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The Half Way House Inn

~ Black Creek Pioneer Village ~

Jealousy, deception and betrayal are a recipe for misery, in this lifetime and beyond unless we learn to let go!

Poor Mary Ann Thompson; the wife of innkeeper, Alexander, may have discovered his secret before he died in 1873 — Alexander had another wife.

Mary Ann, it seems, is angry still, walking the hallways and the rooms of the Half Way House Inn at Black Creek Pioneer Village.

She is known as the woman in the blue dress.

The Half Way House Inn was built in 1849 by Alexander Thompson on the well-travelled Kingston Road, on the corner of Midland Avenue and Kingston Road in the Township of Scarborough. The inn was a favourite destination for those taking the stagecoach to Toronto. It was also a focal point for the community, which would use the inn for celebrations, and political and religious meetings.

Catherine Crow described the inn. “The main section of the first floor is the same as it was originally. Upstairs, the five bedrooms on the one side of the hall are also original to the building. The other side of the hallway was divided into a meeting room at the front of the inn and the innkeeper’s quarters at the back of the stairs.”

The Half Way House Inn, 1849

Alex Thompson and his wife Mary Ann lived in the inn until his death in 1873. The next owner, Ignatius Galloway, added a dining room and a new kitchen to the first floor. He remodelled the innkeeper’s quarters and meeting rooms into a ballroom on the second floor.

The establishment remained an inn until it closed in 1955. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority acquired the building soon after and moved it to Black Creek Pioneer Village in 1965.

Several years ago, Catherine had the opportunity to speak with Linda, the manager of the restaurant at the inn. She knew a great deal about the woman in the blue dress. “Oh yes, I’ve seen her and I’ve heard her too!

“She will tell you the woman in the blue dress spends a lot of time in the ballroom. She has also been spotted looking out over the balcony at the end of the second floor.”

The restaurant is another of her favourite haunts. She likes to knock on walls and play with the radio.

“There have been many times when I’ve locked up at night and turned off the radio in the restaurant, only to open up first thing in the morning to find the radio on playing music. There is no one who comes down here at night so I can’t explain why it is turned on.

“There is one location in the restaurant where the spirit knocks. It is in the wall above a table and two chairs situated by the fireplace. This is where you will hear the distinct knocks in the wall.”

Luke, another employee at the inn who works as a costume interpreter, has also seen the woman in the blue dress.

Catherine explained, “Luke came into work very early one morning and as he entered the front door of the inn he saw a woman in a blue period dress with long brown hair walking slowly and silently up the staircase to the second floor. Luke assumed it was Alice, who worked at the inn.

“Luke was surprised to see Alice there so early. He said good morning, but received no reply. Luke walked back to the kitchen. Sue, a kitchen staff worker, told Luke that it was Alice’s day off!

“Luke went upstairs to look for the woman in the blue dress, curious to discover who she was. He checked every room thoroughly and found absolutely no one.”

Ruthan Johnson also encountered some unexplained activity in this building. She could never keep a door shut on the wardrobe in the hallway. She would close the door and come back later to discover it open.

A volunteer named Jacquie also shared a story.

“Whenever the woman in the blue dress is spotted walking up the staircase, she either disappears at the top of the landing or is seen entering the ballroom at the top of the stairs and then disappears. The only trace of her left behind is a subtle scent of perfume.”

Has Mary Ann stayed behind because she’s angry or still seeking fun in the ballroom — or is she refusing to go to some place where she may have to face Alexander?

Hopefully, one day Mary Ann Thompson can see her way to forgive and move on. Until then she remains lonely, unloved, and imprisoned in the fourth dimension.