Ghosts Of The Old Beaver Bar

The Ghost Of The Ol’ Beaver Bar

Footsteps in the night;
A knock and no-one there
  Cupboard doors opening
Items vanishing from sight.
  I live everyday
With a mischievous friend
  From an era lately past.
  It bothers me not
That he is here
  So long as he lets me sleep.
  Just don’t wake me up
And don’t take my pen
  And we’ll get along just fine;
This lonely poet in his tiny room
  And the ghost of the ol’ beaver bar.

Dean
01-10-05

I wrote this poem shortly after I moved into my tiny little apartment on the second floor of the old Beaver Bar in Sault Ste. Marie, On., Canada. Almost four years later I still live in that same apartment. Yes, the ghosts are still here as well. Sometimes they are quiet, sometimes they let me know they are here. It’s a little strange, living with ghosts, especially these ones. There seems to be a few of them hanging around. I have run into several different types of phenomena including ghostly figures and poltergeists.

I should, maybe, back up a little. I was married from 1990 to 2002. In 2002, after I had separated from my wife, I met a wonderful lady on the internet. As soon as I saw her I fell in love And, it seems, it was mutual. Now, this lady I met, Her name is Cindy, she picks up on everything.  Before I met Cindy, before I got divorced, I had experience with haunting. But, that is another story. 

  After my wife and I split and I met Cindy I became more interested in the subject of ghosts and the paranormal, so, I read up a bit on it, In fact, I read everything I could get my hands on as well as watching programs on tv.  Well, once we actually met in person and got to know one another I moved from where I was up to Sault Ste. Marie to be near her. It hasn’t been easy. Employment opportunities in the north are slim, but I have managed. When I first started seeing Cindy she was living at her brother’s. About a year later she moved into the Soo and started living with her eldest daughter, Michelle. Now, Michelle’s house is quite active. So, when we were staying there, we would hear footsteps, people talking, I heard chanting once. Cindy felt the energy as soon as she moved there, but it was strong enough where I, not a sensitive, was picking it up as well. A little while after that Cindy got her own place. A lovely new townhouse. I stress new, no ghosts, although she still gets a visit now and then from a departed family member. Oh, I should explain here. Cindy is American, I am Canadian. So, she is in Sault Ste. Marie, Mi. and I spend the weekends over there, but I am in Sault Ste. Marie, On. That’s where we come to my apartment.

I moved in at the beginning of October 2004. The biggest selling point was that it was cheap. The building was built in 1924, so it is old, run down and kind of sad looking. When I first moved in I had nothing. And I mean nothing. Cindy gave me a tv and vcr so I would have something to watch. She gave me bedding and pillows and dishes. Well, she gave me pretty much everything I needed. I did have my books, I couldn’t be without them. When I moved in I was contented. I had a place of my own. A place I could decorate in my style. I don’t have much style, but I have Cindy to help with that. As I said, the place is kind of run down. The electrical system is old and tends to go out. If I turn on my microwave oven and television and the old fellow next door has something running we pop the breaker. Its old and its cheap, but it has its own character.

I found out how much character one day when I was off work and not at Cindy’s. I was laying down, just catching a catnap. I awoke suddenly from my nap and was startled to find a man standing on my bed, looking down at me. He was dressed in dark clothing and had a pale face. When I blinked he disappeared. That was strange enough, but at night I hear cupboard doors opening and closing, people walking up and down the hall. I hear someone trying my door, rattling the knob. One night, when we were voicing on messenger, Cindy heard a woman’s laughter echoing through my microphone and I was alone. Another time, I heard a child crying right beside me.

