Haunted Ontario 4. Terry Boyle
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Haunted Ontario 4 - Terry Boyle страница 5
Название: Haunted Ontario 4
Автор: Terry Boyle
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Эзотерика
Серия: Haunted Ontario
isbn: 9781459731219
isbn:
The MacKechnie Estate.
Alice Fortune sold the estate in 1869 and the home changed hands several times before Cathryn Thompson and Ian Woodburn bought MacKechnie house from Arnold Burgis in 1993. They moved in with their son, Rory. By then the house was in a state of disrepair and every room was full of heirlooms and boxes of Burgis’ possessions. Arnold Burgis had been living in this spacious home alone since the death of his mother.
Ian specializes in restorations and renovations. Cathryn was a business executive in need of a change. A bed and breakfast and catering enterprise seemed the perfect solution. They had a brochure printed.
Built for Upper Canada settler Stuart MacKechnie in the grand and glorious Greek Revival style, MacKechnie House is the finest remaining example of this type of monumental domestic architecture in the Cobourg area …
The MacKechnie House ghost dates from around the same time (mid-1800s), and local rumour spins tales of a Highland Infantry Company Bagpiper’s untimely demise. Duty-conscious to the end (and beyond, it seems!) the only wailing he indulges in is that of his pipes, and modern encounters with this shy fellow, though delightful, can be sporadic.
However, a reluctant ghost is no reason to put off your visit to Cobourg. By the time you’ve seen all there is to see in this history- and event-packed corner of Northumberland County, you’d probably just sleep through his nocturnal perambulations anyway!
When Cathryn first moved into the home she had no idea it was haunted. In fact, she had never been exposed to any unexplained spirit activity. “I am not extremely sensitive to spirits. I didn’t have an experience until I moved here.
“During the first year we experienced something very unusual. One day a friend and her seven-year-old daughter were sitting in the kitchen. We were chatting away when suddenly her daughter pointed toward the library and said, ‘Who is the little girl?’ We didn’t know what she was talking about. We couldn’t see anything.”
On three separate occasions, psychics who were staying in the house reported the existence of three spirits in the home, an old woman, a little girl named Elizabeth, and a bagpipe-playing soldier. According to one psychic, Elizabeth longs to play with other children. She is seldom seen because she doesn’t want to frighten anyone. Elizabeth lives in the attic, a prisoner of her own world.
A Scottish bagpiper, who was billeted here back in 1866, is still seen on the stairwell.
At the top of the stairs to the right of the landing is the Rose Room. This is where Mrs. Burgis is said to have died. Could she be the elderly spirit? When Cathryn first began decorating this room she felt the need to choose wallpaper with roses. She even went a step further and had a dried rose framed to hang in the room. The bedspreads also reflect the rose theme. Cathryn is not attracted to roses. In fact, she had no idea why she felt compelled to decorate in this manner. She later discovered that roses just happened to be Mrs. Burgis’ favourite flower.
There is a cold spot in this room a short distance from the bed. Guests often complain about feeling a draft in this one area of the room. According to Cathryn there is a reason for this. Near the end of her life Mrs. Burgis was quite ill and bedridden. The nurse staying with her said she tried to get out of bed because she thought that someone had come for her. Mrs. Burgis rose from her bed and stepped forward to meet a man who only she could see. Then she collapsed and died.
Guests staying overnight in the Rose Room report a cold spot near the table and chairs.
Some people who have stayed in this room have told Cathryn that they could never get warm, even in the summertime. One overnight guest said they felt the spirit tucking them in at night.
Cathryn has to smooth out the blankets on the bed almost every day. It’s as if someone lays there on a daily basis. People often complain about the loss of personal items when they stay there. They blame it on forgetfulness or their partner, who they feel certain has placed it somewhere else. Then just when they give up, the item reappears right where they know they left it.
One day Cathryn was about to place a phone call. She carefully took one earring off and placed it on the table before lifting the receiver to her ear. After a lengthy conversation she put the phone down and reached for her earring. It was gone! “Many things go missing, such as clothing. I have lost a skirt, a belt, and some jewellery. These belongings have not yet returned.”
Ian often still spends his weekends restoring areas of the house. The disappearance of tools is also not an uncommon occurrence. One day their son Rory asked his dad to hook up the video machine. Ian recalls what happened. “I needed a pair of pliers to do the job. I remember placing the pliers back in the tool box after the job was completed. The next day they were gone. I looked everywhere. Three days later I walked by the video machine and there they were right in front of it, in plain view on the floor.”
When asked if he believes in ghosts Ian’s reply is, “My mother had just died. I was sitting alone in the living room and I could sense a strong presence. I knew I was not alone in the room. That was it.”
One morning a guest named Joanne complained over breakfast about not getting much sleep the night before. Cathryn explains, “Joanne told me a little girl and an elderly woman visited her during the night in her room. Joanne had asked them not to show themselves although she could hear them speak. Joanne said the girl, Elizabeth, was twelve years old. At first Elizabeth told her that she had been dramatically murdered in the house. However, she later said she had died of an illness. She said she was waiting to leave. It was Elizabeth and the elderly woman who told her there was another spirit in the house.”
That other spirit could be the Scottish bagpiper who apparently was billeted here back in 1866. Cathryn says, “People who have lived around Cobourg for a number of years and as children played in the house can vividly recall hearing his music. A number of people I have met claimed to have seen him.”
Sarah, a lifelong Cobourg resident, attended a birthday party in the house back in the late 1960s and this is what she saw: “There was a group of us playing on the second floor of the home. We had never heard of ghosts before. For whatever reason, I looked up at the staircase that leads to the third floor. I caught a glimpse of the back of a man from the waist down just as he was turning the top of the stairs. I saw one leg. He was wearing a black shoe and a kilt. I knew it was a kilt because I was a highland dancer at the time. The kilt was the Black Watch tartan with dark blue and green and a bit of yellow. I wasn’t the only one who saw him. We rushed up the stairs but there was nothing there.”
Little is known about this piper or his reason for remaining in the house. Cathryn and Ian have never seen him or heard his music.
In December 1997 Cathryn did encounter one of the spirits. “Back then I was usually rising about four a.m. to begin my catering work. I had one businessman who was a guest staying for the week. He rose for breakfast promptly at seven-fifteen a.m. I always made sure I had coffee ready before he arrived in the kitchen. This particular morning I slept in. I awakened at six-thirty a.m. to the sound of footsteps going down the stairs. Thinking it was him I rushed down СКАЧАТЬ