Sunday May 5, 2002 Fort George Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario, Canada First GHOST TOUR of the 2002 Season Click on the tiny pictures throughout the story to view full size
Issues has received several emails asking for assistance to either prove or disprove the existence of psychic phenomena. This is an extremely difficult topic for me for I believe in psychic phenomena, I believe in ghost, spirits, the ability of mediums, in general I suppose one could say, I believe in things that go bump in the night As proof of my determination to validate such occurrences, I took a class in parapsychology, which was more a class in dispersing the myth that paranormal activities and/or entities exist by offering scientific reasoning for every situation one may encounter. However, Issues was created to address everyday issues of everyday people therefore, it was only fair to address this topic as well.
Although a walking tour was exceptionally difficult for me, I could not resist the temptation to pack up friends and family and head to beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada to indulge in a bit of a ghost hunt at Fort George on Sunday, May 5, 2002. My best friend and I are both believers in the spirit world, my 25-year-old son who is not a true believer, but also not a total skeptic accompanied us, as did my husband, a TRUE SKEPTIC.
It was a one and one half hour drive from our home, and yes, for all of the skeptics in the crowd, I was dosed with pain medication (which means one 7.5/500 Endocet every 4 hours and two 800 mg Ibuprofen every 6 hours) to withstand the ride and subsequent walking tour. I was psyched; I wanted nothing more than to SEE a ghost, a real live (or dead as the case may be) honest-to-goodness ghost. In all fairness to this research, I do admit: I saw no apparitions, I felt no one brush by me, I heard nothing strange, but I was by far NOT disappointed, for I did return from my ghost hunt with enough evidence to create reasonable doubt in every skeptics mind. I took my digital camera on the tour, I was determined to prove to my skeptical husband and my semi-skeptical son that spirits (or ghost) exist. Thanks to my SONY digital camera, I have a pictorial story to report. For those who are skeptics, I did make notes as to where each picture was taken.
Besides, I am a history buff, and our guide, Kyle, gave one of the best historical presentations I have ever attended. Since I feel that everyone should find a way to take this tour, I will skip the historical aspect and get along to the spirit aspect of the story.
The tour was going rather well, despite the fact that no ghostly apparitions seemed willing to join the tour. The tour was nearing completion; the group was standing between two buildings one used as a kitchen facility, the other a hospital. The discussion: the treatment of wounds requiring amputation became was relatively graphic. A damp night air had settled around the group, the pain in my leg had been steadily increasing throughout the tour. Whether it was a combination of pain, pain meds (or at that point, lack thereof) the walking, the night air, the darkness, the gruesome tale of half sawing and then breaking the remaining portion of bone of an amputated limb, or the area simply remaining charged by the pain suffered by spirits from the past, I cannot say. Suddenly, I began feeling extremely ill. Not the type of illness one experiences from the flu, but the type of ill experienced from fear.
My husband, noting that something was wrong, assisted me to the building behind me. Being able to brace myself against the building helped ease the pain in my leg, but did nothing for the sick fear I was experiencing. Our little group held back from the others for I felt the need to snap a couple of pictures at this point. The great thing about a digital camera is that you can immediately see your pictures, or in some cases, your failures. The first picture I took was fine, the second was totally black. As we finally walked away from the area between the two buildings, the illness which had encumbered me dissipated.
The tour made its way towards a building once utilized to house commissioned officers. Although the group was not allowed to enter the building, they were urged to peer through a window to look at a mirror hanging at the front of the housing unit. It was alleged that many had reported seeing the reflection of a beautiful woman within the mirror. It did not appear that any such report was made that evening; my son however, decided to take a look at the room from another perspective, a window at the front of the unit. He soon returned to gather our private group to gaze at a picture that hung on the wall between the windows where the tour group now stood.
Following my son's directions I was astounded when I observed the picture appear to change. While I gazed at the portrait; an illustrious gentleman, transformed into a dignified, proper looking woman!
"It changed." I exclaimed.
My friend remarked that she too had witnessed the portrait transform. It would not be until the next day that we realized our descriptions of the woman in the photo and the transformation were identical.
While my husband had also gazed at the portrait, he witnessed no changes, nor did he observe any alterations in what he perceived. Whether our experiences differed due to his skepticism or our enthusiasm, I cannot say.
I was eager to take photos of the portrait, although I was skeptical of what I would be able to capture, for the inside of the building was only dimly lit, and I was forced to take the photos through glass. The first thing I did was turn off my flash, I located the red light that appears when a photo is snapped and covered it with my finger. The backlight of the camera did however remain on. I took my first photo and noticed a small red glow at the left side as the camera recorded my shot.
I was extremely excited and turned to tell the others in my immediate group. I returned to the window as close to the original proximately as I could before snapping a second picture in the same manner. Again, a red orb appeared as the camera recorded the picture, I snapped another shot. This time I saw two very clear orbs. I became extremely excited, making me certain that I moved as I snapped the last photo, which I shared with other tour members that were gathering around me.
I was excited, although I had seen No Ghosts I had some pictures that were at least unexplainable. Okay, while my husband the true skeptic had nothing to offer in defense of scientific explanation; my son the semi-skeptic did. According to my son, the red orbs were caused by the red light on the camera, which was not properly covered. He suggested that they moved across the window because I cannot stand still therefore, rather than the orbs moving, it was me. (Although I believe differently, it has always been my objective to offer unbiased reports, therefore, I felt the necessity to offer my son's version of the red orbs.)
The tour group then made its way towards the final destination within the fort. A story of an intern’s (with a scientific background) experience was presented. Although I felt no frightening presence, I did feel the urge to take two final photos, one pointed at the space between the buildings, an area alleged to include evil spirits and one in the opposite direction towards an open area. The first photo showed a bit of the gravel, the second photo was completely black.
The tour was nearing completion, our group was escorted to the parking area in front of the fort. A last story was told and the group was bid farewell. I had wanted to question the guide about a few points he had made throughout the tour, but the pain in my leg had intensified to the point that suggested a hasty retreat from the fort since I still faced an one and one half hour return trip home.
After finally returning home, having given my pain medication and an ice pack time to ease the pain in my leg, I took the disks from my camera and went to my computer. I used a basic picture program (Microsoft Picture It 99)to view the disks. Although I had felt that the pictures of the red orbs were the best proof I had captured of any paranormal experiences at Fort George, I would soon learn I was wrong! By simply adjusting the brightness and contrast on the pictures that appeared to be nothing more than black holes, I was able to see much, much more!
A simple contrast and brightness adjustment on the picture taken while I was experiencing the illness of fear I was able to see a red glow in the lower left hand corner of the photo.
The orbs that I photographed at the commissioned officers housing unit became sharper and more clear.
The true shockers were the ghostly apparitions that seemed to appear when I increased the brightness of the photo I took aimed between the two buildings where evil spirits were said to dwell. The photo I took in the opposite direction was just as shocking! Looking closely one can assume that the man speaking with one of the tour guides was the magnet for ghostly apparitions. (NOTE - the faces of the persons in this photo have been distorted because Issues was unable to obtain the names of these persons for permission to use their exact photos in connection with this article) Looking closely one can see transparent orbs around the lower portion of the man's legs, around his his feet and above his head.
Of course, the best part of these pictures were that neither of the household skeptics could come up with a reasonable scientific explanation for what appear to be, ghostly apparitions.
(Note: After returning home and setting the initial Ghost Page to print, I began researching the Niagara-On-The-Lake phenomena. I was amazed to read that what I had experienced at Fort George was considered normally experienced Psychic Phenomena.)
