Thanks to John Robert Colombo's new book, Mysteries of Ontario, we learned that a Mexican/Texan desperado may haunt Middlesex County Jail (now a museum).

Marion "Peg Leg" Brown was convicted of murdering a London police officer and was executed in the jail in May of 1899 by hanging.

Aside from the legend that grass refused to grow over his former gravesite in the yard (now a parking lot and Peg Leg's remains now rest in St. Paul's Anglican Churchyard,) Peg Leg Brown's ghost is now said to haunt the cells of the old jail.

Peg Leg's wooden leg and Stetson hat is on display at the Lawson Museum.

Update: September 2009

One of our readers writes the following:

"I wanted to message to inform you of a story about the Middlesex Haunted county jail. In July we walked through the whole place. Once we got in to the left we opened the one door and there is a big set of stairs to the right side. I immediatly got a very bad feeling. Then we went down to the cells in the basement and it felt like we were being watched. All the beds were made neatly except one of the beds. We went back upstairs towards the court rooms, then I had said if there is anything here let yourself be known. Then about 5 minutes later we heard the sound of peg-legs leg hitting off of something. Right away we rushed through the jail towards the front door and we left with the feeling of someone watching us. We got outside turned and looked at the upstairs and saw the shadow of a short man in the window. it was a very creepy experience."

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this experience with us.

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