GHOSTS AND GALLOWS — January 2017

JANUARY 15th, 2017

By LANA CARBON & JOHN LILIES

[Lana] As you may have seen from a few of our previous posts, we enjoy our history on the darker side and if that telling takes the form of a haunted walk… that is all the better. In October and November, we had the privilege of going on two separate tours both run by our friends at the The Haunted Walk.

Our first outing for the 2016 fall time, was on October 15th at the Hallowe’en season special tour at Black Creek Pioneer Village in North York/Toronto. You may remember that we went to this locale for Christmas by Candlelight during the 2015 yuletide season; during Hallowe'en, there is an entirely different atmosphere. The buildings, while familiar, take on an ominous quality that is not entirely hidden at Christmas but merely dormant… as though lying in wait for the time of year when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest.

[John] Lana is right… there is a spooky atmosphere all the time at Black Creek but at Hallowe’en – whether it is our imaginations or not – it is much more intense.

[Lana] While many tragic stories are tied to the histories of the buildings and the denizens of the area, the majority of the ghostly tales come from the staff (past and present). Even some of the guides from The Haunted Walk, who only have a limited amount of time at the Village, have their own stories and experiences to share.

I must say, that out of all the buildings we visited that night, one stood out more than the others by far. The Manse had a creepy vibe the moment we went inside. We circled around our storyteller (Claire – who was excellent, by the way) and as luck would have it, John and I were the two with our backs exposed to the only other dark room in the building. I was constantly checking over my shoulder into the darkness behind us, even before the stories began. Multiple passes with our complimentary flashlights revealed nothing in the room behind us but that feeling of being watched was there nonetheless. Then there was the staircase…

[John] *Shudder* That staircase… I didn’t like it at Christmas and I liked it less after hearing the stories of the building.

[Lana] One of the rules put in place by Black Creek Pioneer Village is that no one is allowed to go up to the second floor; determined after a couple of incidents of people being pushed by an unseen force from the top of the stairs. Looking up from the bottom of the stairs, you can see a spot on the wall where an old picture had hung years ago. The stain on the wall looked reversed from what we had expected however…like the fading had happened in the wrong place. Maybe that is just my imagination though. I did remember looking up these stairs at Christmas and feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end just like they were doing at this very moment. Even one of the most level-headed and dare I say skeptical of the Haunted Walk guides, Margo, gets an uneasy feeling at the Manse. She told us she hadn’t had this type of feeling on a tour in quite a long time. It’s nice to know it wasn’t just me.

[John] Or me.

[Lana] I was really glad to have had the opportunity to partake in one of the special Hallowe’en Haunted Walks this season. It is a pleasure to attend those limited functions that aren’t available all year long and I am looking forward to attending more of them in the future.

[John] Same here! Hey Margo… thanks for reconnecting and chatting with us after our tour! It was so great to see you again!

[Lana] Let’s jump now to November 10, 2016 and 390 kilometres away from Toronto to Ottawa, Ontario. Although our main purpose for the trip was to witness the Remembrance Day ceremonies (which we will also be writing about so please watch for that upcoming article) in our nation’s capital, we decided to also take advantage of our time there and take in another Haunted Walk. There was only one tour open to the public that evening due to group bookings that night, so we gladly and quickly signed up for the Ghosts and Gallows tour, which is highlighted by a visit to the Carleton County Gaol. This is the same tour we took in 2014 (to read about our first visit, please click here). We knew that we would be revisiting one of the tours we had already taken but what we hadn’t expected was to be guided by Elise again, who was our guide for the same tour on our first night there during our 2014 trip. Knowing that there are hundreds, if not thousands of people that go on these tours, we didn’t expect to be remembered but it was nice to know that our social media interactions were recognized and, by the end of the night through recollections of the experiences we had on our previous trip, we were in fact remembered.

[John] I’m sure we weirded out Elise at least a smidgen at the very beginning, when we said hello and discovered she would be our guide. She was definitely surprised to see us – and on the same tour as in 2014, no less. Gracious though, and welcoming, Elise was lovely again and we thoroughly enjoyed our time.

[Lana] The tour itself was similar but there were a few minor changes mostly due to it being after the Hallowe’en season. We had time this year to enter the cells and feel the confinement that the prisoners would have felt even if it was only for a few moments for us. I had wondered, and hoped, if we would have some kind of unexplained experience like we did last time, but it was not to be this time.

[John] Standing in one of these cells brought me a deep sense of empathy for the prisoners. I cannot imagine spending much time in a confined space like that. Touching the walls, I was overwhelmed with a sense of confusion and sadness, as well as a bit of anger. My chest tightened and I really just wanted to scream and cry. I simultaneously felt like running away while also not wanting to leave at all. I wanted to sit down in the cell and close my eyes and connect, somehow, to what I was feeling. Alas, I had to let other tour participants experience the cell for themselves, so I quickly turned and walked back out, trying to calm the feelings swirling inside of me.

As we neared the end of our tour and had time to look at the gallows, with a prop-noose hanging for dramatic effect, I had a strange feeling of fear wash over me. It was similar to a memory, though it felt foreign at the same time, and I felt fear from standing in there with a rope around my neck and the floor about to give way. In my mind, I could feel a wind hit me - a cold blast to my face. My chest tightened again from the anxiety and I had to shake my head and continue quickly down the stairs to meet up with the rest of the group. Be it my imagination or something else, this night met me with more than I had expected.

[Lana] I enjoyed this tour almost as much (if not just as much) as the last time. That is a testament to not only Elise’s ability as a storyteller but also how entertaining these tours are in general. It certainly inspires me to want to go on more haunted walks. There are so many more out there that we haven’t gone on yet and that isn’t even including the other companies that offer dark history tours. It also makes us want to spend a night at the Ottawa Jail Hostel. I, for one, would love a chance to explore that place outside of a tour setting just to see if anything would happen. That is an adventure for another day however.

[John] An adventure that I have finally decided I’m definitely up for and looking forward to. I highly expect we will have a fun night of waiting for something to happen and leaving somewhat grateful that nothing (likely) happened and somewhat wishing we had experienced something major. Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong and we will have the night of a lifetime. (If we can make it happen and stay at the Jail for a night, while Lana does his investigating I will likely sit still and quiet, listening to the stories within the silence… trying to be a brave girl.)

Thank you to our friends at The Haunted Walk, for always making us feel welcome and for sharing your stories and the stories of our Canadian history, in a way that truly involves us and excites us… always leaving us wishing for more and looking forward to our next adventure with you.

Our Autumn Haunted Walks

Life is our adventure, COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE.