Ghost Adventures Stirs Up Activity at Katie's Bar

The television film crew of Ghost Adventures locked down at Katie's in Smithtown last Thursday and they were not disappointed, according to owner  Brian Karppinen. 

"Ghost Adventures," a popular Travel Channel show, rented out Katie's in Smithtown from Wednesday to Friday, Karppinen said, to search for evidence of the bar's famous ghosts and investigate new poltergeists. 

"There’s always activity here, but it changes from time to time. Lately, we’ve been hearing voices of women and children, which is kind of new," Karppinen said. 

Ghost Adventures Crew - publicly known as Zak, Nick and Aaron- had a scout contact Karppinen after learning about 'Charlie." The spirit is believed to be the ghost of Charlie Klein, who was a bootlegger and bartender in the 1920s, as well as a former owner of the hotel that burned down. Klein committed suicide in 1933 in fear of going to jail after selling a drink to an IRS man, according to Karppinen's own research.

"Ghost Adventures had a local actor came in and pretended to be Charlie," Karppinen said, referencing the show's setup of re-enacting the legend behind the ghosts. "I didn’t take part. I didn’t want to disrespect Charlie in any way, his family comes to the bar still." 

All the activity stirred up an emotional response from Katie's other worldly residents. 

"They got activity right away. It was  bit different than I’ve ever seen before," Karppinen said.  

He said this time of the year, particular close to Halloween, there tends to be an uptick in ghostly activity at Katie's, according to the owner. 

"There’s something to be said for the holiday, the activity does get a long stronger. In the very, very cold weather it's almost non-existant but this time of the year we get a ton of activity," Karppinen said. 

Each and every day, Katie's staff and bar tenders run into patrons who want to talk about Charlie and the other ghosts, many with their own theories of what's causing the unexplained happenings. 

Karppinen said he frequently faces skeptics who say alleged ghost activity, such as video of glasses falling off the racks, is caused by vibrations from the nearby train tracks. However, he said that theory was discounted when the television series Paranormal State brought seismographs into the bar with copies of the train schedule to time any movements. The passing trains generated less movement than stomping one's feet, according to Karppinen. 

As for what evidence the Ghost Adventures Crew did find, Karppinen couldn't say but it will be revealed in a New York-Long Island episode airing on the Travel Channel in roughly 3 months.