Sip Coffee House Investigation Crown Point, Indiana

This location was once a funeral home and beauty parlor that sold beauty items and dates back to the early 1900s. Today it is a cozy place to relax with some coffee or other food items. They have a nice menu for such a small place, located right on the square across from the courthouse.

Address: 11 N. Court St., Crown Point, Indiana 46307

Telephone: 219-662-9165

Owner: Rhonda Bloch

Hauntings: Items would be rearranged when employees would come in at the start of the next day. Salt shakers would fly off of shelves.

Kitchen: Items would fall off of shelves there as well. The floor appears to be a bit unlevel and gives some people a “fun house” effect.

Art in the building changes all the time due to local artists displaying and selling their artwork.

Main Room: There used to be a picture with a set of keys on it and it is said that the keys would move on their own.

A former customer used to come to the coffee shop when the place first opened and he later passed away. He was a regular and employees said they believe he would still come and hang out in the Main Room.

There is a strange report of a possible Doppelganger seen here. A story that the owner’s sister told about a customer the came in, ordered something and said he was going to the restroom. They thought he had left and changed his mind about his order. When he finally came to the counter to ask for his coffee, the employee said that we thought you had already left.

There are a couple of upstairs apartments and at the time there was a waitress that had bright blue hair. Recently when Williams was visiting the location, he was casually asked who his favorite waitress was and he replied, “The one with the blue hair.” Immediately she smelled the scent of a blueberry muffin in the air.

When Williams was relating that story to us, Rosario, Kos and I immediately smelled a whiff of blueberry in the air and seemed to come from the front of the building, pass by me and drift towards the kitchen area. Weird! That was around 3am when that occurred.

Equipment setup: A REM Epod was deployed in the Main Room along with a Tri-Field Natural EM Meter, Melmeter with Proximity Probe, Night camcorder however no Command Center was setup due to the fact that all the EVP sessions were conducted in the Main Room.

Experiments performed: EVP. Mini-Portal, Radio Specter, ghost applications, Ovilus X, SB-7 & SB-11 Ghost Box and Inductive Probe sessions were conducted in the Main Room.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Sip Coffee House Crown Point July 7, 2018. Team members included: Charles Williams, Jim Piscopo, Greg Kos and Dale Kaczmarek

Personal experiences:

Jim Piscopo: We arrived at the Sip Coffee House and started the investigation around 10pm. I set up my Sony camcorder with night vision in the main sitting room. Chuck gave us a history of the coffee house and the activities that were taking place. As he was telling a story about blueberry muffins the scent of blueberries filled the kitchen area. The team then went to the main sitting area and we did numerous EVP sessions with all the equipment we had in our arsenal. This location is in the town square with many bars around and being it was a Saturday night there were many party goers out and about. There was quite a lot of noise and yelling and it was hard to hear anything on my CD's. We quit about 3am and headed home. Upon reviewing my CD's I did not get any evidence.

Mike Rosario: Introduction: I had a great time at the SIP Coffee House located in Crown Point, Indiana! This was my first time at this location with the GRS. From what I've gathered, this is one of two coffee shops located in Indiana under the same name and owner. The other location is in Highland, Indiana, which I also hear is haunted. There have been a quite a number of interesting phenomena going on at this location, and that's what intrigued us to come out and investigate. There have been reports of antique items and furniture being moved/rearranged, or dropping from the shelves. The items of art that are for sale keeps moving or falling down from their holdings. It has been said that a former customer had passed away inside the house whose spirit might be haunting the facility. A family relative (a father) also had passed away there. He was a goose hunter. Some have heard wild goose calls in and around the house. The house was a former funeral parlor at one time. It has also been a beauty parlor, and beauty items have been knocked off the shelves, hence some poltergeist activity. There was even a family pet dog that had passed away there as well. The top floors are currently being rented out as apartments. And an interesting case has also surfaced where a doppelganger of a customer who came in to order some coffee. While waiting for his coffee to be filled, he decided to use the Men's restroom. Workers witnessed the same looking gentleman emerge from the lounge area, go into the front foyer area (dining room), and leave the shop. A minute or two later, the same gentleman who was inside the restroom came out to obtain his cup of coffee, and workers were absolutely dumbfounded when they looked at him, and started asking him questions about his whereabouts. His testimony revealed that he had only been inside the washroom for a bit during that time, and when he was finished, he went into the front sitting area (near the cashier) to pay and retrieve his cup of coffee.

