I’ve decided to do my next few TT’s with a Halloween Spooky theme until Halloween. Next week is the launch of my first book, an Ellora’s Cave Tricks and Treats Quickie called MASQUE OF DESIRE. I will do a TT on that next week. To kick off the month of SPOOKINESS (picture me doing a great Bela Lugosi Dracula imitation Blah) I give you 13 of the most Haunted places in Ontario. Most courtesy of Haunted Ontario website and reading Terry Boyle’s fantabulous books Haunted Ontario.
Some places I have been to … and I’ll relate my experience, because I have a sixth sense. I don’t always like it, but it has kept me safe and served me well, so read on IF YOU DARE!!!!
1.THE DONNELLY HOMESTEAD: Built in 1845 this homestead with a bloody history is situated about 30 minutes north of me in Lucan Ontario. The Donnelly’s were notorious bullies, violent and criminal (according to the legends) one cold winter night some townsfolk had enough. They went to the homestead and massacred the family. One boy, a farmhand, escaped and told the authorities. Of course the culprits were brought to trial but never punished for their crime. It was said that the son of Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly who had survived the massacre used to attend the funeral of the culprits and would spit on their grave. He did this until he died.
2. GHOST ROAD, PORT PERRY ONTARIO: Oh I’ve been here. I grew up in Whitby, just south of Port Perry. I have been to Scugog Island many a time. I felt an ominous presence there and have seen the eerie light. Legend has it that in the 50’s or 60’s a man by the name of Dan or David Sweeney was riding his motorcycle a little too fast and was thrown into a barbed wire fence. It has been said that when the ghost is near car radios will flicker on and off. One person’s engine would not start as the apparition of an orange light coming full speed down the road approached them. It’s a spooky place to be at-night. Trust me.
3. THE ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM: Had an experience here as well. I was walking into the Bat Cave and I was frozen, under a heater vent. It was blasting warm air, ask my DH, but I was frozen. As I stood there I heard in my head “I’m here,” and then something walked through me. Icy, it darn near pushed me over and then it was gone. It was friendly but still. Yikes. The ROM was built in 1912 and has undergone many expansions. It is said to be haunted by a young girl in a white dress, about 8 years old. Also a man in a nightshirt is seen. They think he is the first curator, who often worked late and slept at the Museum.
4. HI-OTTAWA JAIL HOSTEL (OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL HOSTEL): I wouldn’t go here if you paid me. I have seen pictures of the place and that is enough for me. I wouldn’t go anywhere near here. Here’s the history according to Haunted Ontario.
The Ottawa International Hostel was originally known as the Carleton County Gaol. From 1862 to 1972, when it was closed for unsanitary conditions, the gaol was one of the most disheartening buildings in Canadian history.
During the early history of the gaol, conditions were absolutely horrid. Prisoners were seldom allowed showers; they were given 1 meal a day; and some were never allowed to see daylight, kept in filthy, unlit quarantine areas of the basement.
Bodies were burned in the courtyard, including victims that were illegally hanged inside the building. During the construction of the Mackenzie King Bridge, workers discovered 140 unmarked graves in the courtyard. It is generally assumed that there are hundreds more near the building and beneath the parking lot.
After just a year of renovations, the gaol reopened as a hostel in 1973. Curiously, during the renovations, an unexplained inscription was discovered on the main stairwell:
“I am a non-verdical Vampire who will vanquish you all. One by one I will ornate your odorous flesh with famished fangs. But Who? Are there 94 or 95 steps to the 9th floor? A book on the top shelf will lead you on the right path.”
I don’t need a dealing with the non-verdical Vampire. Screams can be heard, feelings of being watched. An apparition that seems to push your soul out of your body but then disappears where the above writing about the Non-Verdical Vampire can be found. Nope won’t be going there.
5. THE SCREAMING TUNNEL NIAGARA FALLS, ONTARIO: A tunnel under train tracks that link Toronto to Niagara Falls and New York City. Legend is that a young girl was burned to death in the tunnel. There are some debates about why: Some say she was raped, viciously and the rapist burned her body to hide the evidence, others say it was a custody battle and the father burned the child alive. Most believe that a farm house caught on fire on the other-side and a young girl on fire tried to run through the tunnel to escape the flames but was burned alive. Either way, Screaming is often heard in the tunnel.
