Читать книгу Real Hauntings 4-Book Bundle - Mark Leslie - Страница 26

One of the great benefits of getting to work on a book like this is the amount of research I had to do. With virtually every single chapter, almost every tale, I felt the need to go back and look further into the history of a person or a place, and my research sessions likely ended up being more than twice of what they truly needed to be. Caught up in the magic of history coming alive on the pages of the book in front of me, or of the archived newspaper clippings I was poring over, I had to keep reminding myself to stop and make notes.

I find it ever so intriguing that while I was originally drawn by the tales born from the dark shadows, I regularly became pulled into the historic legacy of the city.

And, of course, just the other night, when I was taking a stroll along the mountain brow in my neighbourhood with my wife and my son, at three separate times, as we passed landmarks, such as a building that used to be part of Buchanan’s Claremont estate, of the location of the Mountain View Hotel and of the Bruce Trail, I would pause to share a delightful and intriguing factoid I had learned that often hadn’t even found its way into this book.

At one point during our walk, my wife Francine turned to me with a bemused smile on her face and said, “Writing this book has been really good for you.”

“Indeed,” I said, nodding my agreement.

And not just because of the interesting facts I had discovered and was now sharing with others, but because of the manner by which my appreciation for our neighbourhood and our city was continuing to grow.

To liberate a phrase Sir Isaac Newton was known for, if I have been able to appreciate and see great things about this city and its fascinating and rich history, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants: all of the men, women, and children who initially established Hamilton and over the countless decades have helped it grow into the fine city it is today.