Seeking
The moment I set foot in Watson’s Mill, I can feel the history; the untold stories that remain within these
FEATURE
spirits at
of aboriginal entities in the mill. Plus, Dan Touchette, the group's president, has a photo looking down the
Paranormal Investigation with the Haunted Ottawa & Paranormal Group By Nathan Jahn Weekender Staff stone walls of the historic grist mill. It’s that way every time I come through these doors for any of the multitude of events that the fine people at the Mill put on for the public. I know the story of Ann Crosby Currier — the unfortunate young woman whose dress was caught by one of the mill’s turbine shafts, which then slammed her into a post, killing her instantly. To this day, 147 years later, Ann’s ghost remains. At least the Ottawa Haunting and Paranormal Group (OHPG) believe so — as do a great many others. While the last reported sighting of Ann goes back to 1997, her spirit is believed to remain on the second floor where she died. In fact, the OHPG believes there are as many as eight “entities” haunting the mill. In the basement there is believed to be Timmy, a young boy who drowned, as well as an aboriginal woman. Ann is believed to haunt the second floor, but the attic seems to be the most active (it’s also the creepiest place in the mill, in my mind) with three aboriginals, a carpenter (OHPG has photographic evidence of the carpenter) and “something else” said Carlos Sangiorgi during the lead-up to the public paranormal investigation, last Saturday. The mill, and in fact most of Manotick, is built on what used to be Ojibway land; that’s why the group believes there are a number
stairs into the basement that shows a woman between the second and third steps near the bottom. I spent most of my night with Sangiorgi, who is a relatively new member to the group, and with Anthony (Tony) Calvano, the group’s vice-president. The two men set up shop in the attic, hoping to reconstruct the conditions that led up to one of their strangest encounters with ghostly entities. It was Sept. 15, 2007 — the first time the group went into the Mill. Sangiorgi is asking questions of the entity - personal questions in Victorian-style English designed to let the entity have a feeling of familiarity (it has, after all, potentially been more than 100 years since s/he died). Calvano walks behind Touchette, perhaps four feet behind, and right after Calvano passes him, Touchette gets thrown back approximately six feet. I asked Touchette: “Did you feel anything like a push?” “No.” The best explanation is that the entity somehow
discharged its energy at Touchette which sent him sprawling backwards. The team has video of the event, but hasn’t posted it online because the quality isn’t the best and leaves too much to question. Personally, I believe the video is legitimate. When it comes time to begin the public paranormal investigation, all power is shut off in the mill. The only electronics activated are the digital equipment the team brings along to record their proceedings. Not only do they all have a battery backup, but each camera, laptop and motion detector is attached to a battery pack. All too often, those tricky entities like to suck the life out of electronics. Calvano and Sangiorgi walked the first group through the steps they would be taking; it’s necessary, when communicating with spiritual entities, to lay out some ground rules. “You have to be dominant” said Sangiorgi. “The most important thing, though: have an open mind.” The entire team has lights clipped on to their hats; lights that can switch between a white and red light (the team uses the red light because it doesn’t hurt the eyes as much as white light). Calvano and Sangiorgi switch on their red lights, bathing our small group in a macabre glow. Immediately, Sangiorgi starts speaking to the entity; reassuring it is the first priority (we don’t want an angry spirit coming at us, do we?). He wants to know if it’s the
carpenter. “My father was a carpenter,” he says to the entity. “I didn’t bring his tools … but is there something you want to finish? “Please, give us a sign.” The sign can be anything: a tap (one for no, two for yes), a noise, activating the motion sensors or even
NOVEMBER 7, 2008 - OTTAWA SOUTH WEEKENDER - PAGE 9
Watson's Mill
touching a person. I’m fairly certain I heard a tap in the corner behind me and to the right; the southwestern corner of the attic. Sangiorgi kept asking questions, explaining he wasn’t going to goad the entity into getting angry because there were too many people there; he didn’t want to put anyone in danger. That was when I got cold. I refrained from saying anything because I wanted to see if anyone else would pipe up and confirm what I felt. It’s hard to describe, even though we’ve all felt it. My dad would say, “Shiver me timbers,” but it’s like a light electric current running over your skin. Calvano said when he hasn’t shaved for a couple of days, he can feel his untrimmed whiskers standing on edge. I felt that too. It’s that creeping feeling; eyes drilling into the back of your head … what was it? “The temperature just dropped,” said Calvano, holding a thermometer that tests the ambient temperature of the air. There was no draft, no breeze. But it sure got cold; the kind of deep-bone chill that doesn’t leave. I was standing right where Touchette fell when the entity pushed him last year. The carpenter is believed to hang around in the opposite corner. Was this the malevolent entity Sangiorgi spoke about? Then one of the digital cameras died. It had a full battery not five minutes earlier. That was when we pulled out the gadgets and went hunting. Calvano, myself and an elderly gentleman walked around the attic with a little device that tests for electromagnetic fields (EMF) in the area. We all give off ambient electromagnetism, so when the needle hovers anywhere from 1-4, it’s probably nothing. But once that needle spikes into the 5-10 range, then we have activity. The northeast corner, where the carpenter is believed to be, is where the needle spiked. Calvano brought his temperature sensor as well and while we were there the temperature
dropped almost two degrees in approximately 15 seconds. There was no air movement. If that’s not a creepy indictment, I don’t know what is. There was literally a ghostly entity beside us. This entire time Sangiorgi was asking questions of the entity. “Were you in a relationship when you died? “Were you used to work here without wages?” Sangiorgi asked for another sign from the carpenter that he was around; that’s when the motion sensor went off. “Tony!” Sangiorgi whispered. “Yeah, I see it.” No. We didn’t see an ap-
A young woman took command; asking questions of Ann and trying to get a response. It took some time, but then Touchette turned on the motion sensor which immediately went off … and continued going off. “She’s angry,” he said. “Ann, I apologize if we’ve offended you,” said the woman asking questions. That’s when the motion sensor stopped its infernal screeching. But the most activity came when we stumbled across what is reportedly the box little Timmy used to play with before he died. The needle on the EMF reader hit 15. Very high.
parition; but we sure didn’t see anything tangible that would have triggered the sensor. That’s when Sangiorgi checked his digital voice recorder to see if any electronic voice phenomena (EVP) had showed up. Hollywood has toyed with the idea of EVP, namely the movie White Noise starring Michael Keaton. But that movie got it all wrong and turned into something more akin to The Ring where the entities become real through some unknown means. EVP really is just voices showing up on the tape that weren’t heard before. OHPG has a bunch of examples on its website. Sadly, we didn’t hear any voices on the tape. After hearing that the basement was a hot spot for activity, I decided to head down there and try to get in on the action. Down there we first attempted to contact Ann; who seemingly prefers to deal with women. Although that makes a lot of sense, considering she died in an age when it was improper for unmarried men and women to cavort with each other.
We all crowded around this little box while the woman kept asking questions of Timmy. “Timmy, did you hide from bullies in this box?” The needle hardly moved. “Timmy, did you hide from your friends to play pranks on them in this box?” The needle hit 15 again. Okay, this is creepy. We’re talking to Timmy and he’s responding by shooting little bursts of electromagnetism in our direction as his response. Eventually, however, his responses stopped coming. By that time is was 11 p.m. Time to head home. Driving back, I just couldn’t get warm. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d been brushed by something ethereal. It took a hot shower and plenty of coffee to get me warm again. I didn’t see anything at Watson’s Mill — but seeing isn’t everything. I felt them. I will probably never walk into Watson’s Mill again without feeling those eyes on the back of my neck. Shiver me timbers.