Schmohl / St. Louis Building
201-203 South Main Street
(#34 Main Street Tour)
The original building built on the site in 1860, was owned by German immigrants, John and Lena Schmohl. It was destroyed by fire in 1884. Two years later Mrs. Schmohl had a new three-story Victorian brick commercial building erected on the lot. After John passed away, Lena eventually sold the store, and later it became the St. Louis Store run by R. H. Feddick.
Today, Jack Coulter’s popular restaurant, Vinny Vanucchi’s, calls the St. Louis Building home. It is also the home of a poltergeist affectionately referred to as “Puck.“
The Galena Gazette published an article written by Jan Smith, June 12, 2007, about the apparition nicknamed Puck. The article is as follows:
“It made its first appearance to the restaurant’s owner, Jack Coulter. One night as Jack was going through the day’s receipts, he noticed a haze of smoke drifting across the floor. He thought there was a fire, so he stood up to investigate. As he stood up, the smoke lifted, floating up to the ceiling. Jack, realizing this was no ordinary smoke, locked up and ran out of the building.
The eerie little spirit was eventually given the name Puck, after one of the five ghosts of Malahide Castle, in a suburb of Dublin, Ireland.
Jack Coulter lived not far from the castle at one time. So, of course, he knew about the ghosts that resided there.
The Talbot family, who owned the castle in the 16th century, always had a jester in their entourage. Puck was one of the jesters. He was in love with Lady Elenora Fitzgerald who was a relative of the Talbots. She was always kept at the castle by Henry the VIII because of her defying tendencies.
Puck was found stabbed near the castle walls, but before he died he promised that until a master ruled who would chose a bride from the people he would haunt the castle. No harm would come to anyone as long as a male Talbot slept there.
Puck was last reported seen during the sale of the contents of the castle in May 1976.
Jason Keller told of his experience with Puck when he was a waiter and later manager of Vinny Vanucchi’s. “I never noticed anything out of the ordinary when I first started at Vinny Vanucchi’s, I can’t say whether anyone else did.” Puck made his appearance mostly to the employees who worked there for a long time. He didn’t seem to bother the newer employees. “ One time I heard a voice behind me, not calling, but just saying my name, Jason, it was like an urgency in his voice.”
“Another time I thought I would play a joke on Jack. It seems that someone had died on the third floor which was at one time a bedroom. So near where the bedroom was I lit a candle and set a table for one. So when Jack came up I said, “Oh look Jack, a table for one and a candle lit. That’s how it was when I came up.”
Jack suggested that we leave. He turned around to close the outside door, and I blew out the candle. We both turned around to leave and as we did eight or nine candles were lit! “I only lit one, and blew that one out!“ Jason exclaimed.
Puck was most active during Jason’s third year working there, but was mostly around from between 1997-2002.
Jason’s most hair-raising experience with Puck was about four years ago. He was being transferred to manage another restaurant owned by Coulter.
“I always said ‘Good night Puck’ when I left for the evening,“ Jason said.“ But on this particular night I had other things on my mind, with the new job and all, that I never talked to Puck. I was on the third floor turning off the light switch. I had to walk back through the dining room, which was pitch black. I stopped to let my eyes adjust to the darkness, when I noticed a figure coming towards me, a good 10 feet away. I couldn’t really distinguish exactly what it was, but I could make out a head and shoulders, it was actually in the form of a person. When it was walking toward me, I squinted to see who it was, or what it was, and called out, “Who is there?“ It was like 5 feet away and in a split second it was right in my face, and I heard a very loud “SHUSH” in my ear. I screamed and went to grab this form and nothing was there! I was thinking that maybe Puck sensed that I was leaving.“
Assistant manager, Lisa Benson, was also paid a visit by a ghostly figure. She said she saw it in the front door on the other side of the deli cooler. She described a man with a pale face, dark eyes, who wore an old top hat. “I only saw him for a second. I didn’t hang around!” Benson said. It was the one and only time she saw him.
Around that same time the Bistro was being remodeled. A lot of activity was going on then. Laughter could be heard, and no one was there. Doors that were locked were suddenly open. Employees had eerie feelings, that someone was around. Those events took place about a-year-and-a-half ago. (2006)
Since that time it has been pretty quiet around Vinny Vanucchi’s. To Benson’s knowledge Puck has not been seen again.
It is said that the ghosts or spirits (as some refer to them) do not like changes. Perhaps Puck was upset with the changes to the Bistro, and decided it was time to leave.”
Jan Smith, Gazette employee and writer of this article, said Puck followed her home one evening during the time she was gathering information and researching him. She said odd things began happening. For example, her smoke detectors would randomly go off in the middle of the night. Sometimes when she got up, they would immediately shut off. However, other times, they would stay on for a long time. She knew the batteries were recently replaced and hadn’t had any problems with the detectors before she began researching Puck!
Other incidents occurred when she was sitting at her computer working on the story. In the next room was the kitchen. There was a door in the kitchen leading to the basement that she always kept closed. When she would get up from the computer to go into the kitchen, the door would be open! She would shut the door and return to her computer. Whenever she would go back into the kitchen, the door would be open! This happened four times in one night! It was a secure door and there was no explanation for what was causing it to open.
Over the years, Puck has made his appearance to selected employees, including my niece. One night after her shift, she was asked to shut down the Bistro area before leaving. Her friend was waiting for her, so in order to get out of there faster, my niece assigned her the task of blowing out the candles on each table. She went from table to table carefully extinguishing each one. When my niece finished her duties, she noticed one candle glowing at the far end of the dark room. She asked her friend why she hadn’t blown out that candle. Her friend was adamant that she had blown out ALL the candles! They were the only two in the restaurant, and they wondered how that candle had relit? They were spooked! They quickly locked up and got out of there!
Another incident occurred one evening when an employee was working alone in the Bistro kitchen. A plate mysteriously flew off the drying rack and shattered against the wall! She walked out and never came back!
