Randy Korkowicz isn't the type of man who scares easily, but he admits that there have been creepy incidents through the years at his business, Randy's Up the River, that have given him chills.

Mr. Korkowicz and his wife, Debbie, recently talked about the hauntings they and their staff have witnessed at the historic structure located on Nine Mile Road in Allegany. While the topic is brought up more during the Halloween season, they said unexplained incidents happen throughout the year.

Mrs. Korkowicz, who is a native of Austin, Pa., and her husband, who is originally from the Buffalo area, said they purchased the business in 1988. She had worked for a former congressman in the area and he had worked as a light technician for regional bands before buying the business. They said they wanted to live in the Allegany area because it was located halfway between their native communities and appeared to be a nice area to raise their child, Rikki Lynn, who is now an adult. When the former Terry's River View tavern was put up for sale in 1988 they decided to buy it.

"We named it Randy's Up the River because we figured we would be up the river without a paddle," Mr. Korkowicz said with a laugh. He said when they purchased the business it had a very limited kitchen and was primarily operated as a bar.

"We really built it up to what it is now" as a restaurant and tavern, Mr. Korkowicz said. He noted the restaurant has a full menu and is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to midnight for lunch and dinner. The tavern remains open to 2 a.m.

The couple said they believe the building was constructed sometime around 1869 as a hotel. It was also believed to have been a stagecoach stop in its early years.

"There are still four hotel rooms upstairs and the proprietor's apartment," Mr. Korkowicz said.

He said they have been told the business was operated as a speakeasy by Ma Reesnor during the Prohibition Era. The business was also believed to have been owned by brothers Jim and Tim Brushingham in the 1890s.

"There were a lot of rough-and-tumble times here" in the old days, Mr. Korkowicz said.

He said he first realized the place had unusual happenings immediately after he had purchased it.

"I was the only one in here and I was sitting at my desk doing reports in the basement when I heard obvious footsteps upstairs," he said. When he checked, there was no one to be found in the business that was locked up tight. He said the footstep sounds became a regular occurrence.

He and the staff also experienced other unnerving incidents.

Mr. Korkowicz said he discovered that when bottles of a certain type of liquor were left on a top shelf in the bar, the bottles always fell off for unknown reasons. When the liquor was replaced with another type of alcohol, the incidents stopped.

Mr. Korkowicz said there were many times when he was alone and closing up the business at night when he would have ghostly pranks played on him. After he would dead-bolt all of the doors, he would become frustrated a few minutes later when he would find them unlocked again.

"I would turn the lights on, lock them back up and say 'Now, stop it!" he said.

Mrs. Korkowicz said she also has had eerie experiences in the tavern that have included hearing footsteps in the building when no one else was there.

She said a more recent experience occurred a couple of months ago when she was sitting playing a video game and two women started to step into the business.

"One tall blond woman came in and went up to the bar … and her friend stepped inside the door and stopped," Mrs. Korkowicz said. "She looked around and said 'There’s somebody here … and I don’t mean someone of this dimension.’ She stepped back out the door and said she wasn’t coming in.”