FROM THE MUSKOKA HOMESTEAD TO MODERN TIMES - THE STORIES CARRY-ON

Fall Splendor -  Vibrant Fall Colours displayed their beautiful variety of reds and yellows along with some evergreens across a field located on the Southwood Wood at the corner of Sparrow Lake Route D near Kilworthy.   Sunday’s beautiful weather was the ideal day for a drive in the country to enjoy this wonderful time of year. (Photo by Fred Schulz)

THE FOLK TALES AND SAYINGS THAT ARE STILL MAKING THE ROUNDS

FROM THE MUSKOKA HOMESTEADS INTO THE MODERN ERA


     "THE FIRST DEATH IN THE SETTLEMENT (SOUTH MUSKOKA), WAS THAT OF POOR JOHNSTON; HE WAS DROWNED AT SEVERN BRIDGE, ONE SUNDAY WHILST FISHING. THE POOR WIDOW STRUGGLED WITH HER TWO LITTLE BOYS - THE OLDER NOT MORE THAN NINE YEARS - AND, WITH THEIR HELP, SHE MANAGED BEFORE SHE DIED, TO CLEAR ABOUT EIGHT OR NINE ACRES; BUT ALAS FELL IN THE HARNESS."
     THE PASSAGE ABOVE, WAS CONTAINED IN THE INTRODUCTION OF THOMAS MCMURRAY'S SETTLEMENT GUIDEBOOK, "MUSKOKA AND PARRY SOUND," CIRCA 1872. THE PLENTIFUL WATER, AND THE DEATHS DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTED TO IT, CREATED MANY FOLK STORIES AND SUPERSTITIONS, PARTICULARLY RELATED TO WHITE WATER AND UNDERTOW. I REMEMBER ONE OLD-TIMER TELLING ME, THAT HE KNEW OF RAPIDS THAT HAD A CONCLUDING UNDERTOW, THAT WOULD TAKE A FULL LENGH LOG, AND COMPLETELY STRIP IT OF BARK, BEFORE LETTING IT OUT OF ITS PULL. IT HAD ALSO TAKEN MANY HUMAN LIVES THE SAME WAY. JUST AS MANY FOLK STORIES TOLD OF HARDSHIPS ON THE BACKWOODS HOMESTEAD, AND THOSE WHO SUCCUMBED TO THE BURDEN OF WORK, AND THE POOR FARM ECONOMY. SO MCMURRAY HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD, WITH THIS PARAGRAPH, BECAUSE WATER AND HOMESTEADING WERE A DEADLY DUO, AT THIS TIME OF THE HOMESTEAD GRANTS. MUSKOKA WAS HOWEVER, FERTILE GROUND FOR THE CREATION OF THESE FOLK STORIES. IT'S ONE GOOD THING ABOUT HARDSHIP.....PEOPLE WANT TO COMPARE EXPERIENCES.
     "A PENNYSLYVANNIA GERMAN STORY OF THE WILL-O'-WHISP;..... ONCE UPON A TIME, AS A YOUNG MAN WAS PASSING THROUGH A CLEARING AT NIGHT, HE SAW A BRIGHT LIGHT AND ON APPROACHING THE SPOT WHERE IT WAS, HE FOUND IT ON THE SIDE OF A STUMP. HE CAUGHT IT, BUT ON SO DOING, SO FOUND HIMSELF IN THE CLUTCHES OF THE BLACK MAN (THE DEVIL?)."
     THE STORY ABOVE WAS ONCE AGAIN, HARVESTED FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA BOOKLET, PREVIOUSLY USED IN THIS SERIES, ON LOCAL FOLKLORE, ENTITLED "FOLK-LORE OF WATERLOO COUNTY, ONTARIO, BULLETIN NO 116, ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES NO. 28," RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN BY W.J. WINTEMBERG. IT WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1950, FROM RESEARCH UNDERTAKING IN THE 1940'S, BY THE FOLK-LORE HISTORIAN.
