'Ghost Hunters' investigates Culinary Institute

HYDE PARK — In the 1980s, Culinary Institute of America faculty member Fritz Sonnenschmidt was working toward his certification as a master chef.

Sonnenschmidt, who became dean of the school’s culinary department in 1999, was preparing a meal with a pork loin, duck and shank of veal. And he heard a voice.

“I can swear that it was a booming voice that said to me, ‘roast that damn duck,’” said Sonnenschmidt, a Rhinebeck resident who retired from the CIA in 2002. “I looked around and there was not a single person in the room.”

Sonnenschmidt roasted the duck and received an A-plus on the entire meal. “I thank Father Murphy for that,” he said.

The legend of Father Murphy, whether his ghost haunts the Route 9 campus of the CIA and other aspects of the paranormal will be explored tonight on the SyFy Network’s “Ghost Hunters” program. The episode, “Too Many Apparitions in the Kitchen,” debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday on the cable channel.

The episode focuses on Roth Hall, the main building on the campus. Prior to the CIA moving to Hyde Park in 1972, the property was home to the St. Andrew-on-Hudson Jesuit novitiate for more than 60 years. A priest named Father Murphy, according to legend, haunted the building, a spokesman for the CIA said.

“Ghost Hunters” could shed light on Sonnenschmidt’s insistence that Father Murphy is indeed a presence on the CIA campus. Sonnenschmidt said he first learned of the priest’s ghost while visiting the property in the early 1970s, prior to the CIA moving in.

“I was at what is now The Bocuse Restaurant, which, at the time, was the reading room for the Jesuits,” Sonnenschmidt said. “I said to the caretaker, ‘Are there any other people around? Did you ever have the feeling someone is watching you?’ The caretaker said, ‘Father Murphy is around.’”

A crew from “Ghost Hunters” and a team of paranormal investigators from the Atlantic Paranormal Society spent several nights on campus last fall. They investigated the attic, catacombs and other areas of Roth Hall, as well as the Jesuit cemetery adjacent to the building. Sonnenschmidt, who said his former CIA colleagues had run-ins similar to his, worked directly with the investigators.

During a recent interview with the Journal, Sonnenschmidt spoke of a shadowy figure, dressed like a priest, coming and going in the fog at night on campus during the 1990s. He also mentioned how a mausoleum became a kitchen. And he discussed an elevator on campus that is the same one used by the Jesuits.

“If Father Murphy likes you, you go down,” Sonnenschmidt said, “and if he hates you, you’ll get stuck in the middle.”

John W. Barry: jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4822; Twitter: @JohnBarryPoJo

Tuning In

The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park will be featured on the SyFy Network’s “Ghost Hunters” program Wednesday at 9 p.m. Visit www.syfy.com and www.ciachef.edu for information. Those watching are invited to tweet using #GhostHunters and #CIAGhost.