Are Served Up at 'Haunted' Eatery
The Mill in Homer offers scary tours, monster burgers
Kathryn Hemenway
Special to the State Journal
HOMER - The empty, oversized mill looked like the perfect place for a haunted
house.
That is what Lance and Susan Cuffle, of Jackson, thought as they regularly
drove past the building on M-60, noting it was up for sale. The abandoned
barn-like structure, built in 1887 as the Cortright Milling Co., held a mixture
of mystery and possibility.
The Cuffles had hosted haunted tours in the Jackson area, but starting a
full-scale, full-time haunted house-themed restaurant was a new venture.
"The whole thing is a challenge because I've never done anything like it
before," Susan Cuffle said. "It's been a hard road."
The husband-and-wife team took the plunge in August, purchasing the mill on
1.81 acres for $100,000, Homer Township Assessor Dan Brunner said.
Patrons have shared local lore of mysterious noises attributed to a little
girl who drowned in the mill pond and now walks the building, leaving wet
footprints as proof of her presence, Lance Cuffle said. In another story, a mill
foreman who suffocated in a grain bin still haunts the grounds.
The Cuffles have coupled those stories with some of their own, found at their
Web site, thehomermill.com, including their tale of Elizabeth Martin, a murdered
bride-to-be who crashes the mill wedding of her traitorous fiance to her maid of
honor.
Since the purchase, the couple said they have poured almost $1 million into
renovations. The Cuffles have maintained the aged, whitewashed look outside, but
have added a large outdoor dining deck that overlooks the Kalamazoo River and
village park.
Singer Alice Cooper helped them open the business in October. He is
tentatively slated to return Sept. 4.
The resident celebrity, however, is a 12-foot animated troll. Dubbed "The
Sleeping Giant," he scares visitors when he unexpectedly awakes.
The restaurant and bar menu includes sandwiches, salads and the house
specialty of build-your-own monster burgers. The Cuffles plan to transform the
eatery into a steakhouse.
"We enjoy it. The food is great, service is good," said patron Bernita
Edgerton, as she shared lunch last week with friend Marcy Welker.
"We're promoting it. I think Homer needs this."
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