The Severn Inn

On the long weekend in August long 2002, I ended up at the Severn River Inn with my friend Sue.  We were on our way to Long Lac, Ontario – a 19 hour train ride out of Washago.  We were attended a Youth Healing Conference at the Long Lac Reserve #58.  Severn River Inn was the closest place we could find lodging, in order to catch the early morning train north out of Washago.

 After we checked in, we enjoyed a lovely dinner on the back porch overlooking the picturesque Severn River.  During our meal Sue saw something.  She looked at me without blinking an eye and said “We’ve got company”.  Now, you’d have to know Sue to truly appreciate her calm statement, as if it was an everyday thing.  Of course, a little alarmed I said “what the hell is that suppose to mean”?  

 She told me she saw a woman in a blue dress with red hair worn up in a bun walking out of a second story window, as if on a balcony that didn’t exist.  

 After dinner we decided to stroll around the outside of this beautiful century home turned lodging site.  We crossed the street to get a better look at the building in it’s entirety.  Sue commented “Look at the roof area.  What do you see?”  I noticed this strange purple aura just above the roof.  “How odd”, I thought.

 As we moved to the side of the house, Sue alerted me to a man standing in the window.  She described him wearing a black hat, with a handlebar moustache and armbands on the sleeves of his white shirt.  As I struggled to see what she was seeing, I heard these children laughing as if right behind me.  Startled by that, I swung around to see nothing but the  400 highway with traffic zooming by.  “How odd”, I thought.

 We decided to head in for the night and sat in the bar area in the front of the Inn.  When the waitress came to take our order Sue asked her if she realized this building was haunted.  She went crazy and ran toward the kitchen area yelling at the cook that ‘these ladies have seen the ghost”.  I laughed because I hadn’t seen anything, and Sue just smiled.  The cook came out and handed Sue a book called Haunted Ontario.  I was stunned!!  The woman Sue had described to me at dinner had her picture in that book.  Her name was Ida, and she had been the original owner of this lovely old house.  We chatted with these folks for a period of time, however, I realized we had a train to catch in the morning and needed to get some sleep before our 7am departure.

 We took our tea up to the second floor and sat in the sitting area just outside our room.  The energy up there was undeniably heavy.  Oddly, every time Sue would mention Ida’s name the light above us would flicker.  It became almost humorous as we taunted the situation by continually using her name in every sentence possible.  It was all fun and games until, as I was raising the tea cup to my lips to take a sip, a energy which I can only compare to something magnetic, pushed the tea cup out of my hand with such a force it actually hit the chair approximately 3 feet from where I sat.  “What the hell was that I hollered at Sue?”  We both were stunned.

 It was bedtime now and we had pulled down the covers and were ready to call it a night.  We read a little and chatted a little about the strange shit we had experienced.  I think I must have dozed off but was reawaken at approximately 11:30pm as I remember hearing the distinct sound of cutlery being sorted as they slammed drawers in the kitchen area directly under our bedroom and thinking “boy, they are working late”.  The door of our bedroom was at least a good 3 inches up from the floor.  The hall light was quite bothersome, so Sue got up and turned it off.

 As we tried to fall back to sleep we could hear a wicked storm brewing outside.  Wind and driving rain against our window, prompted Sue to get out of bed again and look out the window.  Shockingly it was still, clear and the moon was gleaming in at her.  A little later, as we tried to sleep it sounded as though someone was shuffling cards under the bed.  I got up and looked under the bed, but nothing was there.

 It had to be around 1:00am when we finally fell asleep.  But not for long as Sue got up again as she smelled smoke.  She was frantic about there being a fire.  I assured her there would be smoke alarms going off, as I couldn’t smell anything!  She was insistent and was ready to wake up the other patrons of the Inn to assure everyone’s safety.  As I laid there, I noticed the hall light had been turned back on.  Strange I thought, but maybe another guest turned it back on.  Sue went into the hallways to put her mind at ease about smoke and flames, thankfully she was wrong and I was right.  Finally, we feel asleep for the night without any additional interruptions.

 We went downstairs in the morning to enjoy our continental breakfast and told the woman serving us about our exciting and sleepless night.  I will never forget the feeling that washed over me when she assured us we had been alone in the building that night.  Not only were there NO other guests staying at the Inn, but all the staff had signed out and locked up by 9:30pm. (the owners did not live there so we were completely alone)  Who had turned the light back on in the hall?  Who was sorting cutlery and slamming drawers?  When Sue had told her about smelling smoke and believing the building was on fire, the woman explained to us the original house had burned down about100 years ago.  They had pushed the burnt remains into the river and rebuilt the house we were in today.  She also told us divers had been in the river earlier that weekend and had brought some artifacts out of the river.  I wondered if that had stirred the Spirit of Ida to return to her home and create the activity we had experienced.

 After breakfast and after Sue had used the shower it was my turn.  It seemed the water would have a mind of its own.  As I stood in the shower mentally reviewing all the activities of the night before, the water completely shut off.  I got out and tried the tap in the sink – but nothing, no water.  I wrapped myself up in a towel and went into the hallway and hollered down to Sue and the waitress about my dilemma.  Sue went out into the yard where the owner was watering the grass!!  Clearly, nothing was wrong with the water, however the owner did go down to the basement to check it out but came back perplexed that the water would shut itself off only in one room?!  I went back into the room, stood in the bathroom and said out loud, “Ida, we have to leave – clean or dirty we have to go.  I promise to come back and visit you again, please turn the water back on”.  No word of a lie, I moved over to the shower, turned the handle and out came the water.

 I kept my promise to Ida.  I’ve been back a few times.  Once with my investigation team and a couple of times when I was passing through that neck of the woods.