This
story should probably have been printed around the Halloween season,
but it's happening now, so here t is. Did you hear that Sacco's Bowl
Haven bowling alley and pool hall on Day Street is supposedly haunted?
One of the Boston Sunday papers ran an article on this story, but here
it is first-hand.

The Sci-Fi channel's show "Ghost Hunters"
was there investigating a few weeks ago. They spent a couple of nights
in the bowling alley to get the ghost to show itself, or make its
presence known or whatever they call it. I don't know if they found
evidence of any paranormal activity or not. The TAPS (The Atlantic
Paranormal Society) van arrived – they came equipped with their ion
generators, white noise generators, digital thermometers, infrared
cameras and thermal imaging cameras. They had everything but Dan Akroyd
and Bill Murray. A friend of mine had spoken to the producers and
recommended me to talk to them – as someone who lived in the area my
whole life and would perhaps have some info on the matter. I talked to
a producer and gave a few of my ideas on why the bowling alley may
indeed be haunted.

I called the alley and spoke to the woman
who has worked there for several years. Her name is Barbara and I have
known her from the square for over 35 years. She gave me the low down
on the spooky goings-on at the bowling alley. It's also documented on
Loui "UFO" Zoot!'s site the web, under the heading ,haunted places in
Massachusetts. It seems strange noises sometimes come from the back of
the alley in the evening and scratching sounds have been heard too. The
alleys would all of a sudden become freezing cold, and a girl
mysteriously had greasy stains on her face that looked like they were
made with fingers. All weird stuff right ? Weird enough for the Sci-Fi
channel to send an entire crew to Somerville for a full investigation.

When
I spoke to the producer I gave her some theories I had come up with and
she invited me to be part of the show as the 'Somerville historian'. I
put in many hours in Davis Square, so why not me?

I started
doing some research and discovered that the famous pool hustler Rudolf
Wanderone Jr., aka " Minnesota Fats," was beaten at Sacco's by
Somerville resident and Hall of Fame pool player Larry "Boston Shorty"
Johnson. You may remember Jackie Gleason portrayed Minnesota Fats in
the Paul Newman movie "The Hustler". Fats died in 1996 and Shorty
passed away in 2001.

I had the pleasure of knowing Shorty from
Redbones. I suggested that perhaps Fats was coming back looking for
either a re-match or perhaps to have a snack. I also had other ideas
that involved car trunks at the auto repair business next door. My own
deceased sister could actually be the playful entity. She came across
from the other side like gang busters at a session held by famed medium
Suzane Northrop. We know that she is a very strong and prominent
spirit, just as she was in life. Christine had a lovable mischievous
personality and I wouldn't be surprised if she is having a bit of fun
in the afterlife. She also had some issues that involved the bowling
alley. If she can hear me now, I would like her to go into my bank
account and add a few zeros .

The TAPS van was parked in front
of the Central Library as I walked in to be interviewed. I was asked
questions, while three cameras and about 15 crew members and producers
monitored the session. My kids got a kick out of the whole thing, while
I made a joke of everything, as usual.

At this time I don't know
if or when the Sacco's episode will be aired on The Sci-Fi Channel but
I will let you now as soon as I find out. I never watch those types of
shows, but of course I will if I'm on. I don't have to watch TV to get
frightened, because real life is scary enough. Right now I have to go
to Shaws to buy food for the mouths of children present. They get very
scary when they are not fed.

Other places in Somerville appear
to be haunted also such as my own house! It seems every day I wake up
at 3 am to chilling eerie voices. They moan things like: "If only you
didn't do this…" and "you should have done that…" and "you really
blew that chance, fat head." Those are the 'would have, could have,
should have' spirits that echo and taunt me in my mind. I am also
haunted by the ghosts of mortgages past, which are some horribly ugly
and scary demons. You can email Jimmy direct with comments at
jimmydel@rcn.com.