We received a report from a former employee of The Millcroft Inn in Alton. The employee is a Torontoghosts member and wanted to share their former place of employ as a definite spot for ghosts and hauntings enthusiasts.

This person worked odd hours and late one night, was asked by an auditor if they'd like to see the "hot spots" of the Inn. The person of course agreed and went exploring the inn.

According to our author...

"He (the night auditor,) took us outside and crossed to the Conference center (another old building directly in front of the main Mill entrance on the same property, although I cannot recall the name). We walked through the front doors, he stopped, and said "just wait". We all stopped in silence waiting for something to happen. Sure enough, about a minute after, we all heard faint, then heavy footsteps amongst the ducts running throughout the conference hall, however they seemed to be initiating from the second floor. This, as we were told, is a regular occurrence which he heard nearly every night while making his rounds. There was no mistake as to the sound... they were definitely footsteps."

"In addition, he claimed seeing a figure standing in the window often when patrolling the property at night. This dark figure would simply stare out the window looking straight ahead, and eventually fade after a few moments. Unfortunately I never saw this myself."

"After we left the conference hall, he took us to another building named "The Manor House" (a more 'upscale' area for guest rooms, about 10 in total). It was apparently a half-way house way back when. This is the heart of most haunts at the Mill. I had heard about and saw a stack of complaint cards behind the front desk regarding the Manor House regarding apparitions, sounds, cold drafts and smells."

"The night auditor took us to the top penthouse suite, where I almost instantly felt uncomfortable. No cold drafts or anything to this nature, but simply felt as if one or more additional people were in the room with us. After about 5 minutes, a garbage can underneath a counter started making tapping sounds, not too loud, but it sounded as if someone was knocking on it with their fingers. I got enough nerve to pick it up... and it continued tapping in my hands (I could feel very light knocks to the metal, which made me feel extremely uncomfortable). It was a very uneasy experience, as I never thought I'd experience something like this first hand. The can stopped tapping a few moments after I put it back down."

The author has suggested we do a little more "legwork" at the Inn and we are certainly wanting to do just that. Do you have an experience at the Millcroft you'd like to share? Perhaps another story from Alton or the surrounding area? Please e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In February 2016 we receieved the following correspondence from one of our readers who kindly allowed us to share their experience with you.

"Dear Ontario Ghost Society member,

I would like to report a phenomenon that happened to me and my wife on mid-October 2014 that I still keep thinking about it.

I booked a room in the Manor house of the Millcroft Inn hotel in Alton. The room was on the first floor (the first room on the right, entering the manor) to celebrate my wife's birthday and Thanksgiving in the same time.

The room has a second door that gives access to a little patio-garden outside.

After a great romantic dinner, we went back to our suite and went to bed. In the middle of the night my wife woke me up, freaking out as she was hearing someone scratching the patio door. I noticed the noise right away but it didn't scare me much at first, thinking it was may be a rodent outside.

During more than half hour, the scratchings were persistent, continuous and quite loud. A few minutes after I woke up, I checked the alarm clock, it was 2:17am. Pretty annoyed by the scratchings, I went to the door and it was clearly as if someone was scratching the door to enter the room.

The door has a curtain and at the precise moment I lifted it, I got suddenly enveloped by a freezing wind, that gave me goosebumps for a  moment. No one was outside and it was very quiet. When I lifted the curtain, the scratchings suddenly stopped but the freezing wind I felt crossing my body made me thinking that someone was entering the room through the door..and me! I also got invaded by a deep and sad feeling that almost brought me to tears.

My wife asked me what's happening and I remember that I didn't answer her as she was repeating the same question a few times, freaking out about my silence. I was completely petrified not much by fear but more by a very weird and sad feeling that left me confused and disoriented.

I remained at the door with the feeling that someone was begging me to stay there and talk to her. I say "her" because the feeling I had was like I heard a female voice somewhere in my mind (it wasn't my wife's voice for sure).

This situation lasted at least 10 good minutes. I never had any paranormal experience such as this one before.  I went back to the bed and tried to keep cold blooded in order to not freak my wife out even more. The scratchings never happened after that.

The only feeling that remained was that someone was in the room staring at us. My wife hid herself entirely under the blanket and I remained staring at the patio door. I could feel a freezing breeze on my face that lasted 15 minutes without any other noises.

I had the envy to speak out loud to this spirit but I was sure that my wife would get so mad that we would have to leave the room right away and get another room, not the ideal situation in the middle of the night, especially during a romantic/birthday getaway! So I remained silent until the morning.

At breakfast time we reported the phenomenon to the staff and the waitress told us that there are at least 2 ghosts in the hotel. One is apparently a young lady in the early 20th century that was locked outside by her lover in the middle of a winter night because he learnt that she cheated him and she froze to death. This explanation made so much sense to me and I felt  guilty inside of me that I didn't talk to this  poor soul that night.

My wife who doesn't believe in paranormal phenomenons at all, swore to never come back again to this hotel. On the other hand,  I still keep thinking about this young lady and sometimes I am tempted to come back to the Millcroft Inn and talk to her."