Читать книгу Terry Boyle's Discover Ontario 5-Book Bundle - Terry Boyle - Страница 9

Fact or fiction, what you are about to read supposedly took place more than 160 years ago and remains an incredible tale in the history of Ontario.

Our story begins with John McDonald and his family, who experienced several spine-tingling events in a place called Baldoon. Nervous of future occurrences and the possibility that their lives were in danger, the McDonalds struggled against invisible dark forces. They were plagued by some malevolent energy that interrupted their lives and defied explanation. Nothing seemed to function as it should. Surely, they had been cursed.

What was Baldoon really like? The community was located in southwestern Ontario on low, wet lands that were surveyed in 1802. It was Lord Alexander Selkirk who sought to attract Scottish Highlanders to the area. In return for this, Selkirk himself would be granted 150 acres for every colonist he procured. It would seem that the settlement of Baldoon was founded on less-than-benevolent principles. These early colonists had no way of knowing just how uninhabitable this land really was. By 1804 the first settlers’ eager anticipation had vanished into the mist.

Despite difficult circumstances, many newcomers laboured to create a new life here. One determined soul was John McDonald. Around 1804 he and his wife built a sturdy frame house. For a short time John and his beloved lived in peace and soon heard the pit-a-pat of little feet. It was, however, a short-lived dream. A series of mysterious persecutions began. John and his family did not live in isolation — a very unusual family resided close by. Others in the area referred to this family as the people of the long, low, log house; they were a family that consisted of an old woman, her two sons, and one daughter. They were somewhat reclusive and unsociable people with few associations in their community.

The land of John McDonald had been coveted by the people of the long, low, log house. They approached him on several occasions with offers of purchase, but John always refused. (Was this decision connected to all the mysteries he and his family encountered?)

In those days the wives wove homespun cloth for clothing and straw into hats for protection from the blazing sun. These were shared activities among the settlers. One fine day while the men were occupied with farm duties, the young women gathered at the McDonald barn to pick and prepare straw for an afternoon of hat-making. The barn was built of logs and inside it were poles that stretched from side to side overhead, forming hangers for the flax.

As the women sat chatting and working, they were startled by the sudden plunge of one of the flax poles overhead. Although the pole fell right in their midst, it struck no one. Then a second of these poles crashed, and a third! The ladies fled to the house. No sooner were they inside than there was the crash of glass and a lead bullet lay at their feet, then another, and finally a shower of bullets came and the young women fled the house. There were no explanations for this.

For a few days all was peaceful on the McDonald farm. Then, one evening close to midnight, John was awakened by the sound of marching men, moving backwards and forwards with measured steps, then stillness, then more heavy tramping, but no one was to be seen. For three successive years many unexplainable manifestations afflicted the McDonald family.

Bullets through the windows became almost a daily occurrence. John finally barricaded the windows with heavy boards. The bullets passed through the wood, without leaving a mark! By this time the whole countryside was aware, alert and alarmed.

John McDonald was really beside himself. He and his family were anxious and tense from this relentless activity. They had been haunted by noises in the night, cups and saucers flying through the air, and their house was even reported to rise at one end or the other by as much as one metre (three feet).

An officer in the British army, Captain Lewis Bennett, visited Baldoon specifically to meet with the McDonald family and examine the situation. During his visit Bennett’s own gun exploded for no apparent reason, and he witnessed the hauntings first-hand. One incident involved a baby in a cradle who suddenly began to scream as though in pain. She could not be consoled, but when picked up, a hot stone was discovered beneath the blankets. When the stone was removed another appeared. This was repeated several times. Little balls of fire were seen floating in mid-air and settling in various parts of the house. Every room in the house experienced this kind of fire.

The hauntings began to intensify. McDonald was exhausted and desperate. The family was not safe. Then one day flames burst out in a dozen places simultaneously and, although the family escaped, all was burned and lost.

John and his family moved to the safety of his father’s house, and life seemed to return to normal. But it was not over. Once more the fearful tramping started, day and night; the furniture moved about, and a heavy kitchen cupboard fell to the floor with a thud. McDonald sought help this time from one Reverend McDorman. He was different, at least for a man of the cloth — he acknowledged the dark side. McDorman told McDonald that he knew a doctor’s daughter who had the gift of second sight and the mystical power to do stone readings. John implored the reverend to take him to her. They travelled together for several days to see her. John told the young girl of the many mysterious happenings.

She listened intently and asked, “Did you ever have any trouble about a piece of land?”

“Not exactly trouble,” replied John.

“Did one of your neighbours desire to purchase a portion of your land and did you refuse?” asked the girl.

McDonald nodded.

The girl replied, “People in a long, low, log house?”

McDonald said, “Yes.”

Turning to her stone, the girl remained in a trance-like state for some time. Eventually, she asked, “Have you seen a stray black goose in your flock?”

“Yes,” he replied.

She continued, “In that bird lives the destroyer of your peace. It has taken the shape of a bird and it is your enemy. You shall mould a bullet of sterling silver and fire it at the bird. If you wound it, your enemy shall be wounded in some corresponding part of their body. Go and be at peace.”

Upon his return McDonald did as the young girl said. He and a party of men located a flock of geese by the river. He drew a bead on the black goose in the flock. The strange bird cried out like a human when it was wounded and made its way to the reeds with a broken wing.

Determinedly, John turned his footsteps toward the marsh, where the long, low, log house stood. One anxious look revealed all. There sat the old woman resting in a chair — and she had a broken arm. When she saw him, she pulled back.

For John McDonald and his family, no spiritual manifestations were ever seen or heard of again. Fact, it would seem, is truly stranger than fiction.