05/16/2022
History/Background:
Finding the history on a property can sometimes prove to be more difficult than you would think. We came across this problem for this specific location. Through our own research, plus the help of the Upper Arlington Historical Society, we didn’t end up with a lot to go on.
What we did find out is that this property (along with much of the area) was owned by a prominent pioneer family (Lakin) in the early 1800’s, and stayed within the family for generations.
Sometime during the mid to late 1900’s, the property changed owners, and would eventually become an antique store, as well as a boutique.
In 1991, the property was bought again, and then renovated into the La Chatelaine that we know today. Note: La Chatelaine currently has 3 properties.
Claims:
There have been claims of the Paranormal at this location for much of La Chatelaines history. Early experiences include radios turning on/off without batteries or being plugged in, as well as sightings of a candle floating down a hall on its own, and then vanishing. More recent activity include employees seeing a “Woman in White” sitting on a patio chair (usually in the afternoon), and then disappearing suddenly; along with hearing whispers in their ears during work. An employee has also mentioned that he often sees what looks like shadows moving in the bar area.
On one occasion, an employee came in to work late in the night to start baking for the next day. He had swept and mopped the area, and then started on the dough. Another employee came in hours later, and noticed something strange on the floor by the back door. Some of the flour had fallen onto the floor, and in the flour were 2 clear footprints, which seemed to be walking toward the back door. At the time, there were only 2 employees in the entire restaurant, and of course they both had shoes on. They quickly took a picture (see attached).
Investigators for the Night:
Mark, Kayla, Mandy, and Jerry
The Investigation:
Once the tour, meeting with the owners, and setup was completed, we got straight to work. We always go into Investigations trying to debunk or replicate activity to see if it is man-made or Paranormal in nature. We split the team, with Mark staying at Home Base to monitor cameras, and the rest of the group starting the Investigation in a sitting area by the bar. We did an EVP session (electronic voice phenomenon) and unfortunately did not catch anything. We then moved into the back kitchen area and kept doing EVP sessions. Other than a few odd noises (most likely normal restaurant noise) we weren’t catching anything. We regrouped at Home base, and decided to try a Sprit Box Session. A Sprit Box is a device that filters through AM radio stations very quickly, so most of what you hear is static noise. The theory is that a spirit can manipulate the stations to create words and interact with whoever is listening to the Sprit Box. To achieve this, one of the team members will be blindfolded, and will listen to the Sprit Box with noise-cancelling headphones on; and will say whatever they happen to hear through the Spirit Box as the rest of the team asks questions. Unfortunately, we were unable to get any concrete responses through the Spirit Box during this session.
With that, we decided that since we hadn’t had any experiences or interactions since arriving, we packed up our gear and called it a night.
Evidence:
Unfortunately, for this investigation, we were unable to catch any Paranormal Activity. This happens more often than you would think! Not having activity doesn’t necessarily mean that a site does not have activity, we just couldn’t catch it this time.
Debunked:
We were not able to repeat any of the claims that the owners had shared with us, so at this time we have not debunked any of the claims. But, our investigation will most likely be ongoing with the many locations of La Chatelaine, and we hope to one day have answers to the claims made throughout the years!