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Torontoghosts, Ontarioghosts, PSICAN, and ParaResearchers (and related groups) are not involved with nor do we endorse any "paranormal" entertainment events and/or fictional or dramatic "paranormal" events that are stated as being "true" or "factual" held for the public at this venue. We do not have nor have we heard of any experiences prior to October 1st, 2012 other than the ones listed below. We have dealt with staff at the site for several years (including former staff previous) and do not and can not endorse or substantiate any claims made be entertainers after mid-October 2012. Thank you.
Submitted by Sue St Clair
This report is based on three informal visits, in-person and telephone interviews with staff. We currently have no reports of "activity" from visitors to the site. 
Background Information:
Black Creek Pioneer Village, located at the corner of Jane Street and Steeles Avenue in Toronto, is a living museum of life in 1860's rural York County.
It is situated on two farm lots, the first originally belonging to Johann Schmidt and settled in 1809, the second belonging to Daniel and Elizabeth Stong whom arrived in York in 1816. "Faced with one hundred acres of wilderness, they worked hard, cleared the land for farming and built their first home - a small but substantial log house. A grain barn, piggery, smoke house and finally, a larger second home were added over the next few years." These buildings still stand on their original foundations, and some of the belongings of the Stong family are still preserved on site. Indeed trees that were originally planted by the Stongs bear fruit to this day.
The last descendants of the Stong family vacated the homestead in 1958 and sold their property to MTRCA. Black Creek Pioneer Village was opened to the public in 1960. Over the course of the next 22 years additional buildings of historical significance that faced demolition were moved to BCPV.
The Reports:
Staff members have reported what appears to be mild poltergeist activity in the Burwick House (not original to the property) and the original Stong home. These include "shuffling of feet, footsteps, rappings" and general feelings of unease.
The little cemetery near the back of the village where Stong family members are buried has produced reports of balls of light visually seen by at least two security personnel.
We have followed up on these reports to the best of our abilities, however we were informed during our last visit by one staff member that BCPV is attempting to move away from the stigma of "old houses" = "ghosts" and therefore many may be reluctant to speak publicly about any possible experiences.
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I have always loved the era of Pioneer Village and love to go there, even as a child I did, I feel drawn to this time of history.
Anyway, last summer (2005) my husband and I took our children to Pioneer Village. In some of the homes I "sense" feelings, the feelings however are usually feelings of happiness, sometimes sadness but nothing that bothers me.
This past summer however upon entering the Burwick House I immediately felt a little uneasy. We proceeded through the bottom floor of the house and proceeded up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs I sensed a horrible feeling of utter sadness and something very sinister. At the top of the stairs I felt very uneasy and wanted to immediately leave. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I said "let's go" to my husband and he said "wait, I want to see the rooms". I told him I had seen enough. He simply said "come on" and took me by the hand.
We looked in the rooms and I continually had this horribly strong sense of uneasiness. I turned and told my husband I would meet him outside.
Passing the lady on the lower floor who was standing by the front door that worked at Pioneer Village dressed in garb from that era, I was tempted to say "did you know this house is haunted?" and I wanted to ask her if she's ever had anyone complain of anything going on in the house, but of course I didn't for fear of her thinking I was totally nuts.
My husband and my kids met up with me outside and I told him how I felt, that there is a very strong presence in that house. My husband of course didn't sense anything. I felt it centering a lot around the cradle in the main bedroom, it just made me feel very uneasy.
I simply chalked it up to nothing, until reading about other people experiencing uneasiness in the same house.
Update November 2009
We received the following from one of our readers.
"Back in 1995 I did a co-op at Black Creek and one day in the fall of 95 I was on relief (I gave breaks to crew) in the Burwick house I was the only one in the house and I could hear someone running up and down the stairs. As I turned I saw a little girls jump sideways and head up the stairs again. My 1st thought was one of the school kids next door fooling with me but when I went upstairs there was no one and when I came back down into the kitchen I saw her again out of the corner of my eye and as I ran to the door to catch her my buddy walked in the front door and said me why I was running. I asked him if he past a girl his response was what girl. My bosses dismissed my claims and said it was the animal crew that has there office underneath the house. One problem the access to the Office is nowhere close to the front door."
Our thanks to the witness for sharing this experience with us, and our readers. We appreciate it.
If you have any information or any experiences you wish to share, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. our researcher, Sue at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I have always loved the era of Pioneer Village and love to go there, even as a child I did, I feel drawn to this time of history.
Anyway, last summer (2005) my husband and I took our children to Pioneer Village. In some of the homes I "sense" feelings, the feelings however are usually feelings of happiness, sometimes sadness but nothing that bothers me.
