Is A Woodbridge California Restaurant Haunted? Owner Says Maybe

A Woodbridge restaurant owner thinks the eatery she's owned for 17 years may be haunted by the ghost of a man named Frenchie. This weekend, a self-styled paranormal investigator from Sacramento will try to find out if she's right. No one's quite sure what to expect Saturday when Cactus Mexican restaurant on N. Lower Sacramento Road in Woodbridge plays host to a paranormal investigator. The goal: to determine whether the 19th-century brick building is -- as legend would have it -- haunted. "What our staff says is that they just get the feeling that somebody is present with them or behind them or something and, you know, that makes them uneasy," Cactus owner Mia Lane-Gomez said. Lane-Gomez and her husband say they've seen plenty of strange goings-on at the restaurant since they opened the place in 1992.In just the past six months, Lane-Gomez said there were at least three potentially paranormal events. Six months ago, six blender lids mysteriously vanished. Then a stack of papers inexplicably caught fire on Super Bowl Sunday last month. Then, just last Monday, a water faucet in the men's room suddenly turned on - all by itself. The culprit, Lane-Gomez theorizes, is a man named Frenchie, who supposedly died in a fall while refurbishing the building 30 years ago. Some believe Frenchie's ghost is still there. "Our basement, we do have a huge basement, probably most of our staff won't go down there," Lane-Gomez said. Paranormal enthusiast Paul Dale Roberts will be at the Cactus at 7 p.m. Saturday to discuss the basics of paranormal activity. Then at 10 p.m., Roberts will use his equipment to investigate once and for all whether any unusual otherworldly forces call the Cactus home. The public is invited to attend, but Lane-Gomez advised those looking for dinner to call ahead to make sure a table is available.