The Society for Paranormal Research and Investigation

	"Back in ’88, soon after I bought Gavin’s, a woman came up to me at a party and told me that I’d never be able to rent the upstairs apartment because it’s haunted. That’s when I first heard about it." Andy Gavin’s has been a landmark in Scranton since 1988, before that it was Kaplan’s Bar. The building itself dates back 100 years or more and it’s paranormal history may date back to a coal miner from the 1800’s. And who is this spirit who calls Gavin’s home? George is his name and during the course of our investigation I believe we wore it out. All of the employees and many of the patrons know George by name and many know him by deed. It seems that George doesn’t mind making himself known. George loves to play with the lights especially, but he also enjoys moving things around (i.e.: dishes, bar stools, knives and the pot washer handle) and using the men’s room (including locking the stall and flushing the toilet). But who is George? Well, first of all, we don’t know if George is actually his name. Everyone knows his name but no one knows if there was a real George or if it’s just the name they gave him. The date for the investigation was set for Saturday, November 5, 2005. Earlier in the week several of our members spent their evenings at Gavin’s to interview the staff and patrons for their experiences with George and, of course, to sample the delightful food and drink. After filling our bellies and notebooks, we knew (or thought we knew) George’s favorite haunts.
On the night of the investigation, we again arrived early to talk to Mr. Surace, his employees and the patrons and hear of any activity that may have had a bearing on where we placed our equipment. The following is a log of that evening’s events.

"Andy Gavin’s"

Owner: Don Surace

Location: Washington Ave, Scranton, PA

History: This building has been the site of countless paranormal experiences since at least 1988. The bar/restaurant occupies the first floor and basement (storage) and there is a second floor apartment. The owner, most employees, several patrons and few tenants have all had experiences with "George". George is the name that has been given to the ghost. No one that we interviewed knew for sure when or how he got his name, a few did speculate his origin from stories they had heard. George has moved furniture, touched people, used the men’s room, shown himself (to a select few) and engaged often in his favorite pastime; playing with the lights. An assembly of the experiences of those we interviewed will be attached soon.

Set up: For his investigation we used the following equipment:

Our new (4) camera low light vision surveillance system, (1) hand held camcorder with nightshot, several digital cameras, EMF detector, digital voice recorders and Rick’s audio recording system including microphones and laptop.

Basement: A low light vision camera was placed facing the keg cooler. One of our interviews told us the George has been known to turn the cooler lights on an off. This is also the area where George was witnessed by one of the employees.
Men’s Room: A surveillance camera was placed in the men’s room facing the stall. George has been known to open and close the stall door and flush the toilet. He normally does this during business hours so the light was left on.
Kitchen: A low light vision camera was placed in the kitchen facing the prep area and the exhaust hood. Dishes have been knocked off the counter and the hood lights have been "played with", for this reason the hood lights were left on.
Main Dining/Bar: A standard camcorder (connected to our surveillance system) was placed looking down the length of the dining room and bar. Few have actually seen anything in the main bar area but several employees have heard the bar stools moving while they were in the basement, and (1) patron was touched while at the bar.
Mobile: (1) Camcorder with night shot was used to accompany investigators on their sweep of the basement. It was then moved to sit on the bar while trying to capture movement and EVP’s. Later it was moved to the kitchen when investigators noted something in an area not already being recorded.

Investigation:

Stationary cameras were set up and operational by 3:00am.
Robin and Bill sweep basement for EMF’s and EVP’s
At approximately 3:05am one of the leaving employees turns off a switch which cuts the power to our cameras. The power loss was momentary and accidental. Recording resumed shortly thereafter.
3:11am still photography begins in the main bar.
3:12am Bill and Robin sweep kitchen for EVP’s/EMF’s
3:15am Tom moves hand held camcorder to the bar and begins to ask George questions.
3:34am Rick and Tom sweep basement for EVP/EMF.
3:52am Rick and Robin sweep kitchen for EVP/EMF, Both Rick and Robin experience a cold and tingling sensation and notice that the pot washer faucet is swinging back and forth.

3:55am the hand held camcorder is moved to the kitchen to record the movement of the pot washer faucet.
4:15am breakdown of stationary cameras begins. The hand held camcorder is left running in the kitchen.
4:40am Hand held camcorder is packed up.
All investigators leave the premises together at about 4:50am.

View the footage of George moving the pot washer.

Technical Review:

Photographic: Ongoing.
Video: Ongoing.
Audio: Ongoing.
EMF: There were so many pieces of equipment that had to be left running (i.e.: coolers, refrigerators etc) that EMF anomalies would have been very hard to detect.
Debunking: Although the movement of the faucet could not be duplicated on demand, the fact that a flexible hose attaches it cannot be ignored. Water pressure changes could have caused the movement, but our attempts to stop and start the motion by running water and flushing toilets elsewhere in the building failed to reproduce the phenomena.

The investigation that night left us with; 5 hours of video footage (approx.), 3.5 hours of audio footage (approx.), 80+ still photographs, 2 personal experiences, and one moving pot washer.

Many of our members pitched in for the review process. Some of the photographs had some anomalies in them, they were not strong enough evidence to consider them paranormal in nature. The audio evidence was difficult to analyze, as the background noise from refrigeration equipment was quite loud on our recordings. Nearly all the video evidence was unremarkable with the exception of the hand held camera when it was brought to the kitchen to record the phenomena that Rick and Robin experienced.

After the evidence was reviewed we talked to the owner of Andy Gavin’s once again to set up an appointment to show him the highlights of the evidence we collected. The Following is a record of that meeting:

Andy Gavin’s Bar & Grille

Status: (1) investigation completed and evidence reviewed.

After Investigation Interview:

On Sunday, December 4, 2005, Tom and Robin met with Don Surace, the owner, to present the evidence and relay the events that occurred during our investigation.

Attending the meeting were Tom, Robin, Don, (2) Gavin’s Employees and Don’s (2) sons.

Tom began the interview by recapping the sequence of events and placement of equipment. Don was satisfied that we had the hot spots covered. We then reviewed the pictures that had anomalies on them (we brought a laptop computer with us to do this and it worked out incredibly). Robin then told of her (and Rick’s) experience in the kitchen, and we showed him the video clip from shortly thereafter. Don was thrilled to hear that Robin and Rick had a personal experience, and even happier to see the video of the moving pot washer.

Don had several paranormal questions and Tom and Robin answered these questions according to current theories and their personal beliefs. It was agreed that what SPRI experienced and recorded, although not proof positive certainly warranted more investigation. Don was very agreeable to having SPRI investigate again in the future.

During our conversation, Don had mentioned that there will be some construction going on in the near future. Tom and Robin explained to him that often paranormal activity will increase at times when the building is undergoing changes and that we were interested in returning during the construction. Not only did he agree call us when the construction started but also told us the he would get us access to the attic (3rd floor), which was not included in the original investigation. Don relayed a couple stories involving the attic and all agreed that it was worth investigating.

Lastly, Tom and Robin told Don that SPRI would compile the personal accounts accumulated during our interviews (including his) and present these to him along with any information SPRI digs up on the building’s history.

Revised Status: Investigations Ongoing.