DENTON — Black Bottle Recording Studio doesn’t look haunted.

The small brick building, just off the courthouse square, would be easily missed except for the skull and crossbones decoration on the storefront window.

But since it became a recording studio last year, there have been more than a few strange sights and sounds.

The most remarkable is an apparition that Black Bottle’s owner, Richard Haskins, describes simply as a "dude."

"He’s always wearing the same thing, a red-and-black checkered flannel shirt, bluejeans, brown boots, not long hair but shoulder-length parted down the middle," said Haskins, 24. "I always thought ghosts were supposed to be translucent, but he isn’t. He looks like flesh and blood."

Haskins says he has seen the "dude" three times, the first appearance last fall when Haskins was inside the control room and saw a pair of hands pressing against the glass inside the recording studio.

"It was a few months after we moved in; there was always some kind of weird stuff going on," Haskins said. "This apparition entity — it just looked like a dude. I thought somebody had broken in because I have the doors locked. The dude was up in the window looking in. I went and grabbed my knife and went on in there. Nothing was there."

Unusual sounds

In case you think this may be simply a case of too many late-night sessions, Haskins said there have been a number of incidents where others have heard strange sounds while working there. And the "dude" has also appeared once in the middle of the afternoon, roaming around the isolation booth in the back of the studio.

"If you spend more than a couple of hours in here, you will hear something strange," Haskins said. "You often hear a metallic sound like a penny dropping and then go in there and the sound keeps moving."

None of these unusual sounds have shown up on any recordings. But Haskins said his job as an engineer is to get rid of unwanted sounds.

And the fact that they record a lot of hip-hop and punk acts at the fledgling studio might have something to do with it.

The most recent appearance occurred about a month ago and frightened Haskins so much that he ran out of the studio. After a late-night recording session, Haskins returned because he was worried an amplifier had been left on.

Since the light switches to the studio are all in the back of the building, Haskins used the glow of his cellphone as a makeshift flashlight. When he reached the amp against the wall, it was turned off. But he said the faint light caught a boot in the corner of the studio.

He said he turned on the light to see his "dude" standing in the corner of the room looking as if he was trying to hide.

"I got out of there as fast as I could," Haskins said. "It totally freaked me out."

No conclusions

Haskins contacted the newly formed Lewisville Paranormal Society, which spent most of a Saturday night at the studio recently.

Several in their group claimed to have seen "handprints on the glass" of the control room, said Valerie Morhaus, a member of the group.

Morhaus, who works at a metaphysical store in downtown Lewisville, said the group is still reviewing video and audio from the studio. They haven’t reached any conclusions.

"It’s very interesting. I will say that," said Eddie Lang, another group member.

During recording sessions, some of the musicians have also heard — but not seen — unusual things.

Carl Finch, the founder of Denton-based Grammy winners Brave Combo, heard a guttural sound for about two seconds during a recent session. Everyone in the studio looked at one another and said, "Did you hear that?"

Haskins stayed silent until the others spoke up.

"It was a relief to me to show I wasn’t alone, that I wasn’t going crazy," Haskins said.

Brave Combo’s offices occupy the other half of the building, and there have been some strange rustling sounds, like someone brushing against a wall or furniture, ever since they moved in a decade ago. During the last couple of weeks, Finch encountered something stranger.

"I heard what sounded like female voices in the back of the offices," Finch said. "By the time I walked around the first partition, which is only a matter of feet, the voices had stopped. It was pretty chilling."

Bad for business?

There are old stories that part of the building used to be a taxidermy studio and that a fire may have happened at some point in the 1970s, but a public records search found no evidence to support the folklore.

Haskins, wearing a Night of the Living Dead T-shirt and displaying a few horrorlike decorations in the studio, realizes some might say he’s trying to drum up customers. But he believes it’s bad for business.

"I thought that some might think it was cool and want to record here," Haskins said. "But for everyone that would, I think there would be three who wouldn’t come anywhere near this place."

Since the paranormal group visited the studio, Haskins has felt a little more comfortable.

But he wonders if the "dude" is just laying low, waiting for the right time to show himself again.

"I just want him out of here," Haskins said. "My attitude is he’s staying here, and he isn’t paying rent."