Atchison is proud of its reputation as one of the most haunted cities in Kansas, but that usually gets the most attention around Halloween. Now, the Atchison Chamber of Commerce wants to celebrate the town’s haunted history a little earlier.

The Atchison Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Ghostly Dining Experience at 7:30 p.m. June 6 at the Hoof and Horn River House in Atchison.

“... It’s just demand,” Jackie Pregont, president of the Atchison Chamber of Commerce, says of the reason for this summer spirit supper. “In the fall, schools are in session; it’s harder for people to come long distances. This gives them another option. We’ve been asked over and over again ‘Why do you only do the tours in October?’”

Ms. Pregont says the River House is a perfect place for a ghostly dinner because of its haunted history.

“It just seems to lend itself, because there are so many stories and so many things that happen,” she says.

Roy Swope, owner of the Hoof and Horn River House, says since the restaurant opened two and a half years ago, he, his employees and numerous customers have had strange experiences. They range from hearing children talking to hearing people walking around upstairs when there’s nobody there. And people dining in the upstairs banquet room have reported seeing a woman walking through.

“We’ve had probably 20 people up in the banquet room (see her),” he says. “And now I know why they’re flipping their head real quick. I go up to them and say, ‘You saw her, didn’t you?’”

Diners also have had their cell phones fly off the table or have felt someone walk up and stand directly behind them, only to turn and find no one is there.

Local spiritualist Glennie Lee says she’s experienced five different ghosts at the River House. She’s seen two children running around, two “ladies of the night” in a bathroom and a woman in a white dress in the upstairs dining room where the Ghostly Dining Experience is held.

Ms. Lee, who spoke at the last dinner, will be giving a presentation about her abilities to communicate with spirits. There also is a good chance she will be relaying messages from spirits to some of the diners, which happened at the last dinner.

“I will walk past a table and I might pick up on someone’s husband, wife or grandmother, and I’ll pick up on the name,” she says.

Ms. Lee always asks the diner if he or she wants to hear from the spirit, and then asks the spirit to give her some information that only the other person could know.

“They’re surprised, sometimes they laugh, sometimes there’s tears,” she says.

And although the thought of having a dinner with spirits might scare some, Ms. Lee says the spirits aren’t there to harm, but to help. Most are loved ones who have passed on and have become spiritual guides. And having spirits at the Ghostly Dining Experience makes it that much more interesting.

“It’s always wonderful, with dinner with a ghost, if one of them wants to show up, and they have before,” she says. “People have great pictures (of them).”

Tickets for the Ghostly Dining Experience are $45 per person and can be reserved by calling the Atchison Chamber of Commerce at (800) 234-1854.