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86 Mysterious Monster of Lake Erie

The Mysterious Monster Haunted Niagara kicked off their shoes into one big pile on the
floor," said Penman. "The next morning, they
of Lake Erie woke up to all of their shoes in a straight line
Niagara This Week neatly organized by size."

Penman's daughter Stephanie said she
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The Niagara Region may be widely known for used to work at the reception desk of the inn and
its fresh produce and increasingly popular would often get notes from guests in the middle
wines, but what most people don't know is that of the night saying that they had to leave
Even more spectacular was a spate of reports
the Niagara Region may be one of the most because their faucets had been turned on and the
from 2001 in which numerous swimmers came
haunted areas in Canada. water would not stop running, or the handles of
forward claiming to have been actually attacked For starters, there are two forts in the doors kept falling off.
by Bessie while swimming near the Port Dover Niagara, Fort Erie and Fort George where Savoie notes in his book that although
pump house, often with large bite marks on their
countless numbers of soldiers fell during battles Niagara Falls is home to a lot of legends, none is
legs and bodies to prove it. The bites were
with the U.S. more popular than the Screaming Tunnel.
explained away as those of other known fishes
In fact, Fort Erie has even been singled The tunnel, located off of Garner Road,
or exotic species such as the bowfin and even
out as one of the most haunted places in Canada, runs under railway tracks and is rumoured to
snapping turtles, but there were many who
says Peter Martin, manager of the Fort. lead to a farmhouse that burned down in the
insisted that they had been victims of none other
Martin said he may not have seen early 1900s. According to legend, a young girl
than Bessie.
anything unusual with his eyes, but he has heard trying to escape the blaze ran out of her house
The mystery of the Lake Erie monster strange things with his ears. and into the tunnel where she was screaming as
has never been satisfactorily explained, although "You hear the bump and the creak in the a train passed overhead. She died in the tunnel.
there have been many efforts to come up with a
night," said Martin. "You tell your brain that it's If a person enters the tunnel and lights a
rational explanation. On is that these are simply
just the wind." match, and the match is blown out, you are
misidentifications of very large lake sturgeon
In 1814, Americans captured the fort and supposed to be able to hear the girl scream.
(Acipenser fulvescens), which can get up to 7
used it as a supply base. Months later the British The Welland Museum on King Street has
feet or more in length and several hundred
launched an attack to reclaim the fort, but the had its fair share of hauntings. Nora Reid, of the
pounds. Lake Erie was once teeming with these
Americans were ready and the British suffered museum, said that before they moved into the
sturgeon, although they were nearly fished out at
more than 1,000 fatalities. building in 2006, the building, which was the
one point. It seems possible that the fish’s Martin said that at least one person a town's library previously, was never haunted.
prehistoric appearance could startle some year who comes to take the tour of the fort gets "We think the ghost came with the
people, but it is nowhere near the reported sizes
a picture with an orb in it. artifacts, not the building," said Reid.
for Bessie. Another idea is that this is simply an
"The most haunted places are cemeteries Reid said there has been some very
urban legend that has been played up on to bring
because cemeteries and ghosts go hand in hand," unexplainable things.
tourists in, but how does this explain sightings
said Martin. "And places where a lot of people "I've had a voice speak to me," said Reid.
going back hundreds of years? Could this be
have died. Here, we have both." "A soft male voice that says, 'Hello'."
something else altogether, perhaps some new
At the north end of Niagara, Fort George As well there has been cases of things
species or surviving dinosaur? There are no
was completed in 1802 and was destroyed by flying off the walls, like a board in the art room
answers in sight, and for now it might just be a artillery fire and captured by the Americans in and a music sheet off the piano. Staff say that it's
good idea to keep your eyes peeled if you ever 1813. It's reported that the officers' quarters is as if these things are flung because they are too
find yourself looking out over the waters of
known for the ghost of a young woman with far away from where they had been placed.
Lake Erie.[]
long, curly hair viewed in an original silver "Some things happen that are just
backed, framed mirror from the 1790s. unexplainable," said Reid. []
Also in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Angel's
Inn is rumoured to be littered with all kinds of
spirits. Nancy Penman recalls a story that guests
told her of their first visit to the inn where an
unseen presence chose to tidy up their room.
"A family had gone sightseeing all day
long and when they returned to the inn, they