| Kingston Penitentiary Ghost Investigation By: Meghan Smith Edited By: Freak_O_Pedia |
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| David St.Onge is the curator of the correctional service museum of Canada. I met him while I was on a field trip, and one of the places wee stopped at was the place where he works. I went in and started asking him questions about the hauntings , and it turned out the man I was talking to and quoting from the book I had in my hands, was one and the same! I was so surprised, and I kept asking questions about |
| the hauntings..... I hope you get this Freak_O_Pedia, this is only one small part of what he said he'd send me. " Hello again Meghan, I happen to have found a little time today after all, so I searched my disks and found a transcript of the article about the ghost sighting at KP in 1897. Enjoy! Dave St.Onge" The following is a transcript of an article that appeared on page 1 of the Feb. 13, 1897 issue of the Kingston Daily News. (Spelling mistakes and terms commonly used during the period have been included for authenticity.) |
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| ~*~ DID THEY SEE A GHOST? |
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| OR WAS IT A CONVICT GETTING READY TO ESCAPE? |
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| Sensation at the Penitentiary - The Guards Behold the Apparition of Hewell , or Something that Looks Very Much Like It. |
| The Kingston Penitentiary has been connected with many of the great sensations of the year. Its history for 1897 started off with incidents of a novel, interesting and astounding nature. By a big leakage in the wall of restriction placed around the officials of that institution, information was obtained of several small, but treacherous fights among the convicts. The marvellous [sic] revelation of convict Troy to Detective rogers to supplement the previous spicy incidents, has exposed the institution to the gossip of busy tongues, and to the mercy of the press. These, though, almost pale before the terrifying experiences of the yard men, who were on duty last night. Guards Cameron and another officer were walking their steady beat; the storm had spent itself, and the brilliant moon had just escaped from her imprisonment behind the dark bank of clouds; the silence of the surroundings was unbroken save by the noise of the guards' feet in the frosty snow, or an occasional interchange of words between these officers; when lo! from the noiseless door of the Penitentiary hospital there stepped into the open air, the form of a man, evidently a convict, so thought the guards. The nocturnal visitor walked - taking the natural step of a man- across the yard to the door of another building. As he reached the door, the guards hailed hum, and commanded him to give an explanation of his appearance at that hour. Never an answer came from the strange form . The guards levelled [sic] a rifle at him, and he silently turned and walked back to the hospital door. The moment he seemed to touch the door, he disappeared. Terrified, and unable to comperhend the vision, the guards reported the affair, and the whole night force, with Deputy Warden Sullivan, were on the qui vive during the rest of the night, trying to clear the mystery. The guards who saw the form claim that is [sic] resembled very closely the appearance and actions of the negro convict Hewell, who was shot by Cheif Keeper Hughes. The affair is a great mystery, and is a puzzler to the officals. Some years ago, a similar excitement was raised at the Penitentiary by a mysterious rringing of the bells in the hospital. That problem was never solved, and several of the guards and keepers gave up their positions, refusing to work while such mysteriousness prevailed. The man who appeared last night was likely a convict, who does duty in the hospital, but how he appeared and disappeared cannot be explained. The guards hunted during the whole night, but ccould not discover anything astray. |
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