Formerly: Tremont House (1850–1860s) · Concordia House (1860s) · Beck's Saloon (late nineteenth century) · Moore's Beer Tavern / Moore's Restaurant (early twentieth century)
Indianapolis, Indiana · Founded 1850 · Building: 1850
Indianapolis's 1850 roadhouse-turned-blues bar, operating as the Slippery Noodle since 1963 and under new ownership since 2023.
The Slippery Noodle Inn began in 1850 as the Tremont House, a downtown Indianapolis roadhouse and bar. The business changed names and uses across more than a century before Harold and Lorean Yeagy bought it in 1963 and named it the Slippery Noodle Inn. Jason Amonett and Sean Lothridge purchased the bar from the Yeagy family in 2023 and continue its blues-club operation.
The building opened as the Tremont House, a roadhouse and bar serving travelers entering Indianapolis from the south.
Source: Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Slippery Noodle Inn”; Indianapolis Monthly, “The Slippery Noodle's Haunted History,” October 18, 2024
The Tremont House was renamed the Concordia House, reflecting the German immigrant community associated with the business.
Source: Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Slippery Noodle Inn”; Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024
A tin ceiling and the tiger-oak bar were installed during the late nineteenth-century evolution of the building.
Source: GPSmyCity, “Slippery Noodle Inn, Indianapolis”; Slippery Noodle Inn historical materials
Owner Louis Beck renamed the business Beck's Saloon. Later owners, including Walter Moore, continued operating the location as a saloon or restaurant through the Prohibition era.
Source: Slippery Noodle Inn historical materials; Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024
During Prohibition, the business operated publicly as Moore's Restaurant while later accounts allege that alcohol production and service continued in the basement.
Source: Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Slippery Noodle Inn”; Slippery Noodle Inn historical materials
Harold “Hal” and Lorean Yeagy took possession of the business and chose the name Slippery Noodle Inn.
Source: Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Slippery Noodle Inn”; Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024
Hal Yeagy Jr. took over the business and developed the Slippery Noodle into a dedicated blues venue with regular live music.
Source: Fox59, “Indianapolis' Slippery Noodle Inn getting new owners,” March 2, 2023; Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Slippery Noodle Inn”
The building was listed as a contributing resource in the Indianapolis Wholesale District, which entered the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: National Register of Historic Places nomination for Indianapolis Wholesale District, cited by Clio; Clio, “Slippery Noodle Inn”
Hal Yeagy Jr. died after decades operating the Slippery Noodle and collecting its history and ghost stories.
Source: Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Slippery Noodle Inn”; Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024
The Slippery Noodle began offering official haunted tours of the building during the pandemic period.
Source: WRTV Facebook post, October 9, 2020; Haunted US, “Ghosts Found at Slippery Noodle Inn,” June 27, 2024
Jason Amonett and Sean Lothridge purchased the Slippery Noodle Inn from the Yeagy family, ending more than 60 years of Yeagy ownership.
Source: Fox59, March 2, 2023; WRTV, “The Slippery Noodle Inn is under new ownership,” March 2, 2023; Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, Fox59, WRTV, and Indianapolis Monthly all identify the Slippery Noodle as Indiana's oldest continually operating bar, tracing the business to the 1850 Tremont House. This research did not locate a statewide comparative survey or a complete series of licenses and operating records proving uninterrupted bar service through every ownership and name change.
The claim appears in historical summaries and local coverage, but this research did not locate a citywide architectural survey or National Register statement ranking every surviving commercial building by date. The building's 1850 origin is well supported; the citywide oldest-building superlative needs an independent comparative source.
WTHR's 2024 report and Indiana Landmarks commentary cite the building's basement tunnels, location near Union Station, and oral history as reasons it may have sheltered freedom seekers. Indiana Landmarks also cautions that Underground Railroad stops are difficult to prove because participants did not advertise their activities. No contemporaneous abolitionist record, fugitive account, conductor correspondence, or verified station list was located.
The building contains old bullets or bullet holes, and the target-practice story is repeated by the business and local coverage. This research found no police report, court record, newspaper article, ballistics record, or contemporary criminal account proving that either gang fired them or used the rear building.
Indianapolis Monthly traced this account to a now-deleted page from the former Slippery Noodle website and found no independent documentation for the alleged 1953 murder, the brothel's operation, or the story of a bloody knife left on the bar. The claim should be presented as a house legend, not established history.
The bar's ghost stories have been collected by former owner Hal Yeagy, staff, tour companies, psychic Gary Spivey, and paranormal media. These sources document a durable haunted reputation and reported experiences, but this research found no independently corroborated paranormal evidence or historical record confirming the identities attributed to alleged spirits.
Fox59, WRTV, 6AM City, and Indianapolis Monthly reported that Jason Amonett and Sean Lothridge purchased the business from the Yeagy family in March 2023. The Slippery Noodle's current contact information also identifies Sean Lothridge in its business email.
That a crew visited and filmed is usually easy to verify. What they claim to have captured is a separate, and usually lower-rated, claim.
Indianapolis Monthly documents that Spivey visited and made these claims. The report establishes what he said during his visit, not that the alleged visions or spirits were objectively present.
Phantom History published an episode specifically devoted to the Slippery Noodle and described touring the building with local guides. The episode documents the media project's visit and reported subject matter; it does not independently prove the paranormal explanations it discusses.
