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Do ghosts and spirits exist? My answer would be “yes.” For the past thirty-nine years, I have interviewed countless people, from all walks of life, who have shared their inexplicable experiences with me. For them these occurrences are real. There may not be any understanding of the meaning of some of the experiences, but they did happen to them. When I research a book on a haunting, I always visit the locale where the event has happened and I interview the people at the site. Occasionally, I experience some form of unusual activity during the investigation. When I meet people they often ask me two major questions: What got you interested in ghosts, and could you explain this area of study?

I always insist that I can only share what I have observed. I have no definitive answers, only theories and comments.

When I was a child I would often hear knocking sounds or faint whispers in the air. I was not alone! Someone or something was near me.

This visitation would cause me to scream in the night. My mother would always come to comfort me. She probably thought it was just my vivid imagination, but I knew differently.

In the beginning of my adulthood, I began a career as an investigative journalist. I had chosen this field of study in order to explore the world of history and to write books. I have never wavered from this direction. At first I wrote books about Ontario history, such as Under This Roof, Old Homesteads of Ontario, Ontario Memories, Teachings from the Longhouse, and Ontario Album. During the course of my research into our historical past, people would share their other-worldly experiences. It usually would start with a ghost story about a residence or a chance encounter on a country road with an apparition. I would listen to the stories and invariably be reminded of my childhood experiences.

What was really happening and why were so many people having these unusual experiences that seemed connected to them or to the place? The questions continued and I finally realized that I needed to apply my skills as a journalist and find some answers.

It began with Haunted Ontario, a collection of thirteen true stories of encounters with the spirit world. I knew in my heart that I was meant to continue my journey writing about this subject, loosely known as parapsychology. The Oxford Dictionary definition of parapsychology states, “The study of mental phenomena outside the sphere of ordinary psychology, e.g. hypnosis, telepathy etc.” Some people believe the origins of parapsychology research commenced on February 20, 1882, when the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was officially constituted in England. According to the textbook written by Harvey J. Irwin and Caroline A. Watt, and used in a course on Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh entitled, Introduction to Parapsychology, “Parapsychology is the scientific study of experiences which, if they are as they seem to be, are, in principal, outside the realm of human capabilities as presently conceived by conventional scientists. Thus parapsychological phenomena ostensibly indicate the operation of factors currently unknown to, or unrecognized by, orthodox science, popularly referred to as paranormal factors.”

The Society for Psychical Research was founded principally on the initiative of some academics at Cambridge University and associates, all of whom believed that various claims for the existence of paranormal phenomena warranted scientific scrutiny. Irwin and Watt stated, “Recorded experiences, of course, may be found among all cultures and in all historic periods. Two main factors can be seen to have led to the foundation of parapsychology in 1882. These were the movements known respectively as Mesmerism and Spiritualism.”

Mesmerism was founded by Franz Anton Mesmer, who was born in Switzerland in 1773 and later studied medicine at the University of Vienna. Mesmer was interested in studying how physicians could exert an influence over their patients.

Irwin and Watt add, “At the folk level there was a tradition that certain divinely inspired individuals had the power to cure the sick by touch, the so called ‘laying on of hands.’ Some of these healers used magnets to strengthen the healing force that purportedly emanated from them [the hands].”

Eventually Mesmer discovered that the use of a magnet was not necessary. The healing effect could be achieved with any object which had passed his hands. He concluded that there existed a healing force, or ‘fluid,’ known as animal magnetism (so named to distinguish it from ordinary mineral magnetism). It was discovered that as Mesmer made magnetic passes over his patients they would fall into a sleep-like state or trance.

Irwin and Watt stated, “In this state, the ‘magnetized’ individuals would be remarkably compliant with Mesmer’s suggestions, reporting, for example, complete freedom from pain.”

There were also other reported by-products of magnetic induction known as “higher phenomena.” Some patients suddenly had the ability to see events that were sensorily inaccessible. Mesmer used this technique to evoke telepathy, clairvoyance, travelling clairvoyance, the expression of transporting clairvoyant awareness to a distant location and other parapsychological experiences.

A number of years ago I interviewed a professional nurse who had experienced time travel. Her story began at an archaeological dig that took place near Collingwood, Ontario. Someone had discovered the site of an ancient Native village. Her husband was associated with the archaeologist at the site and they decided to visit the dig. When they arrived at the site, she encountered time travel.

She suddenly found herself as a young woman sitting in a circle of Native elders, including a medicine man. She also saw that she lived in the village near this medicine man. She was close with this holy man and appeared to have been happy.

