Some people think she?s a teenager who died in childbirth, waiting for her boyfriend to return
Posted By JENN WATT
The Dominion Hotel may not be open to the public but there is one visitor who refuses to leave despite the ongoing renovations.
An unnamed ghost who occupies the attic has been seen peering at the river from the top floor window by pedestrians below, and has been heard by the building?s owner Shawn Chamberlin.
?I?d been warned about her, although I don?t believe in ghosts. I thought people were trying to scare me out of town,? Chamberlin said.
?Loggers used to live there, so folklore develops in those situations,? he said.
But soon after buying the 150-year-old landmark more than four years ago he began to notice strange things happening. Doors would slam, footsteps could be heard, but when he went to investigate, no one would be there.
The attic, Chamberlin explained, was once used by loggers who would pile into the large, triangular space under the peaked roof. With the loggers came the women and he thinks that one of those women is now the ghost.
?One of the girls living upstairs died in childbirth as a teenager ? Maybe she?s waiting for her boyfriend to come back,? he said.
Renovations of the hotel have uncovered more than just ghostly tapping and footsteps. They?ve also found musket balls, spent gun shells and names and dates scratched into the walls dating back into the early 1900s.
The attic is no longer used for accommodations but Chamberlin has left a Bible at the window for the young woman, just in case.
The Dominion Hotel was built in 1865 and is the oldest standing building in Haliburton County. It was one of five hotels owned by the same entrepreneur who tried to capitalize on travellers by building the accommodations one day?s horse ride apart. Today, the Dominion is the only one left.
This winter, Chamberlin began renovations on the building to create what he calls a ?destination inn? with specific programming, comfortable suites, and special weekend themes. Although the sign outside says it?s opening ?before Canadian Tire,? Chamberlin expects the doors to open in a little more than a month at which point the ghost will have to learn to share.
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