Ghosts of London
Are there such things as ghosts? Some people say no way, others say definitely.
No one can really say for sure that ghosts exist, but several places
around London claim to be haunted, places such as Eldon House and the Grand
Theatre. Let’s examine the
evidence and you decide for yourself if ghosts truly live in these places.
Eldon House
Eldon House, built by John Harris, is located on Ridout
Street. It is a beautiful
Victorian mansion, and still stands as one of the best examples of Victorian
architecture in the city. The
Harris’ occupied the house for five generations, and the daughter of John
Harris is said to be the object of the ghosts’ affection.
Grand balls and parties were all the rage in the
nineteenth century, and the Harris daughters were giving one on the fateful
night. Sarah Harris was being
courted by a young military officer, from the British garrison. The young
officer’s name was Wenman Wynniatt, and when Sarah asked him if he would
be attending her party, he replied: “Oh yes I’ll be there."
The night of the party Sarah waited and waited for
Wynniatt and had convinced herself that he was not going to show up.
Suddenly he appeared before her, but when she stretched out her hand
to him, he just walked right passed her, without seeming to recognize her. This was apparently the last time she saw him, and his body
was found the next morning on the banks of the Thames river.
His watch had stopped at the exact moment he had appeared at the
party. Although Sarah never saw
him again, people have reported that the ghost of a young man appears in
Eldon House every so often, and it is wondered that maybe the young man is
still trying to keep his promise to Sarah.
Colborne
Street
The Colborne Street house had been in the family
of Beatrice Simms for many years, and after financial circumstances she was
forced her to sell the house in 1943. She sold it, but always said she
would return.
The house passed through different owners, and Beatrice
Simms never returned before her death in 1967.
Ken Davis and his wife bought the house in 1967.
They moved in with their six-week old baby in July.
Things were calm the first few months, but in September they began to
hear strange noises; creaking doors and footsteps. At first they put it down to the fact that it was an old
house, but then they began hearing ghostly voices, and began feeling an
eerie strange presence.
Even the Davis’ family dog sensed something in the
house. The dog was devoted to
Mr. Davis and never left his side. However,
on Halloween night the dog, which previously had stood at the top of the
stairs, rigid with fright, disappeared and was never seen again.
The Davis’ budgie and two goldfish also died, and eventually their
babysitter refused to enter the house, having received numerous frights.
Mrs. Davis reported that several times while feeding
the baby late at night she heard footsteps on the stairs. She would be all set to scream for her husband, but the
sounds would stop just before she would catch sight of whoever was climbing
the stairs. Mr. Davis dismissed
the nightly sounds to the nervousness of a new mother, but one day when his
wife was away, he heard someone calling his name.
The babysitter was in the basement, and he was upstairs, but when he
went to see if anyone was in trouble he found nothing.
Another time when the couple was out, and the babysitter was upstairs
with the older children, she heard someone come in the front door, and then
heard the baby laugh. Mrs.
Davis insisted that the baby was too young to laugh.
The babysitter went downstairs to investigate, but found nothing.
The sitter was so scared she took the children and hid under the beds
until the Davis’ returned.
Eventually, the Davis’ received a telephone call from
a woman who had known the previous owners.
She told the Davis’ about Beatrice Simms, and that there were
papers and books in the attic with Beatrice’s name in them. After that Mrs. Davis said she took a friendly attitude to
this whatever-it-was in their home. She
mentioned that there was often a feeling of someone watching them, or that
someone was standing at the top of the stairs.
Finally, in February, the Davis’ sensed a feeling of quietness
about the house, as if the ghost of Beatrice Simms had moved on.
The Davis’ do not say that they believe in ghosts,
only that things happened. These
events coincided with the death of Beatrice Simms, in Toronto, who had vowed
to return to her beloved home some day.
Crabapple
Restaurant
The former Crabapple Restaurant at 474 King Street, is
home to a ghost named Victoria, a young girl who died after falling down the
steep cellar steps.
Victoria made herself known to the restaurant staff,
either in the basement or on the stairs.
Often, however, she could be found in the kitchen banging around pots
or singing lullabies.
When the restaurant was converted into office space,
the contractors were warned about Victoria.
