WILL COUNTY GHOST HUNTERS SOCIETY

     In 1907, Plainfield was the small quaint town of 1,100 people. With the arrival of the trolley, Plainfield became a more popular destination to visit. What prevented many from staying longer was the lack of a Catholic church. The Catholic Church decided to buy the vacant Unitarian church on Main Street. The purchase price was $2,050. The original church was built by the Unitarian in 1868. The Catholic Church remodeled, and added a steeple on the front and a sanctuary in the back. The church was named; Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception and held its first mass on Palm Sunday, April 1908.

             Photo taken prior to addition                 

        Photo taken in the early 1900's

     Saint Mary’s used the church on Main Street until September 1970. After the closing of Saint Mary’s, the building remained vacant for several years. Since then, the building has housed several restaurants, first, The Sanctuary, and then Mandy’s Steakhouse before becoming Baci’s Restorante.  Baci’s has been at the location for nearly two decades.

     Shortly after Baci’s Restaurant opened for business, the staff began to notice unusual activity taking place throughout the building. The owner of Baci’s John Perri, came into work one morning and heard the radio playing. Just prior to opening, he went to turn it off, he then discovered that it was not even plugged in. Other staff members have heard voices, and even have seen apparitions. On one occasion, Catherine Costello was bartending in the upstairs choir loft, when a couple asked her to take their picture. After she took their picture, she noticed an apparition of a man standing behind the couple.

Baci's Restorante

    The Will County Ghost Hunters Society has conducted several over night investigations at the location over the past two years. We have been able to record several EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena), and an access door flying off the wall in the former choir loft on video. Our members have heard phantom footsteps, whistling, and have even seen shadow people in the building.  

     The Will County Ghost Hunters Society’s most recent investigation at Baci’s was conducted on Wednesday October 21, 2009.

     The following EVPs were captured.

     The first team was investigating the former choir loft of the building; the team consisted of Dan Jungles, Dionna Jungles, Ron Muldoon, Jason Houck, and Dawn Aulet. The team took EMF and temperature readings. There were no abnormal readings detected. After numerous photos were taken, an EVP session was conducted. The team began the EVP session at 10:54 pm.

     At 10:58 pm, Dan asks, “What was your favorite song to sing?” This is followed by the sound of a camera, then Ron clearing this throat. He says, “Clear throat.”  Then someone sniffles and Dawn says, “Sniffle.”  Immediately after the spirit of a woman, possibly two can be heard singing, “Over the rainbow.” No one heard this during the EVP session.

     At 11:25 pm, Dawn asks, “Did you cook when you were alive?”   The question is followed by the sound of someone whistling. Everyone on the team heard the whistle with their own ears. Jason asks, “Did you hear that?”  Ron replies, “It sounded like a whistle.” Jason asks, “You heard it too Ron?” Ron says, “Yea, like an old whistle.”

     At 2:10 am, the entire WCGHS team consisting of Dan Jungles, Brian Brozovich, Ron Muldoon, Cat Costello, Debra Shea, Jason Houck, Sue Butler and Dawn Aulet returned to the choir loft to conduct an EVP session using the ghost box.

     At 2:13 am Dan says, “We couldn’t hear you. Can you say it again? What is your name?” The ghost box cycles and a male spirit says, “You missed it.”

     At 2:14 am the previous question is followed up. Dan says, “Can you say it again? What is your name?” The ghost box cycle and Dan says, “You’re only going to say it once, if we missed it too bad, right?” This is followed by a male spirit saying, “EVP.”

      On December 7, the Will County Ghost Hunters Society was conducting a paranormal investigation at Baci's Restaurant in Plainfield, IL. The restaurant is housed in a former church that was built in 1868. Minutes prior to this video being recorded several investigators were in the choir loft gathering base line EMF and temperature readings. They picked up EMF spikes that were moving around the room. They were able to follow it around the loft and downstairs to the main dining area. We were in the process of setting up the remainder of our DVR cameras, when a loud crashing noise was heard coming from the upstairs choir loft. The DVR tech saw the access door fly off of the wall by its self. Notice that the cable that comes through the door moves prior to the door coming. It appears that two hands pull it, as it one hand or "string" would have done it, it would create a "V" in the cable. The door was examined, and fit firmly in place. A number of experiments were conducted in order to try to naturally explain the door flying from both sides of the door. After nearly an hour, it was determined that it could not be explained naturally. Based the report phenomena, experiences, and evidence previously collected in the choir loft, it was deemed the door flying off was paranormal in nature.