Thunder Bay's Lucky Paranormal shares some Halloween ghost-hunting tips

Thunder Bay's ghost hunters, thrill seekersandparanormal enthusiasts have plenty of options if they hope to touch the etheric plane this Halloween season.

And one Thunder Bay paranormal investigation group has some tips to keep in mind if you do.

The northwestern Ontario city and surrounding areas boast several publicly accessible supernatural hotspots. Take Trowbridge Falls, for example, located just off Copenhagen Road on Thunder Bay's north side.

"When you think of Thunder Bay, people think of Trowbridge Falls as probably being one of your most active haunted locations,"LeannSiddo, member of local investigative team Lucky Paranormal, said during a recent visit to the area.

Trowbridge was, in fact, the site of one of Lucky Paranormal's first investigations.

"We caught a lot of stuff that night," Siddo said. "That was probably our most active time out here. We caught growling in the forest.I heard people down the waterway talking. We heard children playing in the forest."

There are plenty of stories about spooky encounters at Trowbridge Falls.

For example, a woman in white has been spotted in the field next to the parking lot. Invisible entities have been said to occasionally push joggers and walkers as they make they way through the park's network of trails.

There have also been sightings of what's been described as a person or something resembling a person running on all fours across Copenhagen Road. That particular creature, Lucky Paranormal member MelanieWillis said, has also been sighted on Hodder Avenue and at Strathcona golf course.

And then there's the 'Undertaker,"a figure who's said to knock on, and peer in the windows of, cars parked in the Trowbridge Falls lot at night.

But Trowbridge isn't the only public place in and around the city's that's reportedly haunted.

"Centennial Park is apparently very haunted," Willis said, adding there's been a lot of activity reported along the path on the right-hand side after the bridge at the park's entrance.

"The man that we spoke to at one of our past events was saying that when he and his team went, he was scratched," Siddo said. "Somebody took his equipment; he heard growling behind one of the tractors."

Lucky Paranormal has conducted numerous investigations in and around the city in recent months one, for example, took place at Silver Islet in the summer but Siddo said the group hasn't had as much luck when it comes to businesses in the city.

"It's kind of been: 'No, thank you,'" she said. "We don't want that publicity."

That's not always the case, however. At the Red Rock Inn, for example: owner Don Evans welcomes the publicity that comes with rumours the building is home to a spirit or two.

Evans has owned the inn for about six years, and as far as he's seen, the rumours aren't true: there are no ghosts to be found atthe Red Rock Inn.

But Evans is happy to let people believe otherwise.

"They assume that there's something behind one of those doors, so they assume that there's something different about the hotel," Evans told CBC News. "And that's fine. You know, it's part of the fun of it, right?"

Evans often has people asking whether the building, which was built in 1937, is haunted.

"As long as they have fun, they enjoy themselves," he said. "They come down and say, 'Oh my God, I think I heard something.'

"I said, well, it wasn't me kicking your door to wake [you] up in the morning,'" Evans said. "You say that kind of stuff and it becomesa humorous kind of thing, but also, there are a lot of people that are very serious about that other side of life, and so you cater to them."

Another northwestern Ontario haunted site is Kenora's Mather-Walls Historical Tea House.

The home was built in 1889 by John Mather, and is now operated by the Lake of the Woods Historical Society, which hosts events and tours of the historic building.

And plenty of strange things have been experienced there, said society president BonnieGutknecht.

"I was there the other day, and it feels like there's somebodyin there," she said. "They move stuff around."

"They move the furniture around,"Gutknechtsaid. "It's pretty interesting."

Gutknecht said the soundof doors closing can be heard in the house, and shared one particularly-chilling experience that happened to some painters working on the house.

This story involved a mannequin that was standing in a room in the house's basement, at first it was facing a door on the back of the house, but when one of the painters went inside, he found the mannequin had turned, seemingly on its own, and was facing a different direction.

"He said every time we go in there to do stuff, it feels like the mannequins, they move,"Gutknecht said.

And the supernatural certainly isn't something Mather-Walls house staff shy away from discussing: the house has been the site of paranormal investigations, and hosts an annual Halloween Haunt in October.

There are plenty of other public places in the region that ghost hunters can visit.

Siddo mentioned, for example, the McVicar Creek area in Thunder Bay as the site of reported paranormal activity, and thereare reports of a spook light that can be seen on Nelson Road in Shuniah.

If you're out on the Great Lakes, perhaps you'll catch a glimpse of the SS Bannockburn. The ship was reported lost in 1902, having vanished after leaving Fort William with a load of wheat, bound for Georgian Bay. But someone apparently forgot to tell her crew; the most recent reported sighting CBC News could find took place in 2016.

Fair warning, though: a Bannockburn sighting is generally considered to be a bad omen.

For those considering heading out to try toexperience some of Thunder Bay's spooky side first hand,Willis and Siddo have some advice.

"Never go alone, and don't trespass," Willis said. "Realize that you can communicate with spirits anywhere.

"You don't have to go to specific haunted locations. You just protect yourself and set your intentions and see what happens."

Siddo reiterated that being respectful is also very important.

"I think that's our number one rule," she said. "We always go in with respect, always. We never call out spirit.

"We never demand that things come forward and talk to us," Siddo said. "Spirits were people, people need to understand that.

If people want to communicate, or a spirit wants to communicate, they will. Forcing them to do so, you may get off on the wrong foot," she said.

And while ghost-hunting equipment can get expensive, Willis said good results can come from using some very basic gear.

"One of our best equipment pieces is just a basic tape recorder. It's amazing what a spirit will say when it's rolling."