Investigation/Equipment Used: Our investigation took off at approximately 11:15pm EST on Saturday, July 7, 2018. Weather was very warm and muggy, but clear. Equipment used was my K-II meter, a Philips Digital Voice Recorder, a new Sony Super Night Shot Handy-Cam DCR-TRV13 NTSC 560 Digital Hi-8 20X Optical Zoom video camcorder, a new Police Security Elite Blackout 615 Lumen Hands-free Heavy Duty Flashlight, and my Sony Handy-Cam HDR-XR160 AVCHD 42xEZ video camcorder. Also used was my trusty new iPhone 8 Plus with the EVP Ghost Hunter Analyzer Tool app, which is a tool that makes use of a variety of sensors in your phone or tablet, and gives you easy-to-use access to EMF meters and EVP detectors to detect and hunt ghosts and spirits. The included EVP analysis, with the over 1000 words dictionary, analyzes captured EVPs, and in combination with the sensors for the EMF meter and other environmental reads, will approximate the meaning, and select the closest corresponding meaning of what is being said through the device's audio microphone. I placed the latter camera on a tri-pod in the front foyer (dining room) area, and began taking readings in and around this place, and was surprised at the spikes I received! Even in areas where there was less EMF, i.e. around tables, chairs, or anything that wasn't too close to electric outlets, refrigerators, and other like machines, there were constant high-ranged spikes. Some were in the low range of 5-10mG to about 35-40mG in the high range. Quite something! Dale, Chuck, Greg, and I then began conducting EVP sessions in the kitchen/foyer/dining room areas, and took turns asking questions for about a good twenty-five minutes or so. Then we took a little break, and then moved to the coffee lounge area (in the adjacent room). Again, I was using my K-II, and recording readings in this room as well. For the most part in that room, the energy seemed to die down a bit. Nothing too high-ranged. A low of about 2mG to about 8mG for the high. I began filming with my night-shot camera at this time. Again, we all took turns with this EVP session, and asked various questions pertaining to the house and its strange phenomena in hopes to achieve verification of some sort to the disturbances. Dale, Chuck, and Greg used some nifty devices from their own arsenal to get some answers as well.

Investigation Wrap-Up: The investigation ended around 3:30am EST on July 8, 2018.

Evidence: Upon reviewing all of my evidence, it is sad to note that I didn't receive any responses on my voice recorder, nor did capture anything on my video devices as well. I also must note that there was a lot of commotion outside the coffee house, even at those hours, which made it very challenging to decipher any EVPs. However, we kept getting a lot of spikes on our K-II devices. They were always in the orange/red level range. I also kept getting responses from my ghost app on my iPhone telling us some pretty gruesome things, like: Slain, Death, Gouge, Bled, Red, Fatal, The Chair, and Be Prepared. The word, blueberry, also kept coming up, too. There were also many names that popped up as well, like: Victoria, Sam, Kyle, Rick, Thomas, and Edward. I would also like to note that while investigating, something had hit my chair that I was sitting on. The thought that immediately came to mind was that it might've been the dog that had passed away that was by my chair or so, trying to get my attention. Not only that, but my K-II meter was going off like crazy around my chair. Interesting, to say the least!

Conclusion/Overall: As always, it was a very good investigation. I really enjoyed being here. Such a great tourist attraction as well, I've noticed! As a first timer there, it was a great experience. I would love to come back and visit soon for another follow-up investigation! We all look forward to another exciting day/night to investigate the hereafter. Many thanks to the owners as well for letting us visit one of their very own cool coffee shops! Everybody who's anybody, who'd like a good Cup O Joe, will not be disappointed. It has history, art, and a friendly atmosphere where folks can mingle, drink a hot or cold one, and talk about the good ol' days with one another...or with those who've been there from long ago, I might add.

Charles Williams: History: 1 of 2 coffee shops owned and operated by Rhonda Bloch. A lot of claims by all staff: The owner feels her Father (Deceased) visits the shop, as well as a patron (deceased). Items come off shelves, things are moved when staff comes in, there was a doppelganger story about a customer coming in, followed by a guy leaving who looked like him, but he was in washroom.

Equipment: Zoom recorder, GoPro camera, IR light, Melmeter with REM Pod and Shadow Detector, Full spectrum camera.

Experiments: Small space, so we pretty much stayed together as a group. EVP sessions included; spirit box, Ovilus X, Dale’s Mini-Portal device and app.

Personal Experiences: Several investigators noted a blueberry smell as I relayed a story about the last hunt done there.

Observations: Unfortunately the coffee house is in a “party” area on the square, a lot of bars, and one has opened 2 doors down, so there were a lot of passersby making loud talk and noises. Nothing noted as far as spirit activity, but will review evidence.

Dale Kaczmarek: The most profound occurrence that happened to me at the location was when Williams was relating the story about the waitress with the blue hair. The smell of blueberry was immediately present and seemed to drift from the entrance of the coffee house towards the register before dissipating. I would say that the odor lasted for about 45 seconds. We all immediately tried to debunk this by going to the counter where the muffins, coffee grounds and other food items are kept to see if any of those emitted that odor. We could not find a match and even if it was some odor given off by food products, it shouldn’t have disappeared. We should have still been able to smell it.

There was some contamination from local bars during some of our EVP sessions and almost a fight in the streets that local police had to break up. Typical youths on a Saturday night after imbibing alcoholic spirits.

During the 2^nd session I picked up a stick figure near the door of the restroom which lasted for a bit before disappearing.

There were a number of interesting words that came through our “real-time” EVP devices. I don’t think this is a place where any more than 4-5 people could investigate at one time.

Evidence collected:

Blueberry scent sip2.MPG – during the initial walk-through, Williams was relating a story about an investigation in the past where they talked about his favorite waitress with blue hair when all of a sudden they smelled the scent of blueberry. While retelling that story Rosario, Kos and I all smelled the strong scent of blueberries in the air that seemed to move from the front of the establishment towards the kitchen before quickly disappearing.

