AND NOW A HAUNTED AMERICAN BAKERY

Laura Fleming, owner of La La Li Bakery & Patisserie in downtown Westmont, shows where this single bowl from a stack fell to the floor while she and others were in the room baking on one Thursday night. 

WESTMONT – As the chefs at a local Westmont bakery work late into the night concocting sweet creations, it’s not uncommon to hear the sound of padded footsteps or equipment banging throughout the shop.

La La Li Bakery & Patisserie owner Laura Fleming said these are the audible sounds of the shop’s friendly ghost – Mrs. Lindstrom.

Fleming said she and her employees at the bakery, 20 N. Cass Ave., often hear strange noises or see different “events” take place since opening her bakery at 20 N. Cass Ave.

“At Christmastime, there were some cookies that had disappeared,” Fleming said. “I knew they were made … and a week later, the cookies were on the cart ... I said, it must be Mrs. Lindstrom and at that time a pan came flying off the shelf between us.

“She doesn’t hurt us, she just entertains us. We just leave her alone … she’s not harmful and she doesn’t scare us.”

Eleanor Lindstrom owned Lindstrom’s Bakery in the same space from some time in the 1960s through the early 90’s, according to Fleming, whose Westmont business opened about three years ago. Lindstrom passed away on Dec. 17, 1995.

On several other occasions, the bakery’s old gas oven has been pre-heated and ready for cooking when she comes to open the shop in the early morning.

“At night we turn off the oven but in the morning, the oven is on at the right temperature,” she said.

Other times, equipment will randomly fall or recipes will mysteriously be laid out on counters – Mrs. Lindstrom’s recipes, Fleming said, adding that most “events” occur late at night.

Fleming said she has yet to have any real-life ghostbusters out to the store.

“It’s more just trying to figure out what’s going on,” Fleming said. “I just don’t want them to upset her.”