Lucrezia Restaurant Investigation

The GRS was the first paranormal team ever to investigate Lucrezia Restaurant on June 26, 2014

Date: July 26 , 2014

Location: 302 S. Main St., Crown Point, IN 46307

Telephone: 219-661-5829

GRS Members present: Stan Suho, Kathie Para, Marge Sucha, Michael Wright, Katherine Meagher, Sandy Weber and Dale Kaczmarek

History: Voted the #1 best Italian restaurant in all of northwest Indiana and a former funeral home built in 1887, this was actually an impromptu investigation at the last moment. We had come to Crown Point to investigate the Crown Point Jail and I had chosen this location as the closest and nicest place to eat before our investigation. We were all in front of the jail, taking pictures, when a father and son duo on bicycles stopped and saw the logos on our GRS shirts and asked what we were doing. We told them that we were to investigate the jail later and were about to go to Lucrezia’s for dinner when they informed us that it was allegedly haunted. They went on to say that if you talked to the staff and the manager that they would be happy to tell you what they had encountered in the past.

So, during dinner that was brought up to our waitress who then brought it up to General Manager and Wine Specialist, Robert E. Miller. He offered to allow us to wander around the building while he told us a little about the past history of the place and the haunting activity. We were allowed to conduct a few short EVP sessions upstairs and use some handheld equipment.

The location looks like an old Victorian building with a beautiful antique woodworking design inside. The staircase to the upper floor was just magnificent and the food is fantastic!

Hauntings: Employees have had encounters with the supernatural in various ways and a lot of the activity seems to be in the upstairs areas. Strange sounds, footsteps, etc. Apparently quite a number of employees have joined the ranks of witnesses to some kind of phenomena. There were locations such as the basement and certain areas upstairs that employees did not feel comfortable going to by themselves. Mr. Miller personally has not been privy to any paranormal experiences himself.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Lucrezia Restaurant July 26, 2014. Team members included: Stan Suho, Marge Sucha, Kathie Para, Sandy Weber, Michael Wright, Katherine Meagher and Dale Kaczmarek

Equipment setup: No equipment was setup. Handheld equipment only was used and very minimal at that; digital tape recorders, Melmeters and cellphone recorders.

Experiments performed: EVP sessions were conducted in the attic and upstairs and sweeps of the upstairs dining area with EMF meters was also performed for baseline readings.

Personal experiences:

Katherine Meagher: Just before our investigations we stop off to eat, which might not be a good thing. Stomach noise and EVP’s don’t mix. The food was great and the ambiance was sophisticated. We had spoken with some of the patrons outside that had said the restaurant was haunted. As we ordered, we had conversation with our waitress who confirmed the patrons’ story of paranormal activity.

After dinner the Manager let us take a short tour of the upstairs area. He was kind enough to tell us the history that was very intriguing. We did a short EVP session and left. There was a lot of contamination due to the fact it was dinner and there were a lot of guest but, after reviewing the taped session when I got home, it has compelled me to hopefully do an investigation sometime in the future here.

If we get to do a true investigation of this restaurant again, I hope we get to dine before the investigation.

Stan Suho: Talk about an impromptu investigation, we were having dinner at a restaurant across the street from our main goal, the "Old Crown Point Jail", when a waitress noticed our T Shirts, and started asking questions. It turns out that the restaurant itself had some strange goings on. Apparently she notified the manager and we were invited to do a 2nd floor walk through after dinner. Of course none of us had all of our equipment but we made do. The EVP folks did have some of their recorders so that was a good start. After the meal we went upstairs and were given the tour by the manager. It was an older building with several smaller rooms upstairs, some of which had things happening. All I had with me was my 35 mm camera, so I did what I always do. I started taking pictures. I took a nice picture of Dale and the manager "for the website". He was a very nice fellow and seemed open for the publicity.

Conclusions;

Well needless to say, all I came away with were some nice photos. This might be a good place for a follow up investigation. We probably would not even disturb the dinner guest. Now off to investigate the Crown Point Jail. Break a leg.

