In 1989, the museum acknowledged the fact that unexplained activity was occurring in the building. They called in a medium to exorcise the spirits. According to Mary, “The medium went up to the fourth floor of the museum and said a spirit was indeed in the area. She then went down to the third floor to begin her work. In a trance-like state she soon communicated with the Native spirit who always appeared in the Native exhibit area. The medium said his name was Swift Eagle, a Native person who once lived out West. He had died a slow death in the forest after eating some poisonous plants. According to the medium he had arrived at the museum in order to accompany his clothing!”
For some reason Swift Eagle remained there with his clothing. Was it sacred to him? Mary described his outfit on display, “It was a long coat with fringes and pants. A hat was also part of this exhibit. It had feathers and lots of coloured beads on it. The medium then said a prayer and asked him to leave. She began to cry after this. That’s all I was told.”
Did the hauntings end after the exorcism? No. Swift Eagle was never seen again as far as we know, but what about the spirit Mary had seen in the folklore exhibit? Could there be more spirits roaming the exhibits?
Mary continued, “After the medium had left, we still heard stories of unexplained activity in the museum. I still have days when I feel awkward about entering some parts of the building. Since 1990, the security people have seen a shadow on the second floor and are often touched on the shoulder by an invisible hand.
“We have had some unexplained activity in the Mineral Gallery. It was during the construction of an exhibit that contained a radioactive machine; that we had some experiences. At that time the machine was blocked off from public use. I would be standing in front of the machine when the exhibit alarm would just go off. No one was there using the machine. We also had problems with the exit doors on this floor. The doors would shake or seem to move as if someone was pushing on them, when no one was there.”
We were nearing the end of our interview, but I sensed that Mary had something else to tell me. Call it a hunch or a gut feeling, but I knew there was another story about this museum. And so I asked her — and I was right!
Mary took me to the first floor on the east side of the building to show me something. As we entered the Dinosaur Hall I was immediately drawn to the exhibits. There in front of me were several dinosaurs looming over my head. Live plants are used to highlight the various settings in this gallery. Mary walked over to an open space at the far right-hand side of the hall. She looked at me and said, “I have seen a dark, black shadow on the floor in this area. I watched it travel across the floor in a wave-like motion. It was so eerie!”
I shivered just thinking about seeing this “shadow” travelling across the floor in front of me. This was certainly a different experience to have. But Mary wasn’t finished! “One time when the contractors were working in this area, a tall plant suddenly bent right over and then flipped back into an upright position on its own.” The interview was over but I’m sure strange occurrences in this museum are not.
I clearly saw, here, the existence of unseen powers. Swift Eagle had remained as a result of some connection to the sacred. Perhaps his headdress designated his status or his gifts and some energy around them needed to travel with him to the other side. We know very little about “personal medicine” and how and what goes with a soul to the other side.
As for the museum, we do know forms of spirit activity continue. What is really happening in the Mineral Gallery? Who pushes on the exit doors; who touches the security personnel on the second floor; what creates the shadow that moves across the room in the Dinosaur Hall?
The spirit activity continues, as I learned during a visit in 2007. Security guards now report seeing a dark cloaked figure on the fourth floor of the building.
The Canadian Museum of Nature is indeed a place of unseen power surrounding sacred natural objects and life forms that have been removed from their burial places and put on display. The very essence of evolution binds the living world to the spiritual world. What better place than a museum, to observe and experience both worlds.
Carleton Gaol
~ Ottawa (now the Ottawa Jail Hostel) ~
Out of the shower and into the change room … the clothes have vanished. In the hallway a sock appears, a shirt … pants … belt … underwear, scattered down the hall like stepping stones. Where is the watch!? The search begins in another room, or more accurately put, another cell. No longer ticking, the watch lies upside down on a cold, concrete floor. The searcher flees to his room. What on earth just took place? These are common occurrences for those who stay in the Ottawa Jail Hostel, once the Carleton County Gaol. Time stops on death row.
In this building, literally hundreds of lost souls wander the corridors, up and down the stairwells, occupying cells, remaining on death row, waiting, waiting, waiting. A noose was always hanging from the gallows, swinging like a pendulum, marking time. Each time it stopped, another unmarked grave was dug in the dusty courtyard. Reports written by the Inspector of Jails in the 1870s bear witness to the atrocities.
This eerie stairwell leads to the quarantine area where immigrants awaited their fate. Many souls welcomed death.
Children cried out. Women wept. Men prayed for their souls as the jailor turned the key. Darkness would blanket the lost and forsaken and smother their torment. A woman dragged into a secret passageway was assaulted. Her cries were muffled. She prayed for it to end. In total darkness naked people were sentenced to six months “in the hole,” spread-eagled and chained to a cold cell floor to die without seeing daylight again. What prompted such cruelty?
In 1862 the Carleton County Gaol opened as a maximum security holding facility. Many people were actually innocent victims: men, women, and children. Once incarcerated they were seldom allowed to shower, never given more than one meal a day, never saw daylight, and died in filthy, unlit quarters in the basement, known as the quarantine area. When they died their bodies were burned in the courtyard. Other victims were illegally hung inside the building, far from the view of any governing officials.
Prisoners had no space to move. Their cells had no plumbing or electricity.
Many people died here as a result of societal prejudice against the mentally ill and the poor, and methods of treatment that resulted from this prejudice. To declare a person insane was one such method. The fate of many unfortunate victims rested in the hands of jailors and inspectors of jails. In August 1876 Inspector Christie observed the following, “I found 58 prisoners in custody, 31 males and 27 females. Of the women, 25 were under sentence, one waiting trial and one, Mary McLoughlin, was insane. She appeared to be a fit subject for asylum treatment.”
A common example of punishment is recorded in Inspector J.W. Langmuir’s report dated September 24, 1877, “Reference has again to be made to the case of Margaret Dogherty, who, owing to outrageous conduct, has constantly to be kept under punishment, being at this time tied to the cell door. Although, properly speaking, the woman may not be insane, there can be no doubt she is a fit subject for an asylum. Sarah Jane Thomas has not yet been certified to be a lunatic and at the time of my visit appeared to be quite sane, although was evidently of weak intelligence.”
The Carleton County Gaol closed in 1972 because of lack of sanitation, poor lighting, and unsavoury conditions. In 1973 the building became the Ottawa International Hostel and it is now known as the Ottawa Jail Hostel. Portions of the interior were renovated to accommodate overnight guests but much of the jail remains as it was, including the cell blocks, the gallows, the hole, the stairwells, the secret tunnels, and death row.
Wade Kirkpatrick was the friendly Operations Manager of the hostel. Although Wade had never seen a ghost, he had experienced unexplained activity. “My wife, Crystal, and I