So, since we're coming upon All Hallow's Eve, we thought we would share with you all one of the locations that we had the pleasure of conducting an overnight investigation at. This is the Klondike Bar and Restaurant located in St. Helens, Oregon. St. Helens was established as a river port on the Columbia River in the 1840's and was finally incorporated as city in 1889. Lewis and Clark actually passed through the area in 1805 and referred to the surrounding borders of St. Helen's as "rocky cliffs". You can read more about the history of this seaport town here if you're interested.
The Klondike restaurant was formerly part of the St. Helens Hotel, built in 1906 to house mill workers. The present building was the "left wing" of the hotel, and the space now occupied by the Klondike was the hotel's dining area. In 1954, a lot of the hotel was demolished, leaving only the present building which holds the restaurant. Although there is an upper floor where the hotel rooms were located, it's now vacant and currently not in use. In 2007 the restaurant closed its doors only to reopen in 2008 and has been open since.
In interviewing some of the employees at the restaurant, the experiences ranged from full bodied apparitions to disembodied voices. These voices were said to call out the names of the employees. One of the more plausible experiences is from a local police officer who reportedly saw a figure standing in front of the Klondike and when asked if he needed help, he noticed that only half of his body was visible before the apparition vanished. Other reports include electronics turning off and on and moving objects. A regular spirit, an older gentleman who wears a plaid shirt, frequents the actual bar area and has a specific booth he prefers to sit in. Also a young boy who seems to call for "dad."
Our group was fortunate enough to perform an overnight investigation. We were put on "lock down" for the night. :) With our tools of the trade, our investigation took place from about 11 p.m. and continued until about 3 a.m. the next morning. We broke into teams and separated into different parts of the restaurant. Being very careful, we were able to investigate the upstairs which is now closed off to the public. We performed EVP sessions in various rooms. Although not much came to fruition after reviewing the tapes, we did catch a sound of a woman crying. In connection with this, the psychic who provided her impressions to the group prior to our investigation said that a female spirit haunts the upstairs. The psychic went on to say that she had a miscarriage and is continually in search of her baby. We also noticed a beer light above the bar turned off on its own. Upon investigating possible explanations, checking for any shorts, etc. we could not recreate what had happened. However, some of the employees claimed that the hand towel dispenser tends to go off and on of its on volition. Upon further review and tests, we were able to determine that a certain amount of steam will set off this dispenser and with the location being in the kitchen, it was more than likely set off by the presence of steam. Claim debunked! Personal experiences were also had. One of our investigators said she heard the sound of voices as well as music and kitchen plates or silverware clanking before retiring for the evening. Another investigator felt cold spots and at one point in our investigation, the freezer in the basement had been opened when we noted earlier in the evening, it had been closed. Another investigator noted she felt very uncomfortable in the women's bathroom. Later on we found out that one of the employees became terrified when she inexplicably became locked in the bathroom and could not open the door until another employee came to help.
