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Located near Bancroft, Ontario, The Baptiste Lake Inn (formerly Grant's Inn,) came to our attention through an e-mail sent to us by a reader...
"Hello. I have recently visited an old (100yr+) Inn on Baptiste Lake near Bancroft, Ontario.
Being quite perceptive to energies, I immediately felt a presence in the Inn. I asked to view the rooms of the Bed and Breakfast section (upstairs) One door would not open at first try. I knew the energy was there. On second try, it opened.
The view was of the lake. A myriad of details of the ghost (and his little sister) came into my mind quickly. The owners are new. I asked them if they felt the building was haunted and they laughed a little and responded that at times it seemed so.
I didn't divulge to them my instincts, yet am increasingly curious as to the accuracy of what I felt. I will try to find old newspaper items on this event, as I feel that these children drowned."
Now, we needed to hold an "annual meeting" of our core group as well as appreciating the Inn's history and it's location to some of our director's family, we decided that this would make the ideal spot for an investigation as well as our meeting.
We contacted the owner, Steve, and asked him what he knew about the ghost. To our great surprise, it wasn't the ghost of children but another ghost that he knew of. Topping that, one of our associates experienced a presence at the Inn while helping the previous owners clean up once.
This person was cleaning windows in the Inn when they sensed a presence in the room watching. They assumed it was the owner and was about to respond to there visitor but turned around to realize they were alone in the room. This person went back to working at their task when they felt their hand being touched and sensed a name.
The person quickly found the owners and asked, "Okay, who's May or Mabel?"
"Sit down." the previous owner said.
Mabel was the last of a family that had owned the Inn for many years. She of course had passed on but this may not have been the entity our associate may have had a run in with.
Another (the same?) ghostly presence has been seen in one of the bedrooms. The room that the current owner lives in was once possibly two rooms. A wall has been knocked out to enlarge the room. According to one source, the original rooms were Mabel's mother's room and the other now connected room seemed to be a shrine to an infant. The room contained baby furniture and a picture surrounded by candles and other icons.
When some people tried to sleep in that room (no longer in use as a guest room,) they woke up to a glowing white shape that seemed to have many arms flailing towards them. (The director harkened this to the Indian goddess Shiva.) This apparition would apparently chase the occasional occupants not only from the room but would follow them down the stairs and right out the door. This, needless to say, is the most spectacular ghost. What's interesting is it was reported that the guests it "chased out" were guests of dubious quality.
Before going too much further into the other possible ghosts, it should be noted that the Inn has served many purposes including a railway station, general store, (which, during our investigation, it was still serving as and even has the original counter from way back when,) restaurant, and post office. There may even be more to this history but we are currently researching these aspects. With a history of over 100 years plus all this, it's not surprising to find the odd legend.
We have heard of another spectre. A woman who is seen standing on the balcony overlooking the lake (and where the train station would have been situated,). People speculate that she could be anything from an Inn keeper to one of the women of fallen virtue watching for the loggers and miners to come in by train.
If you visit, and anytime of the year is good, don't be afraid to ask the owners about the ghosts and please do note that once we had all settled down, we all slept very well.
For the rest of our findings, please select one of the links below...
Update: August 2004
One of our readers wrote us the following note...
I am well acquainted with Grant's Inn. I am related to the original owner, Hiram Grant and Mabel, who was the last Grant family who owned the inn. I have wonderful memories of spending summer vacations there. This was before it was turned into a bed & breakfast. Mabel would let us pick a room and we always chose to "double-up" because we were told the place was haunted! Of course they was teasing us, but we did scare ourselves silly by daring each other to go into the front bedroom - the one with the picture on the wall of the dead baby in her casket! This was Mabel's little sister who died in infancy. Contrary to an earlier report on your web site - there were never any burning candles or other icons surrounding the picture which hung on the wall. There was also no baby furniture - but I imagine that makes for a good story.... [Editor's Note: This was told to us by a former owner... we (the GHRS) didn't actually see the furniture or the picture in question.]
We have visited several times over the years after Mabel passed on - having dinner in the inn when it was bed & breakfast (in the 1980's) and also on a stopover from camping in Algonquin Park. We were very saddened & dismayed that the original place has been torn down and a new one built in its place. The Inn was filled with old pictures and other sentimental things we would have loved to have been able to buy.
How I miss the old place! No matter what stands in it's place, I'm sure the energy of the Grant family will forever remain!
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