"I don't believe in ghosts, but strange things happen here," says Putt-Putt O'Brien, who has worked at the store for more than 25 years. "Somebody calls your name but there's no one there when you look."

Employees have heard footsteps behind them and seen boxes move by themselves, toys turn on and toys fly off shelves, spooking customers and employees.

Sunnyvale's Toys"R"Us has been featured in books and on national television shows. Psychic Sylvia Browne even held a séance there in 1978 and has been back many times since then.

A few people usually wander in every week and ask employees about the ghost.

Most recently several ghost detectives visited the store with ghost-detecting equipment, though employees say the ghost hunters didn't find a hint of Johan, known to some as Johnny Johnson and Crazy Johnny to others.

"While they were recording, all of the equipment shut down, which was interesting," says Michael Taubman, store director.

The toy store was built in 1970 where the Murphy ranch once stood. The legend is that Johan, the Murphy family's hired hand, fell in love with the Murphys' daughter Elizabeth in the 1880s. But according to employees, she moved away and married someone else. Sometime later Johan chopped his leg off by accident and bled to death.

Employees say they believe he's still haunting the area around his former home, even though there's now a toy store built on the land.

Employee Greg Ruhle says he's noticed a presence in the stockroom and in one corner of the store where he says the Murphy barn where Johan worked was located. The store uses its entire second floor for storage, and the ghost apparently moves around frequently upstairs.

"Once when I was sitting upstairs, I heard footsteps coming up behind me, then pause right next to me, and then continue in front of me, even though I couldn't see anyone there," Ruhle says.

Taubman says he believes there is a supernatural presence in the store. "There's too many instances and stories from employees and customers, and I have seen products come off the shelf myself when there's no breeze or air conditioning," Taubman says.

The most common sighting is toys flying off shelves, the man says. But Johan is harmless and nothing dangerous or violent has ever happened, he says.

In fact, for most employees, encounters with Johan are just business as usual at the Sunnyvale Toys"R"Us.