The Lansdowne Letters: Things That Go Bump in the Night

It's Friday, which means that I'm sharing

more of my father's long ago misadventures 

in Lansdowne House in Northern Ontario.

Since it's Halloween,

I thought it would be fun to share

an experience my father wrote

about on Monday, October 10, 1960.

I'll set the scene by having you imagine

two grown men sharing a small bedroom

in a two-room cottage,

on a cold, bright moonlit night
in the far and isolated north.

Dad's side of the bedroom

was on the left.  

Uno's was on the right,
with the table and the typewriter 
they used in the middle.
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

In my father's words:

"The most amusing happened last night. 

"It is amusing to look back on,
but I must confess that I was scared silly
when it was taking place. 

"It all started about two o’clock in the morning,
when I woke from an uneasy sleep,
with the realization that Uno wasn’t in the bedroom. 

"Just about the time that I woke up,
Uno gave a sort of half scream, half yelp,
and came running in from the front room
to wake me up and tell me
that a strange light was shining in the front window. 

"I just laughed at him
and was going to tell him to stop being foolish,
when damned if I didn’t see a light
shining in the bedroom window above my bed. 

"Right then, I lost some of my self-confidence,
but not to the extent that I didn’t immediately
run outside to see who was outside.

"I lost a little more of my confidence
when I couldn’t see anyone or anything –
only a very bright moon
which was making everything bright as day.

Wikimedia

"It was deathly calm when I went out,
but while I was prowling around outside,
there was a sudden loud puff
and the wind started to blow like blazes.

"Immediately the wind charger started to turn
and set up one hell of a racket. 

"Right then a black cloud sailed across the sky
and completely obliterated the moon. 

Wikimedia

"I came in very promptly,
considerably less confident than when I had gone out.

"Well, I smoked a cigarette and talked to Uno
and tried to compose myself and assure myself
that there was really nothing the matter. 

"After the cigarette, we put out the lights,
and settled down for the rest of the night,
as skittish as two old maids
that think there is a man under their bed. 

"Then, of course, I started to hear noises;
and, any that I happened to miss myself,
Uno heard and informed me of them.

"I never knew that a house 
could creak and groan
as much as our cottage did last night. 
I wasn’t enjoying myself 
one little bit. 

"Just as I was drifting off 
to sleep again, I'll be damned
if I didn't see that light 
shining in my window again.

"I immediately rushed to the window 
and looked out ---
and saw a face looking in at me!!!!

"I let out a yelp, 
pulled down the blind,
jumped back into bed, 
lit another cigarette,
and thought about 
the night’s happenings.

"Of course, I had to recall 
just at this time
that the old Indian graveyard,
an island attached to ours 
by a sand bar,
was supposed to be haunted
by the ghost of an old Indian.   

Map of Lansdowne House
by Don MacBeath:

7 ~ Dad and Uno's Cottage

8 ~ R. C. Church

9 ~ R.C. Mission

10 ~ Wind Charger

11 ~ Indian Graveyard

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

Location of the Old Indian Graveyard (11)
from a map drawn by Donald B. MacBeath, 1960

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

"Now, I don’t believe in ghosts
(I keep telling myself),
but there is just enough
of the good Scottish superstition in my makeup
to entertain such possibilities right then. 

"Then someone or something rapped on the window
across the room, and the front door started to rattle. 

"Uno had his head under the pillows at this time
and was no help or moral support at all. 

"I got up enough courage to jump up
and make a wild grab for the light switch to turn it on. 
The darned thing wouldn’t go on!!! 

"Just then, there was another rap or two on the window
and the dogs started to howl,
and the strong wind started the church bell ringing. 
That did it!!!! 

"I was terrified by this time
and just jumped back into bed,
and buried my head beneath the clothes,
and lay there shivering. 

"Well, finally the dogs stopped howling,
the bell stopped ringing,
and my heart stopped pounding,
and I got up enough courage
to get up and try the lights again. 

"I discovered that somehow
the bulb had gotten unscrewed. 
I screwed it in and turned it on,
and felt considerable better. 

"When I got the lights back on and looked at Uno,
he was sitting up in bed chewing his finger nails
and was as white as a sheet. 
He is part Ojibway Indian,
and apparently the Indians are
even more superstitious than the Scots.

Uno

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved

"Well, by this time

it was about four o’clock 
in the morning,
and we were wide awake,
so we got up and made coffee 
and read till about five-thirty,
when we finally felt 
calm enough to settle down
and go back to sleep. 

We slept till about ten this morning.

"I realize now that when I looked out the window,
I had’t seen anyone 
looking in at me. 
It was just a reflection of my own face. 




"I also realize that the wind had started the church bell,
and that in all likelihood,
the bell had started the dogs howling,
because it usually does.

"Also the noises, rappings on the window,
and rattling of the front door
can all be explained by the wind or other natural causes;
but I can’t for the life of me explain that damned light. 

"It wasn’t a flashlight, or the moonlight,
because it was too bright for either.
Besides it was the wrong color
for either the moon or a flashlight. 

"It was sort of a very bright blueish white light
and seemed to dance around outside the window. 
It looked a little bit like St. Elmo’s fire,
but that usually occurs on metal surfaces,
and our cottage is of wood construction. 

"If any of you have any suggestions as to what it might be,
I would appreciate hearing about them."

Better by Daylight

Roman Catholic Church

Dad and Uno's cottage,
overshadowed by the
wind charger

Father Ouimet's
Mission House
(very much enlarged from an old, Ouimet photo)
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue ~ All Rights Reserved




It's half a century later,
and no one knows what 
my father and Uno experienced
that long ago night.

I will say this,
my father was every inch a superstitious Scot,
and he was exquisitely attuned to the unseen.
And I am every bit his daughter!  LOL!

Stay safe this Oidhche Shamhna,
and watch out 
for things that go bump in the night!

Till next time!

 Memories

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue

All Rights Reserved