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!

Schefferville is a small village with a population of around 200 located in Northern Quebec, just 2 km from the Labrador border. Amongst the landmark buildings of the village is Le Guest House. Situated on the shores of Knob Lake, Le Guest House is a hotel many claim to be haunted.

On September 7 1959, then Quebec premier, Maurice Duplessis, died at Le Guest House, where he had been staying on a fishing trip. Since then, he is believed to be haunting the hotel.

Guests have reported the apparition of a man by the foot of their bed, strange sounds and other poltergeist activity.

Does Maurice Duplessis, a controversial figure in life, still haunt the location of his death, some 50 years after the fact?

Our thanks to Stu Finlay and ParaResearchers of Quebec for the above report. If this story sounds familiar, you have information you can add or if you have had similar experiences please do contact us. Your privacy will be protected.

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.

Chris Laursen our media liaison, and PSICAN researcher is moving to British Columbia next month to pursue his Ph.D in history. While Chris will remain with PSICAN as both a researcher/investigator, and our media liaison, we in Ontario will greatly miss him. We wish Chris the very best with his move across country, in his new home, and with his academic pursuits at UBC. Ontario's loss will be BC's gain.

I have been checking out herbal weight loss pills for a safer way to help lose weight. I have mentioned before on this blog how I am a big supporter of natural medicines, and that would include any weight loss or dietary aids. So far I have been doing very well with my current fitness, and weight loss regime, which includes at least two cups of green tea per day. I am trying to get off the coffee completely, and find the green tea a great substitute, plus it has been used in Asia since ancient times to help in slimming, and aid in digestion.

Just my non-medical expert thoughts, and anyone trying to lose weight should see their doctors first.

The newer hotel section of the Guild Inn in Scarborough was demolished last week.

We hope that in its place something new that would make the Spencers proud will evolve on this wonderful historic site.

We must also ask the question....where do the ghosts of the Guild Inn now haunt? Where to ghosts go when the location they are "haunting" is torn down?

For mor photos of the demolition, and site please visit out pages on the Ghosts Of The Guild Inn.

All photos are courtesy of and copyrighted to photographerLaurie Tossell-Lamonday. These photos may not be reproduced elsewhere in any format without the permission of the photographer.

Thank you Laurie for sharing your photos with us.

Beautiful Dunsmuir House pictured above is located on a 50 acre estate in Oakland, California. The house was built in 1899 by Alexander Dunsmuir for his new bride, but tragically he died before it was completed so never got to share it with her.

Dunsmuir House was also the location of Burnt Offerings, one of my favourite horror films as a kid. I recently saw it again as it has been playing on the Drive-In Classic channel, and it got me to thinking about certain beliefs within our study.

The film is about a fictional family who move into a haunted house that rejuvenates itself with each death that occurs inside of it, and is based on a horror novel by Robert Marasco.

The house is not haunted by spirits, but has seemingly taken on a life of its own and is possessing one of the occupants. In other words it is the house that is the entity. Cool idea eh!

I do have to wonder about these older films (this one was released in 1976) and how much they have clouded the thoughts, and ideas on ghosts, and hauntings today?

As an example we get lots of queries about specific houses that are either Gothic or Neoclassical-Revival architectural styles, and never questioned about modern buildings, yet it is from the latter that we get far more ghost, and haunting reports.

Perhaps films such as Burnt Offerings have skewed the general public's idea on what a haunted house should look like, and what goes on inside of them. I should make mention that Dunsmuir house was purposefully made to look run down, and decrepit at the beginning of this movie....more like the classic "abandoned" or neglected house...and don't get me started on that.

Just more musing on a rainy Thursday morning.......

Image Credits: Wiki (please see links for further details)

Since no one really can say one way or another what a ghost exactly is, it is very difficult to give a simple yes or no answer to this question in my opinion. We can say that when it comes to ghost, and haunting reports, and even some UFO, and Crypto cases electronic equipment appears to be affected at the time of the experience that is being reported. This includes a wide range of devices from televisions, and radios, to light bulbs etc. I have even heard of cash registers, and barcode scanner acting up so to speak in reportedly haunted shops, such as one that we followed up on in Ajax Ontario. What if any correlation there actually is at this point is debatable, and still part of the grand mystery of some paranormal events.

Just some food for thought on a dark, and rainy morning here in Toronto.

