Zoe St. Armand

 

Around 1900, Zoe St. Amand (that's Zoe on the right) and her sister, Elizabeth, lived in a house on Queen Street.  Zoe, a school teacher, looked every bit the spinster.  She often wore long, black Puritan-style dresses and round, wire-rimmed glasses.  The sisters seemed to prefer the company of each other, and kept mostly to themselves.

 

Zoe St. Amand, in black, with her sister, Elizabeth. When Elizabeth died in 1945, Zoe became incredibly lonely.  She was depressed, and her mental state may have deteriorated—she was reportedly often seen calling out her sister’s name.  Finally, neighbors took her to St. Francis Hospital to live out the remainder of her days, dying there in 1954.  Today, Zoe’s body rests in St. Lawrence Cemetery, at 60 Huguenin Avenue, just north of downtown.  Where her spirit is, however, seems to be debatable.

 

There have been numerous sightings of Zoe St. Amand at Poogan’s Porch.  Restaurant employees have certainly seen her, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility to see a diner or two run from the building looking like they’ve just seen a, well, ghost.  Interestingly, many people who have seen Zoe have reported that they had no idea she was a ghost.  She’ll walk in to the ladies’ restroom, and other the women won’t realize that she’s not simply an elderly customer until they see her in an old photograph on the wall.    Guests of the Mills House Hotel across the street have seen Zoe waving at them from the restaurant’s second floor windows.  They’ve even called the police to investigate, believing an elderly woman was trapped in the restaurant.

  

The restaurant  owner had a run-in with Zoe one night while trying to close up for the evening. While trying to set the alarm, she was disturbed by heavy wooden stools being flipped over and large doors being slammed open.

 

Though it’s generally believed that she is a benign spirit, Zoe has put a scare into more than one restuarant goer!