Ghost Story

London Free Press ^ | 30 Apr 04 | Ian Gillespie

[CurlyBill]

Ghost story

Several unexplained phenomena at the old courthouse in St. Thomas have sent chills through many.

Ian Gillespie, Free Press Columnist 2004-04-30 03:05:48

ST. THOMAS -- Somebody calls the newspaper with a tip and I find myself clambering up the steps of the old St. Thomas courthouse, thinking I'm wasting my time on a wild goose chase. Maybe a wild ghost chase.

It's a grand old building, to be sure. First built in 1852, it burned down in 1898 and was rebuilt the following year. Situated atop the hill on Wellington Street, the three-storey structure features five arches out front and a cupola on top.

The building, which is being renovated, holds a Crown attorney's office, a land registry office and provincial and Superior courtrooms.

Maybe the courthouse holds something else, too.

Several people tell me that years ago, a husband and wife team of custodians lived on the top floor. They say the wife died in a tragic accident and she has haunted the building ever since.

I tug on the door leading to the top-floor apartments, but it's locked.

I hear that, for years, there have been strange things happening here. Most of the people who tell me these tales don't want their name in the newspaper. Not in a ghost story, anyway.

One yarn goes like this: A caretaker, spooked by a vacuum cleaner that kept mysteriously turning off, finally lost his patience and spoke aloud. "Now look," he said. "The sooner you let me finish my work, the sooner I'll be out of here."

The vacuum immediately started up.

I'm told nighttime cleaners have found all the trash cans upended. I'm told a worker changed the brand of liquid cleanser she was using; later, she found all the new cleaning bottles on the floor, tops off, spilling into a drain.

I talk to a St. Thomas police officer in one of the courtrooms. He tells me that about 20 years ago, he and his partner responded to a possible B and E -- breaking and entering -- at the old courthouse.

It was a hot summer night. But, he says, as the two men climbed a rickety staircase to the top floor, the temperature suddenly dropped.

"It got so damn cold," he says, "it was like climbing into a fridge."

Then, he says, he felt a pressure on his left side and was shoved aside with such force that he would've tumbled off the steps if his partner hadn't grabbed him.

"That was my last experience being in here at night," says the cop. He laughs, but I don't think he finds it funny.

Then I meet a couple of electricians working on the renovations. Do they know anything about the ghost? One nods.

Dave Eels tells the story matter-of-factly, almost as if I'd asked him how to upgrade a fuse box.

Eels says it happened back in February. It was dark, about 7:30 p.m., and Eels and two other men were working in the courthouse. One of the guys asked if they wanted to go outside for a break.

Later, the man explained why he'd wanted to leave the courthouse: He'd been working alone in the basement when he felt something tug his overalls.

Then the room turned suddenly cold -- so cold, says Eels, the man could see his breath.

While they were standing outside, the three men heard a loud noise -- a sort of banging -- echo from the supposedly empty building. One guy figured a sheet of drywall had fallen. They heard more noises and went back to investigate.

And this is what they found in the small basement room where the one man had been working: They found the man's drill case, where he'd left it. Atop that they found the man's sweater, where he'd left it. And atop that they found a wooden chair, smashed to pieces.

Eels says the chair had been sitting, intact, in another room down the hall.

Eels shows me the broken chair. I ask if he believes in ghosts.

"Something was going on that night," he says.

Later, I re-enter the small basement room, with its curved, brick ceiling and old stone walls. I'm a skeptical guy. It's mid-afternoon. There are at least a dozen people upstairs.

Still, it feels good to get out of there. And I do. Fast.

[mtbopfuyn]

Who was it, a ghostie or your dad? Seriously, no human left my money - room mates came and went but the $ kept showing up the whole time I was in college.

The door was one of those you had to have a key to open it from the outside but the door sometimes would open on it's own. I run to see if someone was in the hallway but, you know, dorm hallways are tiled and long so you'd be able to hear someone walking and there's no where to hide other than going into another room but still there'd be sounds and echoes in an empty hall if a person had opened my door. Friends would freak at first but after a while they got used to it and it became normal.

[tiamat]

I'm estranged from my family... BAD abusive stuff that i won't discuss today!

[Snowy]

I have pictures! I belong to a search and rescue team and we train in an abandoned building in a mental institution. This place is listed as being 'haunted' on a ghost site. The stuff I have indicated iscalled 'ectomist'. It's thought to be the result of the aftermath of paranormal activity (yes, the place is very creepy and I love it!).

