Haunted Ontario 3. Terry Boyle

      The unpredictable window stop.

      Catherine Crow, a historical researcher for special events and a ghost-tour guide who started the walks at Black Creek Pioneer Village at Halloween, believes Michael is a mischievous spirit who haunts his own bedroom on the second floor, and the kitchen on the main floor.

      Catherine has spoken to several costumed interpreters who work at the village and had similar paranormal experiences in the Stong homestead. Here is what they had to say.

      “One young interpreter reported hearing hollow-sounding footsteps coming from the boys’ bedroom on the second floor when she was downstairs alone in the parlour. There was no one else in the house at the time except for Nancy, another costumed interpreter, who was busy working in the kitchen on the first floor. The young interpreter timidly went upstairs and found that all of the rooms were completely empty. She went back downstairs and told Nancy what she had heard. Nancy went upstairs and noted with surprise that the chain rope in the boys’ bedroom was mysteriously swinging back and forth, on its own.”

      Stong House kitchen, where Michael moves items around.

      “Nancy said, ‘Michael, please stop that,’ the chain rope suddenly stood still again.”

      Nancy has worked here for a long time and is quite familiar with Michael’s antics.

      Catherine added, “He’ll often move things around in the kitchen, across the table or other work areas when she is working downstairs.”

      One staff member said Michael constantly moves a chair around upstairs. You can also hear someone playing Jacks.

      Catherine shared a good story about getting locked inside the house.

      “Another interpreter, Ivan, once conducted a tour of teenagers, about Michael’s age, through the house. When they went to leave, they could not get the front door in the kitchen to open at all. The front wooden door is not very sturdy. Only a small iron latch keeps the thin door shut and the door will often blow open with a strong wind.”

      Ivan commented that it was as if a force was holding the door shut.

      Catherine continued, “This went on for about fifteen minutes; the group interpreter was getting desperate and was about to get a student to crawl through one of the open kitchen windows to get help when the door suddenly and inexplicably opened ... on its own!

      “Another interpreter received a response from Michael when she went to lock up for the night. She went upstairs to do a final check. She said she felt a strange presence beside her as she was about to head down the narrow stairs at the back of the house. She offhandedly said, ‘Goodnight Michael.’ She was halfway down the stairs when a knocking sound came from the top of the stairs behind her, as if Michael was saying goodnight.”

      One employee I spoke to indicated that the female spirit had been seen on several occasions. She also shared a remarkable event that happened one December 23 in the Stong house.

      “I went into the parlour and gazed at the Christmas tree on display. Then I felt a little tug on the back of my dress. When I turned around the tugging stopped. I looked back at the tree and the antique ornaments started to spin around. This lasted for a few seconds and then stopped.”

      Nancy later shared an incredible experience with me concerning a direct descendant of the Stong family: an elderly woman, nearing her nineties, appeared one day at the Stong house. She declared herself to be the great-great-granddaughter of Daniel Stong. She wanted to sit in her old bedroom for a few minutes. She proceeded to do just that. Sometime later she returned and said to Nancy that her deceased mother came to her and talked with her for half an hour. The lady died two weeks later!

      Maybe that’s the woman spirit detected in the house; or, is there an opening here to the other dimensions. As for Michael, do you suppose he chooses to stay or perhaps he does not know that he could move on?

      Black Creek Pioneer Village Cemetery

      Whippoorwills call for the souls of the dead

      Years ago, I was presenting a lecture on the paranormal in Collingwood, Ontario. A man seated in the audience raised his hand to speak. He told a tale about one incredible encounter with the spirit world in a cemetery.

      He was attending the funeral of his uncle in Madoc, Ontario. The community is in a rural setting and was predominately settled by the Irish and the Scots.

      After his uncle was buried he decided to remain at the cemetery. He sat down with his back against a tree. He was still there at twilight. Many people believe that twilight is the time when the veil between dimensions is at its thinnest. It is a time to communicate with the spirit world.

      Suddenly the man heard voices. Looking about, he was unable to see anyone in the graveyard. In disbelief he sat and listened intently to the sound. He soon realized the voices he was hearing were speaking in a foreign tongue. Then he recognized the language — it was Gaelic.

      Could it be that the dead still commune with one another?

      Black Creek Pioneer Village cemetery may not be any different. The graveyard is located beside the Fisherville Church, at the back of the village.

      The church, built in 1856, originally stood in the old community of Fisherville, once located at Steeles Avenue and Dufferin Street. It was moved in 1960 and replaced the log church that once stood on the corner of the Stong farm.

      The cemetery is original to the site. It was in use from 1845 to the 1920s, and is the final resting place for members of several local founding families, including Daniel, Elizabeth, and Michael Stong, and the Kaisers, the Hoovers, and the Boyntons.

      Catherine Crow highlighted the cemetery haunting during a visit to Black Creek.

      “At night, security employees at the village have reported seeing unexplained orbs of light in the cemetery on more than one occasion. At times these strange orbs have been seen outside the cemetery, floating over the dirt road in front of the church. These mysterious orbs are known to dance around in the air and weave above the gravestones.”

      There are many theories related to orb sightings. Some people believe they may be spirits, others think orbs could be portals or openings from one dimension to another. Other people believe that orbs are just specks of dust.

      Over the years, hundreds of people have travelled to Ghost Road on Scugog Island near the community of Port Perry, Ontario, to see a mysterious orb of light that haunts a somewhat deserted side road. People claim to believe the orb of light is the spirit of a dead headless motorcycle rider. According to local lore the biker lost control of the motorcycle and was decapitated by a barbed-wire fence.

      In 1986, six Niagara College film students arrived at the Ghost Road to do a short documentary about the story. Their aim was to capture the orb of light on film. The first night out everyone prepared for the arrival of the floating ball of light. One student was stationed in the field at the south end of the road where the rider supposedly hit the fence. They claimed a sphere of light the size of a basketball popped out of thin air and hovered in mid-air, sixty feet above them, for a few seconds.

      The students managed to photograph and video tape the light. The photograph depicted the fuzzy outline of a human figure bathed in a strong white light. The video showed a more defined figure in the orb. The outing was a complete success.

      So, back to Black Creek Pioneer Village — Animals often sense the presence of spirits. One night at Black Creek, a security employee brought a German shepherd guard dog with him on his night shift. Catherine elaborated:

      “On the dirt road in front of the cemetery the dog became visibly agitated. He started to growl and bark. The dog then hunched down on all fours then rose up and started to back away from the area.”

      What had he seen or sensed?

      Certainly,