It was with sadness that I learned that UFOlogist Richard Hall passed away this past weekend. I had never met Richard in person, but we had shared correspondence. I shared not only quite a bit of emails with him over the years regarding UFOs, but also ones regarding our shared love of historical re-enactments. He was always very kind, and polite with all of my unending questions. He will be missed.

Here is a link to Richard Hall's website. I have no idea what will become of it.

A friend of mine recently reminded me of this fact regarding the passing of both Richard Hall, and John Keel:

"This is another reminder than we do not last as long as what we study, so we should enjoy it as much as possible with the time we have."

Very true words in my humble opinion.

R.I.P Richard Hall

I was reading an article on CNN in regards to a town I believe in Alabama that has really hopped on the paranormal tourism bandwagon. The town is offering all sorts of travel deals in the hopes of luring paranormal enthusiasts to vacation there. I noted that many of the historic sites, and other public destinations listed ghost stories, which got me to thinking about whether or not these stories existed before the push to get more visitors to their sites? This is where some good old fashioned research into a specific location is imperative to getting to the bottom of some of these stories. If there were no reports until recently or the stories being told do not jibe with the known history of the place, then the paranormal traveler or serious researcher should exercise caveat emptor, and remember that in these bad economic times businesses are apt to tell you anything while vying for your much valued tourist dollar, including a good ghost story if that is what they believe will get you to visit their establishments.

We have been on a health kick lately, not just trying to lose some extra weight, but we our working on getting more healthy overall. Since most of the weight loss supplements that are out on the market are either not too healthy or simply do not work we have turned to more traditional slimming products like apple cider vinegar, and teas like green tea for a more natural approach. You can learn more about weight loss supplements at the page I linked to for this entry. Oh, and I'll let you know how we are doing in a few week's time.

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!

Ghost Road In Badjeros Ontario

"I had a very weird experience that occurred very near the junction of Highway 124 (24) and Highway 9 not far from Badjeros Ontario heading towards Creemore.

This very odd "experience" happened on the Easter Weekend this year 2009... over near Blue Mountain. I was driving along when I needed to stop for a couple of minutes to answer nature's call if you know what I mean. It was the middle of nowhere, and the time was about 10:30 at night so there were no public facilities to stop at that I knew about. I stopped at the side of the road and got out of my truck. At the time I was pulling a 30' trailer so I stepped between the pick up and the trailer and climbed over the hitch in order to relieve myself.

It was at this point that I heard what sounded like a weird fluttering sound all around me. At the same time it got almost instantly totally foggy. This misty fog got so bad, that I couldn't see the truck that was almost right in front of me. This freaked me out, and I fumbled to find my way back to the driver's seat. Once I got comfortable I looked up to begin to drive away, and that is when I saw two women with long hair, floating in front of the windshield just looking at me!!!!

This totally freaked me out, and I put the truck into drive, and as soon as I did that they disappeared as did the fog!!! I got home about 2 hours later and was still really wired about it, and told my wife what had happened. I have never seen anything like this before, and I will never forget it as long as I live. I want to know if anyone else has seen these two women or the weird fog on this stretch of road?"

Our thanks to this witness for the above report. If this story sounds familiar, you have information you can add or if you have had similar experiences please do contact us. Your privacy will be protected.

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.

I was surfing about my usual internet haunts this morning when I came across a news item being discussed on one of the paranormal forums. In part it goes something like this with photo:

"Two weeks ago, in the Kasturba Ghandi Hospital in the city of Chennai, a baby with one eye was born. Doctors believe that the baby has a good chance of living on. A similar case also occurred in Russia.

Typically, the nose and nostrils are missing, adding to the disfigurement. Only one in one million babies are born with this defect, as it is detected early in pregnancy and is almost always aborted. Not this time, however.

The parents elected to keep the child, whom is expected to survive, citing the otherwise excellent condition of her internal organs."

Now before the baby announcements are sent out to celebrate this odd, little, medical miracle it is best to try to track down the original source. In this case the source is Russian newspaper PRAVDA (ironically translated to mean the truth) which since the fall of the Iron Curtain has become Eastern Europe's equivalent to the Weekly World News. And we all know how believable the latter is ...right?

I highly doubt there is any truth to this story, and a quick check with Snopes will probably confirm it is just another hoax.

