History & local legend
Kim Reitz’s first year running Cool Beans Coffee & Tea in Bellefonte included regular trips to the basement on behalf of frightened employees. In a 2008 interview, she said three of her five staff members would not go downstairs to fetch supplies.
They described moving shadows and a bathroom door swinging hard enough to damage the wall. Reitz relayed those stories while explaining why she often collected the cups herself.
A college student living upstairs overheard the café conversation and added her own experience. She told Reitz that she had seen a man on the other side of her shower curtain. When she pulled it back, nobody was there. The tenant soon found a roommate.
Sources
- Centre County Spook, Bellefonte’s Coffee Shop Haunting, 2008 interview with proprietor Kim Reitz, archived Centre Daily Times community blog
- WPSU, The Great Coffee Adventure, Cool Beans Coffee and Tea in Bellefonte, on-site café profile
- Centre Daily Times, former Cool Beans and subsequent business at 141 West High Street
- OpenStreetMap, mapped storefront
