The Occult Section

One of my favourite ghost stories relates to an enterprising Scot who immigrated across the pond to the US, finally ending up in Canada. Simon McTavish was a Highlander born around 1750. When he first arrived in the Americas, he spent several years living in New England, before ending his days in Montreal, Canada. In that time, he became a very successful fur trader, owner of the dominant North West Company.

Simon McTavish

By all accounts, McTavish was a colourful character, who kept the citizens of Montreal highly amused by his antics. An acknowledged hard worker, he also liked to enjoy himself. One of his favourite past-times was apparently either falling in love or being in love. He led quite a grand life, throwing large parties and enjoying good food. In 1793, he got the hang of the love game, marrying Marie-Marguerite Chaboillez, a local woman. They had six children, of whom four survived. McTavish promised his wife that he would built her a castle on top of Mount Royal, the grandest house in all of Montreal. But he died during its construction in 1805. His body was buried on the site in a mausoleum.

But McTavish did not rest easily in his tomb, and in fact went on to become the centre of one of Montreal’s biggest local legends. The story became so notorious, that it led to McTavish’s mausoleum being covered over. There are quite a few twists to the tale. Following his death, the grand house McTavish planned for his wife was never finished, and became known as the ‘haunted house on the hill’. People reported hearing the revelries of huge parties emanating from the house. Others said that the man himself could be seen dancing on the rooftop – maybe with or without a few accompanying fairies. Perhaps more unusual, and rather befitting for the ghost of an eccentric ex-pat Scot, his ghost could also be seen sitting upright in his coffin, sledging down the side of Mount Royal.

It goes that the abandoned construction of his castle after his wife left Montreal angered McTavish’s spirit, causing it to get up to such merry japes. His ghost was also said to be somewhat miffed when some grave robbing took place in the new cemetery in Mount Royal in 1870. An anatomy professor had employed some bodysnatchers to sort out a supply problem for his classes. The resurrection men were reportedly accompanied by McTavish sliding down the hill next to them in his coffin. McTavish’s tomb itself was also apparently broken into.

A few years ago, archaeologists began excavating Simon McTavish’s mausoleum. It’s not known if they had any coffin-sledging company from the other side…

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I’m intrigued by this article. There’s a house for sale in Montreal, right, and people are already assuming it’s haunted. Why? Cuz paranormal stuff is so hot right now. But seriously, it’s an old house and apparently hasn’t been renovated much, if at all, since being built almost 100 years ago.

An eerie house for sale in Montreal’s Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie area is still in search of a buyer nearly a year after going on the market, according to CTV News.

The listing says a building contractor built the house with his employees in 1919 and 1920. Judging from the images posted online, nothing has changed since.

The house looks like a time capsule from the 1920s; its well-worn furniture and dusty floors contributing to a sense that something of its past owners lingers on inside the empty rooms.

“Probably the first Victorian house to be built in the area of Petite Patrie and certainly the last to be renovated,” the listing says.

It adds that the floors, doors and paneling are all original, made from oak. The floor was only ever covered with beeswax, it says. The walls bear the marks of items that once hung there and the bedroom still contains a bed.

A visitor told CTV News the house had a feeling to it, as though it was haunted.

The listing includes a warning that there is no legal warranty for the house’s quality.

In this day and age, it’s totally acceptable to presume everything you come across is paranormal, full of ghosts, possibly demonic, and definitely soon-to-be on TV.

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I’ll admit, I’m totally jealous of these two – they get to look for all the famous ghosts, while most of us are reduced to searching for the “normies.”  I suppose someone’s gotta do it though, and why not Robbie Williams and Meat Loaf? Also, can we just talk about how this article informally refers to Meat Loaf as just “Meat.” AWESOME.

Yeah…this kind of happened….

SUPERNATURAL nut ROBBIE WILLIAMS would do anything to spot ghosts and UFOs.

Now he’s got a new pal to help him do that – MEAT LOAF.

The pair have known each other for years and Meat is planning to take Rob on a hunt for CHARLIE CHAPLIN’s poltergeist.

He said: “Robbie should absolutely come ghost-hunting with me. There are so many places to go – we could head to the old A&M recording studios in LA. They think Charlie Chaplin’s down there.”

Meat, who starts his farewell tour in Newcastle on April 5, believes his body acts as a ghost doorway.

He said: “There are people they say are conduits, who are more open to it, and so this stuff’s been going on since I was a kid.

“I’ve seen my mother after she died and my grandmother. I talked to my mother, and she talked back.

“And I’m not crazy, but people would think, ‘He’s crazy’.”

