Phantom Shopper And The Antique Shop Keeper

The Antique Store Shopper Who Really Wasn't

     I was sitting in our recently opened antique wing, of our sons vintage music business, here in Gravenhurst, when all of a sudden, I had this strange deja-vu situation. I so clearly recalled an incident at a former store we operated, in Bracebridge, back in the early 1990's. The basement shop occupied a newer addition to an old Victorian house, on the upper end of the main street. It was in this small crowded shop, that Suzanne and I, began witnessing phantom customers. In the antique business, lots of weird things happen, and sometimes, the paranormal energy is brought into the subject shop, because a particular piece of furniture, a doll, cradle or cupboard, is still occupied by the spirit of a former owner. If you are interested in the paranormal, this will make sense. If you're a skeptic, it might still hit a nerve. If you are a total disbeliever in paranormal anything, then you probably won't want to waste your time on this speculative editorial. But here goes anyway. 

    While it might seem from the plethora of gathered stories, so far, that our family eagerly embraces the paranormal to the point of invention, we're still not at the point where ghostly encounters have meant anything more than a slight deviation of life's normal course. I'm reasonably sure many people have had paranormal experiences throughout their lives but opted to avoid even the most basic analysis or cross referencing, in order to authenticate the activity. I'm of the firm belief many of these experiences are a long, long way from what might be considered shockingly intrusive or frightening. Most are pretty passive events and nothing more than everso delicate messages from those who have passed. We in our house tend to be more receptive, and attentive to activities surrounding us, on any given day of the week or month. I don't sit around waiting for something paranormal to present itself but I don't run away scared if all of a sudden a smell of lilacs or a bell mysteriously ringing goes otherwise unexplained. And we don't blame everything on the paranormal; and are quick to find any other source that could explain our sensory intrusion. Quite a few events around us, are accepted but largely unexplained but always welcome none the less.

     I've had exposure to strange encounters most of my life, and Suzanne has had a few but none that were the fuel of public notoriety, such as to facilitate the inking of a movie deal. If you have read many paranormal stories, and are familiar with ghostly encounters yourself, our stories are about as run-of-the-mill as you can get. Nothing particularly spectacular when compared to stories about haunted castles and spiritfull misty moors. Ours are really what might be expected of interesting, somewhat hard to explain encounters.....none of them threatening although possibly a tad unsettling. What we do have is an open minded approach to new and interesting things in this crazy old life. We couldn't possibly rule out the existence of ghosts or Unidentified Flying Objects, or for that matter goblins, fairies, trolls, hobbits, and other assorted wee beasties, internationally acclaimed writers have been telling us about for centuries......we just haven't worked to disprove their existence because frankly it doesn't bother us either way. If we found a fairy in our garden we wouldn't try to snatch it up as a trophy. We'd just be delighted our garden was good enough to provide habitat.

     In every single encounter we have had individually or as a family, we have never been led in that particular direction by, as an example, having just watched a horror flick, or just prior to...., reading about a haunting, or anything else that would have made us anticipate something lurking in the shadows. The encounters have all been when, as they say, we would least expect anything out of the ordinary. There had not been any stimulus to invent paranormal discovery. It just happened out of the blue or the dark depending on the time of day. Each time we have had an experience we might label in the paranormal domain, or at least close, we always try to find reasons it might have been mind over matter. And we never suggest for a moment that what we have witnessed, or sensed, is clear fact the paranormal has been at work.....because as researchers recognize, it isn't that easy to bag a photo of a wayward, passing by, or lodging-in-your-house "spirit," for proof you've been touched by the paranormal. We don't as a rule hunt ghosts or try to get rid of any we do find. Live and let haunt I hear some folks say. As historians by profession however, we cross reference fact and very often find fiction lurking within, and we adore refuting long held historical claims by applying good research skills. We've ticked a few folks off in our bailiwick who preferred the old and trusted histories of the region, very much disliking those historical activists who delve too deeply. Thusly, when we put forward our tales of the paranormal, they are just that.....tales, because we can not prove beyond doubt that what we encountered is the work of the spirit-kind.

