Writer: Andrew Hind
Muskoka Heritage Place in Huntsville is home to nearly two dozen historic buildings that have been relocated from across the Muskoka and Parry Sound districts. Each building has a story to tell, a spirit all its own, the product of the successes and failures, happiness and heartache of the men and women who lived and worked within them. More than just homes and businesses, to early settlers these buildings also represented hopes and dreams for new opportunities.
It’s possible that each of the buildings has some spectral energy clinging to period furnishings, lurking in the cracks between well-worn floorboards, staining century-old walls.
One of the more haunted is said to be Ashworth Hall.
The hall was built in 1879 for Henry Ashworth. Ashworth was a devout Protestant and Orangeman, and had the hall built to house an Orange Lodge. It served in that capacity for several decades, but by the mid-1890s membership had declined so drastically that the lodge folded. It was used as a community hall for a while, then from 1921 until 1942 as a school.
Decades later, it was moved to the grounds of Muskoka Heritage Place, restored, and outfitted to reflect a typical 19th century Orange Lodge. Stepping inside, you’ll be surrounded by Orangemen paraphernalia. It’s one of very few opportunities to visit a 19th century Orange Lodge.
And, according to many over the years, whenever one steps inside there is always the chance one might brush up against the paranormal.
Legend says that an organ would mysteriously play a mournful dirge whenever a member of the Orange Lodge passed away.
One story from its time as a school seems to support this. One morning more than a century ago, Ashworth locals were woken in the early hours of one morning by the sound of the organ playing by itself. When they went to investigate, they found the building locked and no sign of forced entry. The music mysteriously ceased. There was no explanation until it was later revealed that a former member of the lodge had died shortly before the sad song was heard.
A shadowy man is said to linger within the hall, standing silent vigil over the building. Visitors have hastily retreated from the building when confronted by this looming figure, dark and intimidating. I experienced this first-hand during one of the ghost tours that I once led at Muskoka Heritage Place when a pair of women pushed their way past others in a desperate attempt to escape the building. They claimed to have seen a figure of pure blackness lurking in the corner, and that they were panicked when it suddenly moved, reaching out with void-like arms. Was it really a ghost? The shadow cast by another tour member? A figment of the imagination? I can’t say, but they were well and truly terrified.
Sightings predate the hall’s move to Muskoka Heritage Place, but exactly when the spectral figure first began to make his presence known is a mystery. So too is his identity, but speculation suggests it might well be builder Henry Demaine or original owner Stanley Ashworth.
Ashworth Hall carefully guards its secrets, including the truth behind the paranormal forces said to be embedded in its historic walls.
Head to Muskoka Heritage Place on Halloween for The Great Pumpkin Trail. And pick up Muskoka’s Most Haunted and Muskoka’s Most Haunted 2 on Amazon and at local book stores. Great reads!
