Real Hauntings 4-Book Bundle. Mark Leslie

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Mark McNeil, “Ghostly Spirits; Pub owner Welcomes Paranormal Sleuths to Find the Unbottled Spirits that Are Haunting Her Downtown Building,” Hamilton Spectator, February 14, 2008.

8. Ibid.

9. Ibid.

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

13. Ibid.

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Coach and Lantern website, www.coachandlantern.ca.

18. Erin Rankin, “Hair-Raising Local Legend Lives On,” Ancaster News, October 29, 2004.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid.

21. Ibid.

Spooky Sudbury

      Note on the Stories

      From the humble beginnings to the booming mining years, Sudbury has played host to stories of wealth and prosperity, hardship and struggle, and everything in between. Through the highs and the lows come tales of great success and great despair, adding to the wonder of a city that, by land area, is the largest city in Ontario.

      Sudbury is home to the Big Nickel, a thirty foot replica of a 1951 Canadian Nickel and the Inco Superstack, which, until 1987, was the world’s largest free-standing chimney at 1250 feet. Science North, Northern Ontario’s most popular interactive science museum is in Sudbury, and the city also boasts a vibrant arts community. With over 330 lakes within the city limits, it is an outdoor lover’s wonderland, rich with various seasonal sports, and the birthplace of more than eighty NHL hockey players.

      But there are other strange things afoot in this peaceful northern municipality; things not readily visible, but which lurk just beneath the surface.

      And despite the vow so many people have of “trying to leave” this northern community for other destinations, something about the Nickel City keeps luring them back. Whether it’s the taste of fresh air — or just the sulphur in the air — it’s hard to move beyond the black rocks, endless lakes and great openness without longing to come home.

      From a ghost seen wandering level 2650 of a local mine to voices and strange sounds heard in the basement of an abandoned hospital; from a graveyard that seems to protect itself from unwelcome visitors to a series of inexplicable lights regularly reported hovering in the night sky; from reports of strange creatures stalking the northern woods to eerie encounters, restless spirits and other unexplainable phenomenon that go bump in the night.

      Spooky Sudbury explores the magnetic aura surrounding the city, for the living as well as the once-alive, in tales of mystery, wonder, and outright horror.

      Foreword

      When I was asked to write the foreword of this book, I naturally asked “Why me?” My natural neurosis immediately kicked in. What made me the Creepy Guy? Was it my cologne, or maybe my sense of dress? I thought my trench coat was stylish!

      With a laugh, the authors reassured me that they were looking for someone with local knowledge of creepy things.

      That I do have.

      The city of Greater Sudbury has a long and very interesting history. It would be nearly impossible to grow up here and not have heard a strange and unexplained story of one kind or another.

      In the 1950s Sudbury was a hotbed of UFO activity. In 1975, four UFOs were confirmed on radar, and fighter jets were sent to the area from an air force base in Michigan.

      Perhaps it was a result of the cold war, an increase in visibility through movies and television shows that made our city more active for these types of occurrences. Or, maybe it’s something else.

      Greater Sudbury is a mid-sized Canadian city (pop. 160,000) with an industrial resource base; a bustling community that is the centre of commerce for northeastern Ontario. Nestled in the Canadian Shield, it is surrounded by a natural, rugged beauty that reflects the friendly and self-reliant nature of its inhabitants. It is everything you’d expect from a city of its size — big city amenities with a small-town feel. At least that’s what you’d think.

      There’s something more here, though. As one might find with the American Deep South, underneath this placid, genial exterior lurks something almost … sinister.

      The Sudbury Region houses unique blends of rugged natural beauty with an underlying energy as deep and dark as the mines the city was built upon.

       Greg Roberts

      As with any city, there are sudden deaths. Some are violent, others unexpected, and all are tragic. The sense of small-town closeness can begin to feel suffocating as tales of jealous lovers, disappearances, murder, suicide, and accidental death increase in size as people engage in the child’s game of “telephone” and the story is embellished as it passes from ear to ear.

      Unfortunately, locals have had more than their share to gossip about. Some years Sudbury has had almost one murder per month, sometimes more — a statistic well above the rate of other cities of comparable size.

      The community has also had several high-profile, unsolved homicides, some of which have garnered national attention. And, there have been many strange disappearances.

      Some of these people are not the type to run away or to get lost. Stories range from women who’ve vanished from seemingly happy domestic lives, to experienced men who never returned from hunting and fishing trips.

      Of course, it’s likely that many of these stories have elements of the aforementioned party game syndrome and that most have some rational explanation.

      But, as a final thought, consider this:

      I’ve been told by local First Nations elders that the core of what is now the city of Greater Sudbury was traditionally considered to be a place best avoided. In fact, the whole area was believed to have a strong energy to it, but that the center in particular was a dark place.

      I was told that this is the reason that no First Nations settlement was ever established