No our cat Maya pictured above is very much in the land of the living, and not a ghost cat. I just wanted to share a pic of her with you, BUT since I do not want the title of this blog post to disappoint by only posting a photo of Maya I will share with you the story of a possible ghost cat as shared with me by a student I recently helped out with a project they were working on.

"My story of the 'ghost' cat was an odd experience. It happened last year when I was still in high school and I had just finished classes for the day. I was walking home around 3:30pm, so it was still fairly bright outside. The sidewalk I was on had the road to the left and wooden fences to homes on my right. I stopped so abruptly when I suddenly saw a black cat walking from the right side to left and stop in front of me. Its body was facing toward the road, but its head looked right at me as I looked at it.

It was the strangest thing I'd ever encountered for I didn't see it jump down from off the fence, but rather just walk in a straight line from the fence. I backed up a little because I'm not really a cat person. As I started backing up, it came toward me and put a little weight on my right foot. And at this point, it was just staring straight into my eyes with its beady eyes. It closed and reopened its eyes. I also blinked at that point, but within that instant the cat had vanished. I just stood there in the middle of the sidewalk dumbstruck, "was I crazy?" I just passed it off as 'the sun must be getting to me' line.

After reading about your experience, I remembered this whole ordeal and now I'm thinking it could be something else. Well, that's the story. "

Our thanks to the student for sharing this experience with us. Have you had an encounter with a ghost cat or other animal apparition?

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 occurred in the early 80's in a trailer park home. The experience is very similar to Old Hags Syndrome.

"I wanted to share a multi situation that happened to me in 1983. It was in a trailer on Hungry Hollow Road just outside of Arkona, Ontario, Canada.

I had the same experience three times while living in this trailer.

I was sleeping and was awoken due to something softly brushing across my face. I reached to turn on the bed side lamp and nothing was there. The curtains or any other item was not in reach so really nothing around me that I could see was present there enough to do such a strange brushing of my face.

I tried to sleep and failed as I was and am the type of guy whom once awoken it takes me a lot to get back to sleep.

Anyhow I felt at peace and in a quiet setting too. And then I heard a multi voice chanting. It sounded fast and mixed, but I knew it was voices altogether at once kind of like a choir. It was down at the other end of the hallway coming towards my room at the end of the trailer.

I could hear it getting louder as it approached my bed, and close to my ear. I tried very hard to move and I tried very hard to open my eyes but I was just frozen stiff and could not move at all. Yet I was wide awake and could hear these multi voices.

I said the Lord's Prayer and all of a sudden it stopped and I was unfrozen

This happened to me 3 times the exact same way. And the thing about it was that I did not know at the time that the girl whom lived there before me had died by her own hand. But I did wonder why the rental property ad said immediate occupancy, no last months required? Maybe this was why?"

The witness goes on to add that other than these three weird events it was always a peaceful place to stay and he always felt safe there.

Our thanks to the witness for this report. Please note we are doing a best of Freaky Friday series from some of the 2006, and 2007 entries so that newer readers who might not have read these before can have the opportunity to check them out, and older ones can enjoy them a second time around if they wish to refresh their memories on them.

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.

This looks like it is going to be must-see viewing for UFO enthusiasts, and those just interested in this fascinating topic.

Have a look at the trailer. The movie’s web site states, “Air Force Generals, astronauts, military and commercial pilots, government and FAA officials from seven countries tell stories that will challenge your reality. Their accounts reveal a behind-the-scenes U.S. operation whose policy is to confiscate and hoard substantiating evidence from close encounters to the extent that even Presidents have failed to get straight answers. I KNOW WHAT I SAW exposes reasons behind government secrecy from those involved at the highest level.”

Film maker James Fox is the producer of Out Of The Blue an excellent documentary on the subject so I do have high hopes for this one.

Currently featured on the main page of the Toronto & Ontario Ghosts & Hauntings Research Societies website. Take one beautiful old hotel on the shores of Lake Ontario, add a tragic love story and there you have the makings of a great, haunting story. The historic Prince George in Kingston provides just that. Read the ghost story here.

Thank you for stopping by. Happy WW.

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

A few years ago my friend's daughter had a custom handbag made for her as a prezzie. The artist used various materials to create a UFOish handbag that was unique, cool, and very appropriate to her research interests. Needless to say my friend was thrilled with this gift from her daughter.

