The former owner of a grocery store that used to occupy this building was said to have been murdered, and his ghost lingers here, perhaps upset because his killer was never found. Furniture is said to break by itself, and unexplained noises come from the back office.
If you've had a paranormal experience here, or have any additional information about this location, please let us know!
Rate this Haunted Place
What do you think? Is this place really haunted? Voice your opinion here! Click "thumbs up" if you think its haunted, or "thumbs down" if you think its all just a tall tale.
Geographic Information
- Address:
- 35618 Kenai Spur Hwy
Soldotna, AK 99669
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 60.497348, -151.06685600000003
- County:
- Kenai Peninsula County
- Nearest Towns:
- Soldotna, AK (0.7 mi.)
Ridgeway, AK (2.5 mi.)
Kenai, AK (7.6 mi.)
Kalifornsky, AK (9.4 mi.)
Funny River, AK (10.4 mi.)
Sterling, AK (10.6 mi.)
Salamatof, AK (11.8 mi.)
Cohoe, AK (12.1 mi.)
Kasilof, AK (13.1 mi.)
Nikiski, AK (15.3 mi.)
Please note: It is your responsibility to acquire appropriate permissions before investigating any location listed on this site. Private property should be respected at all times, as should all posted signs concerning trespassing, hours of operation and other local regulations. Many "ghost hunters" have been arrested because they failed to contact property owners and/or local authorities ahead of time.
Furniture breaks on it’s own because it’s cheap a$$ garbage from Bailey’s..
Bailey’s furniture used to be a grocery store in Soldotna called Big K. James O. Spence was an employee there and was shot in the back during a night shift of stocking shelves. He was a nice guy from an incredible family. His shooter was identified, arrested & charged. James died shortly after being shot but certainly knew what occurred. It was a sad loss & frightening thing for our community at that time. It makes me sad to think this is written about him.
Meanwhile I don’t doubt haunting, I’m too knowledgeable for that. Maybe Bailey’s is haunted, not likely by him though.
Soldotna does posses an older building which is documentedly haunted. If the owner of that business what to be listed here I’ll have her contact you:-)
Jessica-Thank you for your kind words.James Owen Spence is/was my Father.It’s crazy the things you will find on the internet.I will say this if there are such things as ghost my Dad wouldn’t be the evil type anyway.I hear that when people pass their temper typically stays the same however I had moved when my Dad was killed.He was suppose to get up the money to come with unfortunately that didn’t happen due to his death.
No It was not Big K. D&A was in the same location where Bailey’s is now. This is not a haunted location. Just a very sad thing happened to a nice young man (who was not the owner).
Having knowledge of what occurs in our final moments is not synonymous with us knowing that we have died
Mini especially those who die a sudden violent death or a heart attack in her sleep go about their business like they always do because they don’t realize what happened I saw James at times in that store I described him another comment that I made and I felt his presence but in recent years when I went back when Bailey’s was closing down and having a clearance sale
That time I did not sense him or see him so I was happy for that because he was a really nice guy and always went out of his way to be helpful
I hope to God you’re wrong about him being alive for a while before he died because that would make it that much worse
Also to the best of my knowledge they never were able to gather enough evidence to send him to prison
I think I’m going to research it now I hope they locked him up
Or maybe after all these years he recently had an accident with the business end of a Mack truck
That would be nice L O L
Yes, James was a very sweet man. He was always trying to help the customer out to make them happy. He did a wonderful job. I would see him helping older people. It was nice.
He couldn’t out run the shooter because if I recall right, he limped as one leg was longer than the other. I thought it was D&A where he worked, not Big K. But it happened so many years ago.
A tall, dark haired man always smiling. That is what I remember of James.
Soldotna and Kenai I felt always had a dark shadow over it. What and who lived there before? Or maybe the devil itself keeps close to thone cities.
Haven’t been there since 2006. Lived there from 1977-2003. When I first visited down there in 1975, the road Hwy. 1 wasn’t paved all the way to Homer, or even Kasilof.
I wonder is Sourdough Sal’s still there? Now in the old days that was a weird place to work, that and the bowling alley. Seems like there’s more stories, but I’d have to think on it.
Sal’s changed I believe last year. But the same owners. Just a different name 🙂
Sal’s Klondike Diner closed a while back and is now PJ’s.