The published episode recounts experiences, historic claims, and reported sightings but offers no independently corroborated evidence that any experience had a paranormal cause. The episode should not be treated as proof of haunting.
Everything below has been reported by two or more independent sources — this is an informational record of what's said about this place, not a verified account of paranormal activity. Still Open America doesn't certify hauntings as real.
Employees, delivery workers, and paranormal accounts describe an apparition called George in the basement, usually portrayed as an older Black man wearing coveralls or work clothes. The reported figure is said to appear close to people, whisper, and remain associated with former caretaker or maintenance work.
The historical identity, employment, and connection to the building of a caretaker named George could not be confirmed in the historical sources reviewed for this entry.
The second-floor rooms are associated with reports of female apparitions, cold spots, touches, unexplained noises, and doors opening or closing. One recurring figure is called Sarah or Sara and is commonly described as a woman in a long blue dress or a shadowy form.
The historical identity and connection to the building of a woman named Sarah or Sara could not be confirmed in the historical sources reviewed for this entry.
Patrons and employees have reported a shadowy male figure or a man dressed like a cowboy in the building, especially on the second floor. Local accounts differ on whether the figure is a cowboy, a former customer, or a man connected to the alleged brothel era, so the identity remains part of the legend rather than established history.
People working or touring in the basement have reported whispers near their ears, cold spots, shadowy forms, and an uneasy sensation in a small basement room. Some tellings attribute the activity to people who sought freedom through the Underground Railroad, but that identity is not established.
Reports from more than one floor include cold spots, unseen touches, unexplained sounds, moving or opening doors, and wine bottles found open in the basement. These are treated as a broader recurring activity pattern because the accounts do not consistently tie each event to a distinct reported figure.
Paranormal accounts describe sightings or sensations involving bodies and bones in the former dirt-floored basement. The story is part of the venue's recurring basement folklore, but no historical record reviewed confirms burials or identifies any individuals supposedly connected to it.
No archaeological report, coroner record, burial record, or historical source reviewed for this entry confirmed human remains or burials in the basement.
The Slippery Noodle itself was established in 1850.
The business began in 1850 as the Tremont House. The Slippery Noodle Inn name dates from the Yeagy family's December 1963 purchase.
Source: Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, “Slippery Noodle Inn”; Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024
The Slippery Noodle's Underground Railroad use is fully documented historical fact.
The connection is plausible but not fully proven. WTHR and Indiana Landmarks point to location, tunnels, and oral history, while also explaining that documentation is difficult because Underground Railroad activity was secret.
Source: WTHR, February 22, 2024; Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024
The Dillinger gang target-practice story is verified by the bullets in the rear building.
Old bullets or bullet holes are visible, but this research located no source connecting them conclusively to Dillinger, Brady, or target practice during Prohibition.
Source: Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024; no primary law-enforcement source found
A ghost tour or psychic visit proves that the Slippery Noodle is haunted.
Tours, podcasts, and psychic accounts document a popular haunted narrative. They do not independently establish the reality or identity of any alleged spirits.
Source: Indianapolis Monthly, October 18, 2024; Phantom History, August 31, 2022
The Slippery Noodle survived because it kept adapting to Indianapolis while retaining the essential function of a place for food, drink, music, and gathering. It was a roadhouse, saloon, restaurant during Prohibition, and later a blues club; each use gave the old building another reason to remain active. The Yeagy family turned the venue into a nationally known blues room after 1963, and the 2023 owners inherited both that audience and the responsibility of separating the building's genuine history from its growing mythology.
The building opened in 1850 as the Tremont House, a roadhouse and bar. The current Slippery Noodle Inn name dates to December 1963, when Harold and Lorean Yeagy purchased the business.
The Slippery Noodle has a strong claim as Indiana's oldest continually operating bar, with local historical and news sources tracing its business history to the 1850 Tremont House. This research did not locate a statewide comparative survey or complete annual license history that proves uninterrupted operation against every possible competitor.
Jason Amonett and Sean Lothridge are the current owners. Fox59, WRTV, and Indianapolis Monthly reported that they bought the Slippery Noodle from the Yeagy family in March 2023 after more than 60 years of Yeagy ownership.
The Slippery Noodle has a plausible Underground Railroad connection based on oral history, basement spaces, tunnels, and its location near Union Station. WTHR reported that Indiana Landmarks considers the site difficult to prove conclusively, because authentic Underground Railroad activity was deliberately concealed and left few records.
The Slippery Noodle's rear building contains old bullets or bullet holes, and the business repeats a story that Brady and Dillinger gang members used it for target practice during Prohibition. This research found no police report, newspaper article, court record, or ballistics evidence proving the gang connection.
The Slippery Noodle has a long-running haunted reputation, with reports of a basement caretaker called George, a woman called Sarah, former sex workers, and former freedom seekers. Indianapolis Monthly and paranormal-tour sources document the stories and named investigations, but no independent evidence verifies either supernatural activity or the identities given to alleged spirits.
372 South Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46225
(317) 631-6974
Go for live blues and the 1850 building, but distinguish documented roadhouse and music history from Underground Railroad, brothel, gangster, and ghost stories that remain incomplete or unverified.