Cornwall, Ontario, Canada - July 11, 2007 - Candy Pollard isn't convinced the Cornwall Jail is haunted, but a few hair-raising occurrences have given her reason to wonder.
The first episode came shortly before the 174-year-old jail re-opened as a tourist attraction in 2004. Pollard was in the midst of locking up some of the cell areas at day's end when she suddenly heard someone humming. It was the voice of a male, Pollard vividly recalls.
"It was like an old '70s tune, like Sly and the Family Stone, 'I Want to Take You Higher'," she said.
Pollard immediately pointed the finger at Mike Lalonde - a colleague who also works in the jail - but he wasn't around. In fact, no one was. "At that point, I just high-tailed it out of there," Pollard said.
Pollard's next episode came courtesy of the Ottawa Haunting and Paranormal Group (OHPG) while they conducted an overnight paranormal investigation of the jail in 2005. She looked through a night-vision camera in one of the cells and saw tiny orbs, believed by some to be a sure-fire sign of paranormal activity.
"It was two in the morning and I was standing outside (the jail) because I felt safer out there," she recalls. "That was when I said 'wait a minute.'"
The orbs were just the tip of the iceberg for the OHPG. During their overnight investigation, group members reportedly saw a "dark figure" in the basement and heard the sounds of footsteps, slamming doors and chairs being dragged across the floor. The use of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) - a process of recording sounds in search of paranormal activity - in the jail uncovered the sound of a child and woman.
"There is no doubt some sort of paranormal entity exists in the Cornwall jail," reads the group's report on the investigation. "It is certain that there is at least one child and one female spirit or ghost whom still resides in the jail. It is also relatively certain that there is more than one entity residing in the jail. In addition, it is almost, but not completely certain, that these spirits or ghosts are that of past inmates."
The group believes the spirits and ghosts that occupy the jail are harmless because none of its members felt any danger.
"If these are spirits, they most likely just want their presence to be known and respected. If it is a ghost, well, then we only know of their presence because of their habitual nature, and they are completely oblivious to our presence," reads the report.
Lalonde remains a non-believer. However, he can see why others might be a bit skeptical. The jail has been the site of numerous suicides, murders and hangings.
"If there are ghosts, they've got to be here," Lalonde said.
Interest in the jail's darker side doesn't seem to be dying. The OHPG is looking at returning just before Halloween, and jail officials are looking at hosting some type of event where members of the public could join the group in the jail and use some of their ghost-hunting equipment first-hand. A paranormal group from New York City has also expressed an interest.
Haunted Cornwall Jail
