Visit Niagara's Ghostly Battlefields
Some soldiers find it hard to accept death - even after two complete centuries. Niagara's War of 1812 battlefields produced enough carnage on both sides to make them particularly ripe for eerie legends.
At
Niagara Falls' Lundy's Lane Battlefield,
fierce fighting persisted over Drummond Hill, an advantageous incline, named for the British commander. A burial ground is located where the see-saw battle littered the ground with 600 dead and 1700 casualties. Kevin Windsor, curator of the Historical Museum says that locals often describe three ghostly, red-coated soldiers near the blue-
painted Buckner house, which existed during the battle. He hasn't experienced ethereal visitors himself, but his scepticism is waning after years of escorting groups through cemetery and battlefield.
A staff member in period dress, located at a tombstone, reported that she witnessed someone dressed in a gray coat, wearing a top hat. Windsor showed her a picture of the First Brigade U.S. infantry dress, and she immediately identified the hat, the first sighting of an American soldier. Prior sightings were all British, located in and around the 107 hectares battlefield. Most neighbouring home owners and some real-estate agents have experienced strange, inexplicable incidents.
At Fort Erie, the British siege was horrific. Jim Hill, Fort Administrator, relates the account of two American soldiers, one being shaved by his companion as a cannon ball suddenly beheads the former and shears the hands off the latter. The headless, handless ghosts now wander in search of body parts near the fort. He tells of a burial pit excavated during construction of a new home where archaeologists found the skeleton of a decapitated man and next to him, another with both arms severed below the elbow. At Snake Hill, twenty-six bodies were found leading to a massive 1987 repatriation ceremony across the Peace Bridge.
Staff supervisor, Peter Martin is unnerved by Captain Kingsley's original bed. The captain died on the bed before the War 1812. In the mornings, staff, including Martin has found the pillow thrown across the room and they see the imprint of someone who had lain on bed despite the fact that it's so old, it would collapse under weight.
If you visit, examine the "ghost photo" inadvertently captured by professional photographer Ian Mather. Located in the kitchen, a woman in a long skirt or a man in a greatcoat appears caught on film in the lower left hand corner.
At Niagara-on-the-Lake's Fort George, author, Kyle Upton, leads ghost walks. First stop is the Soldiers Barracks, the most
haunted building in the fort. People lived, married, raised children and died there while war was fought and cannonballs literally flew through the roof. At night, a mysterious old man walks the upper floor, and a young girl sits atop the stairwell.
Ammunition was kept in the powder magazine, a dangerous place, and when a group of psychics arrived there, they could proceed no further. They believe that when people die, energy enters the ground. Complaining that the force was too strong, the group remained fixed to benches while the tour continued.
"I wasn't a believer until I started working at the Fort," Upton maintains. "Now, I've seen ghosts, and, in fact, I work for them! Victims of gunshot, bayonet, and fiery cannonballs were quickly buried in unmarked graves. There's scores of remains to be unearthed." With a tiny population of 14,000, Niagara-on-the-Lake boasts that it's the most haunted town per capita in Canada.
Upton wrote Niagara's Ghosts 2, a fascinating book that documents bizarre occurrences including vaporous encounters at most of NOTL's hotels - The Prince of Wales, Charles Inn, Angel Inn, Oban Inn and the Moffat Inn. If you stay in either room 222 or 118 at the Pillar and Post, he thinks you should get a group discount! With a degree in physics, Upton's initial scepticism quickly eroded, and after observing ghost tours in Williamsburg, Virginia, he pitched the idea at Fort George as a unique method to stimulate interest in history.
His Ghost Tours are conducted by candlelight at dusk after Fort George is closed to the public. Frequently, patrons approach at the end of a tour and delicately share an unexplained event that transpired along the way. He and other guides are trained to remain quiet about their own experiences during the actual tour. On one stormy excursion during his second year, he saw a child at the end of a tunnel. The waif inexplicably disappeared when lightning flashed.
Other encounters include rapping, knocking, cold spots, swirling orbs of light, footsteps, unearthly moans, crying, strange breezes and visitors and staff suddenly overwhelmed by feelings of terror, sorrow, anguish and nausea.
The Officers' Quarters contain fine china dinnerware, plush beds and a piano-forte. A large, 200-year-old gilded mirror adorns one wall. "People often ask who is the lady clad in old-style clothing in the picture," reports Upton, "but it's a mirror!"
Intriguing tales of haunting extend along Upper Canada's (Ontario)War of 1812 battle lines from Fort Erie to Stoney Creek and Toronto's Fort York further east to Fort Wellington in Prescott, across the border from Ogdensburg. Credible or not, they constitute a growth industry that abets tourism, and just as important, helps us to learn some history along the way.
Web Resources:
The Friends of Fort George: www.friendsoffortgeorge.ca/
Niagara Falls' Lundy's Lane Historical Museum: www.niagarafallsmuseum.ca
Old Fort Erie: www.niagaraparks.com/heritage/forterie.php
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