Smithtown has quite a history when it comes to ghost stories. Here's a look at the alleged paranormal activity and encounters throughout three town hot spots: Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, Smithtown General Hospital and Katie's of Smithtown.

Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts (Smithtown Performing Arts Council):

Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, located at 2 East Main St., originally opened in 1932 as the Smithtown Movie Theatre, a single-screen movie house with approximately 500 seats and a balcony. It was later operated by United Artists for many years as discount movie house. It eventually closed and was planned to be torn down. But in 1999, more than 8,000 Smithtown residents signed a "Save the Theatre" petition, making this historic structure possible to become a live theater playhouse in October 2002.

This theater, however, allegedly has a haunted history. According to the Long Island Paranormal Investigators (LIPI, the longest in-operation paranormal investigation team on Long Island), when it was a discount movie house, the projectionist would operate both the Smithtown and Northport Theaters simultaneously by driving back and forth. One night while doing so, the projectionist was tragically killed in a car accident in the Kings Park area. Soon after, another projectionist who worked at the theater made claims of seeing his ghost on the balcony. Other claims were that if projection equipment was broken, it would mysteriously be fixed the next day before the service technician arrived.

The owners of the theater did not wish to comment. However, "there is definitely activity here," said an employee at the theater.

Smithtown General Hospital:

Smithtown General Hospital was a small community hospital that closed in 1999 due to lack of funding and number of lawsuits it was facing. The building stood abandoned for years, until it was torn down in the winter of 2007.

Before the building was destroyed, however, rumors of it being haunted caused tons of intruders to ghost hunt, especially on Halloween night.

According to the LIPI, people reported seeing a woman in a white gown walking the halls on the second floor by the surgery rooms, along with the other spirits that existed within the hospital walls.

Katie's of Smithtown:

Before it was Katie's, the land and building served multiple purposes over the years. For one, in the late 1800's it was the Trainor Hotel, which burned down on Dec. 5, 1909. During the 1920's, it was J.H. Bishop Candy Shoppe before becoming a bar. It was purchased in 2000 by Brian Karppinen and is now Katie's.

The bar, located at 145 West Main St., has had significant renovations and is rumored to be haunted.

According to the LIPI, the list of stories and encounters that have taken place at Katie's includes patrons reporting seeing the figure of a man, who they believe to be named Charlie Klein (who shot himself in the 1920's), the figure of a woman, people in turn-of-the-century clothing, mysterious noises and footsteps and glasses moving on their own. The owner also reported being saved from falling down the stairs. He was alone at the time.

"Brian reported that he once was at the top of the back door stair case, lost his balance and started to fall backwards, but something grabbed him and pushed him back up to his feet," according to the LIPI. "The owner Brian periodically has someone in to bless and cleanse the building. He reports this helps keep paranormal activity down."

This sparked the interest of many media outlets. The television show "Paranormal State" featured the bar in 2007, Long Island Oddities has displayed it on their website and the LIPI investigated it in January and May of 2008.

With a sign on Katie's door that read "Closed for Paranormal Investigation Tonight," DVR (Digital Voice Recorder) cameras, EMF (Electro Magnetic Field) detectors and K2 meters (a type of EMF meter) in place, the LIPI investigated Katie's. Their findings included: high EMF detections, shadows moving, banging and breathing sounds, being touched, drops in temperature and the smell of cigar smoke.

Although these experiences were recorded, the LIPI was unable to collect documentation of paranormal activity at this location.