Come come sip2.MP4 – William’s 4k full spectrum static camcorder placed in the kitchen area picked some voices that said, “Come come.”

Come again sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session a comment was made, “Goodbye.” The device responds with a faint male voice saying, “Come again.”

Come sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, a voice came through that sounds like, “Come.”

Ed sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, a question was asked, “Who are we talking to? Can you give us your first name?” The device responds with, “Ed.”

Elliot sip2.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session, as Kaczmarek reached for the device it suddenly says, “Elliot.”

Get out sip2.MPG – while conducting an Ovilus X session, the device says, “Get out.”

Hello sip2.MPG – while conducting a SB-7 ghost box session, a question was asked, “Can you say hello to everyone?” The device responds with a male voice that says, “Hello.”

I’m here sip2.MPG – while conducting a Quiet Time session, a question was asked, “Don’t you want to talk with us?” A faint male voice was recorded that clearly says, “I’m here.”

Jim sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, the device says what sounds like, “Jim.” One of investigators that evening was Jim Piscopo.

Loud knock sip2.MP4 – William’s 4k full spectrum static camcorder located in the kitchen area picked up a very loud knock very near to the camera.

Ma’am sip2.MPG – while conducting a Quiet Time session, a faint voice was recorded that sounds like it either says, “Ma’am” or a cat meow. We cannot be 100% sure that this wasn’t caused by outside contamination from nearby bars in the area.

None sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, a question was asked, “Which type of witchcraft was practiced here?” The device responded with, “None.”

Ohh sip2.MPG – while conducting an EVP session, an EVP of what sounds like a male in the background emits an, “Ohh” sound.

One sip2.MPG – while walking around with the X-Cam SLS system, Kaczmarek picked up a stick figure by the bathroom door which is one of the hotspots in the building.

Paranormal talk sip2.MPG – while conducting an SB-11 ghost box session with the antenna disconnected, a very clear male voice was heard saying, “Paranormal talk.”

Pete sip2.MPG – while conducting an SB-7 ghost box session, a question was asked, “What’s your first name?” The device responds with, “Pete.”

Six sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, a question was asked, “How many of you are in this room?” The device responded with what sounds like, “Six.”

Small scrape thud sip2.MP4 – William’s 4k full spectrum static camcorder placed in the kitchen picks up the sound of a small scrape followed by a loud thud. No was nearby at the time. You might also hear the shadow detector device alerting in the background.

Turn off sip2.MPG – while conducting an Echovox session, a female voice comes through that sounds like she says “Turn off.”

What did it say sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, a female voice comes through at the very beginning of the clip and said, “What did it say.” We could not determine if the voice came through the Mini-Portal or was a true EVP.

Who’s there sip2.MP4 – Williams’s 4k full spectrum static camcorder placed in the kitchen area picks up a very clear female voice that says, “Who’s there?”

Yep1 sip2.MPG – during the initial walk-through, Williams was answering a question about the age of the building and finishing a sentence with, “The early 1900s.” An EVP voice was picked up that said, “Yep.”

Yep2 sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, a question was asked, “That help?” The device responded with, “Yep.”

Yes sip2.MPG – while conducting a Mini-Portal session, a question was asked, “Was anyone killed here?” The device responded with, “Yes.”

You’re all stupid sip2.MPG – while conducting an SB-7 ghost box session, the device says, “You’re all stupid.” By the way, the phone app that we were using at the time displayed, "Under chair" which we thought was a bit creepy at the time.

Words spoken by various devices throughout the evening:

Session #1: Ovilus X in dictionary mode - Tall, book, plant and go; Ovilus X in phonetic mode - Elliott, spooky and get out; Ghost Applications - Serve, interest, Kendall, swim, Ian, row, trail, Amanda, short, aggression, brutalize, you are guilty, every, winds and Kyle; Mini-Portal - Rick, come and Steve.

Session #2: Echovox - None of your business; Ghost applications - Under the chair, joy, relics, deal, pain, Rhonda, nail and push; SB-7 Ghost Box – Paranormal, stop, hello and come here; Ovilus X in dictionary mode – Twenty, stood and manual.

Session #3: Ovilus X in dictionary mode – Allow, early and alive; Ghost applications – Riley, school, Brendan, enjoy, red, Samuel, fade, fingers, exactly, afraid of you, slain, pass, discovered, reverend and laugh; Ovilus X in phonetic mode – Hate and up.

Conclusions: There were a lot of words and names picked up by various devices however there weren’t that many that were actual responses to questions asked. They seemed more like random words being spit out of ghost applications (which I don’t have much confidence in) or other stand-alone devices.

There was some outside contamination due to it being a Saturday night and several bars were located on the square. The constant parade of people was a little annoying but it was easy enough to filter out which voices were real and possible paranormal ones.

I wish to thank Rhonda for allowing us the opportunity of investigating this coffee house as we earlier investigated her other coffee house as well. This building was much smaller than the other one but still interesting enough.