    One such strange but unproven encounter, that developed twice, visually, occurred once again at our former antique shop in Bracebridge. We had dolls tipped over previously, and a famous haunted portrait we own, hanging askew each morning, over a period of half a year. On the first occasion it had been a busy afternoon with a lot of tourist traffic passing through the basement shop. It was a strange location in many ways. Our shop was situated in a modern storefront addition that had been built onto the front of a large Victorian house that had once been occupied by the local undertaker. You couldn't get into the house from the addition and the original building had been divided into apartments. The creaking and groaning of the modified building never stopped, and it was common several times a day to hear footsteps coming down the stairs, only to find no one arriving in the shop. In the early years of the store, our sales desk was in a larger second room to the left, a sharp turn at the bottom of the stairs, such that we couldn't see who was coming in until they rounded the corner into the main shop. If they went straight into the room at the bottom of the stairs, we might only hear the tinkling of china or pinging of crystal, as a shopper(s) tested the wares. Lots of times we would get up and actually go to the room to see if any one had actually belonged to the footfall. We just wrote it off to a settling building and the constant pounding of heavy traffic up the main street.

    Late this particular afternoon, Suzanne looked up from bookwork at the counter, to see an elderly bearded man in an old coat, with what appeared to be a captain's hat on his head, standing a few feet in front. She was about to say "hello" to the sudden guest of the shop, when the figure simply vanished into thin air. Yet she could describe his facial features and clothing, his height and expression as clearly as you would any customer, who appears at your sales desk, with an enquiry or a request to purchase. Several weeks later, in pretty much the same circumstance as the first encounter, Suzanne felt a presence near the counter, looked up to see if someone needed help, and saw the same gentleman standing in front as before. She thought at first that she had been too quick to judge the gentleman's visit, the first time, as a ghostly encounter; due to the fact he was obviously interested in something in our shop. As she pulled up from the chair to properly address the chap, still standing within a few metres of the counter, he simply turned and vanished as quietly and mysteriously as he had arrived. It did leave my wife rubbing her eyes wondering just how the lighting in the store was creating this illusion of a short bearded man in a uniform. In retrospect, what she did see, was not a chap from the 1990's, but someone dressed characteristic of many decades previous. It had the usual trappings of "I've seen a ghost." Suzanne was looking for another sale for the day, but instead got a twice disappearing customer . She just didn't understand the message you might say.

     There are many stories about the folks who used to dwell in this particular Victorian era house, one being that a sickly relative had lived and suffered from a long and serious ailment alone in the attic, over many years; eventually passing away in that same section of the old home. Once again as historians, we have not verified this claim by a former resident. Suzanne has no doubt about the man she saw but whether it was the deceased attic-dweller, we will probably never know. I never saw the chap in my days at the store but I did hear the phantom footsteps, at least once every day, for more than five years. Still, it was a good location for our shop, and during its run we enjoyed a pretty good volume of sales. We gave it up to pursue new business opportunities in Gravenhurst, a town ten miles south of Bracebridge but we still have a soft spot for the Birch Hollow location of once.

      Our two room shop today isn't haunted. There are pieces in our antique collection that may be, because we sense those strange vibes that come from antiques, greatly loved by previous owners. We had a customer recently, who asked to hold one of our Victorian era dolls. The moment she picked it up, and held it to her chest, the smile on the customer's face indicated the obvious. The doll had a new owner. It wasn't based on pristine condition. Far from it. The sale was based on compatible auras. One human, one paranormal. When she came in a short while later, the lady once again asked if she could hold another doll from the showcase. I watched this unfold, believing she would do exactly the same, and choose to purchase the second doll. There was no hesitation, no smile, no embrace, just the statement, "I'm sorry, but this dolly is not for me," and handed it back, as if it possessed a negative aura, she could not accept. The girl left the store, looking back, and hasn't been back in months. Welcome to the antique business. We get this all the time. But I very much appreciate the vibe that comes from historic pieces. The doll that the customer rejected wasn't possessed by anything evil…….but it most definitely spoke to the customer, in a very subtle and engaging way. Honestly, this is exactly how Suzanne and I shop, without knowing it, being compelled to buy certain antiques, and being repelled by other parallel pieces…..simply because of our sense of compatibility. Sometimes profit is the last consideration, and I know that doesn't make much business sense. In the antique trade, we come to accept the paranormal as the patina of aging. Not extraordinary. Just the history within, good or bad.