The Paranormal Blog

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, UFO's and other strange events that may be considered Fortean from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Last Saturday we held our second seminar of the 2006 summer series at the Toronto Islands. It was a lot of fun and great to see some old faces as well as meet some new people who share our fascination with these topics. Thanks to everyone who came out and helped to make this event a success! And for those who could not attend ... we present .....

The Ghosts Of The Toronto Islands

It is not often that you run into a historic site that has a plaque telling of a ghost (especially in Ontario!) but here is one of the very few exceptions to that rule. The plaque states that the first lighthouse keeper disappeared mysteriously and that the site is rumoured to be haunted.

The story goes that Mr. John Paul Rademuller was the first lighthouse keeper, and that during those temperate years shortly following the war with America, Mr. Rademuller was a brewer of bootleg beer. Two drunken soldiers made their way to the lighthouse to partake of the illegal brew; however, when Rademuller refused them his custom, they clocked him over the head and killed him. To cover their crime, they dismembered his body and planted poor old John Paul all around his lighthouse.

On dark and stormy nights, John Paul Rademuller can be seen trekking up to light his beacon. On other nights (or in other stories), his spectre (apparition) can be seen looking for his lost limbs. To add some credence to this story, lighthouse keeper George Durnan unearthed some bones near the structure in 1893.

J.P. Rademuller originally was a valet for Prince Edward, Augustus the Duke of Connaught one of King George III's sons, and was given leave of his service to set up the first German school in Upper Canada. The school did not do well and on it's failure, he became the lighthouse keeper as a "favoured placement" through his connections to the Hanoverian royals.

Interestingly enough, Edward's brother, Ernest Augustus or the Duke of Cumberland also had a valet who also met with a tragic (and questionable) end named Selles who haunts St. James Palace... Selles was killed by "mysterious circumstances" and his ghost is seen sitting up in his old bed with his throat slashed wide open. It is rumoured that Selles' daughter had been "abused" by the Duke who murdered him.

Still, that's two German valets in service of the princes who both met unavenged and mysterious deaths... who both are said to be haunting the location of their demise. One can speculate with the prince’s sordid reputations that perhaps the "valets" knew too much ……about something......

On the northern beaches near the lighthouse the apparition of a “lady in white” has been reported over the years. As recent as the summer of 2005 we have received an account from eyewitnesses of this mournful looking ghost.

We believe she may be the restless spirit of a young woman murdered there just post WWII by her lover who was a pilot with the RCAF. Her body was discovered soon after in a series of bushes close to the location of the lighthouse.

We are currently working on historical research that may finally reveal the identity of this sad spectre.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.