Haunted Ontario 3-Book Bundle. Terry Boyle
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Название: Haunted Ontario 3-Book Bundle
Автор: Terry Boyle
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Эзотерика
Серия: Haunted Ontario
isbn: 9781459732438
isbn:
In 1975 Holiday House changed hands yet again, from the Allchins to the Nivens. Jim and Jackie Niven and Jim’s grandmother owned and operated the establishment. Jackie passed away in the house after suffering from cancer. Apparently Grandmother Niven was noted to say, “This place has a mind of its own. If the place does not like you, your stay will not be long.” In 1983 it was taken over by Arthur and Sylvia Richardson with the following philosophy “To provide old-fashioned hospitality from arrival to departure.”
Grandmother Niven’s words rang true for the Richardsons. For three long years they experienced constant activity. Cathy Morrow, who worked for the Richardsons said, “Ashtrays would fly off the table and things always went missing. Clothes would fly out of the closet and often disappear, never to be seen again.”
Cathy was the office manager and had worked at the inn since 1983. She experienced more spiritual activity than anyone else. She could immediately sense a presence the moment she opened the front door of the house. She revealed that generally there would be a period of increased activity, always early morning and late night, followed by a period of no activity — and then the cycle would be repeated.
Early one morning during her first year at the inn, Cathy was downstairs in the pub. To get to the pub one had to walk down a set of stairs, past the main desk, turn left, and walk down a long, limestone corridor to the pub entrance. There was a small room for guests situated at the end of the bar. The pub washrooms were located in the lounge by way of a small corridor at one end of the room.
Cathy said, “I had just reached the corridor when a woman suddenly appeared in the doorway. She was so vivid. I could describe everything she was wearing. She had on blue jeans and a red and white striped T-shirt. She was a small woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair. She would have been in her 40s. I just looked at her and within seconds she vanished into thin air.”
Cathy told her story to the housekeeper when she arrived for work. “You have just described Jackie Niven,” said the housekeeper. It seemed that Jackie, who had died in the house, had never left. There was no other explanation and there may never be one.
In Cathy’s experience, the hauntings occurred primarily in the early morning or late at night. Her day would start at 5:30 a.m. She came through the front entrance and passed the formal dining room on her right and the parlour, complete with a fireplace, on her left. She continued down the hallway past the main central staircase until she reached the front desk located at the end of a short corridor.
The beautiful Inn at the Falls in the summer.
One morning Cathy arrived during a loud thunderstorm. There was an eerie feeling of foreboding as she approached the front door. She sensed a presence as she entered the inn. This sensing would start as a feeling and then become a knowing that something was about to happen. The “feeling” came this time, from the dining room. As she entered the darkened room a sweet, faint voice said “hello”. There was nothing to be seen but later that day another staff member said it had been the spirit named Sarah.
There have been several sightings of a young woman with long, dark brown hair in the inn. “Sarah” is sometimes only visible from the shoulders up and usually appears in white. She is seen in the main hallway and in the lower level stone corridor leading to the pub.
In 1988 the inn, now 17 rooms, was purchased by Peter and Jan Rickard. A new name, Inn at the Falls, reflected the unique location overlooking the falls. Their long experience in the hotel industry, combined with their keen desire for a family business made the inn the perfect venture for Jan and Peter. In 1989 they began to expand the inn to include other houses on their cozy village street, including the former Salvation Army Citadel.
Each year their business grew to make it one of the most successful in Bracebridge. The inn featured 37 rooms and suites, some with whirlpools and fireplaces and most with balconies that afforded views of the surrounding gardens and Bracebridge Bay.
The Rickards openly admitted that the inn was haunted. They even printed a light-hearted warning on their menu: “Our three resident ghosts, Bob, Charlie and Sarah, are friendly spirits and tend to keep mostly to themselves. Bob inhabits the kitchen area, Charlie the upstairs corridors, and Sarah can be heard rustling through ‘Victoria’s’ (dining room) on occasion.”
In 1995 Geraldine Page, a well-known American psychic (not the famous actress with the same name), arrived at the inn for lunch. On entering the premises she was immediately drawn upstairs. There she sensed the presence of a spirit and, before lunch was served, made arrangements to come back and “make contact”!
She arrived on Saturday and was ready at 10:00 a.m. in room 105, where the woman can be seen in the window. Peter Rickard recalls the early moments, “Just as she began, the lights dimmed on their own. Geraldine was lying on the bed and slowly drifted into a trance-like state. After a very short time she awakened, overwhelmed by the number of spirits that approached her. She said the spirits were there to be healed!” How many spirits did she see? What did she mean that they were there to be healed?
Ms. Page saw the woman sitting in a chair at the window of room 105. She appeared to be looking out at the street and the grounds. There was another woman moving back and forth in the hallway. She seemed concerned for the unborn child she was carrying. A man walked beside her attempting to comfort her. Ms. Page was also surprised at the number of children in the house. The voices of children laughing and giggling in the main hallway of the inn had been a common occurrence, although there had been no recorded sightings of them.
So many spirits in one place hampered her efforts to connect and the session ended. Is the atmosphere there a healing one? Do the spirits sense a presence that might help them? Is there an opening there to their world? One thing is certain: there have been many spirits seen in various areas of the inn.
The Inn at the Falls in the winter.
The strangest experiences, however, occur in room 105. This was the former bedroom of Judge Mahaffy. Most guests have experiences out of the ordinary in this room. Some guests feel a presence the moment they enter it. Room 105 is a spacious suite. An antique bed is situated on the left as you enter; the bathroom is to the far right and a central fireplace is located on the west wall; the east wall has a bay window with two chairs and a table, and a chandelier hangs over it all. It is in this room where a woman can be seen sitting or standing by the window that overlooks the street. The spiritual activity in this room varies — the television turns on and off by itself and missing keys from other rooms often show up in room 105.
In early September 1993, a couple who had honeymooned at the inn returned for a weekend getaway. They arrived Friday evening. That day the housekeeper had placed her master key in the door while she proceeded with her chores. This was the usual procedure. However, this day the key disappeared while she worked. A hunt produced nothing. The couple were informed about the missing key and they too had a look for it — to no avail. On Saturday night when they went to retire, the key was found beneath the covers in the middle of their bed.
A guest from room 106 expressed her concern at checkout time: “How is the pregnant woman feeling who is staying on the second floor?” She had overheard a conversation in the hall between a man and a woman. The guest in question had the only room booked on the second floor that night. This had happened to several guests and staff.
Monty СКАЧАТЬ