Let me start off by telling you I’m a BIG chicken. Some animated children’s movies even freak me out. I got hired on at The Ottawa House Museum by the Sea, one of the most haunted places in my home town, two summers ago.
It was owned by Charles Tupper, one of the fathers of Confederation who later became the sixth Prime Minister of Canada. From the 1920s to around the 1970s it was run as a bed and breakfast. With that many people coming and going from the house there was bound to be a ghost or two or 40. I prayed they would leave me alone.
My first day of work my boss sent me upstairs by myself to dust. I had been told stories about one of the front facing rooms. My dad said when they would young they would go down to the house and see a woman standing in the window. Walking into that room was like walking into a crowded bar, it was over whelming. I felt sick to my stomach and I got out of there pretty damn quick.
To the right of the stairs is a small hallway, the switch for the lights is in that hall. In the morning I would go up and turn it on and every morning, without fault, the curtain over the closet was moving. The windows had been sealed over years ago to keep the cold out. They shouldn’t move on their own.
The third floor wasn’t open but I still went up. Depending where you were it felt like there was something was smelling or rubbing up against your leg, like a cat. Later that summer, when we had paranormal investigators come through, I found out a cat is exactly what it was. We had a cat in the attic, who liked to brush against your leg and roll things across the floor when you were least expecting it. At least one case was debunked.
This past summer I was hired back. We were going through major renovations of the house, it’s almost 300 years old and in need of it. I’ll tell you right now we pissed something off. You could feel the negative energy when you went into that part of the house. I always felt guilty. Guilty enough that I would walk upstairs and apologize in the morning (I’m not crazy, I just wanted them to like me).
A woman came in this summer and told me that she felt a presence as well. I wasn’t sure if that made me feel better or if the train to crazy town was just growing. She told me as we went through the house that they liked me because I didn’t pretend they weren’t there. The ghosts knew I was scared. That was why they moved the curtain in the mornings, so I could find the lights.
So do I believe in ghosts? Hell yes. Do I think my work is haunted? More than anyone will ever know. So next time your curtains move, it may not have been the wind.
