Gravenhurst Red Piano, Antiques and Ghosts

THE OLD SPIRIT IN THE ANTIQUE SHOP, WINTER CARNIVAL SONG, THE RED PIANO AND A SNOWY AFTERNOON IN GRAVENHURST

TALK ABOUT A BUSY WINTER - AND THE REMINISCENCES ARE PRETTY NEAT AT WELL -

BREAKING NEWS. ON FEBRUARY 2, THE GRAVENHURST 'RED PIANO" WILL NOT……ABSOLUTELY NOT….. CAST A SHADOW. EVEN IF THE SUN BEATS DOWN ON THAT RESTING PLACE OF "BIG RED", AND EVEN IF A MUSKOKA GOPHER WAS TO SIT ON TOP, BREAK DANCING, THERE WILL BE NO SHADOW CAST. SO, SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER? AS OF THIS WRITING, THE "RED WRECK" WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE VACANT LOT ON THE MAIN STREET OF GRAVENHURST. THANKS TO SOME CONSCIENTIOUS FOLKS CONNECTED TO THE TOWN, THE POOR THING WILL BE PUT OUT OF ITS MISERY. AND MAKE NO MISTAKE, IT WAS MISERY EXEMPLIFIED, ESPECIALLY BEING PAINTED BRIGHT RED AGAINST THE MUSKOKA SNOW. WHAT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO SOME……WITHOUT HAVING CONSULTED THE MUSICIANS FIRST, WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO MAKE USE OF IT, THE PIANO WAS BROUGHT OUT OF HUMBLE RETIREMENT, BROUGHT UP TO THE BIG LEAGUES OF BUSKERVILLE, PAINTED A CEREMONIAL RED (NOT SURE THAT WAS THE MOST APPROPRIATE COLOR), AND PUT IN PLACE AGAINST AN ART-ADORNED PLYWOOD BACKDROP. THE IDEA WAS FOR BUSKERS TO MAKE USE OF THE PIANO, AND I SUPPOSE, PROVIDE SOME CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE TOURIST-KIND. IT MUST HAVE DRIVEN THOSE WHO CONCOCTED THE IDEA, NUTS, TO WATCH THE BUSKERS EACH DAY, LAST SUMMER, PLAYING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET INSTEAD……WHERE THERE WAS SHADE AND A NICE BENCH. SEEMS LOGICAL. WHEN ROAD RE-CONSTRUCTION BEGAN AGAIN LAST FALL, THE PLYWOOD FENCE WAS PULLED DOWN, AND THE PIANO SET BACK ON THE LOT, IN UTTER DESOLATION, FROM THE PROMISE OF SO MANY ROADSIDE CONCERTS TO COME. A PROJECT THAT JUST DIDN'T "CHOPSTICK" IT'S WAY TO NOTORIETY. INSTEAD, IT BECAME AN EYESORE. A MAIN STREET TARGET FOR VANDALS, WHO DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO PLAY IT……..SO THEY DID THE NEXT BEST THING……YOU KNOW….. BEATING THE CRAP OUT OF IT. IT BECAME THE "PIANO OF OUR DISCONTENT." THE BUSKERING FOLLY OF 2011.

THE OLDTIMER IN THE SHOP - THE CHEAP GHOST WHO NEVER BOUGHT A THING

AS I'VE WRITTEN ABOUT PREVIOUSLY, IN THE EARLY JANUARY BLOGS, ON THIS GRAVENHURST SITE, THE CURRIES ARE GHOST MAGNETS. NOT SOMETHING I WANT ETCHED ON MY TOMBSTONE. I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT, OTHER THAN TO SUGGEST THEY, THE DRIFTING AIMLESS, "SPIRIT-KIND," FIND US OPEN-MINDED ABOUT SUCH THINGS. INADVERTENTLY WE PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR PECULIAR MOODS, AND THEY APPARENTLY LIKE THIS ABOUT US. SO MUCH SO THAT THEY CAN GET KIND OF PUSHY FOR ATTENTION. SOUND CRAZY? YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT, REALLY. YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THOSE WHO HAVE SORT-OF CROSSED OVER, ON MY MUSKOKA AND ALGONQUIN GHOSTS BLOG-SITE. ACTUALLY, BY THE END OF THE WEEK, THE FIRST OF TWELVE COLUMNS ON THE PARANORMAL WILL BE RELEASED IN A NEAT LITTLE PUBLICATION, KNOWN AS "THE GREAT NORTH ARROW." I UNDERSTAND IT WILL NOW BE AVAILABLE IN GRAVENHURST AND MUSKOKA GENERALLY BUT I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHERE. IT IS PUBLISHED OUT OF DUNCHURCH, ONTARIO, AND ITS TARGET AREA IS NORTH, NORTHWEST OF HUNTSVILLE, AS FAR AS NORTH BAY.

