Occasionally we receive questions about Salem Cemetery in Ajax, mostly people asking us if it is or ever was haunted.
The plaque on the cemetery reads:
"Located approx. two km. south of the founding of Pickering Township. The Salem Church and Cemetery were est. on land donated by Mr. John Adamson. Built originally as a wooden structure in 1849, the church served the Wesleyan Methodist congregation. In 1880, brick veneering was added. Bricks for this undertaking were made in Mr. Adamson's brickyard which was located immediately to the west side of the property. Regrettably, the church closed in 1890. The cemetery continued to serve the local community and land was added at various times as the need arose. To commemorate the 150th anniversary, new entrance gates were erected."
In the late 1990's I along with another group from Southern Ontario visited this location on several separate occasions. We did so because of a small write up on this location in our dear friend John Robert Columbo's book Mysteries Of Ontario that suggested a possible ghost.
Not only had we never found any evidence of a haunting, we were horrified to learn that this beautiful, and historic place had been the victim of vandalism possibly by would-be ghost hunters.
We at the Ontario Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society, and the Toronto Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society maintain our strong stance that cemeteries are a poor choice for haunting. Our statistics along with those of leading serious paranormal research organizations worldwide such as PSICAN, Society Of Psychical Research, CPRI, and the ASPR to name just a handful clearly demonstrate that spirits haunt where they lived, worked, or spent most of their time when alive, not where their body may have ended up.
Every single medium, and psychic we have worked with has agreed with this stating that while they will have difficulties in hospitals because of the very nature of these emotionally charged buildings, ALL stated they have no problem in cemeteries because they are quiet, peaceful places of contemplation.
This is not to say that there cannot ever be a haunted cemetery, but in those cases it is usually a former employee like a caretaker, or a mourner and not those buried within. And even then it is very, very rare. Out of the 1,000s of cemeteries, and millions of interments in the province of Ontario there are only 5 cemeteries that appear to suggest any kind of possible legitimate paranormal activity at any time.
Those odds should be something to think about by anyone who is seriously interested in the study of ghosts & hauntings.
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So, is Salem Cemetery haunted? We do not know, but because of our own research, and on-site investigations we highly, highly doubt it.