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Other family members also were open to the search. The younger McHugh was joined by his father Jim McHugh, his brother Tom and most of the coffee company employees who were on hand to witness the tests.
In the vein of modern day paranormal investigation, that "something" found usually takes the form of shadows, lights or seemingly unintelligible sounds.
"You have to interpret what you find," said Linda Cantrell, paranormal investigator.
One great advantage to operating in a historic building is the possibility that customers and employees will occasionally be titillated by the appearance of something that is hard to explain, according to Cantrell.
"Shadows, lights and noises may indicate something is there," she said.
Along with her son Ken and daughter-in-law Katie, Cantrell operates Meramec Valley Paranormal Investigators. She and her crew were at the coffee company in the wee hours of the night Oct. 26-27 to investigate the building that had its origins in the St. Louis World's Fair and served as the home to some 20 members of the combined McHugh and Dailey clans.
Because of the size, age and history of the building, the team invited Ron Turner, who is with Paranormal Task Force in St. Peters, to join in.
"He is much more experienced with larger buildings and has more equipment," Cantrell said.
The combined crew placed their DVR cameras, four night-vision cameras and sound recording devices in second- and third-floor nooks and crannies, hoping to record shadows or something visible or audible where no living person is near.
The crew was given the run of the old building, including the third floor opera house, which is still stacked with renovation supplies and carries the carved and printed names and dates of scores of former Pacific residents who graduated from high school in the opera house or performed in one of the plays performed there.
Long hallways, with lots of door, like the one in the former living quarters on the second floor, are always great places to look for shadows and unexplained movements, according to Cantrell, because ghosts like to step out for a peak when someone is in their space.
"This is a great building for investigation," she said. "With all the family history, there could be spirits who have been unwilling to move on."
David McHugh was able to give investigators the names of approximately 20 individuals who have called the building home, including the names of individuals who died in the building and the 15 who were born in the special first-floor birthing room.
"It's wonderful to have that kind of information," Cantrell said.
When speculating which individuals in the building might have unfinished business, causing their spirits to still roam the halls and third-floor opera house, family members identified a McHugh son who died before realizing his promise.
Lawrence "Larry" McHugh, who was named for his father, was the third son of Lawrence P. and Catherine 'Kitty" McHugh. He died at age 26. But he was the one son who showed so much promise that family members still talk about it.
"He was absolutely the golden boy of the family," said Jim McHugh, part owner of the historic building. "The family put their hopes on him being the one who would continue the family mercantile business."
Larry, as historical stories report, might also have had hopes somewhere else. He was an actor who performed in theaters in the St. Louis region and staged plays in the opera house of the family building.
"I remember him as almost godlike in the family stories of my youth," Jim McHugh said. "It's possible that he could have had an unfinished dream or two."
McHugh, who said he was open to the paranormal investigations of his grandparents' and parents' home, said he neither believed, nor disbelieved, in ghosts.
"We are all part flesh and part spirit," McHugh said. "Who are we to say where the spirit resides when it leaves us."
Another candidate for after-life activity in the building is artist Joe McHugh the individual who lived in the building longer than anyone else.
The artist left a well-documented legacy of unfinished business, according to his nephew. Among the large body of paintings, sketches and sculpture, the artist left, there was one picture that could not be finished in his lifetime.
In 1999, at age 90, Joe painted the face of President Bill Clinton at the bottom of the large montage of every president up to that time. He titled the work, which he started 40 years earlier, An Unfinished Portrait.
It's possible that "Uncle Joe," would like to come back to add the younger Bush and Obama to the drawing, which hangs in the coffeehouse, Jim McHugh acknowledged.
"It would be nice to have a chat with Uncle Joe," said McHugh with a self-mocking chuckle. "I'm open to the idea that a spirit or two is still here."
The paranormal investigation team said they would return in several weeks for one additional overnight vigil then they plan to release their findings to the family.
"Hey, I'm looking forward to it," Dave McHugh said.