The contractor, Mario Morello, says the first thing he noticed was
the disappearance of his tools. He
did not meet Victoria, however, until one morning when he started to tear
down the bathroom. When he
walked into the bathroom the door slammed behind him.
He put down his tools, opened the door, and it slammed again.
There was no wind or draft to explain the slamming door.
Morello thought that maybe Victoria was taking a bath and tried to
spook him because she did not like the company.
The Ghost of
Huggabone’s Hill
For more than 150 years the ghost of Huggabone’s Hill
has been part of London’s farming community.
In 1835 a man named Castle-John Hodgins and his son Henry, were on
their way to register for the election.
They travelled by horse and cart along London’s dirt roads.
Huggabone’s Hill which runs between University Hospital and the
university residences, was very steep at one time.
On the way home, the horse and cart went out of control.
Both Castle-John and his son were killed.
For years afterwards farmers said as they travelled up and down the
hill, their horses would stop, shy, resist, and let out a ‘neigh’, just
at the point were Castle-John and his horse were killed.
London East
In London East, it looks like any ordinary 12 years old
bungalow, on a quiet street. But
the people who have moved into it say it is very, very haunted.
The owners asked that they not be identified, or their house, because
they might decide to sell it.
The owners say there is a constant pattern to the
visits. Someone walks across
the carpeted living room floor to the fireplace at the end wall.
It is not a casual walk, but a stomping.
The ghost also walks down the basement stairs to the gas furnace
which is directly under the fireplace.
In the basement are a couple of broken snow shovels,
which had been left behind by previous owners.
There have been four different owners in the 12 years since the house
has been built. About five feet
from the furnace, sits one of the steel bases of the shovels.
Every time the ghost enters the basement he kicks that steel base.
The woman owner of the house has also seen a female
ghost. When she is at the
bathroom mirror brushing her hair, a woman’s head is reflected over her
shoulder. The ghost has gray
hair and is a little on the chubby side. She was about 5 feet 3 inches tall,
about 60 or 65. She had a
expressionless look on her face.
Another time the woman owner went downstairs to get
some potatoes for supper. While
in the basement, she spotted a woman who seemed to be wreathed in beaming
smoke. She was so upset up that
she ran up the stairs, woke up her 14 year old son to tell him, and did not
even notice that she still had the potatoes in her hand.
The male owner often got up at 5:30 a.m. for coffee,
and reported that every morning he had heard the back door open and close,
even though it is locked. Then
he heard heavy footsteps going down the basement stairs, and the kicking of
the shovel. One morning he
thought he caught a glimpse of an old man with gray hair and a handlebar
mustache.
The teenaged son has a spider web collection in his
room, and one night it started to flop about madly as if someone had
stumbled into it. A friend of
the son was visiting one night, and heard noises coming from the basement. When he questioned the son about these noises, the son calmly
replied: “Oh, that just our ghost”.
No one goes down into the basement anymore, unless they absolutely
have to.
Peg Leg Brown
The story of Peg Leg Brown has been around since he was
executed on May 16, 1899. Little
is known about Peg Leg, but after he allegedly murdered London
policeman, Michael Toohey, he fled the district.
He was eventually found, tried and hanged one year later.
Brown maintained his innocence until his death, and on
the way to the gallows he said that his innocence would be proven by the
fact that "grass would never grow over his grave."
The fact that the jail graveyard is now the parking lot of the
Middlesex County Courthouse, gives proof to his statement.
Brown is said to haunt the courthouse at dawn on the
anniversary of his execution. No
one has yet offered any proof, but a former guard used to tell prisoners
that Peg Leg would not rest until everything was quiet.
He would then stump along the corridors pretending to be Peg Leg
until the prisoners quieted.
For more information see Peg-Leg Brown
Ambrose Small
Ambrose Small, 53 year old theatre magnate, and part
time gambler disappeared from his office in Toronto, leaving a childless
wife, and a $2 million fortune. With
his disappearance one of the most baffling whodunits in the records
of Canadian justice began.
Ambrose Small began his career amid the sawdust and
cigar smoke of his father’s bar. He
owned theatres in Toronto, Hamilton, London, St. Thomas, Kingston and
Peterborough. “He was a
slight, high-complexioned, hollow-cheeked man with a walrus mustache, a
quick nervous manner, a temperament that was noisy and bluff, when then were
going well, bleak and watchful when he was crossed, and a fondness for travelling, making big bets and minding his own business.” (p 13, MacLean's).
