Michael Newton
469 Clarence Street
Ottawa, Ontario
KIN 5R9
Monday, May 1, 1978.
Col. G. King
400 George Street
Cobourg, Ontario
Dear Col. King:
My mother was on the telephone to me yesterday, and in our bi-weekly exchange of words she happened to mention to me that there have been inquiries as to whether Victoria Hall is haunted. Whether it is haunted or not is not known to me. I certainly never witnessed any apparitions there, but I certainly could wax eloquent on imaginary events and facts in your old emporium on King Street several years ago. I think if you were to re-examine my old examinations at that place it would soon be apparent that "truth was stranger than fiction," particularly in my case;
However, to the point. Indeed, there is a legend of a ghost in the Court House, and this piece of information I gleaned out of a local pamphlet that was put out years ago and that Louise Guy had some vague connection with. It was printed out on a typewriter and mimeographed as I remember, and concerned with activities on a weekly basis in the Town during the summer.
In one of the pamphlets which I have long since discarded, was the following storey which I will relate herein as best as I can remember and with the help of notes I put together in 1970.
A man condemned to death in the local court at Victoria Hall supposedly jumped out of the prisoner's box and ran up the aisle to the front doors of the Court Room. To his utter dismay they were locked as he shook them in vain try- ing to escape.
Some say to this day, over one hundred years later, that On quiet summer nights those same doors rattle and rattle violently as the prisoner’s ghost tries to escape from Victoria Hall.
I would imagine that since the windows have been sealed and proper insulation applied with appropriate weather stripping tha the ghost has indeed escaped from our gaze forever! Apparently all things temporal and spiritual moved out at the slightest suggestion that the floor was unsafe.
It seems to me that I gave a copy of all my notes and research papers on Victoria Hall to Col.(?) Hughes(?) when he was Chairman of the Society, and that that piece of information, along with several other legends involving Cobourg/Victoria Hall are in that volume. If I am wrong, I stand to be corrected and will most assuredly send down another copy or bring one along next time I am home, if the Society will notify me beforehand. Furthermore, I guess I should renew my membership, which I think has been void these many years past.
Well, let's hope that Phase Three moves along quickly, successfully, and with "spirited" enthusiasm;
Yours truly,
Michael Newton