6. OLD FORT YORK, TORONTO ONTARIO: Sorry to my American buddies, but I have a family connection to this Fort and one of the things was trapping Americans in it during the war between Canada and US in 1812 and blowing up the fort with the Yankees inside. Sorry, my great, great, great grandfather was a soldier for England during that time and since I am descended from United Empire Loyalists … well he lost a lot of land down in Pennsylvania. Anyways Old Fort York was built in 1793. Ghostly soldiers and footsteps can often be heard. The eight remaining buildings are the oldest in Toronto.
7. THE HERMITAGE ANCASTER ONTARIO: Built in 1830 it is the home to tragic love affairs. First a young niece of the owner fell in love with a servant. Unable to marry the man hung himself in the gatehouse. After the home passed hands a black slave fell in love with the white masters daughter. On that occasion she hung herself in the house, he hung himself on a nearby Willow Tree. In 1880 mineral springs were discovered on site and the home was turned into a hotel. The first fire struck in 1910, it was rebuilt, the second fire hit 1930 and now all that remains is ruins. Sobbing and the specters of a man and woman are often seen, as well as the sound of voices and the feelings of being watched.
8. BALA BAY INN (SWASTIKA HOTEL) BALA, ONTARIO: Still in operation the name Swastika was changed to Bala Bay in 1945 for apparent reasons. Rattling doorknobs, disturbed housework, TV’s going on and off in Room 319. One particular haunting is when a seance was held all the candles went out and all 32 doors in the hotel began to open and slam shut repeatedly. You can stay there if you dare.
9. JOSEPH BRANT MUSEUM, BURLINGTON: A brave fighter, Mohawk leader Joseph Brant was very pivotal in the 1812 war. He donated the land along the river Brant and was the founder of Brantford Ontario. His museum in Burlington was built in the 1800′. After his death it was turned into a Inn, then during WWI the government used it as soldiers hospital the original home was demolished in 1927. The museum is actually the old nurses residence from the hospital. Hauntings have been of lights in the windows, apparitions of women walking and when a tape recorder was left on the sounds of paper rustling, cupboards closing and money dropped on a table.
10. McAFEE CEMETARY FORT ERIE ONTARIO: This cemetery was founded my Methodists in 1819. It is named after Samuel McAfee who was accomplice in William Lyon MacKenzie’s revolution and he is buried here. The church was struck by lightning in 1930’s and burnt to the ground. Earliest reports of Hauntings date back to early 1900’s when farmers say they saw phosphorescent lights hovering, fireballs and specter carrying a lantern.
11. WHITBY PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL: Ah .. my hometown. Yes, the grounds of the old hospital are not a place to hang around. Eerie, creepy is the word to describe it. My mother drove down past it once, to turn around because it was a dead end street. I panicked in the car. I had a full on panic attack. I hated it so much. It was built in 1919, and held some 1500 patients. In 1933 one of those patients strangled a guard to death. You can read about it in the Whitby archives. It has many underground tunnels that connect the main buildings to the some 16 out lying buildings. After WWII the building was used to treat shell shocked vets. Hauntings, things move, sounds of screaming and glass breaking. Faulty electrics, flash lights not working. Feelings of dread and fear and sounds of crying.
12. OJIBWAY HOTEL POINT AU BARIL ONTARIO: Built in 1906 the hotel built on an Island catered to rail and steamboat tourists. In the 1920’s a young American Chambermaid believed her boyfriend who worked there was cheating on her. She followed him and found him with another woman. She went to the tower with a chair and a rope, turned to face the setting sun, kicked the chair away and hung herself. Apparitions of the young woman are often seen, moans and crying are often heard to. In 1995 a storm knocked out power on the Island, yet a light could be seen in the tower where the young maid had hung herself.
13. THE STATION GALLERY, WHITBY ONTARIO: Oh yes, many experiences here. This where the school art shows were held in an old train station. Legend has it that a man was shot and killed during a robbery. You can see the bullet hole, or at least I did. Also on the same line a brakeman fell asleep at the switch and there was a horrendous train wreck. Everytime I was here, I felt like I was being watched. I would not go downstairs alone. I often ran from there. Many people mention things being switched around and such. There is a presence there no doubt.
Oh I tag whoever wants to do it, to do it.
