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Geez, will this Ghost Road stuff ever, end? by Cathy Olliffe There's just no end to this Ghost Road business, is there? Just when you think the last student has marched through the office door asking for newspaper clippings; just when you think nobody else is going to borrow that video about Ghost Rd. Niaga- ra College students made; just when you've forgotten all about the stupid thing, along comes a big-time reporter from the coun- try's capital's biggest daily paper, driving a big yellow company car. Yes folks, Ian MacLeod of the Ottawa Citizen was in town last week making a big deal about you know what. I couldn't believe it when he phoned. The Ottawa Citizen? Phoning me? I wondered what I had done wrong. Having anybody phone you from Ottawa is like having the RCMP on your tail. "*] want to talk to you about Ghost Road," the 31 year old scoop said, and I nearly fell down, giggling madly. He tells me he's coming down to do a story on Scugog Island's own personal hell's angel, and not only is he coming down, he's bringing a photographer. Not just any photographer, thc newspaper's Chief photographer, fresh from covering Brian Mulroney's victory night celebrations in Baie Co- meau. I ask myself, have these people | got nothing else to do? And how the heck did they hear about Ghost Road anyway? "Our Features Editor Deb Rich- 'mond told me about it. Her broth- er was here at one point and he saw it, and he told her about it," MacLeod said. "She thought her brother might be pulling her leg." So when MacLeod finished cov- ering the drought somewhere in Sanctuary, Saskatchewan ("It's a little dot on the map. It makes Port Perry look like New York City"), and other assorted news bits, he decided to give Ghost Road a whirl. The Citizen has a big budget (naturally), and can afford to send its reporters to bizarre spots around the globe. Not too long ago, one hapless writer was shipped off to the Arctic. Unlike that reporter, MacLeod didn't need mukluks in the few days he spent in Port Perry. He ar- rived Wednesday evening, famil- jarized himself with important lo- cal landmarks (where to eat, where to get a beer etc.), and was joined by Chief photographer Lynn ("a guy") Ball sometime Thursday. In the meantime, he kept busy interviewing the standard Ghost Road panel of experts, Allene Kane, Mayor-for-a-bit-longer Jerry Taylor, Durham's only Tom Sel- leck lookalike policeman Greg Heaseman, the famous Joel Alred, official sceptic Ross Carter and yours truly. Even John B. got a few good quotes in. One of the first people he talked to was Ian Currie of Toronto, a re- incarnation therapist who moon- lights as a de-haunter of houses. MacLeod asked him about Ghost Road, and Currie asked MacLeod whether he wanted the road rid of its motorcycle appari- tion. At first the Ottawa reporter, slightly boggled by Currie's ob- servations about ghosts in gener- al, said he didn't care. But then he realized he'd be lynched by every ghost lover in Township if he let Currie ban- ish the spirit. Fortunately, the To- ronto exorcist couldn't make it up to Port Perry anyway. While Currie obviously believes in the spirit world, MacLeod isn't quite so sure. "I don't know," he said, com- fortably ensconced in the Star of- fice. "If you'd asked me that three days ago, I would have said no...but he's (Currie) very con- vincing. He's so matter-of-fact." MacLeod paused for a moment and added, "I'm on the fence. But after listening to him, I'm certain- ly not afraid of ghosts. "He says they're not the demon- ic things that are going to burn your house down and turn over your car. The vast majority are pa- thetic, confused, unhappy. A lot of them don't even know they're dead--they're stuck in this world." Currie will rid your house of any unhappy spirits for only $400. Per house, not ghost. Although Currie couldn't come up to Port Perry, he did give Mac- Leod some helpful hints for ghost watching. He told the Ottawa re- porter to meditate for a while, then open his mind up to the ghost and invite him to appear. On Thursday night, MacLeod did just that. In fact, he was just in the middle of "inviting the ghost" when the light appeared. "I said, holy cow, look at this, it's the light!" MacLeod recalled. And he would have been a firm believer right then and there if it wasn't for Ball, who was filling his ear with "that's not a ghost, those are car headlights." The headlights he was referring to are part of a common theory about Ghost Road. Because the concession lines up with the West Quarter Line, four miles to the south, car lights (red and white) appear as one light. Ball was convinced this is what the light is, but MacLeod wasn't so sure. To test Ball's theory, the pair borrowed walkie talkies from House of Howard Friday night and experimented with car lights. When all was said and done, the sceptical photographer and the not-so-sure reporter headed home-- Ball left Friday night after the ex- periment because he had to cover the Grey Cup game in Ottawa. MacLeod left Saturday morning. The story, which MacLeod says should take the front page of the 0 o / o LFS -------- BOB BEVERIDGE 985-0319 TERRY COYNE 985-9363 2 0 ~ ela of , <w Beer anc fies wine ) TASTE FOR YOURSELF __ -- WINE AT $123 PER BOTTLE ---- BEER AT $6.00 PER CASE OF 24 CANADA'S FASTEST GROWING HOBBY ---- AN ALL NATURAL PRODUCT WITH NO CHEMICALS ADDED FOR SAMPLE TESTING CALI BOB BEVERIDGE 983-0319 ~ MAKES A GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT = \\ =~ AREA DISTRIBUTERS: 0 Systems. -- sr -- -- VERN GONSALVES 985-0421 BLANCHARDS SUPPLY N N 985-9746 , 7 So PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 29, 1988 -- 37 lan MacLeod puzzles over the evidence he collect- ed while Investigating Scugog i" r | " # Island's infamous Ghost Road for a feature story in the Ottawa Citizen. Belive It or not, the big daily paper from the nation's capital thinks our Ghost is newsworthy! See story for detalls. Saturday edition (tentatively, De- cember 10), will be printed in some 250,000 copies. MacLeod admits, that when he finishes writing about Ghost Road, it will be one of the weird- est pieces he has ever attempted. "As I told Mrs. Kane, I've never done a stranger interview than this one. There we were, talking very - APPLES for SALE - calmly and rationally about ghosts," he said, grinning. "It'll be interesting reading for our read- ers." First therc was the Port Perry Star. Then a bunch of students from Niagara College. Then the Ottawa Citizen, for pete's sake. What's next, 60 Minutes? Northern Spy -- Macintosh Delicious -- |dared -- Empire WILLOWTREE ORCHARDS Durham Rd. 8, Port Perry 985-9205 7: i a foe Re Fr Rs % Jian wk the 1 "BIGFOOT | 2c BIGFOO astro: delivery vehicles somewhat larger Our are BIGFOOT GIANT 8OWATERSTREET ©9885-8448 BIGFOOT 20 piece cheese pizza 28 piece cheese pizza @ (additonal iloms $1.00 each (additional tems $1.50 each 2 S99 oO Ww. oO * Extra cheese $1.50 om EXPIRES DECEMBER 31,1988 (BIGFOOT GIANT $2.00) PORT PERRY ™momiony ; TOWN ONLY