Since that time I have thought what a cool idea for some enterprising crafty person to try out. Someone could even get a line on some good quality wholesale handbags and dress them up so to speak.

I wish I was a more crafty person or could sew, especially with Etsy so popular now. Lots of crafty things can be made that would appeal to the paranormal enthusiast.

Is Michael Jackson's ghost or spirit now haunting his beloved Neverland Ranch? That is what I believe this video clip is being used to ask. It was originally posted to our PSICAN message board by one of our long time friend, and investigator. She adds to the question with poor taste, a fake, or something to ponder? Or possibly all three?

What do you think? I'll post my opinion later.

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!

Private Residence - Jodphur Avenue, Toronto, Ontario

The witness writes......

"When I was 11 years old we bought this home. My Mom and I didn't like it from the very beginning, however money was not grown on trees and my Dad got a very good deal on the house. The people that had owned it before us apparently were moving to the US, they had a blue baby (whatever that is so my Mom told me) they sold in a rush and sold very cheap.

The house was creepy to say the least, the walls were all painted awful colors, the kitchen was really bright blood red, the living room and dining room were painted a dark, dark green with stencils of something all over the place.

The first thing that scared me to death was at night before I was asleep I would hear someone or something walking down the hall to the bedroom area. Mom and Dad also heard these noises or footsteps, and many a night my Dad would get up with a baseball bat and check.

He never saw anyone. I had a pet cat she would always sleep in my bed, Mom and Dad had gone to bed, this one night, I went to bed 15 minutes later. I had a habit of always reaching my hand around the corner and turning on my light first before I went into my bedroom. I had my hand just about on the light switch, when there was this very loud crash , my pet cat came running out of the room hair standing up.

I screamed, Mom and Dad came out of their room to see what was going on. It sounded like my whole bed had collapsed. We searched the room and then the rest of the house and found absolutely nothing. My cat didn't go back into my room for 2 weeks after that.

We heard these footsteps for years, my Dad worked midnights so he didn't get to hear them as much as Mom and I did. I used to have nightmares on a weekly basis. Out of 7 nights I would wake up screaming at least 5. I never ever to this very day remember why I was screaming.

We always had the feeling that someone was watching us. It was very creepy. I remember waking up one night feeling I was being choked, as in gagging choked, there were hands around my neck, however when I woke up enough to know what was happening the hands around my throat were mine!

We would all (Mom & Dad & myself) watch TV at night, the living room and the dining were really just one big room. The dining room had a Duncan Fife table and 4 chairs, and a little china cabinet. The living room was quite simple couch against the wall 2 chairs (one matching the couch, one a lazy boy and the TV in the corner).

The dining room chairs were always placed under the table never moved only if we had dinner in there. This one night we were watching TV I don't remember what we were watching, anyway when the show was over and Dad said we should go to bed, we turned off the TV and what do you think, 2 of the dining room chairs were out of place actually right behind the one lazy boy chair and the one chair that matched the couch. They were in such a position as if we had more people there with us and they were also watching the same TV show as we were.

I started to shake, Mom just stood there looking dumbfounded and of course Dad said Mom should keep the chairs where they belonged. I know my Dad he was terrified and just said that so Mom and I wouldn't freak out. Mom said nothing, I said nothing we went to bed. Dad left all the lights on in the whole house that night and I didn't sleep a wink and I'm sure they didn't either.

Leaving lights on in the whole house at night at that time never happened, we were just scrapping by and there where household rules and one of them was to turn off the lights in a room you were not in. So I know my Dad was scarred and he did not scare too easily.

I got married in 1968 and my new husband and I had no money only a baby. Mom and Dad allowed us to rent the basement apartment. They said we could stay there for free but we paid the same rent as the other tenants did.

Several strange things happened when we lived in the apartment. The first I remember was our dog (she slept under our bed) would growl and bark at least twice a week. It was kind of scary because when she did this we would turn on the lights, get up and check but never saw anything.

The next thing that happened was I got up one night go to the bathroom, nothing weird about that but when I went to go into the bathroom there was this very bright ball of light and it scared me very much. I just screamed, we checked found nothing.

We eventually bought a budgie in a very nice cage. We always covered up the cage at night so he could sleep. All was well for a time, then after we had the bird for 6 months or so at night it would screech as if it was in pain. Got up checked, nothing.

