Ghost hunters return to bar, find another one
By Joe Darrow	write the author
October 30, 2008 | 09:01 AM A television ghost-hunting cast returned last weekend — just in time for Halloween — to the Smithtown bar where they investigated supernatural reports last year. The crew of "Paranormal State," an A&E program about Penn State University researchers who investigate haunted locales, spent three days last weekend making nice with the patrons — corporeal and not — of Katie's Bar on Main Street in Smithtown. Last year they shot an episode at the tavern, where they located a friendly spirit named Charlie after employees reported apparitions, phantom footsteps and wine glasses flying off the rack. "People say they see shadow people out of the corner of their eye, especially people who don't know about the hauntings," said bar owner Brian Karppinen. He closed off the bar to the general public Thursday night to allow the Paranormal crew to seek out other signs of a supernatural presence. The Paranormal cast returned this fall with more advanced gear — a twin-access accelerometer, to be precise. The instrument allows the researchers to measure the force involved in supernatural occurrences like spontaneously flying barware. Their visit also led to a discovery: Charlie is not the only ghost who frequents Katie's, and the other guy "is no fun," said psychic intermediary Chip Coffie of Atlanta, a frequent consultant for "Paranormal State." Coffie said he senses that this other spirit is linked to the area's Dutch roots. The second ghost seems to have had a "nasty" disposition in life, "and death has not changed him a lot." Journeying into the bar's basement, where people have reported apparitions on the stairs, Coffie said, "There is no doubt when I walk down here — I really still feel like there is activity in here." At one point, he reported seeing an image hovering behind this reporter. "There's no doubt in my mind that this place is haunted," Coffie said. Multiple psychic intermediaries have verified at least Charlie's existence, according to Karppinen. In their first investigation of Katie's, the "Paranormal State" researchers learned that he is the ghost of bootlegger and bartender Charlie Klein, who lived across the street from Katie's during Prohibition. Karppinen located Klein's relatives and brought them to the bar "to celebrate the late bartender's life, perhaps in the hopes that honoring his memory would purge the bar of his restless spirit," according to a written account by Karppinen. The effort does not seem to have succeeded, as reports of supernatural phenomena continue, while the number of resident spirits appears to have doubled. Indeed, the Paranormal crew's continuing investigations may yield another episode concerning Katie's that would run in January, pending A&E executives' approval, cast members said.