Ghost Hunter's Cookbooks Blend Spooky History with Culinary Delights

Paranormal investigator Amy Bruni has turned her fascination with the supernatural into a unique culinary venture, authoring cookbooks filled with recipes sourced from famously haunted locations.

Bruni’s latest book, “Cuisine to Kill For: Over 50 Recipes and True Crime Stories from the World’s Most Haunted Places,” expands on the concept introduced in her first cookbook, “Food to Die For.” The books feature dishes inspired by the history of places ranging from asylums and murder sites to historic taverns, often with the ghosts of former inhabitants still said to linger.

One notable anecdote from the first book, “Food to Die For,” involved a reader who prepared a Sunday pot roast recipe from the Rhode Island farmhouse that inspired “The Conjuring.” While cooking the dish in the actual haunted house, the reader reported hearing footsteps and doors closing, suggesting the spirits of the former residents may have been present.

“No one thinks to use food as an investigative tool, but we may be onto something,” Bruni stated, referring to the idea that familiar foods might trigger spectral activity.

Bruni, who has been a paranormal investigator for 30 years, recently launched her second cookbook. “Cuisine to Kill For” delves into locations with dark histories, including sites outside the U.S. such as the Paris Catacombs and Bran Castle in Transylvania. It also features recipes from the Five Fishermen Restaurant in Halifax, Canada, which was formerly a funeral home that housed victims of the Titanic disaster.

The inspiration for Bruni's cookbooks stemmed from discovering a meatloaf recipe card belonging to Lizzie Borden, the woman tried for the murders of her father and stepmother in 1893. Bruni's first book, published in 2024, confirmed a demand for such content, with readers reporting that the recipes were not only unique but also delicious.

In “Cuisine to Kill For,” one featured recipe is penne vodka from the Valley Inn Restaurant in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The estate where the restaurant stands was the site of Rebecca Cornell’s death in 1673, allegedly at the hands of her son, Thomas. Thomas was convicted after Rebecca’s brother claimed to have received a ghostly message from his sister. Bruni has investigated the restaurant and claims to have communicated with Thomas’ ghost, who reportedly chose to remain buried on the property rather than with his family.

Another recipe in the book is for Shrimp Wiggle, a dish served at Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pennsylvania, an institution known for its mistreatment of residents. Bruni recounted an experience at the asylum where she heard scratching from an attic closet, only to find it empty upon investigation.

The cookbook also includes a recipe for carrot cake from Fraunces Tavern in New York City’s Financial District. The historic tavern was the scene of a murder in 1798 when ballerina Anna Gardie was fatally stabbed by her husband. According to Bruni, Gardie’s apparition is still reportedly seen at the establishment.

Bruni’s own interest in the paranormal began in her childhood home in Alameda, California, which was reportedly haunted by a World War II soldier. Her first clear memory of a ghost, at age 8, was of a man in green outside her window, whom her mother casually identified as “Mr. Green Jeans.” Bruni’s paranormal TV series, “It Followed Me Home,” is set to premiere on BeaconTV on Halloween.