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15 Friday , A ugust 13, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m preter with Bronte Provincial Park. Also to take this picture you would be scrubbed within an inch of your life and stuffed into your nicest clothing, which was also your scratchiest and heaviest and hottest clothing, so Im guessing they werent too happy. From the hall, Entwistle moves to the homes parlour, where the body of the familys father Henry lay during his wake in 1931. Entwistle said that upon his death, the mirrors in the home would have been covered as the Victorians believed the spirits of the dead could become trapped in reflective surfaces after leaving the body, resulting in a haunting. The nearby dining room, with its immaculately set table, has been the scene of many paranormal experi- ences for both visitors and park staff. One involves the door to the smoking porch. Ive come in and opened up the house to let everything air out, unlocked and opened that door and gone downstairs to change and then Ive come back up to find it locked again, said Entwistle. Or the opposite will happen where you are closing up the house, you lock that door go downstairs to change and its open again. Thats happened to several staff members. On another occasion, a staff member was fixing the leg of the dining room table, turning the table upside down and placing the silverware and dishes on the floor, when he suddenly experienced an intense sensation of displeasure coming from around him. He said he experienced a feeling as if the house was very angry, upset and frustrated with him and he believes it was because he had left everything strewn about, said Entwistle. At the time, for the Victorians, it would have been very important for this part of the house to always be presentable. The staff member was so rattled by the feeling he immediately put everything back the way it was, apologized and departed. He did not return to the house for about a week after that, said Entwistle. Since then, Entwistle says she and other staff members actually talk to the house in the hope that if anything is listening, it will be aware of what staff will be doing there that day and will not be angered by it. Other people who have been in the house, Entwistle said, have reported seeing children playing hide and seek in a room only to look again a moment later to find nothing there. Others have reported feeling that someone was behind them, breathing on the back of their neck, but seeing no one when they turn around. Entwistle said on one occasion she and another park employee were in the house when they sud- denly heard footsteps running through an upstairs hallway fol- lowed by a door slamming. We called out and nobody answered and when we went upstairs and opened all the doors and all the closets we couldnt find anybody, she said. We were both glad we had somebody else there. Even when you dont feel anything negative, having a brush with something like that still gives you goosebumps. The house has been featured in two episodes of the YTV show Ghost Trackers and has been visited by the Southern Ontario Paranormal Society (SOPS). During that visit, Entwistle said, SOPS Investigator Steve Genier made recordings within the house, picking up a moan and the sound of children laughing. When he got the recording of the children laughing, he felt some- thing tug on his shirt, said Entwistle. He wasnt sitting near anything that could have caught his arm and there was nobody else in the house. Genier would later state that this was the first time something para- normal had actually made physical contact with him. Most of the paranormal investi- gators who have visited the Spruce Lane Farmhouse have concluded the building is not haunted by spe- cific spectres, but rather by energy that has been left behind by those who previously lived in and visited the house. Whatever is in the house, the stories about what has been seen and experienced there has been more than enough to give some people second thoughts about crossing the threshold. Entwistle said that at the begin- ning of some ghost walks, some res- idents have had second thoughts about entering the house and have opted to wait outside while their family members proceed inside. Entwistle, however, said there is nothing to be afraid of with no one ever experiencing anything nega- tive in the house, with the possible exception of the staff member who upset the dining room table. I myself feel safer in the house than I do in any other part of the park, said Entwistle. The people who come in and say they are scared by the house are generally scared before they even set foot through the door. Its a great historical house, its great to have it here and its a great way to introduce people to the local history. The children especially love it, they just go wild and have a million questions and thats why were here. Every Sunday night in August, tours of the house will explore the buildings ghostly history and the discoveries of the paranormal teams. Tours begin at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. For additional information, visit www.BronteCreek.org or call 905-827-6911. Tall tales or truth about the past in Bronte Continued from page 12