Church Brew Works

Posted: 06.11.2025 | Updated: 06.11.2025

Located in the Lawrenceville area of northern Pittsburgh, Church Brew Works is a former Catholic church turned brewery. In addition to being known as a place to meet with friends for a pint, it also has a reputation for being extremely haunted. 

Staff report all manner of ghostly activity throughout the 20,000 square-foot complex. Church Brew Works is so haunted that professional paranormal investigators have been brought in to document the hauntings.

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Is Church Brew Works Haunted?

At least two entities are known to haunt Church Brew Works, but there are likely many more. There have been multiple sightings of a woman in white, and kitchen staff report a mischievous spirit who loves to mess with them. 

However, there is much more supernatural activity to be found, including disembodied voices, footsteps, and moving objects. Owner Sean Casey said of the phenomenon: “You set something down and then it goes missing, or unplug something at night and it’s plugged in the next morning. You sort of shake your head and move on.” 

History of Church Brew Works

Before it was a brewery, Church Brew Works was St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. It was built in 1902 to accommodate the rapidly growing immigrant community in Pittsburgh, particularly the Irish and Scotch Catholic communities. St. John the Baptist continued to grow, adding a school and convent in 1907, and a rectory to house priests in 1923. 

Despite the steady growth of St. John the Baptist, it also saw dark times. In its first 20 years, the church was a sanctuary for those who lost loved ones in World War I and the Spanish Flu pandemic. 

The church suffered a ravaging fire in 1915 that destroyed much of the original interior and had to be rebuilt. In 1936, a devastating flood ripped through Pittsburgh, and St. John the Baptist took in many members of the community who lost their homes.

As the decades went on, St. John the Baptist slowly lost parishioners as the community shrank. In 1993, the Bishop of Pittsburgh put the church under an “act of suppression,” which effectively closed it. The massive compound of church, school, convent, and rectory sat vacant for years.

However, that wasn’t the end of the church’s story. In 1994, it was purchased by Sean Casey, who envisioned turning it into a restaurant and brewery. The church became the main dining area, the rectory became offices, and the basement of the school was converted into a fully-operational brewery.

That said, Church Brew Works still looks very much like a church: sometimes in creepy ways. Among the stained glass windows, there is a recreation of John the Baptist’s beheading as well as a skeleton impaled on a sword. These macabre pieces of art certainly set the scene for ghostly activity. 

Hauntings at Church Brew Works

Staff at Church Brew Works report missing items, disembodied voices and footsteps, feelings of being watched or followed, and full-body apparitions as the most common hauntings in the building. During construction and renovation projects, power tools are either unplugged or turned on by unseen forces.

One employee reported hearing a bang next to him while he was alone in the building. As he walked through the empty church, loud knocking occurred on every table he passed, leaving him in utter terror.

Lady In White

Arguably, the most famous ghost at Church’s Brew Works is the lady in white. This apparition is described as a woman in her late teens or early twenties wearing a white dress. One staff member encountered her on multiple occasions. 

In one instance, he saw the lady in white on a set of stairs at the back of the church. The employee followed the woman up the stairs, where she ran into a darkened storage room. When he turned the lights on, there was no woman to be found.

The same employee later saw the lady in white standing on the altar at the front of the church. She again fled when he attempted to make contact with her. As he followed her behind the altar, he saw the door to the school swinging shut as if someone had just walked through it.

No one knows the identity of the lady in white, but she could be the spirit of a former student and parishioner named Marcella Helena Day, who died from pneumonia brought on by the Spanish Flu when she was only 18 years old. 

Bob

Church Brew Works’ chef and other kitchen staff have reported a precocious spirit whom they have named “Bob.” Bob enjoys tugging at people’s clothing, hiding objects from staff, and throwing items across the room. 

The chef described how he heard footsteps in the kitchen, then saw a dark mass floating in front of him. The chef said the entity was “not natural,” and felt more sinister than Bob’s usual antics. 

TAPS Investigation

In 2021, the Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) investigated Church Brew Works for their show Ghost Hunters. They received an email from Sean Casey, whose staff had become terrified of the spirits. “God, I can’t take this anymore,” Casey wrote in an email to TAPS.

During their three-night investigation, TAPS recorded heavy footsteps as if someone was following them, even though no one else was in the building. They also captured a high-pitched female voice that may have been the lady in white. They also recorded the voice of a spirit saying “Jesus,” which was likely in reference to the brewery’s previous life as a church.

Haunted Pittsburgh

Although staff are sometimes unsettled by the hauntings, the living and the dead have found a way to coexist at Church Brew Works. Even skeptics admit that alcohol isn’t the only spirited thing to be found there.

Still planning that trip to Pittsburgh? Learn all about the history and hauntings of the city by booking a ghost tour with Pittsburgh Ghosts now! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and keep reading our blog for more real Pennsylvania hauntings.

Sources:

• https://churchbrew.com/history/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=523ezDo_NBM
• https://nextpittsburgh.com/features/ghost-hunters-investigate-strange-happenings-at-the-church-brew-works/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uscSOhBWcxo