About the Ghost Fried Chickent Legend: Captain Billy was born on the first day of summer, 1931. On the day of his birth, Ocean Beach was graced with the greatest surfing swells in history. Surfers at the time described to the San Diego Union-Tribune that nobody had ever seen anything like it, “the peel was so uniform and perfect that it seemed to roll on forever!” Someone special had arrived in San Diego.

When he became of age, Billy joined the navy and was stationed at Naval Base San Diego. He quickly rose through the ranks and became the captain of his own ship. Disobeying the orders of his superiors, Captain Billy and his tattooed crew sailed the seas in search of his one true love, fried chicken. He docked in every port and harbor on the globe to get a belly full of the tastiest fried chicken. By the time he retired in the spring of 1955, Captain Billy had memorized every fried chicken recipe from Louisiana to the northern seas of Asia. His dream was to use all the recipes and techniques he had acquired and open the best fried chicken restaurant in San Diego.

On the 26th of March, 1956, (the same day Elvis released his first album) ‘Ghost Fried Chicken’ opened its doors on what is now 5th Avenue in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, to booming success. Within days, word spread across Southern California of Ghost Fried Chicken’s tender, juicy, crispy, fried chicken. Now that Captain Billy’s fried chicken had caught fame, it was time to introduce the public to his most coveted recipe, his super spicy ghost fried pepper sauce.

One fateful afternoon, after simmering a pot of ghost pepper chilis, with charred onions, smoked carrots, and myriad secret spices, Captain Billy tried a spoon full of what he called his “Black Magic Sauce,” and set his mouth on fire. He was later quoted to the paper as saying, “Hot! Hot! Hot!” while breathing fire all over his kitchen. Within minutes Ghost Fried Chicken was engulfed in flames and burned to the ground, taking Captain Billy and his famous fried chicken recipes along with it.

To this day, San Diego historians still praise Ghost Fried Chicken’s famous crispy chicken. There’s even an urban legend that you can still dial the original phone number, 619-852-8862, of Ghost Fried Chicken, and the ghost of Captain Billy himself will answer, take your order, and fry you his famous chicken.