Standing between the large pillars at the entrance to the parking lot of the Queen’s Landing Hotel in Niagara on the Lake, I look to my left and there a football field’s length away is Fort George. A fort dating back to the War of 1812. It’s not shocking that this quaint little town is reported to be the most haunted in all of Canada. Turning my head to the right another football field length away is a cemetery. Everything in my body is pulling me in that direction, goose bumps run up and down my arms, I know at my core that there is someone or something waiting for us in that cemetery.
My husband and reluctant but supportive ghost adventurer, starts to head towards the fort. We’ve been to the fort several times I think to him it is safe or at least he knows what to expect. Plus, he is a true Scotsman and when he sees a hill or a large field he must explore it, and in all honesty, I think he is trying to avoid the destination that I’m being pulled to. He knows that if my Spidey senses tingle something is up. The only way I get him to join me on these adventures is the promise of an amazing meal. As an Executive Chef and foodie, he is always willing to go through some discomfort if it means he’ll get a tasty pay off in the end.
So, with the promise of a fun walk to build up our appetite for our 3-course meal that evening, I re-direct him and we head towards the cemetery. With each step I take the feeling of loneliness and sadness encases my body, as we get closer to the graveyard, I start to hear sounds of someone weeping. Having walked through Niagara on the Lake several times before, I know that at any moment I can expect to be greeted by a spirit or ghost. They are scattered through this tiny town. You really do not need to be staying at a haunted house or Inn to have experiences. I’ve had more experiences walking through the streets than in the reported haunted Inns. And that is why I love Niagara on the Lake. Sure, we could stay in the Olde Angel Inn (trust me we will) which is reported to be the most haunted location within this most haunted town. But I often say that I have more experiences when I least expect it and less experiences when I expect to have them. Plus, as someone who sees spirits and ghosts everywhere – trust me on this!!! They are everywhere – being surprised is just downright fun!
As the cemetery comes into view, I realize there is a cemetery on both sides of the street. My curiosity and mind are wanting to go check out an area in the cemetery where I can see a cast iron fence and gazebo type structure. It seems to be a strange thing to see in an older cemetery. Ignoring the pull to the other area I cross the street and check out the interesting spot. As I stand in front of the fence, I read the monument that tells of the story of these souls. In this area are the graves of volunteer Polish soldiers who came to Canada to train from the United States; their goal was to go to their homeland and fight the enemy in WW1. But these soldiers unfortunately never made it to the war, the Spanish Flu of 1918 broke out and took the lives of many in the training camp. This area is to honor these soldiers plus many others, including their caregivers. The history in Niagara on the Lake is amazing. I’m not sure if it is my connection to spirit and being able to feel residual energy or what it is, but I am 100% a complete history nerd. I love it and it is mind boggling to look at some of these graves and imagine the journey these people had. One grave we encountered at another cemetery here in Niagara on the Lake was for a gentleman who came from Orkney Island in Scotland. Born in the 1700’s traveled to Canada and died in the mid 1800’s. Just imagine, wooden sailing ship (Master and Commander type of ship), a journey across the Atlantic Ocean that took up to 6 weeks, if not a few months. They would have most likely come ashore in Nova Scotia and then traveled across this wild new land, canoeing rivers, portaging through dense woodlands and wetlands, traveling by horseback through forests, no cleared roads, or paths. It would have been an incredible scary adventure. Sorry I digress in my history nerdiness.
As I’m reading the names of the soldiers that died in 1918 the sobbing I heard and felt earlier becomes louder. Glancing over my shoulder at the graveyard across the street I see a movement off to the right behind a large pillar shaped gravestone. There is no more ignoring this woman, I need to get over there and see what her issue is. I cross the street like I just drank 50 red bulls, Steve runs to catch up to me as I’m attempting to open the gate, we fumble together with the old contraption holding the gate closed and finally it releases, and we pour into the most energy filled graveyard I’ve ever come across.
I was in too much of a hurry to get to the back right corner of the property to stop and read the monument telling of the history of this area and the church. Let’s just say there was a reason this church and graveyard had such horrible energy. As I’ve stated in other blogs and in my books, graveyards are usually a peaceful calm place, this cemetery is the furthest thing from that, there are pockets of calm but for the most part it is a swirling mix of energy.
As I beeline to the area the weeping is coming from, my body is going through an onslaught of different emotions and physical weirdness. My head feels like it is in a vice, my chest burns, my arms, and legs start to ache and feel shaky. Ignoring all of that I keep going, and just as I round the large pillar shaped gravestone, I come face to face with a woman who is pacing back and forth. She is not quite solid, I can see through her, but she is solid enough that I can make out a lot of detail. Her dress is a dark colour, it appears to be black, but it may be a dark blue, it is a style from the late 1800’s high neck, sinched in waste, floor length full skirt. Her tear-stained eyes appear to be dark brown, and her dark brown hair is pulled back in an elaborate bun with some curls coming down to frame her face. I can just make out that she has a broach of some sort on the chest area of her dress and a necklace around her neck, but she is not solid enough for me to make out all the details. Everything about her looks very high society and well to do. She looks at me briefly and starts pacing and crying again bringing her gloved hands to her face. Taking a deep breath in I slowly exhale and then ask her who she is and if she needs help? She stops her pacing and turns her head towards me, and through her tears she informs me her name is Mary and says she lost her love, and she doesn’t know where he is.