     IN MUSKOKA, WE GLAMORIZE OUR MARINE HERITAGE AND SPEND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON ITS CONSERVATION AND PROMOTION, AS A GENEROUS SPARK TO THE CONTEMPORARY TOURISM INDUSTRY. THERE IS A HUGE ATTENTION DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF COMMUNITY MILESTONES, IN DEVELOPMENT, ECONOMICS AND POLITICS. WHILE THERE IS COVERAGE OF NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DISASTERS, IN SOME OF THESE LOCAL PUBLISHED HISTORIES, AND A CURSORY OVERVIEW OF PIONEER LIFE, DUE TO ITS ROMANTICISM, THE UNFORTUNATE FACT IS, THE STUDY AND CONSERVATION OF LOCAL FOLK-LORE IS POOR TO ALMOST NON-EXISTENT. YET IT IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND ENLIGHTENING ASPECTS OF LOCAL HISTORY, WHEN GIVEN THE RIGHT EXPOSURE. MOST OFTEN HOMESTEAD HERITAGE STICKS TO THE BASICS, AND MUSEUMS FEEL COMPELLED TO HAVE PIONEER EXHIBITS, ESPECIALLY FARM IMPLEMENTS AND EARLY KITCHEN-WARES, AND OF COURSE, THE TRADITONAL IRON COOK STOVE. IF YOU WERE TO ASK A MAJORITY OF THESE MUSEUM CURATORS, TO PROFILE THE EARLY FOLK-LORE THAT WAS WIDELY EXPRESSED AND BELIEVED, IN THIS SAME PIONEERING ERA, YOU'D GET NOTHING MORE THAN A PUBLIC RELATIONS FOBBING-OFF, OR AT THE MOST, A CURSORY OVERVIEW WITHOUT MUCH MEAT ON THE OLD BONES. I'VE BEEN INVOLVED WITH MUSEUMS IN MUSKOKA, AND THIS IS THE COMMON FARE. UNFORTUNATELY, THESE SAME CURATORS AND MUSEUM STAFF, DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO THE BEST OF THE BEST FOLK-TALES, BECAUSE LOCAL HISTORIANS, EXCEPT A FEW, HAVEN'T DONE MUCH TO RESEARCH AND EXPOSE SOME OF THE RICHEST VEINS OF CULTURAL HERITAGE.
      WHAT CULTURAL HERITAGE? WHAT FOLK-LORE? WHO CARES ANYWAY? FOLK-LORE DOESN'T IMPACT HISTORICAL FACT. OR DOES IT? WELL, I'LL LET YOU BE THE JUDGE. HERE ARE SOME FOLK STORIES FROM THE WINTEMBERG MANUSCRIPT, AND ALTHOUGH IT DEALS LARGELY WITH SETTLERS OF GERMAN STOCK, THE STORIES GENERALLY HAVE PARALLELS IN MOST OF THE NATIONALITIES, CULTURES AND RELIGIONS THAT SHOWED UP, TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE MUSKOKA FREE LAND GRANTS AND HOMESTEADS ACT, OF THE LATE 1860'S......THE FOLKS WHO OCCUPIED THOSE ISOLATED LOG HOMESTEADS, SOME STARVING OR FREEZING TO DEATH DURING THE BITTER AND LONG MUSKOKA WINTERS. HERE ARE A FEW THAT WERE UNDOUBTEDLY CIRCULATED, WITH SLIGHT DIFFERENCES, AMONGST THE EUROPEAN POPULATION, INCLUDING ENGLISH, IRISH, SCOTTISH, ICELANDIC, NORWEGIAN, GERMAN, DANES AND SWEDES IN THOSE OPENING YEARS OF FEDERAL INTEREST, IN POPULATING THE WILDS OF THE PROVINCE.
      "WALKING IN THE WATER; THE WRITER'S FATHER (WINTEMBERG), RELATES A STORY THAT HE HEARD FROM AN OLD ALSATIAN NAMED KUTLER, LONG SINCE DECEASED. KUTLER SAID THERE WAS ONCE A WIZARD WHO WAS STANDING WITH A NUMBER OF OTHER MEN IN FRONT OF A TAVERN. IN THE DISTANCE HE SAW SOME WOMEN COMING TO MARKET, CARRYING THEIR PRODUCE ON THEIR HEADS. AS SOON AS THEY CAME CLOSE, THE WIZARD HAILED THE FOREMOST - A VERY GARRULOUS WOMAN - AT THE SAME TIME REMARKING TO THE BYSTANDERS THAT HE WOULD HAVE SOME FUN AT THE WOMEN'S EXPENSE. THEY HAD TO WADE THROUGH A SHALLOW STREAM BEFORE THEY ENTERED THE TOWN, AND, OF COURSE, HAD TO RAISE THEIR SKIRTS TO KEEP THEM FROM GETTING DEEPER AND DEEPER, THOUGH IN REALITY THEY WERE WALKING ON DRY LAND, AND THEY LIFTED THEIR SKIRTS HIGHER AND HIGHER, QUITE UNCONSCIOUS OF THE MIRTH THEY WERE PROVOKING."
