Cherry Hill House located around Mississauga was filled with something moving about in the dark late last night, and it had 22 legs, 11 noses, and something to prove. In a bid to uncover years of ghostly rumours, the Southern Ontario Paranormal Society (SOPS), a non-profit team of investigators who study paranormal activity, zeroed in on the restaurant.
It is believed that the Cherry Hill house in Mississauga was originally built in 1822 at the intersection of Dundas St. E and Cawthra Rd in Mississauga. However, when the house was moved to a new foundation in 1972 – only 800 feet away – strange things started happening. It has also been reported that tables tip over or break mysteriously in the middle of the night, that cold spots appear in certain spots of the house, that lights and radios turn on and off – even that apparitions appear in the mirror, fireplace, and rocking chair.
Cherry Hill House is an excellent example of vernacular Neo-Classical architecture. This style of architecture is well represented in the elegant proportions, pronounced cornice, and perfectly balanced placement of elements. Additionally, the treillage that surrounds the tent-roofed veranda adds to the architecture. Despite its lack of stylistic features, the kitchen section to the rear, which is constructed with Credit Valley stone, makes a striking contrast with the main structure. Fieldstone foundations and internally bracketed chimneys were likely reconstructed to match the originals.
Margo Scullion, who has been living in Mississauga and working at Cherry Hill for more than ten years, chuckles, “When we were doing renovations in January, many of the construction workers refused to work here after dark.”
However, the occupants of the house don’t bother her, she says, referring to the purported otherworldly beings who live there. “I think they’re afraid of me.”
After arriving at 9 p.m., the SOPS team inspected the entire two-story building, which is now a restaurant in Mississauga. The house was equipped with digital, video, and electromagnetic frequency (EMF) recorders, as well as night vision, still motion, and temperature gauges. After exploring attics and dumbwaiters as well as conducting spot checks on equipment, the team stayed up until the early morning hours checking equipment, contacting spirits, and documenting everything.
Six hours into the investigation, claims were made of hearing a distant voice, hearing an unexplained knocking sound, and recording some very unusual EMF readings.
In the coming weeks, SOPS member Steve Genier would be dealing with over 12 hours of video, recordings, and readings, as the hard work of putting it all together would begin. It sometimes takes weeks to sort through all the data. “The industry is unregulated and with that comes a great deal of exploitation. A hallmark of our group is to take the time to collect the evidence and critically examine any findings until such a point that we say “we can’t explain this as a group.”
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