Bridge Cafe 8.25.07

Investigation: The Bridge Café - New York, NY

Date of Investigation: 8/25/07

Investigators: Arthur Matos, Jason Stroming, Laura Pennace, James Bricks

The Scene

On Saturday, August 25th, the EPIC team investigated the Bridge Café in New York City, NY. The Café is the oldest surviving bar in New York City, and was once a brothel. It was a favorite eating spot of former NYC mayor Ed Koch. EPIC is the first paranormal investigative team to ever investigate this historic location, which sits at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side.

Activity that is currently being reported involves moving shadows, the sound of footsteps from the above floors, strange feelings of being watched, and the smell of perfume or lavender, the source of which can never be adequately explained.

The café proper, which is a bar/restaurant, sits on the first floor of this three-story wood frame building, which was built in the 1700's on Manhattan's historic waterfront. The EPIC team set up its base of operations (or "safe room") in the main administrative office on the second floor. Also on this floor are rooms that are currently used for liquor storage, as well as a changing room for kitchen and wait staff. There is a stairwell that leads up to the third floor, which used to house the actual brothel rooms. Today, the rooms are used for storage for things such as liquor, extra chairs, and financial records. The owner of the establishment gracious enough to allow us full access to the building overnight, and once the kitchen and wait staff left, the only people in the building were the four team members from EPIC. A total of five infrared cameras, connected to the multi-channel DVR system, were used for this investigation, with 1 positioned facing the main office hallway, 2 in the bar area, and 2 more on the third floor, in the storage rooms. Three camcorders were also set up, with one in the safe room, one in the second floor hallway, and one on the third-floor storage room. A digital audio recorder, digital camera, and 35mm camera were also used by each team, as well as a Mini DV recorder to document the investigation.

The Investigation

For this investigation, two teams were established. Team 1 consisted of Laura and Jason, while Team 2 consisted of Jimmy and Artie. All video and audio equipment started recording at 9:45pm.

Team 1 began by investigating the third floor brothel area. EMF sweeps were done to record baseline readings in the rooms and hallway. The first EVP session was conducted in the main storage room, and then continued out in the hallway which connected all of the third floor rooms. Team 2 stayed behind in the safe room to monitor the DVR and wireless audio.

After Team 1 concluded their investigation of the third floor, the cameras were allowed to run. After approximately 30 minutes, Team 2 headed downstairs to the bar area to start their investigation. Again, EMF sweeps were done, and a lengthy EVP session was conducted.

After Team 2 finished, Team 1 then headed downstairs to investigate the bar area as well. Once the EMF sweep was done and a short EVP session conducted, the investigation ended.

Each Team took digital & 35mm photographs, and had a digital recorder in each room they investigated.

The Findings

During the investigation, the EPIC team did not experience anything unusual. There were some strange sounds, but these were eventually all attributed to noises coming from outside of the building. Because of the proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge, noises would sometimes come through from outside.

As far as photographic and video evidence, again, nothing unusual was captured. We had a number of dust orbs, but these were clearly dust, and not unexpected in a building as old as the Bridge Café. Lights were seen to be moving on the walls, but these were easily explained as headlights from traffic on the bridge.

As far as the audio evidence is concerned, there were a few anomalies caught by the team. Unfortunately, none of them are strong enough to be considered evidence. In most instances there was noise coming from outside, so even though there are some unusual sounds, they are not clear enough and therefore we have not considered them fit for evidence.

Conclusions

The EPIC team found nothing that we could call unexplained. The night was uneventful, as none of us had any personal experiences, and nothing showed up in photographic, video or audio review. The building is old and historic, and the food at the bar is fantastic, but we caught no evidence of anything paranormal. But the stories persist, and we are hoping to go back to the Bridge Café soon, to conduct a follow up investigation.

Click below to see our video summary of the investigation.