One of our factory supervisors was here only 3 weeks when she had her first sighting. “I was in the warehouse at 3:15am, and something caught my eye behind a stack of pallets. I saw a person walking away from me towards the maintenance hall. Even from the back, I could tell he was an elderly gentleman, about 5’ 8” tall, wearing shorts and a plaid cap. I could see his salty hair and the tanness of his skin. That’s how clear he was. No one else would have been in the facility that early. I thought it might be an intruder or employee, but it was more of an apparition.  I followed to see who it was, and peeked around the corner. No one was in that large space and there were no sounds. I was the only one in that building. But I know I saw somebody!”

 Others would talk about small hand tools that were misplaced or went missing. Shipping personnel whispered about lights turning on and off. So when we had a staff meeting everyone got real silent and one employee spoke up, “We don’t usually talk about the ghost.”

 The night clean-up crew described unexplainable encounters with “something”. One man was squeegeeing the floor on the mezzanine and pushed the water one way. When he turned around, there was a set of footprints in the exact spot from where he had just pushed the water. No one else was upstairs with him. The next night, another worker was walking upstairs in the same area, and as he stopped half-way on the landing, he watched the gate at the top open slowly and then close by itself. No one else was there.

 Team members have seen shadows and at the same time feel an electric or startling presence, which disappears within a few seconds.

 One particular incident involved a production worker who was cleaning a piece of equipment when a metal plate fell off and clanged to the floor. He didn’t think anything about it, so he picked it up and bolted it back to the machine. He continued with maintenance, and the plate came off again and hit the floor. Even after he had tightened the bolts.

 One night, a veteran employee was repairing a candy line and saw a man standing in a corner watching him. He describes the man as an older gentleman, with grey hair, wearing shorts and a plaid cap. Everything just registered instantly. And then when he went to take a second look, the man was gone. He says he feels privileged to be able to see something like that. Some people go their entire lives and never see anything like that.

 One night worker had an experience that was pretty intense. He was walking through the warehouse and heard someone yell, “Hey! Hey!” He turned around and on one was there. He says ghosts pick up on the energy of the people who work here.

 These encounters can be unsettling, but there have never been any incidents that are malicious or threatening. Our ghost moves like someone who is confident, knows his way around, and comes and goes as he pleases.

 Atkinson Candy is now run by the 4^th generation of the Atkinson Family. So we think our ghost is playful, but benevolent, and one of the family who comes back to keep an eye on things and make sure we continue to make good candy.