A Brief History Of Oak Hill
*Oak Hill was originally built in 1820 and re constructed in 1858 following a terrible fire in which arson was suspected. This grand structure was originally home to
William Hamilton Merritt, builder of the first Welland Canal and War of 1812 hero. Hence the nickname Merritt House in recent times. Over the years the house has been an inn, a convalescent hospital, a rooming house and
finally, a radio station.
And yes....it is notoriously 'haunted'......
Our Investigation
Jan. 21st 2001
Para-Researchers Of Ontario members Lisa, Sue and Krys were invited to participate
in a joint investigation of Oak Hill with the Toronto Ghosts And Hauntings Research Society and a ghost-related segment on a CKTB radio show. Arriving at the house/radio station at approx. 8pm we took a brief tour of the four
level building and set-up our recording devices in different locations. We then split up into teams of two to cover the various areas of this large and historical structure both before and after our portion of the radio
broadcast.
Strange occurrences include:
- One of our members experienced extreme vertigo on the main staircase. She was fine on all other sets of stairs including those leading to the attic, which were far more
smaller and steeper. Unbeknownst to our member at the time a person with some psychic abilities who was a guest on the previous evening's radio show had in fact stated that there were "entities" located on the main
staircase and were purposefully blocking people's movements.
- The same member whilst unknowingly alone on the top two floors of the building clearly heard a female voice in close proximity whisper the word
"yesssss." She answered believing that it was her colleague whom had returned to the main lobby area to retrieve a forgotten flashlight. When no return reply was forthcoming she did a check of her surroundings only to
come to the startling realization that she was quite alone. Proceeding towards the top of the main staircase in order to rejoin the group and to report her strange experience, she again experienced extreme vertigo and remained
upstairs quite shaken until the others joined her.
- Another member experienced large black shapes and movements out of the corner of her eye in the boardroom/original master bedroom.
- Some members of the TGHRS
witnessed a colourful 'light' display while also in the boardroom. When one of our members attempted to move closer to the 'light' show she experienced a bone chilling cold draft - "similar to standing directly in front of
an air conditioning unit in the middle of winter." Please note that this particular room was always slightly cooler in temperature, but a check of the windows proved that each was tightly and very recently sealed allowing
for no drafts. This "cold spot" was also perceived to move to various locations in the room before completely dissipating.
- Videotape shows balls of 'light' darting around both the attic and boardroom areas
(these could very well be dust particles caught in the range of our light source). As well as what appears to be a door swinging open where no door exists!
- Photos yielded only one possible anomaly - view video stills & photos by clicking here.
- Audio tapes captured two possible anomalies. One an EVP of a feminine voice saying "Shut up Matthew, Shut Up!" This came directly after a statement made
by Matthew Didier (founder TGHRS) to five others standing directly outside of the boardroom and leads to speculation that this was the result of a 'being' or 'entity' that perhaps is conscious of it's surroundings and time
period. Another possible explanation is an imprinting on the tape by one of the six people immediately outside of the room via PSI. Either speculative hypotheses is highly intriguing!
This EVP was recorded at a time when
we can verify by use of camcorder that the boardroom was completely empty! The camcorder clearly picked up the conversation being held by the six investigators outside of the room, but did not record the EVP. The only one of
it's kind that we are aware of. It is by far the most superior of all EVP captures at this location by both organizations involved and very unique indeed. As a direct result we at Pararesearchers always utilize a secondary
recording device when attempting EVP captures.
Click here to download or listen to the "Shut up Matthew, Shut Up!" EVP in mp3 format.
The second anomaly is a recording of a series of eight 'humanish' sounding
moans. While very strange, we are unable to verify that no one was on the upper floors (where activity seemed to be contained on that particular evening) at the time of the recording. Therefore while it has has received some
attention and radio air play most recently (2005) on CFRB 1010 am we do not include it on this website.
At this time we can offer no proven 'natural' or 'supernatural' explanations for the above occurrences,
although some may certainly exist. It is in our opinion that further investigation of this building is warranted and needed.
For an
indepth look at the Toronto Ghosts And Hauntings Research Society's other investigations regarding Oak Hill/Merritt House please click here.
* Source:
Toronto Ghosts And Hauntings Research Society
www.torontoghosts.org
