On Wednesday October 24th, 2007, Penny, PSICAN - GHRS investigator and Nancy, PSICAN - GHRS consultant, had the great opportunity to investigate a house that should be designated historical for the city of St. Catharines. This house, steeped in history, is an original home to the city and was built for the son of a man that held an important position within the military and was a great war hero during the early 1800’s. You can get a sense of the history when walking through the house with the wonderful hard wood floors, the wooden beams and even an original gun case to house. This house took our breath away to be standing amidst the amazing history that it held.

We were called to the house because there have been reports from past tenants to the present owners that the toilet had been flushing on its own and there were footsteps heard going down the hallway and stairs. This phenomenon has also been recently heard by the present caretaker of the house which made him uncomfortable to enter the home. There are also shadows seen of people walking within many spots of the household and has been experienced by many different tenants in the home. There is one interesting case that has been told concerning this house, and is a report that had been experienced by four individuals at the exact same time. There is a beautiful, but new to the house, sunroom at the back of the dwelling. The occupants at the time were getting ready to have a backyard barbeque with many friends when they decided to hang a large mirror within the sunroom. It was so large they needed help to hang the heavy object on the wall and required assistance from two of their friends. While all four were holding the mirror to ensure it was properly secured, they peered into the mirror and saw two people walking towards the back of the property, and down towards the lake. These people looked odd and out of place because they were dressed in period clothing that appeared to be from sometime in the 1800’s. When they all turned to look towards the lake with their eyes, the figures were not there. The interesting thing is that all four people witnessed the same phenomenon at the exact same time which can be very rare within a case. It is not often that multiple people can witness an event at the exact same time. Unfortunately, the folks who witnessed this have moved on and I did not get the chance to interview them.

Intuitive impressions on the house were of two separate entities from different eras. On entering one upper bedroom with adjacent washroom, a sense of a presence was there, tracing it to one small closet. When the closet was opened it was very cold inside, more so than the room. Other small numerous closets in this room were opened to check for temperature and they were all warm or the same as the room when entered. With this small closet open, the middle of the room started to get physically colder and both of us felt the change in temperature. (temp. readings were not taken)

Psychic impressions are added to be of interest:

1. A man in his 50’s, with many single Tattoos on his left arm, dark but balding hair, plus a few pounds, was viewed. It was understood that he had been taken care of in his last months of life in this room by others who were not relatives, but friends. He cherished this time so greatly and valued their compassion that he did not want to leave. This room had/has very fine memories for him. As he had never witnessed such caring people in his life thus far. *It was determined that the flushing of the toilet sounds was connected to this entity.

2. Another man, muscular, dark short hair, very well tanned, injured/bloody, dirty and tattered clothing, held for interrogation during war times in the 1800’s. The man was tied by his neck to a banister in a fashion that he could not fall to the floor or sit down. After being interrogated for many hours, the most probable soldier lost consciousness and did fall to the floor. Unaided, he passed during the night to be found by the others in the morning. The entity exuded a happiness that, ‘they never did get the information they were looking for.’
*It was determined that the walking/foot steps and waking up stairs would be attributed to this event and entity.

Our investigation was quick as the present tenants were moving their items into the house, but we had a chance to walk around the house, take pictures and get a feel for the place. It has been agreed upon that any spirit within the house is benevolent and does not want to cause harm. The house had a welcoming feeling and gave you the sense of rich history and acceptance. The purpose of our visit was to alleviate any concerns to the owner and caretaker and we think we were successful in helping to ease their minds and help them understand what has been occurring at the house.