She was married to a young Native who was killed in battle. This medicine man knew this was going to happen, but did nothing to prevent it. She had discovered this and had come to hate the medicine man.

Then suddenly, she was back in the present with her husband. He was aware that something had happened to her. She did not want to leave the area. She knew she could return to that time at any moment.

Two years later, she had a deep yearning to return to the site. Her husband had died and she had too many unanswered questions. She followed the same pathway to the spot where she had stepped back in time. Once she arrived in the same location she received a strong message instructing her not to go back.

Her questions were, “What do I do with this experience? What does it all mean?”

Where does one go with questions like that! Was this “travelling clairvoyance”?

This force that Mesmer talked about applies also to the story in this book entitled “A Scent of Roses.” In this story people travel to a farm in Marmora, Ontario to experience the miracle of divine healing by the laying of hands, the drinking holy water, or by the power of prayer.

Although Mesmerism was a forerunner of parapsychology, the Society for Psychical Research was on a different path. They set about establishing a religious movement entitled Spiritualism.

The Spiritualism movement originated in America in the middle of the nineteenth century; it was brought to public awareness by events recorded in the Fox household.

Irwin and Watt wrote about the beginning of this spiritual movement. “In December 1847, a blacksmith named John Fox, his wife, and two of their children, fourteen-year-old Maggie and twelve-year-old Kate, moved into a rented, wooden cottage in Hydesville (Rochester), New York. The house was said to have had a reputation for being associated with uncanny events, and in the latter half of March, 1848, the family began to hear a variety of strange sounds — rapping, bangs, and scrapings — as if furniture was being shifted.”

John Fox thought the window sashes were being rattled by the wind. So he carefully checked all the windows in the house, giving each one a firm shake. His daughter, Kate, observed that each time her father shook the windows the noises were heard, as if in reply.

“It occurred to Kate to snap her fingers to see if that would elicit a similar response. The ‘ghost’, as it was taken to be, responded to this challenge with raps in the pattern.

“Eventually, word got out about the ghost in the Fox home. More and more people flocked to the house to witness the communications.”

The Fox sisters began to travel across the country demonstrating how they could communicate with the spirit world.

The sisters held séances and participants often felt the touch of an invisible hand. Objects moved unaccountably and musical instruments playing without human intervention. The sisters enjoyed success as mediums for many years.

The Fox sisters had captured the imagination of the American public. Irwin and Watt add, “Mediums sprang up in other parts of New York State, and by the early 1850s, followers of spiritualism in New York City numbered in the tens of thousands.”

In the next few years, spiritualism had spread throughout America and to Europe.

In a book entitled Ghosts and Spirits, by Chambers Harrap Publishers, it was stated, “By 1888 alcoholism was taking its toll on both Kate and Maggie. Their sister Leah had given up managing her two younger sisters. While the two sisters were at this low ebb, a reporter offered $15,000 to Maggie and Kate for an exposé of their methods.

“On the night of 21 October, 1888, Maggie performed at the New York Academy of Music, with Kate in the audience. Maggie showed how a simple cracking of the joints of her toes could produce a sound loud enough to be heard through the whole theatre. This had been put forward as a possible explanation for the rapping sounds, but no one had been able to prove it until this admission was made.”

In 1889, Maggie retracted her confession and returned to doing séances.

Kate and Maggie died as paupers. The Fox home was dismantled and moved to Lily Dale, in New York State.

The spiritualist community of Lily Dale was created in 1879, as a home for mediums. Lily Dale is located about an hour drive southwest of Buffalo. It is a settlement comprised of a cluster of nineteenth-century, gingerbread houses. Today there are forty mediums living in Lily Dale.

Every year approximately 22,000 people visit Lily Dale to participate in classes and workshops, to share public church services, mediumship demonstrations, and lectures, and to have private appointments with mediums.

We went to Lily Dale to ask Greg Kehn to assist us in seeking out the spirits in the Orillia Opera House. It was incredible to work with Greg. He is truly a gifted medium and is able to see the spirit world and communicate messages. Historical facts verified almost every spirit he encountered in the Orillia Opera House.

Although the story about the Fox sisters ignited a spiritualist movement, it was not the first such paranormal story to make history in North America. The “Baldoon Mysteries” story in this book was an earlier event — and a sensational happening in the community of Baldoon, Ontario.

That story concerns the McDonald family, who were persecuted for three years by the curse of a witch. The family not only experienced knocking, but a host of other paranormal occurrences.

