It turns out Ontario has lots of ghost towns. The Wikipedia list is extensive, organized alphabetically. Most of these abandoned towns relate to railways and mining. Lots are located in the north part of the province.
When our family had the cottage near Parry Sound, we visited Depot Harbour nearby to see the railway ruins. When it was a thriving town, it had over 100 houses, grain elevators, docks, a railway station, a hotel and shops. It was the reconstruction of the Welland Canal in 1932 and other events such as the Great Depression that led to the closure of the facilities. There was a fire in 1945 that set off explosives being stored there and the facilities were destroyed. Then the Anishinaabe reclaimed the expropriated lands in 1987 and a fish farm is there now.
I thought I would find something nearby in Niagara. Here it is - more a ghost site than a ghost town. It is the Screaming Tunnel in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I don't know anything about this. The tunnel was created in the early 1900s as a drainage passage to keep railway tracks from being lost beneath flood waters. Local farmers used it as a convenient path to avoid the oncoming trains overhead. The tunnel, 125 feet long, is located off of Garner Road and is rumoured to lead to a farmhouse that burned down in the early 1900s. According to legend, a young girl trying to escape the blaze ran out of her house and into the tunnel where she was screaming as a train passed overhead. She died in the tunnel. If a person enters the tunnel and lights a match, and the match is blown out, you are supposed to be able to hear the girl scream. This tunnel leads to the Bruce Trail, so is probably visited a fair amount.
And there's another Niagara tunnel - the Blue Ghost Tunnel - in St. Catharines. it is located on Seaway Haulage Road in Thorold. It runs under the original Welland Canada for over 500 feet. It is not as accessible or as safe, and is part of the Welland Canal property.
Who would guess that Ontario has so many ghost towns and that there are "ghost" sites nearby in Niagara. |