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I can’t even keep track anymore and I don’t even pretend to try. Shortly after announcing the renewal of “Ghost Mine,” Syfy has announced its also renewing “Haunted Highway,” a critically acclaimed paranormal reality TV show starring Jack Osborne (son of Mumbles McGee). “Haunted Highway” will be shoehorned in premiering on July 24 with six new episodes, with “Ghost Mine” returning in September.

Proof that Syfy will pretty much give anyone a TV show.

JACK’S BACK!

SYFY RENEWS HAUNTED HIGHWAY FEATURING JACK OSBOURNE, JAEL DE PARDO, DANA WORKMAN AND DEVIN MARBLE FOR A SECOND SEASON

NEW SIX EPISODE SEASON OF THE PARANORMAL REALITY SERIES TO PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, JULY 24 AT 10PM ET/PT

NEW YORK – April 22, 2013 – Syfy has ordered a second season of its hit paranormal reality series, Haunted Highway. The new six episode season will premiere, on a new night, Wednesday, July 24 at 10PM (ET/PT). The hour-long series follows two teams, Jack Osbourne & Dana Workman, and Jael de Pardo & Devin Marble, as they conduct their own first-person investigations into some of the most frightening claims of paranormal activity in some of America’s most remote regions.

Fueled by eyewitness interviews and evidence collected with state-of-the-art equipment, the two teams will self-document their harrowing face-to-face encounters with the paranormal. The new season features examinations and investigations that will take the teams off the beaten path in places like the Arizona desert, the Sierra Nevada mountains and bayous of New Orleans as they seek werewolf-like creatures, the Black Angel of Death, the ghosts of the famous Donner party and other paranormal phenomena.

This season, in a first for the series, all four cast members will join together for a special investigation of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. One of America’s largest and most remote coastal bases, Fort Jefferson is located in the Gulf of Mexico, 68 miles from Key West. Built in 1846 to protect one of the most strategic deep water anchorages in the United States, Fort Jefferson quickly became a horrifying prison fortress. The most famous prisoner of Fort Jefferson was Dr. Samuel Mudd, the physician who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth and was allegedly an accomplice in the assassination of President Lincoln. Many report that Dr. Mudd’s angry spirit has never forgiven those who wrongly imprisoned and tortured him. Though the island on which Fort Jefferson sits looks beautiful and tranquil, it is still known as “Death Island” for the number of fatalities among both soldiers and prisoners.

In its first season, Haunted Highway averaged 1.12 million total viewers, 538,000 Adults 18-49 and 618,000 Adults 25-54 – ranking #10 in Adults 25-54 during its Tuesday, 10-11PM (ET/PT) time period.

Haunted Highway is produced by BASE Productions. John Brenkus and Mickey Stern serve as executive producers.

I can’t wait for the premiere of “Haunted Antarctica.” You know it’s coming.

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Paranormal activity, for the most part, is subtle. A light knock on a door when nobody is on the other side, light footsteps coming from a room nobody is in, a whisper of a voice when nobody else is present. And the best way to tell that something is probably not paranormal is when it sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie. Like people being hit by chairs that were thrown at them by ghosts, Sorry folks, it just doesn’t work that way. If it did, it would much easier to research the paranormal.

The one thing worse than a poltergeist haunting your home: the ghost of a professional wrestler.

When it comes to paranormal activities, a freaked out French family living in a supposed haunted house in the French village of Mentque-Nortbécourt, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, claim to have seen it all.

They’ve witnessed oranges floating across the room, violent attacks by soap trays and earlier this month members of the spooked family were hospitalized after being hit by flying chairs, the regional Voix du Nord newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the local newspaper the family have reported that the strange happenings have been going on since last July. To prove they were not going mad they have brought in others from the village, including the mayor, to witness the events.

“It’s becoming dangerous,” the mother told France 3 television. “My friend had to go to hospital this week after getting hit in the head by stones. It’s serious.”

Paramedics were called earlier this month after one member of the family said he was hit by a flying chair in his face and a soap tray on the back.

The local diocese has sent in an exorcist to try to banish any troublemaking evil spirits that may reside in the home, local television reported.

The ghostly goings-on have become so bad that the family have pleaded with authorities to move them to a new home.

According to the Voix du Nord, the family were first given temporary lodging in a campsite, but now have no fixed accommodation. The local council in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region have told the father they are taking care of their case.

The strange happenings in Mentque-Nortbécourt have grabbed the attention of the media in France, with TF1 television asking whether it’s a case of “paranormal phenomenon or a just a village joke”.

Although numerous people have lived at the home in recent years, it seems none of them reported any flying chairs.

The fact that this family have “pleaded with authorities” to move them to a new home is very telling. As is the fact that no prior residents have reported flying chairs. It seems as though perhaps the family is looking for a (free) way out of their home?

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