Humber Lakeshore, Building 25 (Bldg I)

This week's photo is of Building 25 (aka the I building) at the Humber Lakeshore. We visited this location recently, and found it to be of great interest. We actually may have caught something on camera at this location, and we are still reviewing the pictures taken to confirm if it indeed is something worthy of note.

We were wandering around the campus recently (on the outside, we don't go into buildings on private property unless expressly invited or given permission, or if permission is implied, such as a tourist attraction). We stopped at this building and found something of interest on the several hundred pictures we snapped on one window.

We took four pictures, which we will post shortly, that had the following:

Picture 1 - Nothing.
Picture 2 - Nothing, but a small yellow blur was observed.
Picture 3 - A small yellow blotch was observed in the middle of the picture
Picture 4 - Nothing.

Every picture was taken 1/4th of a second apart from each other using a Sony DSC-40 Digital Camera, 400 ISO, Ultra-Fine resolution, Burst Shot Mode.

The odd thing about this was that we were the only people in the area at the time of the photo being taken, there were no trucks, vehicles or other persons about and the building was completely locked up tight, with ominous warning signs to "keep out" due to hazardous conditions, with a big padlock on it.

Could this be something we caught on camera? Perhaps. We did notice however, that some of our other electronic equipment started to act up just shortly afterwards - for example our digital voice recorder locked up on us and we couldn't unlock it.

This definitely is a place that needs more reviewing. We will be returning at a later date for further investigation.

Equipment for Seeking Ghosts

Someone asked me the other day what type of equipment do we use to find the Ghosts that we talk about on our site.

We use standard everyday equipment: compass, videocamera, digital camera, voice recorder, and our eyes. Shortly we'll be expanding our equipment with more high tech goodies. One major thing that we like to do prior to visiting, is to learn as much about the site as possible.

For example, we have a site we like to visit, The Mimico Asylum for the Insane (now closed, and operating as a Humber College location). We'll read up on it as much as we can before going, so that we know where to find the ghosts or where to go where there have been recent sightings.

That said, we can't exactly trapse into this location. Humber College, it's been said, has not been very inviting to people looking for ghosts on their property and won't give people access to their buildings to look. We don't encourage breaking any laws to do this, so we prefer to stay on the outside of the building and doing our research from there. Not exactly the best place to do it, but we have had some success in locating some unsuual activities. So far we haven't had any problems with the Security there, and we don't want any either...so we do everything in the open so that if a camera sees us, they (Security) can see us and realise that we're not up to anything unusual.

Now, if you want to see the insides of this building, you can check this link here. There's only a couple here. The people that took these are called "Urban Explorers". Check out their site for more details.

Finally, it appears that the Whitby Psychiatric Hospital (old grounds) have finally been demolished with the exception of a couple of buildings. Take a look here for photos from the old hospital which was said to have been haunted by several spirits.

We never got a chance to investigate this location, however, after speaking with locals in the area, they have said that that place had more ghosts than you could shake a stick at. The UE site by far, has the best collection of pictures and documentation about the old buildings. There's no point in visiting this site - houses have been built on top of the old buildings now.

Cawthra Park, Round 2

We went for a visit to Cawthra Park again this weekend. We managed to actually get in behind the house, as there were no lawn parties, catillions or other festive events taking place - even the taxi school wasn't there!

We went around the back and started to look around. We didn't see very much. It's rumoured that the area behind the house where the renovations were made is where all the activity is. The only thing that we found remotely close to any spirits, was the tombstone for the dog that belonged to the Cawthra family. (You can find it on the rear side, west end. Be careful to not step on it).

Overall, I think we're going to not hit this place as much. The Humber Lakeshore Campus is way creepier and as far as we're aware, has more sightings than this place does. It's nice to come to Cawthra House for a visit, but don't expect to be entertained.

Another Weekend, Another Trip

It's a beautiful sunny weekend in the GTA, which means it's time for another road trip. Today we'll be in the Toronto area looking at a few places that have had some hauntings. We're just about to head out the door, and we'll have an update posted at some point this weekend.

Cawthra Estate - Mississauga

We've visited this place a couple of times, and to be honest, it doesn't really strike us as a place where unusual activity would take place on a regular basis. The two times we've been there, we've been thwarted by garden parties taking place, and have been "confined" to the front of the building, and not the rear, where the supposed activities are taking place. Perhaps in the next couple of visits, we'll be able to get around to the rear and investigate.

Our equipment did tend to go a little haywire both here and at the Lakeshore Humber Campus (below). Our voice recorder stopped working and our cameras lost a few pictures. Ghostly activity? Perhaps, but we cannot be sure. Oddly enough, they both worked perfectly fine in the car once we left the lots.

According to the City of Mississauga Website, the Cawthra Estate was built back in 1926. The website goes on to state: "This elegant house was once home to Grace Cawthra Elliot. Grace was a strong willed individual whose desire to preserve her strong family heritage led her to insist that her husband, Col. Harry McIntyre Elliot add the name Cawthra to his own. Her pride also led to the construction, in 1926, of "Cawthra Lotten Estate". The word "Lotten" is a reference to Lot #10. The Georgian-styled house was designed to reflect the Cawthra's British background. When Grace died in 1974, at the age of 96, she was without heirs and a will. The City of Mississauga purchased the Cawthra Elliot Estate and in 1992 completed a rehabilitation of the house."

Humber College, Lakeshore Campus

There has been plenty of discussion out there about the spirits that haunt the former Mimico Asylum for the Insane, which is now the Lakeshore Campus of Humber College. You may remember it more easily as the location for the Police Academy Series.

There has been many attempts by different groups to actually get into the old non-refurbished cottages, with no luck. From what we understand from others who have attempted to gain access, the College won't allow any access. Of course, this has not stopped "Urban Explorers" who have managed to gain access to the cottages still under construction.

We went for a visit recently to the cottages, which used to house patients in the when it was an asylum. It's said that there are many different spirits that still haunt the buildings. We took pictures of the buildings at about one-fourth of a second apart, and found nothing of true excitement, with the exception of one or two pictures which we are still analysing as a possible sighting. Pictures will be posted shortly, once we have analysed them a little more in detail.

One of the buildings that really gave us the creeps was this building:

There was something about this building that kept drawing me back to taking more pictures of it. I ended up taking about 200 pictures of it on different angles. It certainly gave me the creeps as I was so engrossed with it, that, and it felt as if someone was watching me, and it wasn't our team of ghost-hunters either. The hair on the back of my neck kept standing up when I walked around this building. There was just something about it. It doesn't appear that we have caught anything on digital film on this building, this time, but there was definitely something there watching us.

We moved on to one of the other cottages, and didn't really get the same 'feel' that was eminating from the building above.

If you don't believe that this place is as creepy as we're posting, maybe check out the entry belonging to the ParaResearchers of Ontario on the former hospital grounds.

There was another great website, called the Lakeshore Hospital Project, which seems to have gone offline. We can only hope it comes back online - it was a great resource.