If I recall correctly, Bailey’s used to be Country Foods. It’s somewhat well known that it’s haunted.
I was working the night that James was shot. He and i closed the store and he sent me home i insisted on staying but because i would have got to much overtime he sent me home.when i heard the news the next day i was crushed. I have felt guilty since that day and still do because i didn’t stay and i have nightmares still of that night. I hope it is true that they finally caught the person who did this. His father came in the store all the time and at the funeral i got up and spoke because i saw James as a brother and that i told his dad i would do everything i could to help find who did it. Kelly your dad was an amazing person and manager and i miss working with him. I couldn’t see working for anyone else better than him
Veronica, I dont recall them ever finding His murder! Do you know who it was? I started in Soldotna at Country Foods and worked with James Also. I had went over to Kenai to fill in and was just asked to stay. What was the date that this Happened? I was very sad to hear it had happened to suvh a sweet guy. I would really like to know who they arrested in it.
Rest In Peace James.
Hey James is an was my uncle and me and my father would like to hear from u my dad wanted me to message you u can find me on Facebook Tim spence or text or call me at 9104671306 thank you hope u get this thank you
Hi Tim I just saw this. I am on Facebook under Veronica Butler. There are a few times Spence’s on there so don’t know which one. You can send me a friend request.
could it be the ghost from the young teenager killed on the roof at the Bailey’s furniture in Anchorage back in the early 1990s…???… By the owner who thought was a burglar????
What? I know the owner. Never heard about this…
The murder was not in the Big K building, it was in another grocery building, which became Country Foods, it was not the owner who was killed, but rather a very kind young man named James. His case, to the best of my knowledge, has never been solved. At the time, there were a rash of other crimes that happened. Opal Fairchild was slain in her home on Poppy Lane, a safeway employee was assaulted and robbed in the stores parking lot, and a local man’s parents were murdered in Anchorage. Gary Newcomb, who was evading capture by State Troopers and was on the run at the time, locals speculated he may have been involved, but nothing became of it after he was apprehended br police at gunpoint in Anchorage, I believe he shot a cop? Baileys is not haunted, that’s fake drama!!
My name is Bob W. and I knew him as a good man. I came here to Alaska in 1990. Back then the building in question was a grocery store. I think it was called Foodland, or Food Mart, or something like that.
It was 34 years ago when I arrived here so it’s hard for me to remember things like that.
My roommate and his 12 yr. old at the time son shopped there. We had jobs at the canneries but sometimes ran short of money waiting for paychecks and of course the fish lol
James would let us obtain groceries on credit with a hand shake, and no collateral required. We always paid him back for his generosity, and willingness to trust my word that I would pay him back. An increasingly rare man even back then.
After his death, every time, I walked into that store, I could swear, I saw him out of the corner of my eye still with that blue shirt, and red tie. He was a tall man with curly sandy colored hair, and wore glasses, and his cheeks were always flushed even in the summer which we got a little bit of a giggle about
I also felt his presence every time I was in there but my roommate didn’t, but his son did. I don’t think he knew that he was dead. It happened so quick. He was trying to run out of the store when the robber shot him in the back with a shotgun. He died instantly. I think I know who did it, but I can’t prove it. It was someone that I ended up meeting through my neighbor at the time, who knew the guy as a sort of friend but he was scared to hang out with him. He did have a darkness about him when I met him that one time. I’ve always been sensitive.about things like that.
The last time I was in the store was when Baileys was going out of business here last year, and was having clearance sales. I’m glad to say I did not feel his presence or see him that time, so I think he finally moved on which is good. No sense hanging around this place called Earth when you have better places to go.
When I think about him right now, I feel like he has found peace. At first it was upsetting to see him sometimes walking around the store, or at the managers booth like he was still working, and didn’t even know what happened, and then he would just disappear.
So much of this happened, So that I stopped going there for a long time, and shopped elsewhere.
They never caught that bastard, and I don’t even remember his name now after only meeting him once. I didn’t have any evidence to go forward to the police anyway, just hearsay.
But there are the laws of man that some may escape, however in the spiritual realm nobody escapes from the things they have done.
If that man is still with us, he won’t be for too much longer, and when he goes, he’ll have things to answer for. Nobody gets away with anything, they just think they do.