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The Flynn House

~ Black Creek Pioneer Village ~

Occasionally attachment can become a prison sentence that goes beyond the act of death. In some cases, the very prison cell may be the former home and grounds of the deceased. This would seem to be a possible explanation for Mrs. Flynn.

The Flynn House, situated around the corner from the Burwick house, is a small, yellow wooden home, built in 1858. The house originally stood at Yonge Street and Drury Road, just north of Toronto. It was moved to Black Creek Pioneer Village in 1959.

The first occupants of this home were Irish immigrants — Daniel Flynn, his wife, and their two daughters. Daniel was a shoemaker by trade. The rear parlour of the house was used as the boot and shoe shop. Eventually Daniel constructed a shop on the grounds. In 1963, architect Napier Simpson described the building. “This small building has traces of Classical architecture in its facade. No doubt the man who built it was aware of style in architecture. Realizing that his establishment was on a main thoroughfare and would be seen by many hundreds of people a day, he planned a well-designed building. The size of the building however, presupposes that it could only serve a very small business.”

Daniel’s original shop in the house later became the kitchen. Two bedrooms were located off the main sitting room area and there was an attic upstairs.

Ruthan Johnson worked in the Flynn House for several years. She loved working in the building and never felt alone because, as it turns out, Mrs. Flynn was there to keep her company.

Ruthan said, “At times Mrs. Flynn would become very playful. I could sense her around. She has been seen wearing a yellow dress. There is a cookstove in the kitchen and a fireplace in the parlour. The staff and I would bake everyday on the cookstove. I would light the fire in the cookstove and wait till I had a nice blaze going. Then I would leave to light a fire in the fireplace.

“One day the fire was going so well in the cookstove that I could actually hear the steam coming out of the kettle but when I returned to the kitchen the fire in the cookstove had gone out. The stove surface was stone cold as if I had never lit a fire.”

In addition to these antics, apparently Mrs. Flynn also enjoyed Ruthan’s baking.

Daniel Flynn House, 1858

“Every day I would bake cookies and cakes. Once they were out of the oven, I would place the cookies and cakes on a plate and set them down on a nearby table. I would then go to the parlour or to the woodshed for more wood, but upon returning to the kitchen there would be a cookie or cake sitting next to the plate.”

Despite the gentle tricks played on Ruthan, not all of Mrs. Flynn’s attentions are so benevolent. Catherine Crow explained that there was a story that Mrs. Flynn’s husband was abusive to her, which could explain her apparent dislike for men.

Ruthan elaborates: “There was a gentleman who delivered firewood to the houses in Black Creek Pioneer Village. He would often come to the back door of the Flynn House for a freshly baked piece of cake. Mrs. Flynn did not like him. She would bolt the door and close the open window.”

One day Ruthan’s husband, Dennis, was delivering the firewood.

“As I was walking up the boardwalk to the Flynn House I would hear the bolt slide closed on the back door denying me entry to the home.

“I went around the building, to the front door to give Ruthan heck for locking the back door. I soon discovered that Ruthan had not been anywhere near the back section of the house. Ruthan then asked Mrs. Flynn, out loud, to let me in the back door.”

Dennis returned to the back door and heard the bolt slide to allow him entry. This all happened before Ruthan could even get there.

Ruthan understood that Mrs. Flynn still sleeps in one of the bedrooms of the house.

“There are two bedrooms situated directly across from the parlour. When I arrived in the morning I would notice the bed in the bedroom to the right of the parlour had been slept in. There would be an impression of a body having laid in the bed. It was quite visible.”

A newly-hired security guard named Mark was working his first night shift when he encountered Mrs. Flynn.

“Mark found himself checking around the Flynn property at 4:00 a.m. when he spotted a woman in a long, yellow, period dress in the garden at the back of the house.

“He cautiously approached the woman with a flashlight in hand and said to her, ‘Excuse me, ma’am, but you are not allowed to be on the property.’ Just as he reached her, she completely disappeared in front of him.”

The experience frightened him so badly that he quit the next day.

Mrs. Flynn has also been seen walking the streets of Black Creek Pioneer Village at night. During the summer, re-enactors often camp out at Black Creek Village. One night, a group that was camping there were socializing on the porch of the Half Way House Inn. The inn is located just up from the Flynn home. Right in front of them a woman in a yellow period dress was seen walking up the street from the Flynn House and she vanished just as she reached the inn. One re-enacter said, “It was almost as if she was floating above the road.”

Mrs. Flynn has also been seen on a number of occasions near the rhubarb patch located in the backyard garden. Mrs. Flynn likes to make her presence felt. Ruthan would often smell lavender wafting through the parlour.

Typical of Irish Roman Catholics, the Flynn family had pictures of saints in the house. The picture of one saint is still situated on a wall in the parlour. Two framed pictures of saints hang in the front hall, and one on the fireplace wall and another on the wall between the two bedrooms. Dennis felt that someone liked to change the location of the saints since Saint Patrick had been moved to a new location!

Someone also walks in the attic. Catherine told me the story of an employee named Randy, who had a startling encounter with a spirit in the Flynn House.

“Randy heard distinct footsteps walking upstairs in the attic. The attic is closed to the public. No one ever goes up there. It is an empty room with a small window at the far side that lets in a tiny amount of light.”

Randy decided to investigate. Up he went to the attic. No one was there! Down he went to the kitchen.

“Five minutes later he heard the same footsteps above him. There was no doubt in his mind that these were human footsteps.

“Again he went up to the attic. No one was there. Disturbed and leery, he made a hasty retreat to the kitchen. As soon as he sat down in the chair, the footsteps returned. This time the footsteps were louder and angry ... booming from the attic.”

Mad at a man? Maybe it’s Mrs. Flynn, again!

There is usually activity on the eve of Halloween. A tour guide named Jeff, who is well aware of Mrs. Flynn’s antipathy to men, helped Catherine light the candles in the Flynn House on Halloween.

“Jeff lit one candle and I lit another. I took the first tour group through the house and found it odd that the candle Jeff had lit was already out, almost as if someone had blown it out, while the candle I lit stayed flickering all night. That night Jeff took three groups of visitors into the house. On all three tours people heard distinct footsteps walking above them, in the attic. I had just finished my ghost walk in the Burwick house and was heading to the staff room when John came running out onto the street and told me to come quickly to the Flynn house.

“‘Listen!’ he instructed. All the visitors in Jeff’s group were staring up at the ceiling. Then I heard it. There were distinct shuffling footsteps coming close to the attic stairs.”

A ghost with good timing!

The Flynn House has been closed for repairs. This probably makes Mrs. Flynn’s day. No more men around for a while. But if you see that yellow dress, do say hello!