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| Supernatural Investigators of Minnesota Case Notes |
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Place: First Avenue Entertainment Center in Minneapolis
Date of Investigation: Saturday, February 26, 2011
Investigators present: Jerry Ayres, Mae Kelley, Stephanie
Ayres, Annette Torok Katie Sonmor, Kacie Ayres, George
Donaldson, Andrew Jaffe
Time: 2:00 am |
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| We were delighted to have the
opportunity to do an investigation of First Avenue. We have long
heard claims about this world class music venue, and we are
aware that it has shown up on many lists of Minnesota’s
most haunted places. We interviewed several people who have been
or are current employees of First Avenue, and most all of them
had reports of ghostly activity. |
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| The building that is now First
Avenue, was built in 1937 as a Greyhound Bus Depot. Massive
numbers of people came through the doors of this building
traveling to unknown destinations. The Greyhound Depot was a
world class depot, offering weary travelers showers, food, and
air conditioning. It closed and moved to a new facility a few
blocks away in 1968. |
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| First Avenue opened it’s doors
in 1970, and has since become a legend in the music business.
Many music giants have played this venue, and continue to do so.
The club continually hosts thousands of music lovers who enjoy a
wide variety of music. First Avenue is a well known music venue
throughout the world. |
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| Arrival |
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| We arrived at First Avenue at
2:00am, on February 26. The very large venue was emptying out of
it’s patrons, and as we waited for it to calm down we
chatted with employees about the property and it’s ghostly
occupants. |
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| Employees Experiences |
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| The team was briefed by the
employees of the complex the activity they had experienced,
reports of paranormal activity, and history as they knew it to
be. As we toured the property, they explained to us the
different happenings there, which we have summarized below.
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| The ladies bathroom on the second
floor is perhaps the best known for it’s activity. A woman
reportedly hanged herself in the fifth stall of the bathroom,
and her ghost appears to employees and customers. |
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| Also on the second floor is an area
known as the “Record Room”, or “The Cave” in
which several employees described chairs falling for no reason.
Many feel uncomfortable in this area, and say it’s “creepy”. |
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| A former employee told us of how he
used to mop the floor in the main music area and stage, yet turn
back only to find one perfect square had not been washed, when
he in fact had just finished. He said he experienced weird,
eerie, creepy feelings as he worked late at night. |
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| On the stairs leading down from the
second floor mezzanine, an employee once saw what she thought
was a young woman weaping on the steps. When she went down to
help, the aparation disappeared. |
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| The basement under First Avenue is
old and creepy. Sometime before Greyhound built the facility,
this basement was used as a slaughterhouse, and current
employees report hearing phantom noises of hoove falls
throughout that dim and dark place. |
| The Investigation |
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| This was a challenging
investigation, not only due to the size of the building, but
also the noise levels. As we toured the facility, we noted the
constant loud noises occurring from the HVAC system, the
machinery present, and the sounds of the busy city streets.
Because of the noise level, we were aware that EVP work would be
especially difficult. |
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| We split up into three groups, and
began the investigation. Each of the groups spent significant
amounts of time on the second level in both the ladies bathroom
and the area called “the cave“, the basement, and the
main stage area. We noted high EMF readings in the basement
area, this could be the reason why people feel creeped out when
down there. |
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| The internal and external noise was
a large factor throughout the investigation. The sounds of
traffic, including garbage trucks emptying the garbage bins was
significant. The HVAC system in the old building was noisy and
the sounds of the coolers/refrigerators scattered throughout the
facility were great. The investigators were careful to note the
noises happening both on the recordings and in their notebooks. |
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| The SIM Crew had a couple personal
experiences during the investigation. One of our investigators
had his shirt pulled and then held out for a few seconds, and he
felt a cold spot while investigating in the basement. In another
incident, an investigator was on the main stage looking towards
the front of the building when she noted a shadow moving across
the upper mezzanine level. |
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| The Evidence |
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| We captured EVP’s, even with
all the noises in the background. Our static night vision video
cameras caught an orb in motion that we have determined not to
be dust, moisture, or a bug, and in the still photos we found an
orb in the same area as the orb on the video. |
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| The Reveal |
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| We met with management there on
Tuesday, 3/29. We described our investigation and again asked
about their experiences there. We showed and played our evidence
for them and they were intrigued that we had actual evidence for
them to experience. The evidence was well received, and we have
been invited back for further investigations to take place over
the summer/fall. |
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| Conclusion |
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| The reports of activity in this
popular music venue are numerous, and many people have
experienced what they feel is paranormal activity. During our
investigation we did have a couple of experiences, and evidence
shows something is happening in this building. At this time we
cannot deem this property to be haunted, we just don’t have
enough evidence, however, we do believe there is supernatural
activity happening there. |
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