This past summer however upon entering the Burwick House I immediately felt a little uneasy. We proceeded through the bottom floor of the house and proceeded up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs I sensed a horrible feeling of utter sadness and something very sinister. At the top of the stairs I felt very uneasy and wanted to immediately leave. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I said "let's go" to my husband and he said "wait, I want to see the rooms". I told him I had seen enough. He simply said "come on" and took me by the hand.
We looked in the rooms and I continually had this horribly strong sense of uneasiness. I turned and told my husband I would meet him outside.
Passing the lady on the lower floor who was standing by the front door that worked at Pioneer Village dressed in garb from that era, I was tempted to say "did you know this house is haunted?" and I wanted to ask her if she's ever had anyone complain of anything going on in the house, but of course I didn't for fear of her thinking I was totally nuts.
My husband and my kids met up with me outside and I told him how I felt, that there is a very strong presence in that house. My husband of course didn't sense anything. I felt it centering a lot around the cradle in the main bedroom, it just made me feel very uneasy.
I simply chalked it up to nothing, until reading about other people experiencing uneasiness in the same house.
Update November 2009
We received the following from one of our readers.
"Back in 1995 I did a co-op at Black Creek and one day in the fall of 95 I was on relief (I gave breaks to crew) in the Burwick house I was the only one in the house and I could hear someone running up and down the stairs. As I turned I saw a little girls jump sideways and head up the stairs again. My 1st thought was one of the school kids next door fooling with me but when I went upstairs there was no one and when I came back down into the kitchen I saw her again out of the corner of my eye and as I ran to the door to catch her my buddy walked in the front door and said me why I was running. I asked him if he past a girl his response was what girl. My bosses dismissed my claims and said it was the animal crew that has there office underneath the house. One problem the access to the Office is nowhere close to the front door."
Our thanks to the witness for sharing this experience with us, and our readers. We appreciate it.
If you have any information or any experiences you wish to share, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. our researcher, Sue at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Update July 2011
One of our readers writes:
"My first experience (the first week I worked there...what fun!) was in the summer of 1996 when I was working at BCPV as a relief worker ( I noticed another person that did the same job sent in a story about an experience, that is probably because relief workers work in all the buildings so they are more likely to have an experience being exposed to all the buildings).
The first week I worked at Black Creek I was assigned to the second Stong home. It was a two story home. I sat in the kitchen and gave people an introduction to the house. I then directed people to follow a specific route through the house, this was designed so that the staff person knew how many people were in the house at any time. The people all had to exit down the stairs to my left into the kitchen and out the front door. I always counted people so make sure I knew how many people were in the house at any given time.
One day I had been sitting in the kitchen for about 30 minutes or so and the house was completely empty. I would add that with old wooden flooring you can hear people walking through out the house. So, I absolutely knew I was alone. The room above me had a large spinning wheel that people loved to reach over and crank, it made a really low creaking noise. I always had to run up the stairs and tell people not to touch it, it was an artifact. So, when I heard it creaking away, I ran up without thinking, shouting as I went not to touch it. When I got to the top of the stairs, of course no one was there. This happened about 3 times that day. I was starting to get irritated and a little weirded out, but mostly annoyed I don't recall feeling scared.
On my lunch break I told a permanent staff member what happened. Her response was, "Oh that's just Michael." Apparently, the Stongs had a child who was a bit of a black sheep and he died a hunting accident. The BCPV staff claim he is a mischievous ghost who likes to mess with people, especially new people. This continued for several weeks, the same thing with the spinning wheel...I finally stop trying to go up and check, it always happened when I was alone.
One day a few weeks later, once again I knew I was alone. This time I heard from upstairs in the next room to my right a stool dragging across the room. This time I was scared for some reason. It sounded almost violent and it was very loud. I went up and the stool in question had not moved at all. After that I never heard anything.
Another home I worked in was the Flynn house, Mr. Flynn was a shoe maker and the staff speculated that the house was haunted by his wife, who did not like men. Apparently, men who worked there heard a lot of things. People thought that Mr. Flynn was abusive to his wife. I was warned that if I locked the front door the latch in the wood shed in the back room of the house would open. Despite my experience in the Stong home I thought this was a little far fetched. But sure enough, when I tried to lock the front door, I heard a latch open in the back of the house and as suggested the back door of the wood shed room was open. I thought that the staff were messing with me. But this happened almost every day I worked there. I ended up getting the last shift there for awhile. This didn't scare me at all, I took to saying Hello and Good bye to Mrs. Flynn every day.
There are a few other houses at the museum that are rumoured to have strange activity, I definitely felt uneasy in some of them, but I never experienced anything else. Needless to say my experience with the ghost of Michael Stong made me a firm believer in the paranormal, if I wasn't already."