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Parahaunt, a paranormal group from Westland, examined the eatery and deemed it full of spirits.

Despite not getting a final report from the group, one of the restaurant's co-owners, Sharon Johnson, said she thinks there's other spirits housed there that aren't evil.

"If they were evil they would've done something by now," she said. "(The paranormal group) seemed very professional. It's not like a game to them. We didn't go out of our way to tell them anything (in advance)."

Six members of Parahaunt investigated the restaurant for nearly four hours until 2 a.m. The group used cameras, a heat and cold measuring device, an infrared video camera, a Kodak digital camera, RCA and Olympus digital voice recorders, a Sony Handycam, and meters.

The group's Web site, www.miparahaunt.com said about Castaways: "Once the investigation was complete and the information that we collected was gone through, we did find some evidence of a spiritual presence. First some orb activity in the infra-red video... Inspectors felt a cold breeze in the upstairs office, but no color or warm spots were located, as there's no vents or windows in the area. The group shot some photos outside and the colored orbs made an appearance."

The other two owners of the restaurant include Johnson's husband, Lyndon, and Dan Withey.

"(Parahaunt) found some places you wouldn't expect to find orbs with light around them. You could see points of light traveling the room," Sharon said. "They were crossing the room and coming back. It was like a reflection moving. The most activity they found was upstairs where they heard talking."

Sharon said the group also recorded motorcycles revving, but it sounded more to her like static. Despite that she is still convinced there are contented spirits that occupy the restaurant.

"They said they could hear the stomping of boots," she said. "It could be a fireman and we did have two fires."

Withey said he still isn't convinced of hauntings after the investigation by the paranormal group. "It was interesting, but I don't think I saw enough," Withey said. "They had digital orbs they said were spiritual orbs. They said they picked up voices. The only thing I saw there were the orbs. (Spirits) were saying the word greetings in a Native American language and felt a cold breeze go through the restaurant."

Withey said he's been a co-owner of the eatery for four years. If there are spirits occupying the restaurant, he said, they should've done something to it by now.

Sharon said at one point in the restaurant's history there used to be a gambling room in the back. Members of the paranormal group sensed a gambler had been hung in that area of the eatery.

Castaways was featured on a Web site called www.theshadowlands.net as the only establishment in Lapeer County rumored to be haunted. Peculiar ghave occurred in the restaurant's past. Sharon said a few waitresses felt anxious when they heard whispers, and customer was out on a pontoon on Lake Nepessing and said they saw a woman hanging over the edge of the lighthouse.

Sharon said despite the paranormal group also feeling there's spirits in the restaurant, there's no plans to incorporate it into marketing the eatery.

"Do I think there's spirits there?" Sharon said. "I have a feeling, but they're not hostile. I'm one of those people open to anything. Nothing has bothered me or my husband.

"We kind of laughingly said to change our name to Castaways Food and Spirits — it'd be a tongue-in-cheek thing."

Jennifer Decker can be reached at 664-0811, Ext. 8125 or jennifer.decker@lapeergroup.com