What is a “ghost”? The Oxford Dictionary states, “The supposed apparition of the dead.”

Renowned author Dr. Hans Holzer was one of the world’s foremost experts on the subject of the paranormal and authored more than one hundred books on parapsychology.

According to Dr. Holzer, he believed there was a difference between a ghost and a spirit. “A ghost appears to be a surviving emotional memory of someone who has died traumatically, and usually tragically, but is unaware of his or her death. A few ghosts may realize that they are dead but may be confused as to where they are, or why they do not feel quite the way they once did.”

Dr. Holzer believed that when death occurred unexpectedly or unaccountably, or when a person died who lived in a place for a very long time and was attached to the premises, there would be shock, trauma, and an unwillingness to part with the physical world.

Holzer stated, “Ghosts — individuals unaware of their own passing or incapable of accepting the transition because of unfinished business — will make themselves known to the living people at infrequent intervals.”

This could be the case in some of the hauntings at Black Creek Pioneer Village.

Dr. Holzer points out that in his research “no more than 10–15 percent of all sightings or other phenomena are ‘real ghosts’. The larger portion of all sightings or sound phenomena is caused by a replaying of a past emotional event, one that has somehow been left behind, impressed into the atmosphere of the place or house.” (See the “Cherry Hill House” story in this book.)

Dr. Holzer mentions his view of the difference between a ghost and spirit. He believes ghosts do not travel or follow people home; neither do they appear at more than one place. Reports of apparitions of the deceased are not ghosts to Dr. Holzer, but free spirits.

He defines a spirit as such: “Spirits are people like you and I who have passed on to the next world without too much difficulty or too many problems. They are not bound to anything left behind in the physical world. They do, however, have ties and emotional interests in the family or friends they left behind.”

Holzer believes that spirits are people who have died and are living in their duplicate “inner body,” the etheric body. They are different from the physical living people in respect to certain limitations and the time element, but spirits are simply people who have passed on to the next world with their memories and interests intact.

Whether a ghost or spirit, people of all walks of life have had encounters with these unusual entities. An older man, who had taken my historical, haunted walking tour of Bala, Ontario, shared this incredible experience with me: Four years ago, on the night of his birthday, he retired to bed. Sometime in the night a spirit visited him. She appeared by his bedside. He was unable to make out her features, but she leaned over and whispered in his ear. He could not make out what she was saying; then she looked at him again and vanished. He wondered who she was, why she came, and what she had said.

He believed it was his mother. Now here’s the twist! He had been adopted as a baby and never met his real mother. He believed his mother had been unable to find him while she was still alive, but had continued the search for him in death — and had found him.

On his next birthday, he wondered if this female spirit would return. In the middle of the night she reappeared. Again, she attempted to whisper something in his ear. This time, she moved to the end of the bed and gazed at him. He knew it was her. He called out to her, “Mother!” and she shattered like broken glass and vanished!

The experience left him feeling loved. It was the closure he needed in his life. Although she never returned, he knew it had been her.

Some people ask about poltergeists.

Chambers stated, “Poltergeist-related phenomena can involve objects seeming to move with no cause, including heavy items such as furniture, as well as smaller items; bangs, knocking and rapping noises; thrown objects, which sometimes follow an unusual trajectory, or seem to be aimed at a specific person; rains of small objects such as stones or coins, sometimes falling inside a house; foul smells; spontaneous fires, sometimes breaking out on walls or ceilings; electrical disturbances, including the switching on and off of lights and appliances; the levitation of either objects or people; and the manifestation of liquids such as blood, water, or oil.”

A few years ago, a group of actors were on stage rehearsing a play in the Gravenhurst Opera House. One of the actors suddenly felt something dripping onto their shoulder. Almost immediately, they were soaked and a small puddle had formed on the stage floor. It was blood! Rehearsal stopped. A ladder was used to climb up into the ceiling area of the stage, to see if there was a wounded animal up there. They found no trace of blood or any animal in the ceiling. It was an unnerving event.

I have discovered over the years that numerous theories abound when it comes to explaining the existence of ghosts, spirits, or any form of paranormal activity. I do not suggest that I have found the answers, but I continue to explore this fascinating world of the paranormal. I truly love listening to people’s stories and visiting the sites where the activity is occurring or has occurred. In each event or story, I approach the subject matter objectively. Haunted Ontario 3 has been a joy to explore, investigate, and write. I hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Terry Boyle

Burk’s Falls, Ontario, 2013