Clay Haus Restaurant

Somerset, OH

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Investigation Start: 2100 (9:00pm)

Investigation End: 0430 (4:30am)

Investigators:  Ryan Wyse, Jeremy Weekly, Amber Flint, Dave Smith, & Kyle Weekly

Site Demographics:

    The building's construction date is unknown, but looks to be built in the late 1800's. The county auditor's office does not have any actual construction dates of any buildings built prior 1900.  It is a two story, brick frame home, with a basement that has been converted into a restaurant.  Next to this structure is another home, which was purchased by the Clay Haus.  A walkway connecting the two buildings was built, so they could create additional seating for their customers.  An interesting note about the buildings is that the first floor of the structures were not the original first floor.   During the time period that these buildings were built, the roadway in the town was actually lower, but was raised later in the years.  Therefore, the basements of these buildings at one time was the first floor.  The layout of the main building consists of seating area, restroom, utility room, bar area, and store room in the basement.  The main floor consists of seating area, a salad bar area, a restroom, and the kitchen.  The second floor consists of one large dining room for parties and such.  This room was one time split into two rooms and a hallway, but was removed during renovation.  A single staircase connects these floors together.  The secondary building consists of seating area on the main floor and storage in the basement and attic area.

Investigation Report

Claims of Activity

Basement - Witness of three full body apparitions standing at the base of the staircase by two employees, feeling of being touched in the bathroom, and an uneasy feeling in the utility room.

Main Floor - Full body apparition of woman in main dining area, feeling of being watched in kitchen, phantom knocking on exit door in kitchen, and seeing movement and shadow figures out the corner of your eye.

Second Floor - Movement of objects, feelings of being watched, and movement & shadow figures out the corner of your eye.

Equipment Location

• 3 static IR cameras were placed in the building, one on the second floor covering most of the room and the doorway, one in the second building's dining room pointing towards the entryway into the main dining area of the main building, and one in the basement covering the base of the stairwell.  These all are linked back to a DVR security system on a desktop.

• Wireless audio was placed on the second floor.

• Each investigation crew carried a Sony Nightshot Handicam, digital voice recorder, EMF/K-2 Meter, and digital thermocouple thermometer.

Investigation

• Activity began almost immediately upon arrival of the location.  While performing the site tour on the second floor, Mr. Snider was explaining the claims of activity to Ryan & Jeremy.  During the discussion, Ryan felt something touch his left side.   He attempted to recreate the incident, but was unable to. 

• After setup was complete, Ryan and Dave investigated the second floor.  During this time, Ryan felt a cold spot come up his back.  This only lasted for approx. 5-6 seconds and dissipated.  The area was investigated for a vent or some other outside force, but nothing found.  Shortly after this incident, Ryan asked that if anyone was there, please talk into microphone.  Evidence review revealed an EVP of a woman, however, we are unsure what it is saying.  Amber was the only female in the building that night and she was by herself at command central in the basement.  She denies ever talking while down there except on the radio, which we would have heard.

• Evidence revealed a strange rattling sound at the point the furnace turned on, followed by a "thump" 21 seconds later.  The only reason why this is interesting is that we all listened to the furnace fire up about 50 times during the evidence review and never heard this sound.  No one was up there at that time and nothing was captured on the static IR camera.

Strange Noise & Thump

• While Jeremy, Kyle, & Dave were on the second floor investigating, Kyle asked if the owner of the dress was in the room.  Afterwards, he asked that the owner give a knock for yes.  Immediately afterward, there was a knock caught on the audio, however, no one heard it.  Review of the static IR footage at that time revealed that no one knocked at that time.  Due to the angle of the camera at the present time, the mini DV camera was not able to capture all of the investigators at that time.

Direct Response

• While Ryan, Amber, & Dave were on the second floor, a strange noise came through the room, which sounded like it originated near the window area.  The sound during the investigation sounded like metal on metal grinding together, but after reviewing the evidence, it sounds like someone close to the wireless audio made a loud exhale.  The video below has been edited due to an inappropriate word during the reaction to the sound.  Shortly afterward, Amber's camera began making a repetitive noise that it has never been made before.  The camera had a full battery at the start of the investigation and we had only been into the investigation for an hour.  The camera was unable to shut off, so the battery was removed and reinserted where it wouldn't turn on.

• Approx. 5 minutes after the battery drainage on the camera, footsteps could be heard on the staircase next to us.  We immediately investigated to find nothing.  Confirmation by radio indicated that everyone was accounted for and no one had been able to create the footsteps.  Investigation on the stairwell began where, at 3 separate times, the EMF detector activated.  This lasted for approx. 5-10 seconds each before dissipating and could not be recreated.  The video below shows Ryan attempting to debunk the EMF spike, however, we were unable to.  The crew remained in the stairwell for more than 20 minutes attempting to recreate this afterwards, but we were unable to.

• While no one was on the second floor, we captured what sounds to be a chair sliding on a wood floor or, some other type of wood-on-wood squeaking sound, followed by a thump.  Everyone was accounted for and the static IR camera did not reveal any movement.

Squeak Noise

• The last incident that occurred that night was, once again, on the second floor while Jeremy, Kyle, & Amber were investigating.  Jeremy was whispering to the other two investigators that he was hearing something.  At the moment that he was explaining it, an EVP of a child's voice was captured.  The EVP sounds something like "can I play."  The audio file below has been amplified, so you may hear it better.

Child's Voice

Director's Report

    After reviewing all of the evidence that was collected, it is our feeling that there is some type of paranormal activity happening at the Clay Haus Restaurant.  Further investigation will need to be conducted in an attempt to collect further evidence.  The second floor & the staircase seems to be where most of the activity takes place.  No evidence, nor personal experiences, were gathered or experienced in any other location in the restaurant. A sweep of the entire location prior to the beginning of the investigation showed a high level of EMF while the lights are all on, however, when the investigation went "lights out," the only location that had high levels of EMF was the kitchen and the utility room.  The owner advised us that a previous paranormal group had camera failure of 2 separate cameras in the utility room, however, we did not have any failures with our equipment.  The electric panel in that room bleeds EMF throughout the entire room, which may be the reason for the uneasy feelings in that room.  Along with that, that may be the reason some feel being watched or seeing things in the kitchen.  However, this does not explain the knocking on the exit door or vision of a full body apparition in the dining area.  Dave & I attempted to debunk the knocking on the door, but we were unable to.  If pranksters were attempting to play jokes on the employees, they would have to run down exterior staircase and disappear out of sight.  Dave attempted to run down the stairs and duck around the corner, which took him 5 seconds to do.  I was able to hear him run down the stairs, so the likelihood of this taking place was not very good.  Plus, the owner advised us that some have opened the door immediately after the knocking, but nothing was there.  This activity will take some more investigating.  All in all, the investigation went very well and we capture some good evidence.  Our research into the location continues, however, very little is known about the location before it was converted into a restaurant.  If anyone has any additional information about this location, please feel free to contact me at ryan@ohiostateparanormal.com.

Ryan Wyse, Director/Lead Investigator

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