Church Brew Works is a brewery inside of a century-old Catholic church, and the property’s long, storied history has left a few spirits behind.

Originally established as St. John the Baptist Church in 1902, the church served an Irish and Scottish Catholic population in the Lower Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1907, the convent and school were added to the property, and the priests had the rectory constructed in 1923. The parish saw its congregants through two world wars, the Great Depression, and the steel boom and bust of the 20th century.

As membership at St. John’s waned through the 1980s, the parish was closed in 1993.

Sean Casey, the current owner, bought the property in 1996 with plans to open a restaurant and brewery in the church.

The rectory became the restaurant's kitchen. Part of the brewery equipment is housed in the schoolhouse basement andthe dining room of the restaurant is in the nave. The brewhouse is in the church building’s apse, where the brewers hand craft four different beers. While efforts were made to preserve the stained glass and reuse wood and building materials, there were some changes made to the church, such as repurposing pews and demolishing the confessional.

As the restaurant and brewery opened to the public in August of 1996, the supernatural encounters began immediately. Employees have reported hearing the sounds of footsteps, talking, and objects dragging. Employees often see a young woman in her late teens or early twenties.

The brew master has seen the woman, who is always wearing a long, white dress, in the brewery’s office, but she’s also been known to haunt the dining room or stand on the altar. She never speaks, but tends to stare before disappearing.

One of the cooks feels like there is more than one spirit that haunts him on the job. Whatever it is tugs on his jacket and moves things around the kitchen. He also senses something dark in the basement.

Employees have also heard faint organ music, even though the church’s organ is non-functioning. Sometimes, the chairs in the dining room move by themselves.

The owner was skeptical about the paranormal activity until the day he arrived at work to find a brewing unit plugged in; one that he had unplugged the previous night and that none of the other employees had touched.

It was then that he called in The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) team from Ghost Hunters to see if they could confirm a haunting and identify the spirits who seem to be stuck between worlds.

As Steve and Jason venture through the historic building, they record compelling electronic voice phenomena and hear the sounds of doors opening and people walking—despite the fact that they’re alone in the building.

Crack open a cold one and see what the TAPS team uncovers during their investigation of The Haunted Brewery on discovery+.