The Para-Normal Menu

This fall, Para Maria invites you to embrace the spooky season with our Para-Normal menu, a limited-time collection of craft cocktails and bites inspired by Boston's most haunting legends. Each drink carries a chilling backstory tied to the city's past, from the restless spirits said to linger on Boston Common and the guests who still hear a rocking chair at the Omni Parker House, to the Lady in Scarlet, who is said to pace Long Island in her red blanket. These artisanal potions blend autumn flavors, smoke, and shadow to bring Boston's ghost stories to life, one sip at a time. 

Discover the haunting tales that inspired our menu.

Boston Strangler

The Boston Strangler terrorized Boston from 1962 to 1964, when 13 women were murdered in their apartments, mostly by strangulation with items like stockings tied around their necks, with the killer typically gaining entry through ruses like posing as a repairman. Albert DeSalvo, already jailed on unrelated sexual assault charges, confessed to the killings in 1965 with details that convinced investigators he was involved, but he was never tried for the murders themselves and was killed by a fellow inmate in 1973 while serving a life sentence on the other charges. Doubts about his guilt persisted for decades until 2013, when DNA evidence finally linked him to the last victim, Mary Sullivan, though whether he committed all 13 murders or others were involved remains debated.

Omni Parker House

Often listed as one of the most haunted places in the city, the Omni Parker House Hotel has seen its share of paranormal activity. During his stay in Boston in the 1800s, Charles Dickens stayed on the third floor while writing “A Christmas Carol.” Today, the elevator often stops on the floor, but no one is waiting when the doors open. The ghost of the former owner, Harvey Parker, has been seen roaming the halls and rooms on the 10th floor. Witnesses report apparitions wandering through the hotel dressed in 18th-century attire. Guests also report flickering orbs of light, eerie voices and the sound of someone rocking back and forth in a rocking chair even though no such piece of furniture is available in the hotel.

Copps Hill Burying Ground

In Copp's Hill, the first bodies were laid to rest in 1660. With such a long past, it’s not surprising that many have reported paranormal experiences while visiting here. Reverend Increase Mather, who was largely involved in the Salem Witch hysteria, is buried here and many have told accounts of seeing his ghost haunting and taunting visitors. There are, of course, thousands of other souls residing in Copp’s Hill and many in unmarked graves or with headstones that are pockmarked with bullet holes as a result of the British troops using them for target practice. The dead here have been known to rise, especially at night, and those who’ve visited have reported seeing full-body apparitions, orbs and shadows and feeling an eerie sense of someone or something unseen touching them. 

Granary Burying Ground

The third oldest burying ground in Boston, Granary Park was founded in 1660

And is the final resting place of Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine, three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Paul Revere is also here, and his spirit is said to be lingering as well, sometimes upon the horse that he made his famous midnight ride on. Spooky and somber, the graveyard is a sight to see with its winding narrow pathways, picturesque trees and imposing iron gates that mark the entrance. 

Boston Common

Considered by many to be the most haunted place in the city, Boston Common is where public hangings were held until 1817 and where many Boston inhabitants who were executed or witnessed them are rumored to still be hauntingly present. There are also around thousands of bodies buried underneath the common. 

Legend of the Lady in Scarlet

In 1776, British forces evacuated the port of Boston after three years of occupation following the Boston Tea Party. Soldiers and sailors left the British fleet, along with about one thousand Loyalists, who wished to remain under the rule of King George III. But the British fleet did not have smooth sailing as they fled the city. Colonial forces under the command of General George Washington fired upon the departing ships using the cannons transferred from Fort Ticonderoga.

According to legend, the newly married Mary Burton, eager to begin her new life in England, was caught in the line of fire and struck by a cannonball. After suffering for several days, she passed away. When a temporary truce was established between colonial and British forces, she was wrapped in a red blanket and buried on Long Island in Boston Harbor. Her grave was marked by her husband who vowed to come back and bury her properly, but he never returned. 

A few years later, local fishermen, and later the soldiers at Fort Strong, began reporting sightings of her ghost, clad in the red blanket, wandering the island. Long Island is currently unoccupied, so no recent sightings of Mary Burton have been recorded. Perhaps she still paces the island alone, longing for her husband and the life she could have had across the sea.