he could complete the task someone broke into his house and stole his computer equipment along with our ghostly picture. It has been lost forever.”
How unfortunate! What are the chances of that happening? Debbie still had more stories to share involving this young girl spirit.
“One time we had two families from England who had daughters, aged eight to ten. Both families had come for dinner. During the dinner the two little girls left the table to go to the washroom upstairs. Who do you suppose they saw? The little girl spirit appeared on the landing in front of the girls. I caught sight of the two girls standing on the landing. They seemed quite animated and appeared to be having a conversation with someone that I could not see. I knew then that the girls were talking to our young female ghost.
“The girls eventually returned to the table and told their parents about seeing and talking to a little girl.
“The parents called me over to the table and said, ‘Our daughters tell us they have found a friend.’ I told them that they had encountered our little girl spirit.”
Every time the two English families arrived for dinner the daughters would return to the landing to talk to the young girl.
For years now Debbie has maintained a close relationship with the elderly female spirit who wears her grey hair up in a bun and appears throughout the building. Debbie explained, “One night I saw her. It was Friday night and no one was seated in the dining room. I was behind the bar with a group of customers, seated and standing, in front of me. Then I caught a glimpse of her. She appeared in the dining room window located in our enclosed porch area. She was looking right at me and motioned with her arms to come and see her. I excused myself from the bar and went out to the porch to see what she wanted. By the time I got there she was gone. She was just playing with me.
“Another night at closing time two chefs and I heard something. Most of the lights were already turned off. We could hear our female ghost walking down the second-storey stairs. We could not see her, but certainly her footsteps were loud and clear. Down the stairs she came and then back up the stairs.”
There is another spirit seen at the Jester’s Court. It is a man. Debbie has never encountered him, but a couple seated at table 15 did, one Saturday afternoon.
Debbie explained, “The couple at table 15 called me over. They said, ‘You know there’s a male ghost here.’ They continued on to describe him. ‘He looks like Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. He is quite handsome and has a handlebar mustache.’ One staff member has also seen him standing by the bookshelf in the dining area. They said he looks like Captain Highliner.”
Occasionally spirit activity occurs in the bar area. One of the spirits enjoys throwing glasses behind the bar. Just last month Debbie was the victim of a ghostly physical assault. “I was standing behind the bar, the wine rack was behind me and some other bottles of wine were standing on the counter near the rack. The bar area was full of customers at the time. Suddenly a full wine bottle flew off the shelf and struck me in the back and then crashed to the floor and shattered. The customers at the bar watched the whole thing happen in disbelief.”
Debbie continued with tales of ghostly activity, “Two chefs, the dishwasher and I had just closed the restaurant for the night. We had shut all the lights off and the radio. We all decided to go out on the back porch to have a cigarette before locking up. Just as we got outside all the lights came back on and the radio. Someone or something changed the radio station and turned the volume up, then down and back up again. At this point the dishwasher fled down the porch steps, tripped, and tumbled to the ground.”
Debbie’s relationship with the spirits in the building continues after all these years. She summed it up. “When I go upstairs I talk to them and within a couple of days, spirit phenomena will begin to happen in the restaurant.”
Occasionally the spirits are helpful to Debbie. For example, “I was walking upstairs with my arms full of paper towels and bathroom tissues. When I reached the washroom door someone opened the door for me.”
What do you think? Are these spirits from the hotel days? Some townspeople and restaurant employees believe the elderly woman is the first Mrs. Murray. What about the couple who dine at table 13 and are waited on by the grey-haired woman? Hotel guests? That is how it seems.
Perhaps we can peak in a window and catch sight of the shadows of yesterday and of others who have gone before and have a word before the curtains are pulled once again.
One thing is certain. We cannot assume that what we see is what everyone else can or does see.
The Inn at the Falls
~ Bracebridge ~
In medieval times the word “inn” meant a place of shelter, comfort, peace, and a refuge from outside elements. That meaning is the same today at places like Inn at the Falls in Bracebridge.
There is a woman who gazes out the front second-storey window in room 105 at Inn at the Falls. You might think she is a guest of this fine old Victorian inn that overlooks the tumbling falls and tranquil Muskoka River, but you would be mistaken. To some she seems a figment of their imagination, and to others she is as real as they are. She may appear at any time and any place on the property. Does she walk alone in her own peaceful world? Apparently not!
An early photograph of the Inn at the Falls unearthed by the author. The woman at the window is believed to be there still. The children may be the ones still heard playing in the corridors.
This inn is a place of tranquility, as a former guest so well expressed: “Words fail me in trying to describe the beautiful time I have had here at Inn at the Falls. It is truly one of the most healing places I’ve ever experienced … due partly to the sheer beauty and gentleness of the atmosphere, but also — and to an even greater degree — because of the wonderful people who work here.
“They are genuine, warm, open and caring people who make this house a happy and loving home. And there is something profoundly beautiful about their ministry.
“I arrived here feeling exhausted and drained and left feeling deeply refreshed after only three days. I thank you with all my heart for this place of shelter and peace. How I look forward to returning in the spring.”
Quite a testimonial! And notice that the visitor mentioned the word “healing.”
Located in the heart of Ontario’s “cottage country,” the Inn at the Falls has a congenial, small-town atmosphere with one of the prettiest views anywhere and it offers a fine selection of accommodation from the traditional to the contemporary.
This is a grand old structure with stone at the front, brick at the back, a large verandah overlooking the Bracebridge Falls and a flagpole on the turret that once flew the Union Jack. It was originally the private residence of John Adair, who sold it to William Cosby Mahaffy in 1877. Mahaffy was only 29 years old and was about to open a law practice in Bracebridge. In 1888 he was appointed the first District judge of Muskoka and Parry Sound.
Ships that steamed the Muskoka Lakes at that time docked just below the home. The original Mahaffy estate extended from present-day Dominion Street along the riverfront to Manitoba Street. Here the Mahaffys raised three sons, Darcy, George, and Montegue. The boys became part of the established business life of Bracebridge, which had just begun to blossom.
Originally called North Falls, Bracebridge was renamed in 1864 when the post office was opened. Some say Bracebridge got its name from Washington Irving’s novel Bracebridge Hall. Other theories connect it to Bracebridge in Lincolnshire, England. Regardless of its origin, this idyllic location on the Muskoka River, with its unlimited supply of water, was bound to grow.
Bracebridge was incorporated as a village in 1875 and by the 1880s had become a thriving centre for lumbering, manufacturing and the tourist trade, complete with two large tanneries, a grist mill, a woollen mill, a flour mill, and a sawmill. In 1887 the population rose to 1,600 and in 1889 Bracebridge became a town.