Giving up the ghost
Eerie goings-on at Queen's Park
By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD

Anthony Hylton, a stakeholder relations and planning co-ordinator at
Queen's Park, is one of a couple of people who say they've seen a ghost
-- or something eerie -- wandering the darkened halls of the
legislature. (Craig Robertson/Sun) Two haunting tales of the
supernatural are setting spines a-tingling in the history-steeped
offices of the province's lieutenant governor.
Two independent ghost sightings by staff members in the office of
Lt.-Gov. James Bartleman have them wondering who they're gonna call.

At around 1 p.m. on Jan. 9, Anthony Hylton, a planning co-ordinator in
Bartleman's Queen's Park office, saw a man in a dark suit leave the
vice-regal washroom, walk past a reception desk and into the historic
Music Room.
Hylton at first thought he had seen a colleague who is with the
lieutenant-governor's security detachment. He called out to him and
followed the man into the Music Room. But the room was empty. A nearby
receptionist did not see the man, but another staffer close by also saw
someone.

A few months later, early in the morning of May 23, cleaner Judy Lyng
saw a man in a swallow-tail coat enter the same washroom. Lyng works
only half days and speaks very little English, so she had not discussed
the earlier ghost sighting with anyone in the office.
"I neither believe in ghosts nor do I not believe in ghosts, but I know
what I saw," Hylton said in an interview yesterday. He said he wasn't
afraid of the ghost, and doesn't believe supernatural beings can harm
anyone.

"I saw something. Call it a ghost. Call it what you will," said Hylton,
a nine-year veteran of the lieutenant-governor's office. He said he saw
the profile of a man about 6-foot-2 in height.
Lyng, meanwhile, was terrified and refuses to enter the upstairs part of
the offices alone. She is now always accompanied by staff when she works
in that part of the suite.

Lyng was able to identify the man she saw from one of the many portraits
of former lieutenant governors hanging in the suite. Bartleman's office
did not want to identify that person, for fear of causing distress to
the man's descendants, but they did narrow it down to a group of
portraits.
Those men include former premier Sir Oliver Mowat (1820-1903) who served
as lieutenant governor from 1897 until he died in office in 1903.

Others in the group include the Hon. Sir George Airey Kirkpatrick
(1841-1899) who served from 1892-1897; the Hon. Sir John Morison Gibson
(1842-1929), lieutenant governor from 1908-1914; Lt.-Col. the Hon. Sir
John Strathearn Hendrie (1857-1923), lieutenant governor from 1914-1919
and the Hon. Sir William Mortimer Clark (1836-1917), who served from
1903-1908.

Speaker Mike Brown said he will talk to Sergeant-at-Arms Dennis Clark
about the Casper-wannabe when he returns to Queen's Park next week after
the summer break.
Reached at Wawa airport in his Algoma-Manitoulin riding, Brown said he
has already talked to Bartleman about the ghost and has heard other
stories from security guards about the supernatural ramblings at Queen's
Park.

"Apparently, our security guys have some experiences of their own and I
am going to be at Queen's Park and I will ask Dennis and his staff about
these out-of-world visitors," Brown said.
Insp. Rick Boon of the legislative security service said he's heard
numerous stories of hauntings since he came to Queen's Park.
"I have heard similar stories at different times since I have been here.
That's about it," he said.

One story involves a ghost horse that walks down the main staircase. The
Ontario legislature was built on the grounds of an insane asylum. Three
women -- former inmates -- are said to haunt the building. One of them
has long white hair, while another has a checked dress thrown over her
head. A third hanged herself in the basement.

As well, a check through legislative archives revealed a story about an
old soldier who was said to parade in front of the office of the Queen's
Printer. All of the ghosts were said to make moaning sounds and one
night watchman refused to enter the print room after dark.
Meanwhile, Bartleman is taking it all in the, er, spirit of goodwill to
wraiths.
"No self-respecting lieutenant-governor suite should be without a
ghost," he quipped when asked about his visitors from the the Other
Side.

So when the spirit moves, who you gonna call? How about the spectre
inspector?