  Things go missing all the time. One morning I was sitting at the computer. I got a cigarette out of my pack and reached for my lighter and it wasn’t there. I am almost anal about keeping my lighter with my cigarettes, ask Cindy, I drive her nuts about putting my lighter back when she uses it. I looked for it, but couldn’t find it by the time I left for work. When I got home from work that evening there was my lighter, sitting right where I always put it when I’m at the computer. I had a diamond stud earring that Cindy had given me. In November of 2004, just after I moved in, I lost it. I tore my apartment apart looking for that earring and finally gave up, thinking I had either lost it at work or on the way to work. Well, in April 2006 I was on the computer, talking to Cindy on messenger and I stood up to get something and caught a flash of light from the floor under my window. I reached down and, lo and behold, it was the diamond stud I had lost almost a year and a half before. I had just moved my desk over to that window. I was on my back under there, hooking everything up. That diamond earring was not there.

The spirits in my place loved to play with electronics as well. They are forever playing with my computer, coming over the speakers. They turn lights on and off. One night, just recently, my monitor on my computer quit working. I had to restart the computer after receiving some updates. When it rebooted the monitor was on, but black, no picture. I tried adjusting the settings, everything. So, when I couldn’t get it to work I shut off the computer. The computer had been on all day and I thought, maybe, the monitor was too warm. So, I took a nap. At 7:15 that night my alarm clock went off. It was set to that irritating beeping sound. So, I rolled over to check it and it was still set to the time I normally have it set for (6:30 am). Also, it was still set to radio. Yet off it goes at 7:15 pm, beeping away. So, I got up. I read, called Cindy, watched tv and checked on my monitor now and then; still nothing. I finally gave up on the day and went to bed. When I got up the next morning, at 6:30 am, when the radio on my alarm clock went off, I turned on my computer and, with a few adjustments, the monitor worked just fine. Cindy didn’t believe me, I don’t blame her, until I called just before I left for work to tell her my watch had stopped as well. It had been working fine the night before when I took it off to go to bed, but had stopped at 6:30:05; five seconds after my alarm went off. This was on Monday night, Tuesday morning. Friday of that same week I came home from work and my internet service was down. I gave up for that week and, even though I had to work Saturday, went to Cindy’s.

  I sort of saved the best for last. One night in early April 2006, after I had found my diamond stud, but before my computer started acting up, Cindy came over to spend the night. We were in the bedroom, watching tv. The lights in the kitchen and bedroom were off, we had just the glow from the television and the street lights to see by. Cindy got up, went through the kitchen to the bathroom. On her way back she saw someone she assumed was me crossing the kitchen. She stepped aside to let “me” pass and a ghost passed right in front of her. I heard her make a startled sound and then curse and when she came into the bedroom she was covered in goose flesh. It scared her silly and she’s a sensitive! Oh, and one other night, I was sleeping and got up to go to the washroom. It was around 3:00 am, so it was quite dark inside my apartment, but there was light shining through both my kitchen and bedroom windows. I went and used the washroom. When I turned around and started back to my bedroom I heard tapping directly behind me. Four distinct taps on the bathroom sink; it makes a distinct sound when tapped with a finger. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I broke out in goose flesh all over my body. My instinct told me not to turn around, so I didn’t. As I came up to the doorway to the bedroom the closet directly in front of me was pitch black. Now, normally, the street lights outside would shed enough light for me to make out the clothes hanging there, but not this night. That closet was black as the ace of spades. I moved cautiously to the bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. I will say I had a hard time getting back to sleep that night.

Now, everything I have written here is true. I know it seems far-fetched, a little outrageous, but it is true. I was never much of a believer in the paranormal or ghosts. Not, that is, until I moved into that first house with my ex-wife. Since then I just cannot deny the existence of ghosts and spirits. There’s just too much evidence that they are real. Of course, there will always be nay-Sayers who refuse to believe; logical thinking, rational people who will try to come up with a reasonable explanation, only to find that there are some things that there is no explanation for. Then too, there are also quite a few hucksters and con artists who, for one reason or another, will make up stories about the paranormal. But I assure you, that every word I have written here is true. I have a good, sound, logical mind. I can’t explain the phenomena, other than to say it is Para, or beyond, normal. There are things in this world that just cannot be labeled and put into a certain category. So, to all the skeptics I say, respectfully, you are wrong and you should open your mind to the reality of it. To those of you who do believe; happy ghost hunting.

Dean Drouillard
Sault Ste Marie, On