Dev's Of New London Ct.
Date: 3-5-2011
Site:
History: Dev’s Tappas Restaurant is located on the corner of Woviotis Place and Bank Street in New London, Connecticut. It is owned and operated by Candace and Bunny Devendittis. Prior to the establishment of Dev’s there was another restaurant located here call The Tavern Lunch. Peter Woviotis opened the Tavern Lunch in 1927 and the name was changed to Ye Olde Tavern in the 1950’s. Ye Olde Tavern was operated by Nick and James Woviotis both of whom lived upstairs from the restaurant. Nick had an unfortunate accident on the stairs leading to his apartment, which resulted in his death on June 25, 1984. He was found deceased at the bottom of the stairs by his staff. James died on March 22, 1997 of presumed natural causes. Prior to the establishment of The Tavern Lunch the building was divided into three sections. The Tavern Lunch and Ye Olde Tavern occupied the middle portion of the existing restaurant. On one side where the bar is now was a banana company and the other side was a liquor store.
Please see our video on the web page for further information and an examination of the walk-through.
Investigation: We arranged for an on-site investigation for 3-5-2011 with the owners. There were five members on this investigation and two guests present. We started the set-up at 10:30pm and investigated different areas of the building until 3:45am the following morning. We set up the DVR cameras in areas where there was reported evidence of paranormal activity such as the two apartments upstairs, the hallway leading to the apartments and the stairway leading to Nick’s apartment. We used handheld equipment in the bar area, kitchen, main restaurant and adjacent dining room. We used digital cameras, digital thermometer, K2 meter, EMF meter, camcorder and digital tape recorders. We set up a laser light at the foot of the stairs where Nick was found deceased.
Bob and Barbara went to the bar area to start the investigation while Danielle and Mike went to the adjacent dining room. Kris, Ann and Carl went to the upstairs apartments and were investigating the stairway where Nick had passed. During this part of the night Bob and Barbara sat at a table in the corner of the bar area and did an EVP session. About an hour into the investigation we heard what we perceived to be footsteps in the bar area, and were able to capture these on the tape recorder. The footsteps were coming from the far end of the bar. The barroom flooring is wooden and the sound we heard were footsteps on a wooden floor.
Due to the structure of the building there was some contamination of noise from the apartments upstairs when you were sitting in the adjacent dining room so we had to discount any evidence of footsteps heard in this area as other members walking upstairs. When we heard the footsteps in the bar area we went upstairs to see if the floor of the banquet room was carpeted, which it was.
Around 12:30am Ann, Danielle and Mike were investigating the stairway to the attic and saw initials belonging to James and Nick Woviotis, while Bob, Barbara, Carl and Kris went back down to the bar area to do an EVP session. Ann, Danielle and Mike were discussing the possible history behind these initials when a window slammed down hitting the windowsill, which then hit the heat register causing a very loud and startling noise. Just prior to that Mike had heard a noise, which unfortunately was not captured on the tape recorder and Danielle, stated that she was touched on the backside. Also, Ann reported that a flashlight turned on by itself just prior to the window coming down.
During the EVP session Bob and Barbara were asking questions about who was present with us and receiving responses on the K2 meter in direct response to our questions. Our session was interrupted by the banging sound of the window coming down. We then regrouped upstairs to discuss the findings and catch our breath.
Bob, Barbara, Kris and Carl went to the upstairs apartment to investigate the noise and found that the window had fallen out and hit the register. We then split up into two groups and continued investigating different areas of the building.
Bob, Barbara, Mike and Danielle went to the banquet room where we found no evidence. We then proceeded to the bar again and did another EVP session with the K2 meter. Again we were getting K2 hits in direct response to our questions. At one point during this session Danielle felt a presence and moved over to a different chair. The chair that she was sitting in moved of its own accord, pushing away from the bar.
On review of the tape recorders we did hear footsteps and a voice in the bar area about this same time.
During our EVP sessions in the bar we noticed that a door to a cabinet was opened so we closed it. During our second EVP session I noticed that the door was opened again. Was this a paranormal event? We will have to follow up with the owner of the restaurant to see if this occurred before. We attempted to make the door open on its own volition but were unable to. Even with a push on the door from the inside the door would open slightly and stop.
We began wrapping up the investigation about 3:15am. About this same time Ann was holding one of the small LED flashlights when it began blinking on and off. She was not touching the switch. She also experienced a cold sensation around her right arm. The flashlight was in her right hand. Could this have been a malfunction of the flashlight?
On review of the digital camera photos we captured numerous orbs but due to the dust settled on everything over the years we cannot verify these as paranormal. On review of the DVR we captured the same thing (multiple orbs). As previously stated on review of the digital tape recorders we did capture footsteps at 1 hour and at 3 ½ hours into the investigation. We also caught what we thought was a voice. Please listen to the EVPs and help us decide.
Would we deem this restaurant to be haunted? Based on our findings I would like to do a second investigation to make this determination. I do believe there is a possible presence in the building, especially the bar area based on the fact that we did get direct responses on the K2 meter.