Irish Pub – Mississauga

Paul and I were to meet up with Joe, the business manager, to discuss the investigation and to have a look around.  We arrived and checked the main floor.  The building had been a large private home in the 1850’s, after which it was converted into a business; it is now being used as a pub.  It consists of a large bar area, dining area and kitchen upstairs, bathrooms, office and storage down in the basement.  We met up with Joe.  Joe took us downstairs; next to the washrooms he told us how the workers and patrons reported extreme cold spots there and uneasy feelings.  Next to the phone in that area was a small closet.  When Joe opened it a high quantity of positively charged ions were detected briefly.  We moved on to a secret room, which was 15 degrees colder than the rest of the basement. Joe stopped to tell us about some of the incidents and I couldn’t help but notice a chalkboard near the washroom.  Written on the board was, “Shhh, please do not disturb our resident ghost, Minerva!”  Joe said that a patron who claimed to be psychic told him that the ghost’s name was Minerva.

We followed Joe up to the main floor where he told us that glasses and ashtrays would fly off the bar.  People would report their hair being pulled or touched and complain of feeling cold.  He then told us that he had been scratched on the back of his neck in one encounter. In another encounter, an employee was going out the back door off of the kitchen, to have a smoke outside, when they saw a female standing there looking at them.  He had to take us to show us because it was difficult to describe.  When I saw it I understood.  The outer door was the solid wood door, which opened out to the deck.  The inner door was actually the screen door, which opened into the kitchen.  When the screen door was open, it was against the kitchen wall.  When the employee saw the spirit she was between the wall and the screen door, which was fully open.  The space between this door and wall is less than three inches.  The incident was brief.  Another situation involved a different employee, who was fearful of changing in the locker rooms because of feelings of being watched and uneasiness.  He had decided to change into his work clothes in the hall outside the locker room.  It was on this occasion that he witnessed a transparent apparition of a girl walking down the hall towards him.  As she neared him she disappeared through a solid door into a storage area.

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The House Of Secrets – Bloor & Dufferin

Toronto

It was a two-storey semi-detached home, built around 1898 in the Bloor and Dufferin area of the city.  It was rumoured that a small-time bank robber had owned the home in the 1920’s and upon his arrest none of the money was ever recovered.  People in the community speculated that the money was hidden somewhere in the house.  Although there were several historical searches we could not substantiate this claim.  However, starting in the mid thirties, right up to the mid 1960’s, there were constant break and enters at this house, nothing was ever taken.  The break and enters have been confirmed as fact.

The owner was an elderly lady who had become ill.  She was, at the time, living alone in the house and her nephew would drop by on a regular basis to help her and do her shopping for her.  She was brought to stay with family until she was feeling better.

The house was old and becoming run down and it was decided that it was the perfect time to do some renovation work.  All of her nephews (4) felt that they could do most of the work, however some of the more difficult jobs, such as plumbing and electrical would be left to the professionals, so contractors were hired for these jobs.

The contractors arrived and were met and let in by one of the boys.  They quickly went to work on the upstairs bathroom.  One of the jobs required them to run a new drainpipe from the upper floor to the basement.  As they worked, alone in the house, they started to notice odd sounds, which put the workers on edge.  When one had to go into the basement and the other had to remain on the upper floor it was the last straw for them, as their tools kept moving, doors kept closing, things started moving around and the sounds grew louder.  The workers abandoned the job and fled the house.

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The Haunted School House, 1875 – Pickering

I met with Paul and John; we loaded the equipment into the car and began our journey to the site.  The location was an old schoolhouse built in 1875, which was now being used as a community centre near Pickering, Ontario.  The centre has had numerous reports of strange occurrences dating back to at least the 1960’s.  The Hauntings Research Group, who had invited us to join their continuing investigation, had previously investigated the site.  We were all to meet there by 16:00 hours.

The Hauntings Research Group is a group of dedicated professional (paranormal) investigators, who I found on my quest to discover associates with whom to share ideas and theories.  I was very impressed with them, as they take nothing for granted.  They make no claims and as the majority of their group are true believers, they face each new piece of information they have collected with a balanced skepticism.  Based in Peterborough County, I truly believe there isn’t anywhere they would not go to find the proof they, like so many of us, seek.  The Group was founded by Dee Freedman and Anita Perron, both of whom conduct investigations and are psychic sensitive.  Krystal Leigh, a field investigator, is psychic sensitive as well. 

We pulled into the parking area, the rest of the team was already unloading equipment near the front of the building. As I was exiting the car I noticed that John was showing interest in a storage shed.  I grabbed my 35mm camera and headed over to where he was standing.  As I was walking up to him, I checked the camera’s built in light meter and set the shutter speed and aperture.  As soon as I arrived to where John was standing, the camera’s batteries died.  These had all just recently been replaced with new batteries.  The interesting thing was that not only the meter and control battery, but also the flash and power winder batteries, were dead as well, a total of eight batteries in all.  At about the same time Krystal entered the building and was loading the film into her 35mm camera, when her batteries died as well.

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