The day before his disappearance, Small sold all of his
holdings to Trans-Canada Theatres for $1,700,000. On the morning of Tuesday, December 2, 1919, he and his wife
left their stately Rosedale home in Toronto, having arranged to meet at the
Grand Opera House on the south side of Adelaide Street, between Bay and
Younge, in downtown Toronto. Small
met his wife at the theatre, went to lunch, and then dropped his wife off at
a Catholic orphanage on Bond Street. Small
said he would be home for dinner at 6.
At 5 Small met with his attorney, Mr. Flock.
Mrs. Small returned home about 5 p.m. and when her husband did not
turn up she began to check around with friends and people he worked with.
Nobody knew where he was, but his wife suspected that he was with one
of his ‘women friends’.
On December 16, 1919, James Cowan, manager of the
Grand, contacted the police to begin investigating Small’s disappearance.
A $50,000 reward was offered, if Small was found alive, and $15,000
if found dead. Early in the
investigation two newsmen testified they had seen Small walking along
Adelaide Street sometime after 6, and the owner of a hotel said Small had
dropped into the hotel Tuesday night and stayed until around 7.
The police followed several leads but never found the
body of Ambrose Small. The
Grand Theatre in London, had been searched thoroughly by police, who tore up floor
boards and even sifted through the furnace ashes.
The Grand Theatre was eventually sold and in 1976 was taken over by
Rob Wellan. Mr. Wellan reported
that sometimes late at night, while working at his desk, the drawers of his
filing cabinets slowly open by themselves.
But he does not believe in ghosts, he insists.
In the 50s and 60s when the Grand was home to London Little Theatre,
actors and stagehands frequently reported seeing Small’s ghost walking the
wings or standing in the fly-loft. Numerous
séances over the years have failed to make contact however.
Since about 1977, when the Grand was renovated the
ghostly appearance have virtually stopped.
Some people have speculated that the ghost may have moved to
Stratford, since Small owed the Avon Theatre too. It was reported that a stagehand apparently
encountered Small.
The Ridgeway
The house in question, stands on the Ridgeway, a
beautiful street that winds it’s way along the Thames river.
It has 15 rooms, and according to the family who lives there, one of
those rooms is actively haunted.
When the family first moved into the house, the
teenaged daughter slept in the master bedroom.
She recalls waking up night after night, terrified.
She was so terrified she would leave the room and sleep on the living
room sofa. After four months of
sleeping downstairs she switched rooms with her parents.
For the daughter the problem was solved, but the father soon began
experiencing strange a happenings. ‘Every
night, I would wake up. I
started checking my watch. Night
after night, it happened at the same time, 3 a.m.
One night I woke up and knew if I looked at my watch it would be 3
a.m. So I waited and waited until I knew the time would be 3:20 or
3:30. When I finally looked at
my watch, it was 3 a.m. His
wife had been unaffected by the strange happenings, until one night.
Both woke up and watched an Anniversary clock with four brass balls
that turned, run in perfect order. The
strange thing was that the clock had not worked in years and the key to wind
up the clock had been lost. The
clock ran for about a day, then stopped working.
Eventually the couple moved to another room and were
never bothered again.
Fire Hall
Houses are not the only buildings to be haunted in
London. One of London’s oldest fire halls is said to be actively
haunted. No one has actually
seen the ghost but he has been heard walking through the fire hall in the
still of the night. One fireman
recalls waking up in the middle of the night and feeling someone watching
him. Another fireman recalls
waking up on a rainy night and hearing footsteps leaving the room where he
was and entering the room where the window was.
The fireman assumed one of the other men had opened the window, but
no one came back into the room. The
fireman got out of bed to investigate but no one was in the room.
Are there such things as ghosts?
Who knows for sure but the stories of such happenings make good
reading and storytelling, on dark, lonely nights.
Don’t they?
--------------------------------------
London Free Press, 1969-1977
MacLean's Magazine,
January 1951
The Detroit News,
April 21, 1985
The London and Middlesex Historical Society
