Ansley Layne: Finding Spirits in the City with Spooky Foodie
If there’s anyone who knows where to find the ghosts of Los Angeles, it’s Ansley Layne, better known online as @spookyfoodie on Instagram and TikTok.
Armed with curiosity, a love of history, and a good cocktail, Ansley has made a name for herself exploring LA’s haunted bars and restaurants. From historic speakeasies to hidden hotel lounges, her videos invite followers into the city’s darker corners, where old Hollywood glamour meets lingering spirits.
“I go to haunted restaurants and bars, historic bars throughout LA, historic buildings, hotels, everything,” she told us. “And I talk about the ghosts and most importantly, I talk about the cocktails and the food because that’s what we’re all here for.”
Ansley grew up in Las Vegas surrounded by neon lights, true crime, and tales from the past. Her father, a mob historian and true crime journalist, filled her childhood with stories of unsolved mysteries and old casinos. “Growing up, he had the police radio on listening for the next local crime,” she said. “So I was always around true crime, haunted places, and he would take me to mines and caves and old hotels.”
That deep love for history and atmosphere would eventually shape her work as Spooky Foodie. “I think I’m just attached to that kind of stuff from being in Vegas,” she said. “It’s the camp. It’s the glam.”
After studying film and criminology at Chapman University, Ansley moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting but soon found herself pulled back into the world of stories and spirits. “You can’t bank on these people saying yes to you all the time,” she said. “So I started doing this because it’s two things I genuinely love to do, ghosts and food. It literally makes sense. It is my soul.”
Her first post featured Clifton’s Republic, a legendary downtown cafeteria rumored to be haunted by its founder’s mistress. “I was so nervous. I had a panic attack posting my first video,” she said. “And then the next day I woke up and it was viral. I was like, people like this.”
She’s since turned her passion into something much bigger: a mix of urban exploration, ghost hunting, and community building. Using equipment like spirit boxes, she connects with the ghosts who “just want to have a good time.”
“Ghosts at bars are amazing,” Ansley said with a laugh. “They want to be there. They’re having a good time. When you offer them cocktails, they talk even more.”
In addition to running Spooky Foodie, Ansley also works as a tour guide for Grave Line Tours. From celebrity hauntings to LA’s most infamous crimes, she brings stories of the city’s past to life, sometimes in ways that feel a little too real.
“When I go somewhere haunted, I don’t hear it, but I see an image in my head, sentences of something trying to talk to me,” she said. “Sometimes I feel like Manson is talking to me on the tour. I think he still lingers around. He loves hearing people talk about him.”
Her stories are always delivered with a mix of humor, honesty, and respect for the unknown. And while she’s had her fair share of eerie encounters, she stays grounded through it all. “Human beings are stronger than any sort of spirit or dark energy,” she said. “You just have to set that mental boundary. Our brains are way stronger than we think.”
Beyond ghost hunts and tours, Ansley’s real goal is connection. She recently launched Spooky’s Restaurant Club, a monthly meetup at haunted bars and restaurants around LA. “People come alone and they want to connect with other people who like spooky stuff,” she said. “My goal is for everyone to make one friend by the end of the night. That’s what I want to bring back, human connection.”
She’s also passionate about preserving LA’s history. “Historic places are kind of dying out,” she said. “It’s one thing to protect a building, but it’s another thing to protect the businesses that are the heartbeat of them. That’s what LA was built on, and we need to keep those alive.”
Ansley’s work, both online and in person, continues to remind people that the past is never really gone. It’s waiting to be discovered, one cocktail and one ghost story at a time.
Follow Ansley on Instagram and TikTok:
📸 @spookyfoodie
🎥 @spookyfoodie
Listen to the full podcast episode to hear more of Ansley’s stories, from Vegas hauntings to LA’s most spirited bars, and don’t forget to check out Grave Line Tours for a truly haunted experience.
Use code WAVES20 for 20% off your tour.
This story was created by Making Waves Project as part of 13 Days of Strange, our series spotlighting the beautifully unusual people and projects shaping culture in ways big and small. By sharing these stories, we aim to honor the creativity, resilience, and vision behind the work and amplify voices that thrive in the strange, the bold, and the unforgettable.
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Photography by Robiee Ziegler
Produced by Katie Caro
