Canadian paranormal expeditions will spend time indoors trying to connect with the spirits
Although she has not encountered a ghost herself, Melynda Jarratt, president of the Doucet Hennessy house, is sure that others may have seen spirits in the historic house in Bathurst.
With reports over the years of an appearance at the top of the stairs and children playing on the landing, Jarratt said that a team of investigators from Canadian Paranormal Expeditions would spend time in the house over the next few days to see if these ghosts would become known.
The house is over 200 years old. The family property, which sits on top of a hill on St. Peter Ave. and overlooks Chaleur Bay, first housed the Doucet family and then the Hennessy family.
With two large families living there and many guests for more than two centuries, Jarratt said that deaths had occurred in the house and that a number of revivals had also taken place there.
Many ghosts
“I am a historian and I believe in the facts. So I believe people believe, there’s no question about it. There is absolutely no doubt that people believe they have had experiences in the house. “
Jarrett said it was thought that the apparition at the top of the stairs could be Rufus Millikan, a Scottish immigrant who boarded with the Doucet family and died there unexpectedly in the winter of 1818.
“Rufus was a protestant and he was English and he was in a Catholic Acadian home. He died and it was winter and they heated the house with wood.”
Jarratt said with no embalming done in those days, and concerns with preserving the body, the Doucets put the body out in the snowbank. They also didn’t contact the local protestant congregation to properly prepare the body.
“Local protesters were furious and then wrote about it in a letter to Fredericton to complain about the treatment of the late Protestant, Rufus Millikan. “
Fast forward 150 years to the sight of the ghost of Millikan.
“The story goes that there was a young boy in the house, he was going up the stairs and he is looking up the stairs and there is a man standing there.
“He’s a ghost and he panicked. He was so scared that he just fell back and fell down the stairs. “
Jarratt said the tenants who lived in the house said that children were dancing or playing on the landing.
“There is certainly strange behavior in the barking animals in the house. What are they barking at, playing cats? “
Open day
Other people say that something hit them in the shoulder or have strange feelings when they are at home.
“But hey, it’s an old house and it squeaks and squeaks and makes noise in the wind and you know it’s a draft. ”
Jarratt said the skeptic in her said there was always an explanation, but she said there had to be something.
Canadian Paranormal Expeditions heard about the house and asked if they could visit it. With the help of mediums, they will try to connect with all the spirits in the house.
The public is invited to visit the Doucet Hennessy House on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. to meet the crew of Canadian Paranormal Expeditions.
Jarratt said they are invited to ask questions about their work and the type of survey they are conducting.
“Maybe there are people who have other stories to tell about other buildings in the area. It would be good. “
Source: CBC.CA