AS I'VE ALREADY PROFILED, THERE ARE WHAT WE CALL SPIRIT HITCH-HIKERS, WHO OCCASIONALLY ATTACH THEMSELVES TO ANTIQUE PIECES. THE WHOLE RANGE OF ANTIQUE FURNITURE, TRUNKS, CUPBOARDS, CRADLES, ROCKERS, SETEES, JAM CUPBOARDS, HOOSIER CUPBOARDS, AND EVEN DINING ROOM TABLES. I'VE ALWAYS FELT IT WAS SOME SPIRITUAL PRESENCE THAT PULLED ME TOWARD CERTAIN PIECES, WHILE OUT ON THE ANTIQUE HUNT. SUZANNE FORBIDS ME FROM SAYING THIS IN HER PRESENCE, BECAUSE SHE FOUND I WAS USING IT JUST AS AN EXCUSE TO BUY SOMETHING I LIKED. AND BECAUSE WE'VE HAD A FEW SPECIAL PIECES, WITH ALLEGED HITCH-HIKERS, AND BIRCH HOLLOW ALREADY HAS ENOUGH CATS…..WE DON'T NEED ANY MORE GHOSTS EITHER. THE GHOST OF DAVE BROWN, MY BOOK COLLECTOR FRIEND, IS STILL HERE MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER HIS DEMISE. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE HE KEEPS TAPPING ME ON THE BACK, WHEN I'M WORKING IN MY DOWNSTAIRS ARCHIVES. HE USED TO SLEEP ON THE SOFA BED I KEEP DOWN HERE FOR OCCASIONAL HOUSEGUESTS. SUZANNE ASKED IF WE COULD GET RID OF IT, ONE DAY LAST SUMMER, AND I WAS SPEECHLESS. "THAT'S DAVE'S BED FOR GOD'S SAKE. WHERE WOULD HE SLEEP THEN?" YOU COULD ALSO CHECK OUT A BLOG I WROTE ABOUT PUTTING MY WIFE ON HER "DEATH BED." THAT'S RIGHT, CALL ME A WING-NUT, BUT I BOUGHT MYSELF A BEAUTIFUL, CANADIAN MADE SPINDLE BED, FROM THE LATE 1800'S, THAT WAS USED BY A MINISTER, IN TORONTO, TO DISPLAY THE RECENTLY DECEASED FOR FAMILY, HOLDING MEMORIALS AT THE CHURCH MANSE. WHAT SPOUSE WOULDN'T BE IMPRESSED BY A HUSBAND DRAGGING HOME ONE OF THESE FOR VALENTINES DAY? AT LEAST PAUL RIMSTEAD DIDN'T PULL ONE OF THESE STUNTS ON HIS WIFE. WELL, IN DEFENSE OF THE BED, IT HASN'T LEVITATED OFF THE FLOOR YET, OR BEEN RESTED-UPON BY ANY STRANGE VAPOR, THAT I'M AWARE OF.