Now the funny thing is, my mind in all its debunking and questioning ways isn’t focusing really on her answer, I’m thinking, huh, kind of interesting how she isn’t freaked out that, 1) I’m speaking with her, 2) that I’m from another time, 3) she almost seems more annoyed that I’m here than that a weird lady from the 21 century is speaking with her and can! I snap out of it and tell her that I’m sure he has crossed to the other side and that she would find him there if she just crossed over and that I can help her if she wants. Very abruptly she stops her pacing and glares at me, and says, “he told me he would be back and to wait for him” and then stomps her foot like a petulant child and goes back to her weeping and pacing. Her energy was that of a complete spoiled brat, and I knew that others before me probably attempted to tell her the same thing I did, and she was not having any of it. Okey dokey, have fun pacing for century’s I’m going to move on. Sometimes you just know that there is no helping or guiding some souls and this is one of those times. She isn’t going anywhere, which is sad, but ghosts can be stubborn energies and if they don’t want to go, they will not.
Moving away from the weeping stubborn ghost I head further into the cemetery; the energy becomes incredibly dense and downright spooky. (After we left the cemetery Steve told me he had the same intense feeling of being unwell and pressure in his whole body that I had experienced as well). I don’t see any ghosts or spirits but the energy around me is so strong I’m feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Moving further into the cemetery the creep factor skyrockets and that is when I see in front of me a mausoleum. The energy was beyond spooky, I gingerly step around this small stone building, investigating it and its energy. It had stain glass windows, um, windows in a mausoleum??? You may be asking yourself the same as I was but, apparently some mausoleums had windows so you could look in at the crypts (aka coffins). Why you would want to do that is beyond me. Taking it all in, I thought to myself how it looked like something you’d see in a scene from a Tim Burton movie, trees around the mausoleum had grown around and through the building almost taking it over and adding to the creep factor. The energy coming from this mausoleum was so freaking creepy (I know I keep saying that, but it was) that I couldn’t bring myself to get close to it or dare to look in the windows. It was so creepy that I thought about taking a photo of it for my blog and decided I didn’t want any part of that energy coming home with me. I rarely get this creeped out, I usually get excited the creepier it is, I love it, but this energy I wanted no part of it. I don’t know if the people or person that is encased in this building of creepiness was not a great person or if something has decided to take residence in it, but I was NOT going to stick around to figure it out. Somethings you just don’t want to mess with, it just isn’t worth it.
Steve and I head towards the front of the church and a newer area of the graveyard. It is amazing how the energy completely shifted on this side of the graveyard. Don’t get me wrong it is still intense for a graveyard, but nothing like the back area. As Steve heads into a section that looks like soldiers (rows of tiny Canadian Flags in front of each gravestone) are buried there, I finally get a good look at the front of St. Mark’s Church, and I head to read the monument that I passed in a hurry. Feeding my thirst for historical information, I read that this church was the site of a prior church that was used as a hospital in the war of 1812 and then it was a barracks for American Soldiers and sections were burned down. I start to understand why this isn’t your average peaceful graveyard, this location has seen a ton of pain and suffering. It has incredible history; it was built in 1792 when the town was called Butlersburgh, and it was the place of not only worship but used by the towns people in many ways. It was the gathering spot for all the town – I guess we would say now it was like a town hall, used for whatever needs they required at the time, like a hospital.
Shaking out of my history nerdiness I scan the graveyard to find Steve. He is standing as straight as an arrow, not moving at all. I watch for a moment to see what is going on and he remains in the same spot not moving a muscle. This is interesting, I move towards him, trying to make as much noise as I can, you see, Steve is someone who jumps out of his skin at the slightest scare so, no, quietly walking up to him. As I get an arm’s length away from him, he snaps out of it and informs me that a ghost spoke to him. A male just said very loudly in his ear “hey”! He was standing still to see if it would happen again, which it didn’t. He didn’t ask any questions or reach out to the ghost. He decided it was best to just wait and see. In my books, that is progress, normally he would have jumped 100 feet in the air and got the flock out of dodge. Maybe my not so ghost adventurer is becoming a kind of ghost adventurer. I hope he doesn’t get too confident with it all, because I must admit, his jump scares are truly entertaining!
Leaving the cemetery, I can still hear Mary weeping for her lost husband (we all know she is the one that is lost – but some people and ghosts just can’t be told) and we head towards the Fort. This Fort is why tourist visit Niagara on the Lake, well this, and, the amazing wineries, fabulous restaurants and the Shaw Festival. For such a small town, Niagara on the Lake sure has a lot to offer. I’ve had a few interesting experiences within the fort, even though it is a replica of the fort as a lot of it was destroyed in the war and the years to follow, excitingly the ground that it sits on is still EXTREMELY haunted!
Watch for my blog about our adventure in and around the fort!