History & Activity:
NuNu's Bistro was once a carriage house built by
Nathaniel Hayward in the 1850's and was used to house horses when people came by to visit or for parties at the Hayward
house next door. It's unknown if anyone had ever died in the old carriage house. Its tough finding any information on
the place from back then.
Through the
owner, Ellen Carfi's research, she was able to find out that the place was used as a Catholic and Baptist church
at one time. Its also possible that the place was used as a masonic temple as well from the looks at some of the wallpaper
upstairs, but that has not been confirmed as of yet.
We
do know that the upstairs was also used as a dance studio at one time as well.
Ellen opened the lower section as a restaurant in the 80's and then opened
the upstairs in the mid 1990's....and thats when strange things started to happen.
Voices have been heard when nobody else was around. Some of the staff have heard
their names being called from empty rooms. One waitress walked upstairs and upon entering the dining room, she saw one of
the waiters walk past her and into the waiting station. She went to say hi and he was gone. She later found he wasn't
up there at the time because he was downstairs waiting tables. People have reported strange feelings in the upstairs blue
room. They have had feelings of being watched and feelings of not being alone.
On another occasion after the restaurant was closed, two of the staff were cleaning
up when they heard the sound of dishes crashing to the floor in the next room. They went in there expecting to see a mess
all over the floor and nothing was found out of place.
In
the basement there are reports of feelings of being watched and people getting nudged.
Shadows have been seen on the new stairwell along with a floating head.
Another girl saw a black streak move along the wall in the ladies restroom.
The Investigation:
CPEAR
was contacted after a nearby neighbor of the restaurant came by and told the owner about us. We then met with Ellen the owner,
and interviewed her to find out what was going on at NuNu's Bistro. We then scheduled 2 investigations.
During our first investigation, we had 9 of our team members present
and Katie Nally from the River East as well. Before we started setting up, we made reservations to have dinner at the Bistro.
None of us had eaten there before and were excited to try the fine food we heard about from other customers. What a great
dining experience it was. The staff was great and prompt, the atmosphere was enjoyable, and the food was awesome and very
tasty. Everyone on our team enjoyed their meal very much. We highly recommend it.
We started setting up our equipment around 11pm after the restaurant had closed for the night. We
covered the building from basement to 2nd floor with our eight camera survaillence system and set up our base in the corner
on the 1st floor.
We had 2 to 3 of us watching
the monitor at all times while tams of 3 investigated the basement and 2nd areas. Everyone was equipped with digital recorders,
EMF and KII meters, digital cameras, and night vision camcorders. We also used the Ovilus during the investigation as well.
The Ovilus is a high tech EMF meter that uses energy to speak words that a spirit may want to say. It is still being
tested in the field.
While investigating in the
basement, we found that the concrete floors are a little rough to walk on in some areas and could cause someone to be off
balance. We also found high EMF readings coming off most of the wiring in the basement causing a fear cage. The fear cage
will cause someone to feel like they are being watched or the feeling of not being alone. It will also cause headaches and
nausea. At one point while we were down there, we heard a lot of movement across the room, so we ran towards it to find out
that it was. It turned out to be an ice maker that turned on to make ice. We were unable to find any evidence of paranormal
activity in the basement area during this investigation.
A
group of investigators were upstairs in the blue room when they heard a voice come out of thin air that said "Boots". We
had someone in the room outside the blue room and he didnt hear anyting. We asked for it to say it again, and again they
thought they heard a voice say "boots".
Later in the night, about 3am, we decided to try an experiment. We took about 7 voice recorders and 7 walkie
talkies and spread them out together throughout the building while we set the recorders on record and we asked questions on
one walkie at our base that transmitted to all the other walkies throughout the building. This was a new type of EVP session
we are trying. We are hoping that any spirits that might be around will communicate with us when we are not present in the
rooms. We sat around base taking turns asking questions. Jay Peed asked "how many of you are here?". Upon review
of one of the recorders in the dining room on the 1st floor, we heard a faint voice reply "eight". Other EVP's we
caught on recorder that we didnt hear with our own ears at the time of the recordings on the 1st floor were... "Go home
sonny" & "Go away".
At
around 3:30am, we sent Jay Peed up to the 2nd floor where the original stairwell was located alone to have a solo evp session.
One of the questions he asked was "What is this place? Is it a restaurant or a stable?" Then while reviewing the
recorder, you hear a faint voice say "Stable". Thats exactly what the place was back in the late 1800's...a stable.
Our first night went very well. There was never a dull moment. We ended
up catching a good amount of EVP's and the disembodied voice that was heard in the blue room.
Night 2:
There were 7
of us present. We invited along Angel Ortiz, co-founder of CT Soul Seekers. Derrek, a former employee was also present and
Katie Nally from the River East joined us for a bit too.
We
pretty much had the same equipment set up as the first night. We also tried the same EVP test with the walkies too, except
we all went outside and left the building empty this time around.
During the EVP test, we managed to capture a voice on the digital recorder that was upstairs near
the blue room that said "Follow me to Christianity". Before the voice was heard, we had asked the question
"Is there anything else you want to say before we say goodnight?".
Another evp was captured in the dining room on this night while we were on a break and taking coffee
orders. This voice said "I'm Catholic". These two evps actually made sense since the building was used as a church
at one point.
Near the end of night 2, we
went up to the 2nd floor dining room for a final group evp session. While we were up there 2 investigators saw a black shaddow
move across the front of the room from right to left. It didn't appear to be in the shape of a person, but more of a
black mass. No cars went by at the time, so no source was found.
Conclusion:
NuNu's
ended being one of our best cases to date for catching evp evidence. This place does seem to have enough paranormal activity
going on that we can say it is haunted. Not to worry though, these spirits seem to exist in their own time and most don't
seem to be aware of the present. If there are spirits there such as Mr Hayward, they may just want to say hi from time to
time and thank you for stopping by the old Carriage house. These spirits are all on the good side.