WE HAVE A HAUNTED PORTRAIT OF A VICTORIAN GIRL, WE CALLED KATHERINE, AFTER THE OUIJA BOARD SPELLED OUT THE LETTERS OF HER NAME. YOU CAN GO BACK TO EARLY JANUARY AND READ ABOUT OUR ADVENTURES WITH THIS UNHAPPY CHILD……WHO HAS BEEN RATHER CALM, FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS, HANGING DOWN HERE ON MY OFFICE WALL. POINT IS, THERE ARE PROBABLY MANY ANTIQUE COLLECTORS AND DEALERS OUT THERE, WHO WILL (SHYLY) ATTEST TO HAVING BEEN IN THE PRESENCE, AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER, WITH A PIECE HAVING A LITTLE EXTRA PROVENANCE……A LITTLE SOMETHING MORE IN THE PATINA THAN THE WEAR OF AGES. STORIES ABOUND ABOUT ROCKING CHAIRS THAT PROPEL THEMSELVES, CRADLES THAT ROCK ON THEIR OWN, ORGANS AND PIANOS THAT PLAY WITHOUT THEIR KEYS BEING TOUCHED, THE SETEE THAT SHOWS THE DEPRESSION OF SOMEONE'S BEHIND……WHEN NOBODY, AT LEAST IN THIS MORTAL COIL, IS SITTING UPON IT……REGAINING ITS SHAPE LATER ON, WHEN THE SPIRIT-KIND MOVES ON TO ANOTHER HAUNT. THERE IS EVEN A STORY ABOUT A PRINTING PRESS THAT RUNS IN THE WEE HOURS, BUT DOESN'T ACTUALLY PRINT ANYTHING. IT MIGHT BE NONSENSE TO SOME OTHERS BUT MORE THAN JUST A FEW OF US HAVE HAD VERY PROFOUND EXPERIENCES WITH PARANORMALLY CHARGED ANTIQUES, THAT, WHILE NOT FRIGHTENING, DOES MAKE US SUSPICIOUS ENOUGH TO LEAVE THE MATTER OPEN TO DISCUSSION……AND FURTHER EVIDENCE. SOME ANTIQUE SHOP-KEEPS JUST KEEP ROLLING ON, AND CONSIDER THE VARIOUS PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES AS PART OF THE PROFESSION……WHETHER THE PARANORMAL QUALITIES AND QUANTITIES ARE ATTACHED TO THE BUILDING, THE SHOP'S LOCATION, OR THE ANTIQUES MAKING UP THE INVENTORY.

In our Bracebridge shop, our portion of the building was attached to a Victorian era house at the back. We had quite a number of paranormal experiences over the years, partly due to the fact we brought our disenchanted, adopted Victorian girl, into the store just to kill some wall space. As she did at home, the energy compressed in that girl's attitude, would knock books off the shelf, cause dolls to fall over, and occasionally, her own frame to topple off the wall-hook onto the floor. Always landing face up, and never hitting a single thing situated on the pine washstand directly below where she had been hanging. Although we didn't see this happen, it would appear, from her distance from the wall, that she actually rolled a distance, on her four flat sides, before falling back first……so that we could see her melancholy expression, as soon as we walked through the front door. After I took her into the store, every day she'd greet me in the morning by hanging crooked on the wall. She must have known I can't abide crooked wall hangings. Even when I got to visit other homes, I have to, with stealth, straighten the homeowner's art work, if it is less than perfectly hung. So I would fix her portrait about five times a day. In the morning, it was crooked by about six inches. Then, every morning, I'd open the store to find all of Suzanne's doll collection knocked over like dominoes. I suppose she was looking for the one she had as a child. She would also pull out books from the shelf, and occasionally, if she was really pissed about my late opening, topple books right off the shelving units. She always got my attention, that's for sure.

But there was more in the old building complex than Katherine's spirited portrait. Suzanne was the first of our family to spot the little old gent, she called "The Captain," with a blue suit coat and cap, similar to a uniform that might have been worn by steamship personnel, or a passenger train conductor. He would appear suddenly, standing a few feet from the sales counter. On his first visitation, as she was looking up to see what he wanted assistance with, casually asking if she could help him… another customer, more or less, walked right through him. It must have been quite a sight, because when I came back to the shop an hour later, she was still white with fright. "He was standing there staring at me, just as clear as you are," she said, suggesting that I was, at that moment, standing on the precise spot where the specter of "the Captain" had stood. "Then when this other customer came around the corner, she walked right through him; the little man had just disappeared." Suzanne has had quite a few ghost sightings, as have I over the course of a lifetime, and while we're not usually set-off like this, there are occasions when you have to dwell a wee bit, re-play the occurrence a few times, just to wrap your head around the potential that you just spoke to a ghost. In fact, it happened numerous times in the store, over about five years, and each time, the visitation came in the same general area, and the appearance was always brief. "I didn't worry too much about it," she said. "It was better if there was someone else in the store to talk with, instead of when he appeared, and there was no way of quickly normalizing to what may have just happened." She noted that "It wasn't that I was scared, but each time, it seemed to delight itself, by sneaking up on me, so that when I looked up, assuming a customer was in front, this little old man, in his uniform would just stare back, and then slowly fade away. I guess he just wanted to let me know he was watching me. Maybe it was a former owner, or resident. He means no harm. He's just curious, I suppose, about all the changes to the building."

