Posted on 08/30/2006 8:35:00 PM PDT by CurlyBill
Two haunting tales of the supernatural are setting spines a-tingling in the history-steeped offices of the province's lieutenant governor.
Two independent ghost sightings by staff members in the office of Lt.-Gov. James Bartleman have them wondering who they're gonna call.
At around 1 p.m. on Jan. 9, Anthony Hylton, a planning co-ordinator in Bartleman's Queen's Park office, saw a man in a dark suit leave the vice-regal washroom, walk past a reception desk and into the historic Music Room.
Hylton at first thought he had seen a colleague who is with the lieutenant-governor's security detachment. He called out to him and followed the man into the Music Room. But the room was empty. A nearby receptionist did not see the man, but another staffer close by also saw someone.
A few months later, early in the morning of May 23, cleaner Judy Lyng saw a man in a swallow-tail coat enter the same washroom. Lyng works only half days and speaks very little English, so she had not discussed the earlier ghost sighting with anyone in the office.
"I neither believe in ghosts nor do I not believe in ghosts, but I know what I saw," Hylton said in an interview yesterday. He said he wasn't afraid of the ghost, and doesn't believe supernatural beings can harm anyone.
"I saw something. Call it a ghost. Call it what you will," said Hylton, a nine-year veteran of the lieutenant-governor's office. He said he saw the profile of a man about 6-foot-2 in height.
Lyng, meanwhile, was terrified and refuses to enter the upstairs part of the offices alone. She is now always accompanied by staff when she works in that part of the suite.
Lyng was able to identify the man she saw from one of the many portraits of former lieutenant governors hanging in the suite. Bartleman's office did not want to identify that person, for fear of causing distress to the man's descendants, but they did narrow it down to a group of portraits.
Those men include former premier Sir Oliver Mowat (1820-1903) who served as lieutenant governor from 1897 until he died in office in 1903.
Others in the group include the Hon. Sir George Airey Kirkpatrick (1841-1899) who served from 1892-1897; the Hon. Sir John Morison Gibson (1842-1929), lieutenant governor from 1908-1914; Lt.-Col. the Hon. Sir John Strathearn Hendrie (1857-1923), lieutenant governor from 1914-1919 and the Hon. Sir William Mortimer Clark (1836-1917), who served from 1903-1908.
Speaker Mike Brown said he will talk to Sergeant-at-Arms Dennis Clark about the Casper-wannabe when he returns to Queen's Park next week after the summer break.
Reached at Wawa airport in his Algoma-Manitoulin riding, Brown said he has already talked to Bartleman about the ghost and has heard other stories from security guards about the supernatural ramblings at Queen's Park.
"Apparently, our security guys have some experiences of their own and I am going to be at Queen's Park and I will ask Dennis and his staff about these out-of-world visitors," Brown said.
Insp. Rick Boon of the legislative security service said he's heard numerous stories of hauntings since he came to Queen's Park.
"I have heard similar stories at different times since I have been here. That's about it," he said.
One story involves a ghost horse that walks down the main staircase. The Ontario legislature was built on the grounds of an insane asylum. Three women -- former inmates -- are said to haunt the building. One of them has long white hair, while another has a checked dress thrown over her head. A third hanged herself in the basement.
As well, a check through legislative archives revealed a story about an old soldier who was said to parade in front of the office of the Queen's Printer. All of the ghosts were said to make moaning sounds and one night watchman refused to enter the print room after dark.
Meanwhile, Bartleman is taking it all in the, er, spirit of goodwill to wraiths.
"No self-respecting lieutenant-governor suite should be without a ghost," he quipped when asked about his visitors from the the Other Side.
So when the spirit moves, who you gonna call? How about the spectre inspector?
This one has a video with it which I have my own ideas on... but I'll let everyone make up their own minds on it.
Ghost Ping!! Sorry it's been a while since the last ping...
And his fly was down.
Lyng was able to identify the man she saw from one of the many portraits of former lieutenant governors hanging in the suite. Bartleman's office did not want to identify that person, for fear of causing distress to the man's descendants,
OK, all those people served 80-100-plus years ago. Is the sensitivity level really that high up there? Or maybe his fly really was down.
BOO!!! ping
Great stories! Thanks for the ping! I was wondering about you the other day, glad to see you are still at it.
Is this the "Holy Ghost" or merely some garden-variety ghost?
GREAT to see you again Bill.. thanks for the thread & the ping!
you might enjoy some of Bill's threads Dave...
the blue figure looks faked to me..
but
what do I know.. I dont think I have ever seen a ghost per se... my mentality comes from movies, which of course we know is very accurate(chuckle)..
I do have lots of ORBS personally however
Halloween is just around the corner........thanks for the ping!
My family and I vacationed in Williamburg this summer-fabulous time. We stayed in the Fairfield Patriot Place resort. One of the things we did was take a ghost tour. The guide had us use our digital cameras and point it at a window. The house was empty, but you could clearly see the figure of a woman in the window on the camera. You didn't see the figure by just looking at the window. My kids booked about a half a mile down the road and refused to walk by the house again. It was quite eerie.
That ghost is what one might call a never term-limited politician. ;>
No such politicians are known, but they are rife among registered Democrat voters.
Woo Hoo! Thanks Bill! I was wondering about you too!
Going on my first real ghost investigation next week! Can't wait!
>I watched it several times and thought it might be a reflection from a vehicle pulling in or out of the parking lot causing a bit of a flare on the lens.<
That's a good theory. That image sure doesn't look much like a ghost. It looks more like a reflection moving across the camera's view.
Hey, it's been a while! Thanks.
If one leaves behind the notion that "ghosts" are actually the spirits of dead humans and looks at the phenomena from different logical angles, it doesn't look so spooky.
That video looks fake.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
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