target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_a8a23bfa-0aaa-50b5-816e-6bea104f752f">[16]
At that point it was rented to the Royal Canadian Air Force as a rehabilitation centre; the Second World War was raging in Europe and thus many hospitals were needed for the returning heroes. Auchmar’s many rooms and long halls perfectly suited a hospital’s needs.[17]
The ghosts of Auchmar are shrouded in a long-standing and complex series of mysteries.
Courtesy of Stephanie Lechniak.
The Hungarian Sisters of Social Service bought the mansion and land in 1945 for $32,000, converting the building and grounds into a religious retreat called the Holy Spirit Centre. They occupied Auchmar longer than any other resident, until 1999, when Auchmar was acquired by the City of Hamilton.[18]
One hundred and thirty-five years after Auchmar was built, the cast and crew of YTV’s Strange Days at Blake Holsey High (also known as Black Hole High) converged on the grounds to begin filming.[19]
One can only speculate that, with such a long legacy of so many different residents — including returning war veterans and those in need of religious respite — many different spirits might haunt the halls. But nowhere in the long history of the building are any ghostly visitations or sightings revealed. Could it be the nature of those who occupied the building and their unwillingness to reveal secrets housed within the walls, or were the spirits suddenly awakened, disturbed by the transition of the once-magnificent estate to occupation by such a different type of crew?
And this is where the speculative tales of this building and its ghosts begin.
Two workmen from the YTV television crew were carrying heavy equipment from the basement to the main floor. Holding a large box, the two men looked up just before reaching the first floor landing to see a young girl waiting at the top. They looked away only for a moment, glancing at one another as if to confirm they had both seen her. When they both looked back only a second later, the little girl had vanished.[20]
This strange little girl seems to be one of the most active ghosts within the house. Crew members have heard her voice from the second floor while working on the main floor.
At times she is said to be heard happily giggling, as if she is playing and laughing in the carefree manner of a child. Other times her soft cries or blood-curdling screams are heard echoing through the empty nighttime hallways.
A local Hamilton woman recalls “having a personal meeting” with the little girl when she was a child and visiting Auchmar with her father (a city official at the time). Shortly after the nuns moved out, she and her father were given a personal tour of the mansion. Bored with the history being shared on the tour, the young lady slipped away from the adults and started exploring.
Up on the second floor by herself, she heard the soft giggle of another little girl. Intrigued, she looked around to determine where the other child was, but could see nobody. The sound of giggling continued, confusing her, because it sounded as if it were getting closer. Still, she stood alone in the hallway. Finally, a subtle gust of cold moved over her, and a voice in her ear spoke the words “play with me” to her. She immediately ran down the stairs and into her father’s arms.[21]
The spirit of a woman has also been seen in the basement, floating throughout the vaulted stone rooms. Many crew members and actors from the YTV television show have also commented on strange feelings while in the basement.
Daniel Cumerlato of Haunted Hamilton has mentioned that the most noticeable energy comes from the basement area. During a personal tour with the folks of Doors Open Hamilton several years ago, both he and Stephanie felt it. “It was almost like you expected to see an uninvited guest waiting just around the corner while moving through the small confined rooms of Auchmar’s basement,” he said.[22]
Over the years, various objects from the mansion have mysteriously disappeared, dogs brought onto the set of Strange Days at Blake Holsey High have refused to enter certain corridors, and hanging lights would start to swing on their own in the absence of any breeze. In a 2002 interview with the Hamilton Spectator’s Jeff Mahoney, Lawrence Bayne, one of the actors from the television show, spoke about his eerie experiences at Auchmar one night when, instead of heading to his home in Toronto, he slept in his dressing room. “Well, you tell me,” Bayne asked in that interview, “how does a door that is locked and bolted suddenly swing open in the middle of the night?”[23]
Mitch Ness, director for Strange Days at Blake Holsey High, reported several of his strange experiences on the set of the show at Auchmar to Daniel. One recurring encounter took place near the stairs, where there seemed to be a malicious spirit offering ghostly shoves as if to either harm or frighten off intruders. In one such occurrence, the script supervisor was shoved by those invisible hands while standing at the monitors and watching a rehearsal.
Two grips had a similar experience while heading up a set of stairs that curved up to the left to a small room. Rohan, the best boy grip, and Ross, the key grip, were heading up the stairs, when Rohan was pushed so strongly that he fell back hard against Ross and the two of them almost tumbled down the stairs. They found the room at the top of the stairs closed and locked tight; Rohan was unable to figure out the source of the unseen hands he felt pushing him.
Two of the YTV television show’s effects team encountered a strange apparition in the basement. Separately, but within minutes of one another, both Sean and Gary were in the basement for an episode involving a furnace (which they had constructed in the basement), when they spied the female spectre who is said to be in the basement. In the main hallway of the basement, a white figure, what looked to them like a nun, moved from one room to another, footless and floating along the floor.
Security guards who worked on the set of the television show were kept busy tracking down phantoms on many a night, from the echo of footsteps in the upstairs corridor to doors slamming. Commonly, a door leading to a small balcony would be found wide open, even after one of the guards had closed and locked it.[24]
In 2005 the television series Ghost Trackers filmed the thirteenth and final episode of their first season at Auchmar, in which one of the competitors felt an invisible finger brush past.[25]
Still owned by the City of Hamilton, and a popular stop on the annual Doors Open Hamilton tours of landmark buildings, Auchmar remains a historical building of cultural interest under threat. For years the debate about preserving the important historical estate and the economic challenges of doing so has raged on.
For its part, the mansion continues to erode under the weight of time and the elements while the restless spirits inside flit about, holding vigilant to their shadowy posts, reminders of the flurry of activity, the richness of life, hope, and history that once coursed through these now-empty rooms.
Chapter Eight
Woodend
John Heslop’s bloodstain on the floor at the base of the stairs of Woodend would still be