In all the many hours I spent in the store, often alone, especially through the winter months, I never saw the wee gentleman of the house. I did however, hear phantom footsteps down the stairs almost daily. As it would take a few minutes for a customer to look at the first room, and then make it over to my sales desk in the second room, I'd just keep my eye on the doorway to my right, ready to welcome a visitor. I can't tell you how many hundred times, I had to satisfy myself, by getting up and out from behind my desk, to look in the first room to see if the customer had died or something. There would be no one in the store. No one, other than the proprietor, in the business upstairs. Frequently I could even hear the front door open, before the sound of the footfall. It was that real sounding. And there was no way anyone who came down those stairs, could have left the building without making a highly audible footfall up the stairs. There were other times that I'd swear to seeing a shadow in the lamplight of the connecting hall, and then nothing would appear in mortal form. There were other times, and these were frequent as well, that I would feel there was someone standing in front of the counter, but when I'd raise my head, there wouldn't even be a visible dust particle. With what Suzanne claims however, I'm pretty sure the old chap must have been doing the same to me, as he did when she was working a shift. I felt the stare but never saw the outline of anyone standing in front. I frequently smelled pipe tobacco in the store, where none was present, so I wonder if the little man was a smoker as well as a dutiful wandering spirit, checking out his former abode.

Despite having many interesting encounters, there was no dread attached. It always seemed more of an adventure anyway, and it's the way we've come to accept all things paranormal…..with great curiosity for tangible discovery. We just haven't run into the kind of unsettling apparitions that might send us fleeing while screaming. I'm told they exist but we've never felt in any danger, or that the sightings were connected to anything malevolent. Other than feeling a little surprised, and full of questions after these experiences, we just right-it-off as an inherent reality of being historically minded, and antique dealers by trade. I haven't done a scientific survey of antique dealers and collectors, to find out if they've had occasional paranormal encounters themselves, or if they are familiar with hitch-hiking entities attached to assorted antiques. But I'm willing to bet twenty-five percent have had some incidents, that seemed more than just a little odd……maybe cleaning out an estate in an old homestead……gathering up items purchased from an old hall, church or lodge, feeling that someone, something was watching your every move? Hearing someone speak your name, when no other person is close by? Looking for something you distinctly remember leaving in one location, and finding on return, it had been moved to another area of the house? I've read and heard many similar stories to ours. Nothing particularly special about our little old man, who never bought a single thing from our store……because he was just browsing.

As a little sidebar story about our sons' music shop in Gravenhurst. One day, when Robert was working alone, a young lad came into the store, dressed in a retro style, that looked like fashion of the 1960's, and asked him what movie was playing tonight. Robert just stared at him, asked him to repeat the question, and the boy complied. 'What's playing tonight?" Assuming he must have been asking about the former Muskoka Theatre, that occupied the building previously, in the town's history, Robert answered politely, "The theatre isn't open any more…..it's a music shop now." The young fella looked puzzled, but thanked Robert, turned and ran out the door. He wondered at that precise moment if he'd been the latest Currie to see a ghost. When he went to look out the door, to see if he could spot the kid running up the street, there was nothing. Thee wasn't another pedestrian on the block, and he couldn't see if he'd jumped into a parked vehicle. The kid was either very quick to get around the corner, or he was most definitely a time traveller from another period in history. To this day, Robert simply can't be sure if the boy was a figment of the imagination, a ghost, or the real article. He hasn't seen him since.

Like I said before, we have never been run-of-the-mill antique collector / dealers. We're far richer in stories and anecdotes than in money earned. But what a fascinating adventure it has been for all these years.

Thanks for joining this blog. Back soon. If you see any ghosts in the meantime? Let us know about it! Or at least say hello for us!