reported some frightening – and unintentionally hilarious – encounters with the paranormal. Unseen forces were tossing bottles of TABASCO at employees, unspooling rolls of bathroom tissue and generally causing pandemonium. During my recent visit, I asked a waitress if the kitchen, where the creepy video footage had been caught on tape, was the most haunted area in the restaurant.
“Oh, no,” she said, flatly. “The women’s bathroom is way haunted.”
What kind of ghost are we dealing with here?
Apparently, in addition to unspooling rolls of bathroom tissue, women have reported their hair being pulled in the restroom. Unable to personally investigate, I sent my long-suffering wife, Sara, in. She did not see a ghost in the women’s restroom, but did return to the table just in time to see a frighteningly good-looking pizza delivered to our table. As it turns out, the pizza here is a lot like the pizza at Smitty’s, a pizza joint on Mansfield Road in Shreveport with a dedicated fan base. The original crust is wafer-thin and unusually crunchy. The Stocky’s Special ($13.99-$19.99), the restaurant’s version of a supreme, is the way to go if you want every kind of topping imaginable, including anchovies and jalapenos.
I’ve enjoyed both of my visits to Stocky’s. The pizza and service have been very good both times, but the real joy of eating here is swapping ghost stories with the staff.