Michael Wright: We decided to meet at this restaurant for dinner before our investigation at the jail.
When ordering our meal we discovered this location has had some unexplained activity that could be classified as paranormal from a member of the restaurant staff.
The restaurant manager was kind enough to let us do a quick impromptu investigation of the upstairs and attic of the restaurant.

We found out the history and details of things that have happened over the years while we were investigating. During the investigation we had several K-II spikes and heard noises that seemed to be originating from the upstairs on the other side of the room, unfortunately I did not have my recorder for this.

Hopefully we can do longer investigation here in the future starting out with a delicious meal from the kitchen before we investigate.

Kathie Para: Lucrezia is a popular Italian restaurant that was originally a funeral home. Ghost Research Society had the privilege of doing a short walk-through and an EVP session in the upper floors of this building. After hearing from a neighborhood man that the restaurant was haunted, we asked the waitress about it during dinner. After finding out we were paranormal investigators, we were invited by management to go on a tour of the second and thirds floors. Employees are very uncomfortable going to these areas and many actually refuse to venture up the stairs alone.

Ascending the stairs, my Melmeter immediately began to register high readings. This held true throughout much of the second floor and in one area in particular I got very high readings that topped out at 9.6. We tried in vain to find a reason for this high EMF reading but were unable to debunk it.

On the third floor we did a very short EVP session. Unfortunately, with the restaurant open on very busy on a Saturday night, there was much contamination coming from the first floor. We heard what sounded like a loud bangs on a pipe in what was once a small kitchen. This happened three times and seemed to coincide with me asking a question. Not knowing the building, I have no idea if this was a normal occurrence.

The high EMF readings we got on the second floor alone are reason enough to say I would be very excited to be able to return when the building is empty and do a full investigation and explore it further.

This was such an unexpected, exciting impromptu adventure!

Marge Sucha: Prior to our investigation at Crown Point Jail we had dinner at Lucrezia Restaurant. During dinner our waitress started to tell us some of the history of this beautiful restaurant and how some employees believe it to be haunted. After a conversation with management we were given a short tour and did a mini investigation.

We did get some high EMF readings on the third floor.

I did not pick up any EVP's on my recorder.

The restaurant beautiful inside and outside. The staff was great. Best part was the great food.

I would definitely go back!

Dale Kaczmarek: What a great place and it was so unexpected! This wasn’t the first nor will it be the last time that we have or will dine at a haunted restaurant. Mr. Miller and his staff were very accommodating and helpful during our short time there. Even though the restaurant was very crowded and busy, they took the time to allow us the opportunity to snoop around a bit upstairs and in the attic area. While there was obviously some contamination from the patrons and employees, it was still an interesting time and we may have collected some evidence in the form of EVPs and meter spikes. The meter spikes were the most puzzling and seemed to be very close to where some employees had had there encounters in the past. I personally did not feel or have any paranormal encounters while in the building.

Evidence collected:

Can you bang on that pipe.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the attic, a question was asked, and “Can you bang on that pipe again?” A Class A female voice replies with, “No.”

Era.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the attic, a question was asked, “Are you from the era when this used to be a funeral home?” A response is heard that cannot be made out.

Third floor bang again.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the attic, a question was asked, “Can you tell us your name?” Another bang is heard in the distance.

Third floor bang.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the attic, a question was asked, “Can you tell us why the girls are afraid to come up here by themselves?” A bang in heard in the distance.

What year is it.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the attic, a question was asked, “What year is it?” There is a whispered response in the background.

Conclusions: This location definitely needs a more formal investigation with more equipment and less contamination. It does show a lot of promise for potential paranormal evidence due to its past history and stories as well as the amount of encounters and evidence we collected during our short visit to the venue. I believe if we could garner permission to conduct another investigation after hours when the establishment is closed, the possibilities could be endless as to what we could potentially capture! I hope we can convince the manager to allow us a follow-up investigation after-hours.