unlock the front door and then proceed to go down into the basement to switch on the lights. It was not unusual for Debbie to return upstairs only to discover that some lights had remained off. She may have gone through the ritual of going downstairs to turn the lights on and back upstairs three or four times before all the lights remained on. She often scolded the spirits about the lights. One night at closing time she went downstairs to turn the lights off for the night. When she arrived back upstairs the lights were all on. At that point she confronted the spirits, “If you want the lights on I’ll leave them on.” She shut the front door and headed home.
One of the most unusual stories Debbie related to me concerned a friend who refused to believe that this building was haunted. It was lunch time at the restaurant when Debbie sat down for dinner in front of the main floor fireplace with some of her friends. The skeptic asked Debbie if she could share her so-called ghost stories.
Debbie related some of her experiences to them. The skeptic said, “I still don’t believe that ghosts exist in this place.” At the moment the salt shaker flew off the table and landed right in front of him. He was astonished. Then a number of small framed prints on the wall by the table turned sideways. Debbie said, “Look at that!” Then the pictures moved back into an upright position. The friend was now convinced.
If the pictures on these walls could speak ... They do move, however, which was enough for one visiting skeptic to change his mind.
On yet another occasion, Debbie was having a discussion with a female customer by the north facing wall. Two elderly couples were seated nearby enjoying their dinner. The woman asked Debbie, “Do you have ghosts here?” Before Debbie could respond a picture on the wall near the elderly couples suddenly tilted sideways. The couple exclaimed, “They really are here!”
One Sunday night Debbie was serving the last couple in the dining room. They were seated at table 15. All that was left on the table were two wine glasses, a carafe, and two coffee cups. When the couple finished she escorted them to the front door. When she returned to tidy up, all the items were on table 16.
The pub area on the second floor was usually open at night. In May 1998 some security professionals from a nearby casino had decided to drop by for a drink there. They were seated at a table when the elderly woman appeared out of thin air and began to walk toward their table. Twice this happened. During the second visitation the men fled, shouting at Debbie, “She’s after us — the lady.”
“I’ll talk to her if you like,” Debbie replied.
They even left their drinks behind. This same group registered a complaint at the town office with regard to allowing a haunted business to operate in town.
Karen, who worked as a cook in the restaurant, has her fair share of stories to tell concerning the spirits. One night she turned the gas stoves and overhead hoods off and walked a few feet away when she heard the fans turn back on. She shouted to Debbie, “She’s turned the hoods back on.”
Debbie shouted, “Shut them off.” And the hood fans shut off. Karen and Debbie then turned their attention to filling the ketchup bottles and the kitchen fans went on again. They returned to the kitchen and found the fryers on as well. Debbie gave the spirits a lecture. “When you play with fire, you get burned. You could burn the place down. So you had better stop it now.”
One night Karen and Debbie were cleaning up the night dishes. Debbie was standing by the bar in the main room. Karen caught sight of something. “I thought I saw a shadow moving by the window. So I stood up and looked over and saw a woman wearing a long navy blue dress. She started to move into the central room and then disappeared right in front of me,” Karen said. That same night Debbie heard two people giggling and laughing in the kitchen, but she had had enough for one day and waited outside the building for her ride.
It was not unusual in this place of business to answer the phone and find no one was on the line; or to have heard the knocker on the front door go bang, bang, bang. One of the ghosts even enjoyed whistling and could be heard in the dining room. The music of choice is classical. Just ask anyone who works in the restaurant and they will attest to the fact that the radio sometimes changes to a classical station, apparently on its own.
Returning to The Jester’s Court years later I discovered that Deena Vallieres, who was working as the manager back in 1998 is now the owner of the restaurant. I was excited to discover that Debbie Burton, the waitress I had interviewed years ago, was still employed at the restaurant. I spoke with Debbie to see if she would grant me an interview. She agreed and added that she had quite a few new experiences to share.
The restaurant has been physically altered over the years. The small bar area on your left as you enter the building has been enlarged. The kitchen that was adjacent to the bar is now located in a new back wing of the structure. Some tables and chairs have been replaced with booths. Overall, the dining establishment has maintained its cozy and homey atmosphere. The restaurant specialties that continue to draw diners from far and wide are prime rib, slow roasted and served au jus with Yorkshire pudding and liver and onions, baby beef liver, pan-seared and served in red wine gravy with bacon and onions.
I met Debbie Burton on a Thursday evening. Still very animated and willing to share her stories, she immediately launched into a ghostly situation that occurred a few years ago when a film crew arrived in Port Perry to shoot Welcome to Mooseport, featuring Gene Hackman. Debbie told me, “It was Friday afternoon around 12:30 p.m. when three film crew members arrived for lunch. One man in the group was a short Scottish gentleman. During lunch the Scottish gent got up from the table and proceeded to go up the stairs to the washroom located on the second floor. A short time later I saw him come down the stairs. Suddenly he stopped. He was having a fit. He began to stammer and shake and I could see beads of perspiration on his bald head.
“I asked him, ‘Are you having a heart attack?’ He couldn’t talk. Then he pointed up and muttered, ‘Ghost Lady upstairs.’
“I said to him, ‘relax, this spirit likes you.’ Then I proceeded to give him a brandy to calm his nerves.
“Then he told me that he was upstairs in the washroom, washing his hands, when he looked in the mirror and an elderly female spirit was looking back at him. She was laughing at him.
“The Scotsman and his companions did manage to eat their lunch; but the group were not filming that afternoon and decided to go to the casino on Scugog Island after lunch.”
Guess who went with them?
Debbie added, “I knew our female spirit had gone with them.
“A few hours later the film crew returned. The Scottish man had won three jackpots! He had this huge roll of money. I knew his good luck was a result of our kind female spirit. Then he said to me. ‘I just wanted to come back and thank her (the female ghost) for my good luck.’
“So he went back upstairs to the washroom to say his thanks. He also gave me a generous tip,” stated Debbie.
More people have reported seeing the spirit of a little girl in the restaurant. Often children who visit the establishment see her standing on the staircase landing that leads to the second floor. Debbie never saw her, not until the year 2000.
That night Debbie and some other staff members were alone in the bar area at closing time. One of the staff had Debbie’s digital camera and decided to take a photograph of the group.
At home later that night Debbie and her husband, who is the chef at the Jester’s Court, decided to take a closer look at the group picture that had been taken earlier.
Debbie described what happened next, “There we were looking at the photograph. We couldn’t believe it. There was the little girl spirit in the corner of the photograph. I was astounded. She was wearing a white Victorian night gown. She had blond hair with bangs. She also had a large piggy turned up nose with deep set eyes and full cheeks.”
Debbie explained what happened to the photograph. “We had a friend who owned a good graphic computer and quality