Posts

Location: Toronto, Ontario, CanadaArchitectural Style: Hexagonal LimestoneBuilt: 1808 With each passing week, we take another trip across North America to some of the most intriguing (and possibly haunted) structures standing today. This week features a last vestige of war and a mysterious disappearance. On the banks of Lake Ontario, we’re visiting Toronto’s own Gibraltar Point Lighthouse! HistoryAs commissioned in 1803, the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse was one of three Lighthouses erected with the intention to bolster the town of York’s defenses while tensions remained uneasy between northern British holdings and the newly established United States. Gibraltar Point was a peninsula named after the famous, strategic territory overseeing the strait between Spain and Morocco. The peninsula in Lake Ontario was thought to serve a similar purpose as a powerful fortifying point, intended to protect traveling British vessels. By 1808, the construction was complete and the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse was brought fully into service. Quickly, the lighthouse saw considerable action, standing sentinel during the War of 1812 and standing as direct witness to 1813’s Battle of York. Over its lifetime, the lighthouse watched York become the city of Toronto, and the peninsula it stood on transformed into the Toronto Islands. Today, the Gibraltar

Location: Salem, MassachusettsArchitectural Style: Colonial, GeorgianBuilt: 1668 For our next entry in this year’s Haunted Places Series, get ready for falling leaves, a legendary author, and a set of infamous trials. This week, we visit the historic House of the Seven Gables. BackgroundIn the height of Puritan New England, Captain John Turner I constructed a home for his family on the coast of Massachusetts Bay. This simple two-story, two-room home circled a tall chimney in its first iteration and would expand considerably over the years. Features would be added, removed, and added back again to match various styles over the decades, but its famed “seven gables” would become the home’s most iconic feature. From the Turner family’s hands, the property would be sold to another family of wealthy sailors in the Ingersoll family by 1782. From this, the home gained the colloquial name of the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion. However, it was during this time that Nathaniel Hawthorne, a relative of the Ingersolls, would begin to visit in order to spend time with his cousin Susannah Ingersoll. Though the historic home had already established itself within Salem’s history, it was this association that won the home its fame. Photo by State Library

Location: Mansfield, OhioArchitectural Style: Romanesque RevivalBuilt: 1886–1910 There’s an eerie chill in the air and the souls of the restless are stirring. This can only mean one thing . . . the return of our haunted place series! Every year, we break from our usual content to visit some of the strangest, most unsettling locales of the U.S. and Canada in celebration of the spooky season. This year, our first edition was a clear lock: the Ohio State Reformatory! The Reformatory Founded as a holding for intermediate first-time offenders, the Ohio State Reformatory, also known as the Mansfield Reformatory, was designed with rehabilitation in mind. Even today, its beautiful arches and bright brick exterior make this defunct prison appear more like a mansion or a castle. These design choices were purposeful, intended to inspire all who enter its halls. In this setting, inmates would learn practical trades (such as engineering or plumbing) and invest into skills meant to turn their lives around. This system worked remarkably in those initial years. Compared to other reformatory facilities, convicts who finished serving their sentences at Mansfield were considerably less likely to become repeat offenders. In fact, Mansfield boasted one of the lowest re-sentencing