Investigating things that go bump in the night

Oshawa Community Museums curator Melissa Cole has given thousands of tours of two of the city's most historic homes, Henry House and Robinson House. There's nothing she doesn't know about these beautiful houses or the people who have called them home over the decades.

Most days she gives these tours while the sun is up but a few weeks ago she gave me a tour many hours after the sun went down. I was there with the Paranormal Researchers of Ontario (proo(f)) and we were on the hunt for ghosts.

I have seen television shows where investigators walk into old haunted buildings with special equipment. Something always happens whether it be a voice telling them to "Get out!" or an apparition appears walking down a hall or stairway. It's meant to entertain and creep you out.

But proo(f) doesn't operate this way. The organization is there to investigate, document and attempt to draw their own conclusions as to why strange things might be happening. Many in the group are skeptical ghosts exist at all while others have had experiences they can only attribute to the paranormal.

So on this night  I accompanied them as they investigated Henry House and Robinson House. Melissa took us on a tour of the two buildings explaining the strange things staff have reported to her as happening while they worked. Melissa herself said she's a skeptic when it comes to ghosts. She's never seen one and she spends a lot of time working and taking care of the two houses.

"I don't get a sense of fear in here ever," she said.

But that doesn't mean others haven't had rather haunting experiences inside the two historic sites. As Melissa explained it there has been more than one person who has had some anxious moments inside Henry House. One girl who took a tour of the house a number of years ago stopped dead in her tracks outside Thomas Henry's study which is just to the right after you walk in the front entrance. She refused to go into the room and didn't want to finish the tour. Something in there made her extremely uncomfortable.

"People have seen somebody in Thomas Henry's chair," Melissa said. "This room gets a lot of stories."

Caskets are stored in the basement of Henry House.

I figured if there was ever going to be a night where a ghost made his or her presence known it would be this night. After all, I was with a group of professional ghost hunters who had cameras, mel metres, electro magnetic field detectors, temperature gauges and other devices used to investigate haunted houses. If a spirit was going to make itself known, these devices, in the hands of these capable people, would do it.

We investigated both buildings from top to bottom. On this night no spirit set off any of their devices but there were a few unexplained sounds and flashes of light we encountered in Robinson House. Proo(f) investigators Rob DiVenanzo, Brad Mavin and Melissa also complained of feeling a little disoriented near the top of the stairs inside the house as well.

"It felt warm. It felt very uncomfortable," Rob explained.

Then, as quickly as it happened, the feelings these three experienced went away. As for me I must admit to feeling a bit uneasy during the whole tour. It's not every night I get to walk through historic old homes in the dark. And who wouldn't experience the heebie-jeebies in the basement of Henry House where old caskets are stored for exhibits held throughout the year by Oshawa Community Museums? Think about it, I was in a dark basement surrounded by coffins.

Despite the fact proo(f)'s various devices didn't go off during our investigation that didn't mean there wasn't something else in those buildings with us.

Did the cameras catch anything not visible to the naked eye? I spoke to Brad  a few weeks after my tour with his organization to ask him.  Was Henry House or Robinson House haunted, in his opinion? Nothing stirred in either house on that night, he said.

In other investigations in other alleged haunted houses proo(f) has returned multiple times and received a variety of readings. In other places they’ve left their equipment behind and it’s picked up some bizarre activities.

What about the strange feelings that overcame his colleagues at the top of the stairs at Robinson House?

“There was certainly a strange feeling up there,” he admitted. “I rarely ever get some sensation or feeling. I had no fear of that place at all though.”

I can't say I didn't experience fear in either house. Being new to paranormal investigations I was feeling a lot of weird things. Could it have been my imagination? Probably. Could something have been watching us as we searched the two houses? Or maybe on this night the spirits just didn't want to come out and play? Who knows?

But it was a cool experience nonetheless.

Ice storm sheds light on dark problem

When the power went out on Dec. 22, I was one of the lucky ones in Durham Region. I was only in the dark for 12 hours. Others were left without power for days.

In Toronto there were thousands of people who went without power for upwards of a week while crews attempted to fix the grid. It was a cold, frustrating time for a lot of people.

When the idea of distributing grocery store cards came about I thought it was a good idea for the people hardest hit. If you're living on a fixed income or on social assistance and are forced, through no fault of your own, to throw out spoiled food thanks to a prolonged power outage it's nice to know the help is there. Fifty dollars for single people or $100 per family couldn’t be considered a lot but it’s more than enough when you look at the alternative – nothing.

Then the stories of the lineups for the grocery store cards started being reported in the media. Demand outstripped supply. In just three days $842,600 worth of grocery store gift cards were distributed in Toronto, more than quadruple what was expected.

This week another $450,000 in grocery store cards will be given out in Durham Region (Jan. 9), Northumberland County (Jan. 8), Dufferin County, Halton Region, City of Hamilton, Peel Region, Waterloo Region, Wellington County and York Region. It's a safe bet the gift cards being distributed won't be nearly enough for the number of people who will lineup for them. Like what happened in Toronto there will be many people turned away empty-handed.

When news of these frustrated, hungry people comes in it won't surprise me and I know it won't surprise you. However, what I find most startling about this whole situation is the number of people who need the grocery store cards. Knowing there are people living at or near the poverty level is one thing but seeing just a fraction of them lining up for grocery store cards puts the issue into a startling perspective.

That should be a wake up call for all of us, including the government officials supervising the distribution of the grocery cards. Poverty sucks but it’s what happens when middle class jobs disappear leaving people desperate and willing to lineup for grocery store cards to feed themselves.

Being a member of the media I hear the calls from food banks calling for donations because year after year there’s a greater need. Unfortunately these stories aren’t unusual, they’re the norm. Then Mother Nature shows her ugly side highlighting an already difficult situation.

The ice storm was traumatic on all of us for many different reasons. When the lights came back on our real problems came to light and sadly, they had nothing to do with storm. 

Blackout lessons for all

When the lights went out across most of Ontario back in 2003 I was at work putting out our regular Friday newspapers. Obviously the blackout changed what I was going to put on my front page and thanks to a back-up generator the papers went to press, a little late but they got out.

Fast-forward to Dec. 22, 2013 the lights went out a second time and where was I? At work again! You see a trend happening here. Obviously I like to work in the dark!

Ice hangs from a tree out front of my home.

The recent blackout though was far more dangerous for two reasons -- first, it was the dead of winter and when the power goes out so does your furnace. Second, the ice storm that caused the whole mess left felled trees and broken tree limbs hanging precariously over streets, hydro lines, driveways etc. It truly wasn't safe inside or out.

As I write this blog post the power is still out in many parts of Toronto, Peel Region and even here in Durham Region. Tonight there is high winds expected and you can be certain more trees and tree branches will come toppling down. I just pray the birch tree in my front yard stays up. It's bending right now in a completely unnatural way.

Unlike last week though I am slightly better prepared for any more power outages. This time I have propane, a new flashlight, a new set of lighters and food in the freezer. Cash also becomes king in the event of a blackout so for a change I am carrying bills in my wallet. It feels a bit nostalgic but I think I'll get used to it because in the event of a power outage debit and credit cards don't work.

Last week Heather went to our local No Frills to stock up for Christmas and while the power had just  come back on a few hours earlier the debit machines were offline. You wouldn't believe the number of people screaming at the poor manager.

Losing your power at any time of the year sucks but I'd take a summer outage anytime over a winter one.

Stay safe out there people.