Terry Boyle - Haunted Ontario 3: Ghostly Historic Sites, Inns, and Miracles

D o ghosts and spirits exist? M y answer would be yes. F or the past thirty-nine years, I have interviewed countless people, from all walks of life, who have shared their inexplicable experiences with me. For them these occurrences are real. There may not be any understanding of the meaning of some of the experiences, but they did happen to them. When I research a book on a haunting, I always visit the locale where the event has happened and I interview the people at the site. Occasionally, I experience some form of unusual activity during the investigation. When I meet people they often ask me two major questions: What got you interested in ghosts, and could you explain this area of study?

I always insist that I can only share what I have observed. I have no definitive answers, only theories and comments.

When I was a child I would often hear knocking sounds or faint whispers in the air. I was not alone! Someone or something was near me.

This visitation would cause me to scream in the night. My mother would always come to comfort me. She probably thought it was just my vivid imagination, but I knew differently.

In the beginning of my adulthood, I began a career as an investigative journalist. I had chosen this field of study in order to explore the world of history and to write books. I have never wavered from this direction. At first I wrote books about Ontario history, such as Under This Roof , Old Homesteads of Ontario , Ontario Memories , Teachings from the Longhouse , and Ontario Album . During the course of my research into our historical past, people would share their other-worldly experiences. It usually would start with a ghost story about a residence or a chance encounter on a country road with an apparition. I would listen to the stories and invariably be reminded of my childhood experiences.

What was really happening and why were so many people having these unusual experiences that seemed connected to them or to the place? The questions continued and I finally realized that I needed to apply my skills as a journalist and find some answers.

It began with Haunted Ontario , a collection of thirteen true stories of encounters with the spirit world. I knew in my heart that I was meant to continue my journey writing about this subject, loosely known as parapsychology. The Oxford Dictionary definition of parapsychology states, The study of mental phenomena outside the sphere of ordinary psychology, e.g. hypnosis, telepathy etc. Some people believe the origins of parapsychology research commenced on February 20, 1882, when the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was officially constituted in England. According to the textbook written by Harvey J. Irwin and Caroline A. Watt, and used in a course on Parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh entitled, Introduction to Parapsychology, Parapsychology is the scientific study of experiences which, if they are as they seem to be, are, in principal, outside the realm of human capabilities as presently conceived by conventional scientists. Thus parapsychological phenomena ostensibly indicate the operation of factors currently unknown to, or unrecognized by, orthodox science, popularly referred to as paranormal factors.

The Society for Psychical Research was founded principally on the initiative of some academics at Cambridge University and associates, all of whom believed that various claims for the existence of paranormal phenomena warranted scientific scrutiny. Irwin and Watt stated, Recorded experiences, of course, may be found among all cultures and in all historic periods. Two main factors can be seen to have led to the foundation of parapsychology in 1882. These were the movements known respectively as Mesmerism and Spiritualism.