Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's 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, Hauntings, 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!

The following account of a "vanishing lady" was submitted to us in November 2005. In the eyewitnesses' own words...

Private Residence - St. Clair Avenue East

"A few years ago I lived in an apartment building in downtown Toronto with a roommate. And one morning I was woken up by knocking at my front door. I got up and looked through the peek hole and saw that there was an old lady dressed in black. When I asked who it was, she said something about me making noise and that she lived beneath me. She looked small and harmless so I opened the door. She went on about living beneath me and that she hears me walking up and down with my shoes on all the time and at all hours of the day and especially late at night. And that it's very disturbing and that I should walk without shoes and lay down carpets and that her husband is laying dying of Cancer and is in pain all the time and needs it to be quiet. I told her that I don't walk around with my shoes on (because I didn't) and that maybe she has the wrong apartment. I was annoyed because she was accusing me of something I never did. I told her that I didn't know what to do, that I don't walk with shoes and that I'm sorry her husband is suffering, but that's not my fault. She wouldn't go away, so I said good bye and had to close the door.

Now at the time I didn't think anything strange about that situation until what happened another day. I was walking up the front walk of the apartment building one sunny afternoon and saw the same old lady standing in the lobby. She saw me coming and quickly turned around and opened the next set of double doors and hurried further into the building. I was rushing in hopes to catch the door before it closed so that I wouldn't have to unlock it with my keys. But I didn't catch it in time and had to fumble with my keys for a couple of seconds. I thought it was rude of her not to hold the door for me. But I figured she had something against me because she thought I was a noisy tenant above her. She quickly turned down the corridor that lead to the elevators. And again I rushed because I didn't want to get stuck with the slow elevator.

There were 3 elevators to this building. The one on the far right was labelled the possessed elevator by me and all my friends because it was very slow and often would get stuck on the 14th floor (that was actually the 13th floor re labelled the 14th floor!)... I know this sounds very cliched... but this is all true!... I lived on the 12th floor and a lot of times when my visiting friends or I would be riding the elevator... it would skip my floor even though the 12th floor button was pressed and it would go up to the next floor (the 13th floor labelled 14) and just stop. I would then start pressing the button for that floor and the "door open" button until the doors would open. Then I would quickly run down the flight of stairs to my floor and every time the elevator would already be at my floor and its doors would be open and remain opened until well after I'd get into my apartment. So we would eventually avoid even getting into that elevator. But for some reason in the lobby, if all 3 elevators were on the main floor, the possessed elevator on the far right would open first. So we'd press all the buttons to send it away and then take one of the normal ones. And when we'd arrive to my floor (the 12th floor)... every single time.... the possessed elevator would already be opened on my floor... even though it was a very very slow elevator and we pressed all the buttons. It used to freak us all out. I had friends that wouldn't even get into any of the elevators and walk up all 12 flights of stairs to come visit me. Because they refused to go into any of the elevators out of fear. I asked other tenants what they thought of the elevators and I found out that many tenants were threatening to withhold rent if the building's owners didn't fix it soon. I don't know if anyone had experienced it getting stuck on the 13th floor besides my friends and roommate. And I don't know how long all this had been going on before me. But I only lived there for less than a year before I moved out.

But any ways... back to the afternoon with the old lady in the lobby... so... I just wanted to explain why I was rushing after her when she hurried around the corner and to the elevators. Because I didn't want to get stuck with the possessed elevator. Most of the other tenants had manners and would wait and hold the lobby doors open for another tenant that would be approaching. And normally people would wait to see if anyone else might be coming to catch an elevator... especially because it was common knowledge that there was a very slow elevator. So I came around the corner just in time to see her rush into the possessed elevator. And I thought to myself... good, go in the possessed elevator cranky lady and I'll take one of the good ones.. so rush all you want!! When I got to the elevators, I looked up to see what floors all the elevators were on and the middle and far left ones were all up on high floors like 18 and 15 and the far right one that the old lady went into was still on the 1st floor. It had only been a couple of seconds from when she had first stepped into it (the hallway wasn't very long). And I thought she mustn't have pressed her floor as yet or maybe she forgot to press her floor. I snickered to myself about it and pressed the up button and of course, the far left/possessed elevator that the old lady had stepped into, opened because it was still on # 1.. and when the doors opened... it was empty!

I remember rubbing my eyes and looking around and looking up again at the other elevators and trying to make sense out of it... I do believe in ghosts and have had many other ghostly encounters before and after that... but none so vivid! I wasn't looking for a ghost... never talked much with the other tenants so I don't know if there is any story behind that building... but I totally wasn't expecting that! I moved out shortly after, not out of fear, but because it was too expensive for me after a while. But don't get me wrong... that did freak me out!

I revisited that building again for the first time a few weeks ago after having been moved for a couple of years now. I brought a friend of mine who was intrigued by my story and was hoping to see a ghost. But it turns out that the "possessed elevator" is permanently out of commission! I remembered they kept trying to fix it and kept posting notices stating that the elevator had been serviced and tested and that nothing was wrong with it, yet it still did what it did. So I guess they finally decided to lay it to rest for good! We took pictures around the elevator. And the only place we got orbs was on the 13th floor in front of the far left elevator's door. So who knows!?

I never understood why she knocked on my door and what the deal was with the 13th floor. Because if she was haunting the 13th floor because she died there or something... why would she knock on my door when I was on the 12th floor? One thing to note, she was dressed all in black and wearing the same outfit both times that I saw her. Her attire consisted of a very long dress or a skirt and top thing. It did look like a get up from a longer time ago. Almost like an old school teacher with her hair up in a bun."

We would like to thank the witness for sharing this experience with us.

Investigator's note: Older elevators can appear to act strangely due to mechanical issues and we do not accept "orb" photos as proof of the paranormal. However, unless the elevator used by the "old lady" was a service elevator with another door in the rear providing an alternative exit, this would seem a very strange encounter indeed!

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.