Ghost hunting: Is Phoenix bar haunted?

PHOENIX - In the last 100 years at the Saddle Horn Bar at least three people have died, but owners insist their ghosts are still around.

Owner Jimmy Olaguez insists it’s more than just the things that go bump in the night. He says he’s convinced his security cameras caught a little girl playing at his bar after it was closed for the night. The problem is Olaguez believes she died more than 80 years ago.

"It was so intense," Olaguez recalled seeing the video, “It was just completely in-your-face shocking.”

According to Olaguez, the girl fell to her death decades ago from a hotel that used to be next door to his family’s bar.

Located near 23rd Avenue and Buckeye Road in Phoenix, Olaguez says two people were also shot and killed at his bar in the past 20 years. Olaguez thinks the violent ends for his family's former customers have left their lost souls trapped in his bar. He says it's not good for business.

"Employees come in. They work, and then when something happens, they don't want to work anymore," Olaguez said.

Looking for help, Olaguez turned to Steve Gallion and his team of ghost hunters with Sonoran Paranormal Investigations. Gallion said he jumped at the opportunity to inspect the supposedly haunted bar.

"We wanted to see if we could capture any evidence of paranormal activity, or maybe debunk the activity that's been reported," Gallion said.

Sonoran Paranormal Investigations brings their hi-tech gear to dozens of unusual places, like Saddle Horn.

During their inspection, they tried to seek out the mysteries behind reported paranormal events. One of the biggest was an odd shadow recorded behind the bar by security cameras just a couple of weeks ago. Olaguez and the investigators could not say for sure what it was, only that it was gone by morning.

Customers of Saddle Horn and employees mentioned being touched, poked, and grabbed at times when no one was around.

 "I was actually sitting right here at the bar with another person and we were facing each other,” Olaguez said. “Then we both saw a hand reach up and grab my left shoulder. We both turned around to look and there was no one there. I asked my friend if she saw what I did. She said ‘yes’, and then quickly walked out the door and left.”

During their investigation the hunters used a variety electronic measuring devices. They also cut the lights for two hours at one point and sat in silence. Every now and then someone would ask a question to the possible ghost.

"Is there someone you are trying to contact," one hunter asked.

After more than four hours of taking readings and searching, the Sonoran Paranormal Investigators packed up their equipment and called it a day. There were no major ghost sightings, but Gallion says they have to review the recordings on their video cameras and sound systems.

"I was kind of watching this monitor over my shoulder and I saw something move and block out the light. Hopefully we captured whatever that was," Gallion said.

"Those are the things that are really exciting and make us continue to do this," fellow hunter Amy Millington said.

The hunters say it will take up to a month to go through all of their evidence. Only then will they say if they were shut inside the Saddle Horn Bar with something not of this world.