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Fort George: A Night of History and Ghosts
By Daniel Cumerlato

Fort George is the site for some of the bloodiest battles during the War of 1812. Many people died, some violently, causing this area of Niagara-on-the-Lake to be a hot-spot of negative energy.
Kyle Upton has been offering ghost tours at Fort George since 1994. Steph and I felt that a Labour Day visit would be ideal.

We were early and had to wait for the tour to begin. To fill the time, we took in some of the beautiful sites around the Fort. Around back of the Fort we met a happy chipmunk snacking on a crab apple. It's cheeks swollen and its mouth moving at the speed of light. Once catching a glimpse at our curiosity, the chipmunk ran for cover as if we would steal its food.

In behind the fort we discovered Navy Hall, once set to be the barracks for British army officer and the first governor of Upper Canada (now Ontario), John Graves Simcoe (1756 - 1806). After taking in the history of Navy Hall we sat on a comfortable bench which stood atop a small dock and watched the boats speed by us. The waves created by the speedboats delighted the nice family that was using the dock for fishing.

As we made our way back to the parking lot, we noticed that Kyle Upton and his gang had already started gathering. We quickly purchased our tickets and introduced ourselves to Kyle. After getting past the usual, "Haunted Who?" we decided best to skip the "business" for tonight and just enjoy the tour.

Kyle started his tour around 8:30 p.m.; this time kept for the late comers still running on summer hours (tours are set to 7:30 p.m. in the Fall). Steph and I made the decision to stay back to ensure we got the very charismatic Kyle Upton as our tour captain. In for the long wait, we plopped ourselves down on a patch of grass and proceeded to talk about future Haunted Hamilton events. There was a long silence after realizing we had nothing else to talk about.

The tour started on the outside of the fort on the trail leading past the friends of Fort George log office. We stopped at one of the many cast iron canons that graced the trails, and were treated to some wonderful and true local ghost stories set at Niagara-on-the-Lake hotels and restaurants. One of the most important facts being that Niagara-on-the-Lake is the most haunted town in Canada per-capita due to the horrible battles from the War of 1812.

As Kyle spoke to the group, Stephanie's attention was averted to a close-by tree. However, it wasn't the tree that took her attention but the grey figure leaning against it. Then with the blink of an eye, or a check of the makeup in Steph's case, the figure was gone.

Kyle continued with a history of the town focusing on the horror of the War of 1812. I tried to not focus on the pain that these people of our past must have been feeling. The thought of one day living in peace with your loved ones, and then with the blink of an eye to see your home burn to the ground and your loved ones murdered in the streets. The stories were enough to make a grown man (like me) cry.

When reaching the gates to the Fort, we met one of the previous tours and were forced to suffer through timid versions of what a tortured ghost must sound like, from these people. We entered the Fort surrounded by them on both sides of us.

It would be my pleasure to use this article to convey the details of a ghost walk at Fort George, but I feel this would not do it justice. If you wish to know what happens and how it feels, best take the tour and see for yourselves.

The atmosphere of the moon lit fort and the haunted stories told by Kyle and his band of merry tour guides is something that needs to be seen in person.

Visit the Niagara tour site at: www.ghrs.org/ghosttours/
There are still Sunday evening tours for September and of course, the famous Halloween tours for the end of October.

Out of the three or so Fort George tours that we have graced, this one was the most memorable. Here are some highlights from the walk.

The combination of a full moon and clear sky cast a beautiful white glow on all of the buildings in Fort George. This light made for a more pleasant experience as we could see obstacles such as rocks, dips in the earth or buildings.

A fireworks show was happening not too far from the Fort. This served two purposes; first it gave a wonderful array of lights and colors. Second and most important is that it sounded like artillery fire and canon blasts, which only added to the realism of the tour.

The Magazine house is the only building that is original and stood during the War. Like most of the people on the tour, I took some time to "grope the history". To my surprise, I picked up on some of the negative energy emanating from the structure. Normally this is something that will happen to me with historic buildings, I feel the present energy (whether negative or positive) when I place my hands on it. The notable part is that the negative energy was so strong that I had to choke back the tears.

We were gathered in the tunnel at the back of the Fort when we heard the muffled grand finale of the fireworks show. This loud and very unique sound was like canon balls smashing against the Fort. The tenseness from the gathered twenty or so was tough the handle as I'm sure was the feeling of soldiers crammed in their barracks as the war commenced outside.

As we walked around the Officer's quarters in the middle of the Fort, a loud howling could be heard from just outside the walls. Kyle quickly explained that it was coyotes and that they had cornered prey. The following sound, like fighting dogs, was of them killing the prey. Once the sound died away we knew that whatever unfortunate small animal had been caught, was dead now.

The tour was finished about two hours after it had started and everyone exiting the Fort was reeling from its intense nature. I feel that we all came out a bit wiser and a bit more understanding of what history is really about. These people of the past fought and died to shape the way we live our lives today. They paved the road of progress in their time, as we do today. To forget their story would be a crime, to remember them is to make their struggles worthwhile.

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