We always kept a clothes pin on the cage door because the bird figured out how to open it, however the bird got out the clothes pin would be on the floor. This was during the day. The clothes pin was on the outside of the cage how did he open it?

We very often heard someone or something turning pages in a magazine, at least that’s what it sounded like. We very often heard our little stereo come on, we would get up and turn it off. When that didn't work we unplugged it, it still however played the radio out of the speakers, but it was not plugged in.

We (Mom & Dad & myself) had a cat Taffy. She was a nice docile cat and we loved her. This occurrence is very, very odd. My Son was still sleeping in a crib, the bedroom was just one huge room. The babies room at one end our room (in the basement apartment where I lived with my husband and baby son) at the other. To turn on the lights for the 2 bedrooms you had to physically get out of bed and walk about 3 feet to the wall switch.

I woke up one night and found myself sitting on the edge of the bed, the lights were on. I was confused, and still half asleep. I looked up and saw my cat Taffy jump into my Sons crib. Of course I removed the cat to outside and my Son was fine. But how did the lights get turned on? What woke me up at that very moment? I still wonder about these occurrences to this very day. Was it Mothers instinct? Or something else?

I remember when I was a child of 12 my Dad bought a tent. We set it up in the back yard and myself and one of my friends were allowed to go camping as such. My friend and I got into our sleeping bags. All was well, we were talking and laughing and having a really fun time. Mom and Dad were of course in the house.

I remember turning over to get a bag treats Mom had let us take with us. When I turned over I of course turned on my side, when I did this there was a foot (not mine, not my friends, as we were in different sleeping bags) I felt it, I was at first shocked, then the shock thing turned into terror as I realized that there should not be another foot in there.

I know all this sounds pretty stupid but I am only telling you what happened. I am not a freak, I live a really normal life, I don't know if you believe me or not but I am telling you exactly what happened.

One more thing I just remembered my son Jeff, had learned to say a few words, he was still sleeping in his crib at this point. Anyway, he woke up crying one night, nothing strange about that babies, toddlers, it happens. But when I crossed the room from my bed to his crib, he was pointing towards the kitchen (the kitchen and living room were just one big room, and the 2 bedrooms at the back were just another big room) anyway he was pointing his little finger standing up in his crib and yelling MAN, MAN.

I was upset to say the least, I brought him to bed with me and hoped what ever it was he saw would go away.

I am curious to know if any other people that lived in this house had similar things happen to them. My Son the baby in the crib is now 39 years of age. I would really like to think that my Mom & my Dad & myself & my Son and my Husband were not hallucinating. I do not think it is possible for all us………….

After all these years these things do haunt me (for use of a better word) I am just curious and before I die would like to solve this mystery.

There must be some explanation, something terrible must have been located on the very spot where the house is now. I don't know, I was just wondering if you people could find out some info about the house or what was on the property, many years before the house was built. I hope you can help in some way."

Our thanks to this witness for the above report. Please note we are doing a best of Freaky Friday series from some of the 2006, and 2007 entries so that newer readers who might not have read these before can have the opportunity to check them out, and older ones can enjoy them a second time around if they wish to refresh their memories on them.

If this story sounds familiar, you have information you can add or if you have had similar experiences please do contact us.

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.

I recently had the pleasure of watching a brand new television series out of Britain called Being Human. The show is about a vampire, and a werewolf who work as hospital orderlies (were else would you expect to find a werewolf, and vampire working?) that decide in order to have a more normal life they will rent a house together. They do find a home, and the flat they rent turns out to be very haunted.

The show goes through the trials, and tribulations of a werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost who happen to live together trying to achieve some sort of "life" hence the title of the show. Did I mention this is a drama????

It is one of the most popular shows on BBC’s iPlayer, and if you watch it you'll see why. Brilliant writing, and acting put this series way ahead of any other in the paranormal genre today in my opinion. If you have an opportunity to watch this show I highly, highly recommend it!

And yes, they got signed on for a second season!!

I tend to be very questioning of all these fad diets, and diet aids that are out on the market. Is there really a diet pill that works out on the market today? I cannot really answer that question, but I do believe that knowledge is power, and that it is a good idea to do some research on any product before buying into its claims. If you have a look at the site I've linked to it gives a comparison of the more popular weight loss programs out there.