Lifting the veil on the Sault’s ghost stories

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This article discusses social anecdotes about Sault Ste. Marie’s haunting story, sharing first-hand accounts and local perspectives. The supernatural claims mentioned here have not been verified and are provided for entertainment purposes. For those looking to dive deeper, Sault Ste. The Marie Museum’s Facebook group, Haunted Histories of The Sault, is an ongoing site where you can share and read about ghost stories and local legends.

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From empty figurines to centuries-old cemeteries, Sault Ste. Marie is full of stories that blur the line between past and present. As Halloween approaches, tales of local tradition and the Roman Catholic Church’s ongoing practice of exorcism can set the stage for some amazing fall nights.

And for those who are hesitant to believe in ghosts, one chilling encounter is enough to make them reconsider.

Conversations with priests, psychics and locals suggest that Sault Ste. Marie fosters an openness to acknowledging amazing events – that is, if they even exist.

The Rev. Michael Hayes of St. Mary’s Catholic Church shed light on some dark corners that every “well-educated” Catholic should know about. Any type of spiritual reality in a place or associated with an object, he said, is usually one of two things.

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“First of all… it would be an evil spirit, a fallen angel, a demon – whatever you want to call it,” he told The Sault Star over the phone. He explained that an evil spirit can “dwell” in a place or object and anyone who comes into contact with a “haunted” thing or place can be “infected” by it.

“So here you often see strange things happening in people’s homes, things moving and things like that. Or it can often be even more sinister,” Hayes said.

“Any time someone opens the door to evil, this can happen,” he said.

In one disturbing incident on Paranormal Survivor (Season 2, Episode 3), Sault Ste. Marie, a psychologist, described a chilling account of a Ouija board that supposedly released night figures from the shadows in her home, ghosts “dueling” on her lawn, and her friend speaking in tongues and moving involuntarily.

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Although she asked to remain anonymous, she told The Sault Star it was one of the scariest experiences of her life. She left the group when her child started showing signs of possession and hasn’t spoken to her friends since, she says.

But not all encounters with the invisible world are so dark.

Hayes emphasized the Catholic concept of “purgatory” as a second possible explanation for spirits residing on Earth. Most souls going to heaven, he said, undergo a purification process, or “purgatory,” to free them from lingering attachment to sin.

This state of limbo may explain why some spirits are said to occupy certain places after their earthly lives end.

“Someone may encounter what appears to be a spirit or may appear to be another person, but it is for the purpose of asking that person for prayers,” Hayes says. “So it’s absolutely not sinister, it’s a very good and beautiful thing.”

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One such place that is said to be a haven for ghosts is the Algonquin Hotel, built in 1888. Local lore suggests that a young man who supposedly died in a fire on the third floor may still wander the building, mostly in the basement, and occasionally appear on the top floor – perhaps never having actually “checked out.”

Pilar Fiser has worked at Algonquin since 2009 and has always wondered about the stories and secrets hidden within the walls of the 140-year-old building.

She recounted an unexplained incident that occurred while the bar was closed due to Covid-19. Around 3 a.m., an alarm went off that was only supposed to go off when something important activated it. Upon checking, she found that all doors to the bar were securely closed and no one was inside, prompting her to review surveillance footage.

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The video shows something white moving back and forth across the bar. “It was like – I don’t know how to describe it – almost like a sinkhole,” Fiser said. “It was nothing from outside, no light coming in through the windows.”

Although the “ghost” has not returned since then, Fiser said there is “a presence felt” in the hotel’s basement.

“Whatever it is, it has to be something good,” Fiser said. – Maybe some lost soul, whatever you call it.

He speculates that the ghost may like Algonquin so much that he decided to stay. “I once prayed: If you are here, you must reach the light, you must go – somewhere – wherever it is, into the universe.”

Close to the Algonquin Hotel is the former Windsor Park Hotel on Queen Street, which is now a retirement home and has a rich history. The original hotel, which opened in 1895, even hosted Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip during their 1959 visit to Canada.

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Despite its “infamous” haunted house reputation, the current owners of the Windsor Place retirement home don’t know of anything eerie within their walls.

In fact, the couple lives on the second floor, where they allegedly “killed a young woman whose spirit never left,” according to an account gathered by Sault Ste. Mary’s Museum.

Apparently, decades ago, it was common knowledge that the second and fourth floors were home to two different ghosts, and the hotel had difficulty renting out rooms on those floors, although only a few online accounts support this view.

One of the security guards posted to Windsor Park in 2015, when the building served as a residence for Algoma University, felt a strange presence watching them on the fifth floor. “And on CCTV cameras I even caught the flash of a fast-moving light bulb,” we read in an anonymous report.

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Perhaps after several changing of the guard and renovations, these ghosts got out on their own.

The current owners found it quite amusing that The Sault Star wanted to investigate.

Some accounts provided by the museum describe footsteps and voices heard on the grounds of the Cathedral of the Most Holy Blood, the oldest church in the city, built since 1875.

According to Sault Ste Urban Heritage Commission binder. Marythere was also a cemetery in this place, which was the first Catholic cemetery in the area, as well as a wooden chapel, which was built in this area in 1846.

The Rev. Jeff Shannon, who served as a priest at the Cathedral of the Precious Blood for two years, cleared up any misconceptions about the site: “There are no additional spirits or anything in this area,” he said. “Given that I’m new, I haven’t had much exposure to it on a personal level.”

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He said that when these types of stories are shared, sometimes a deeper psychological response emerges that can explain what’s going on.

Similarly, the Rev. Daniele Muscolino, director of communications for Sault Ste. Marie and the priest of two North Bay churches also cited mental health in whether the priest would conduct an exorcist.

Correct. The Catholic Church performs exorcisms, and if you’ve ever been baptized, you’ve received a “minor exorcism,” Muscolino says.

“Yes, one of the rituals of the Catholic Church is the ritual of exorcism, which is used in circumstances where someone needs protection or deliverance from the power or influence of evil, or even demonic possession,” Muscolino wrote in an email to The Sault Star. “There are certain levels of use of exorcism, for example everyone receives a small exorcism on the day of baptism to protect them from evil in life. Another use is one that people are more familiar with from Hollywood dramas, called master exorcism, in which those possessed by demons are liberated. These are very rare cases.

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“Not everyone who requests an exorcism obtains it, because the Church has the obligation to determine with moral certainty whether an exorcism is required at all. This process includes input and recommendations from medical professionals, mental health experts and counselors, as well as spiritual advisors such as a priest or bishop.

“While we do not keep records of reported hauntings in the community, it is not uncommon for people to ask a Catholic priest, whether they are Catholic themselves or not, to come and bless their home. This may simply be because people want their home to be blessed with God’s presence, but it may also be because they have experienced strange events in their home and found comfort in the fact that their home was blessed and protected. In fact, I encourage people to contact a Catholic priest to have their homes blessed,” Muscolino wrote.

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As Halloween approaches, so does All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, which fall on November 1 and 2, respectively. While the Catholic Church does not justify the specific “thinning of the veil,” it does use this time to honor and pray for “saints” and “souls” who are no longer on earth.

“While matters related to the supernatural always attract most people’s attention – especially around Halloween – as Catholics we like to focus year-round on the great and immense power of the supernatural world – the things that belong to God and the help of His angels and saints,” Muscolino said.

The visible and invisible may still move through the city – but perhaps only to those who have eyes to see.

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The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible by funding from the federal government

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