     "A MAISTRE PIERRE PATHELIN STORY - ONCE A MAN WAS ARRESTED FOR SOME CRIME HE HAD COMMITTED, AND WHEN HE CONSULTED HIS LAWYER THE LATTER ASKED HIM TO BE HONEST, AND TELL HIM WHETHER HE WAS GUILTY OR NOT. THE MAN ADMITTED HIS GUILT. THE LAWYER PROMISED TO GET HIM FREE BY ENTERING A PLEA OF INSANITY ON CONDITION THAT HE PAY HIM A CERTAIN SUM OF MONEY ON THE CONCLUSION OF THE TRIAL," WRITES, WINTEMBERG. "THE MAN WAS TO ACT HIS PART BY REPLYING TO EVERY QUESTION THAT WAS PUT TO HIM BY RUNNING HIS EXTENDED INDEX FINGER HORIZONTALLY ACROSS HIS MOUTH, AT THE SAME TIME PRODUCING A WHISTLING NOISE. WHEN THE TRIAL CAME OFF, THE LAWYER HAD MANAGED TO BE THE FIRST ONE TO ASK THE PRISONER A QUESTION, AND THE MAN DID AS HE WAS REQUESTED. THE OTHER LAWYER THEN FOLLOWED WITH A QUESTION AND RECEIVED A LIKE REPLY. THEN THE PRESIDING JUDGE, BECOMING ANGRY, THOUGHT HE WOULD TRY, BUT HIS QUESTION WAS GREETED WITH THE SAME REPLY, AND THIS CONVINCED HIM THAT THE MAN WAS INSANE; SO HE DISCHARGED HIM FROM CUSTODY. THE MAN HASTENED AWAY, BUT THE LAWYER RAN AFTER HIM AND HIS DEMAND FOR HIS FEE WAS MET WITH THE SAME RESPONSE." A SIMPLE STORY ABOUT MORALS AND RETALIATION. THE LAWYER GAVE HIS CLIENT GOOD ADVICE, BUT THEN IT WAS USED ON HIM. IF HE HAD TOLD THE JUDGE THE LAWYER HAD URGED HIM TO LIE, AND THAT HE WASN'T INSANE, THEN HIS LEGAL CAREER WOULD HAVE BEEN SERIOUSLY COMPROMISED IF NOT CONCLUDED.
    "ONCE THERE WERE TWO TAILOR'S APPRENTICES WHO WERE BOTH ASPIRANTS FOR THE HAND OF THE MASTER-TAILOR'S DAUGHTER. THEIR MASTER TOLD THEM THAT THE ONE WHO WOULD FINISH A COAT THE SOONEST, COULD HAVE HER FOR HIS WIFE. SO THEY BOTH STARTED. ONE THREADED HIS NEEDLE WITH A LONG PIECE OF THREAD AND OTHER STARTED WITH A SHORT PIECE. THE ONE WHO HAD THE LONG THREAD THOUGHT HE WOULDN'T HAVE TO THREAD HIS NEEDLE SO OFTEN, AND THUS, HE WOULD GAIN TIME. THE OTHER ONE KNEW, AS EVERY GOOD TAILOR KNOWS, THAT THE ONE USING THE SHORT THREAD COULD SEW QUICKER. SO, BECAUSE THE LONG THREAD OF HIS RIVAL WAS CONTINUALLY FORMING KNOTS AND IN OTHER WAYS KEEPING HIM BACK, THE ONE WHO USED THE SHORT THREAD COMPLETED HIS TASK FIRST, AND WON THE DAUGHTER. THIS STORY IS TOLD TO THE APPRENTICE WHEN HE BEGINS TO WORK IN A GERMAN TAILOR'S SHOP."