[cmsgop]

Whoa!!!!!!!!

[Barnacle]

I wonder if your wife may have had ulterior motives :O)

Logical question. But, she had not asked me to empty it earlier. And, she had no time to get from the bedroom to the kitchen and back to the bathroom before she let out a scream. Besides, she was really shook by it. She thought someone had come into the cabin. I regret my ghost explanation didn't do much to sooth her fears.

The bummer for me is that she eventually went back to sleep. I laid awake and had to work the next day too.

I think in the ghost stories are good for business, and I'm willing to bet that more than story has been started by the local COC to boost tourism...

You may have that right. But, I'd never intentionally stay the night in a haunted house. That was one exception though because I figured the ghost was benign and was simply trying to help control the mouse problem in the cabin. So, we stayed there the rest of the week. I emptied the garbage can every night before bed, and nothing else happened.

[Living Stone]

I did not believe in any of this Art Bell stuff myself, I am still somewhat of a skeptic, but I am more inclined toward believing this stuff after my above related experiences.

[Siamese Princess]

While I agree that emotions or whatever can be left in a house, I dunno about not really seeing ghosts. I've had and heard about enough experiences where the ghost comes to a person in a place where the ghost didn't live or have any attachment to. It's all spine tingling though.

I'm not suggesting that ALL ghosts are merely emotional imprints, but that there is a theory that SOME ghosts are.

[Snowy]

Whoa!!!!!!!!

It's funny. We train there about every other Wednesday night. Some nights, I feel so creepy that I can't go in that room by myself. Other nights, like this past Wednesday, I didn't feel the least bit creepy. The nights I feel creepy, I get interesting pictures. The nights I don't feel creepy, I get nothing unusual from my digital camera.

[Barnacle]

After all these years, I finally searched the web about about my experience. I found nothing specific about that cabin. But, that stretch of Huron shore is supposedly crawling with ghosts from shipwrecks.

I just may get up the nerve to call the owner of that cabin and ask point blank if there have been reports of other things that have happened there.

[Ditter]

We spent the night in a hotel in Jefferson Texas last year. I had seen the hotel on TV so I asked for the haunted room. (I told this story last night on another thread about a haunted pub that is on FR now.)

There was a diary in the room where the guest had written their experiences or lack of experiences. In the middle of the night my husband got up to go to the bathroom & said all the hair on his body was standing straight up. I checked in the bed for insect because he said it felt like something was crawling on him. There were no insects.

As I was drifting back to sleep, I felt something touch the side of my face & my lips. It felt like a mans mustache. The feel of a mans mustache is unmistakable. My husband is clean shaven & there was no one else in the room.

In the diary I found where other women sleeping in the room had felt a kiss from a ghost with a mustache or beard.

We have spent the night in three other hotels that are supposed to be haunted but that is our only ghostly hotel experience.

[Barnacle]

We have spent the night in three other hotels that are supposed to be haunted but that is our only ghostly hotel experience.

You've got more guts than I.

I'd never stay in a place known to be haunted. Except maybe for that cabin. All told, I've slept 20 night there and had just that one event. Now that I've learned that it was probably one of area's many shipwreck ghosts, I'm even less frightened knowing that it was not something bizarre that happened there.

[arasina]

The closest I can come to a ghost story: My father was a Civil War buff and used to buy authentic period clothing for us to wear to re-enactments. I tried on an antique silk top that was to be worn with a matching full skirt. I was latching the hook-and-eyes and felt someone squeeze my ribcage hard. I took that thing off so fast you'd have never known I had it on. Never touched the outfit after that. :o)

[arasina]

...but I think that has to be chalked up to cat-ness, rather than ghosts.

I call that "Cannon Catting". They run like they've been shot out of a cannon.

[Blue Eyes]

"Canon Catting." LOL! Perfect description.

Cat stories and ghost stories. Pull up a chair!

[zip]

ping

[zip]

The common threads of "sightings" are (1) an older building being renovated (2) building erected on cemetaries/sacred grounds (3) suicides attributed to scourned lovers. I'm sure there are several others but these come to mind.

[zip]

Please add showmegal and mrs zip to the ping list.

[Fiddlstix]

Ping

[CurlyBill]

Done.

[7.62 x 51mm]

Ooooooooooooh, THAT ONE? That site caught me with a mouthful of egg salad sandwich a few years ago, part of which was promptly transferred onto my monitor. LOL! Thanks for the memories!