Katie’s Of Smithtown

A Brief History: Katie’s of Smithtown is located at 145 West Main Street in Smithtown, New York. The original building that is now Katie’s was erected nearly 100 years ago as a shop to service passengers on the newly established rail road system on Eastern Long Island. Over the years the land and building have served many purposes.

In the late 1800s a hospital was constructed on the land where Katie’s is now. The hospital burned down on December 5th, 1909. It is not known if any one died in the fire. Later in the 1920s a candy shop was built on the land.

The current owner Brian Karppinen purchased the bar in 2000. Over the years significant renovations have taken place. As best known the building is not constructed on any unusual land nor have any significant events happened on the location where the bar stands.

Haunted History: A great deal of paranormal activity has been reports at the bar, and several well-known paranormal teams have filmed their investigations there. Patrons report seeing a figure of a man at various locations in the bar. In the 1920s a man named Charlie Klein frequented the bar regularly as a bartender and bootlegger. Reports of the apparition began after Charlie died by his own hand in the late 1920s. People in turn-of-the-century clothing have been seen walking through the bar. The figure of a woman has been seen walking across the main bar floor as well as up and down the stairs leading to the basement. The toilet lids in the woman’s bathroom have been reported to jump and bang with no one there. The footsteps of people on the main bar floor are often heard from the basement when no one else is in the building. Glasses have frequently been reported being moved off the bar (both main bar room and basement), the tables and even flying off the holding racks. Brian reported that he once was at the top of the back door staircase, lost his balance and started to fall backwards, but something grabbed him and pushed him back up to his feet.