     THE AUTHOR WRITES ABOUT "THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE:" "THERE IS A CURIOUS LEGEND CONNECTED WITH A BRIDGE THAT SPANS SOME TRIBUTARY OF THE RHINE FORMING THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN ALSACE AND SWITZERLAND. WHEN THIS BRIDGE WAS BEING BUILT, AN ALMOST INSURMOUNTABLE DIFFICULTY AROSE. BEELZEBUB, ALWAYS WILLING TO WIN A HUMAN SOUL, OFFERED TO AID THE BUILDERS ON CONDITION THAT THE FIRST LIVING BEING THAT CROSSED THAT BRIDGE SHOULD BE HIS, AND HE SENT ONE OF HIS IMPS TO HELP. THE BRIDGE BUILDER, BEING AWARE OF THE EXTREME GULLIBILITY OF THE FIEND, CONSENTED, BUT OUTWITTED HIM, FOR AS SOON AS THE BRIDGE WAS COMPLETED, HE BROUGH A BLACK GOAT, AND PLACING IT BEFORE HIM, PUSHED IT ACROSS THE BRIDGE. BEELZEBUB'S IMP, IN HIS RAGE AT BEING OUTWITTED, GRASPED THE GOAT BY THE HORNS, AND HURLED IT THROUGH THE FLOOR OF THE BRIDGE. EVERY OLD ALSATIAN WHO COMES FROM THIS PART OF ALSACE WILL SOLEMNLY AVER THAT THE HOLE IS STILL THERE, BECAUSE ALL EFFORTS AT REPAIRING THE BREACH ARE FRUSTRATED BY BEELZEBUB'S IMPS."
     HE WRITES THEN ABOUT "A FAIRY WIFE OF NIGHTMARE." "THE GABLE ENDS OF THE ALSATIAN PEASANT'S LOG HOUSE WERE COVERED WITH BOARDS, AND BETWEEN THESE WERE CRACKS THAT WERE SOMETIMES NOT CLOSED EVEN IN THE DEPTH OF WINTER, ALTHOUGH THIS PART OF THE HUT OFTEN WAS THE SLEEPING APARTMENT OF SOME MEMBER OF THE PEASANT'S FAMILY. IT WAS IN A ROOM OF THIS SORT THAT A YOUNG ALSATIAN SLEPT. HE WAS VISITED EVERY NIGHT BY A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN - A SORT OF FAIRY - WHO ALWAYS ENTERED AND DISAPPEARED THROUGH ONE OF THE CREVICES BETWEEN THE BOARDS. AS IS USUAL IN SUCH CASES, THE YOUNG MAN FELL IN LOVE WITH THE BEAUTIFUL VISITANT, AND RESOLVED TO SECURE HER FOR HIS WIFE; SO HE TOLD HIS FATHER OF HIS DETERMINATION. HIS FATHER ADVISED HIM TO HAVE ALL THE CRACKS BETWEEN THE BOARDS, EXCEPTING ONE, CLOSED, AND WHEN THE MAIDEN WAS IN THE ROOM, HE WAS TO TAKE A KNIFE AND INSERT IT IN THE APERTURE THROUGH WHICH SHE ENTERED. THIS WAS DONE, AND ONE MORNING THE YOUNG MAN WAS OVERJOYED TO FIND HIS BEAUTIFUOL VISITOR STILL IN HIS ROOM. THEY WERE MARRIED AND LIVED TOGETHER FOR NEARLY ELEVEN YEARS, AND HAD FIVE CHILDREN. THE MAN FELT CONFIDENT THAT HIS WIFE WOULD NOW STAY WITH HIM, AND ONE DAY, WHILE MAKING SOME IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HOUSE, HE REMOVED THE KNIFE, AND AT THE SAME MOMENT HIS WIFE VANISHED AND NEVER RETURNED. SEVERAL SIMILAR STORIES ARE CITED BY HARTLAND IN HIS 'SCIENCE OF FAIRY TALES.' HE MAKES THE FOLLOWING COMMENT ON ONE PARTICULAR FEATURE OF THESE STORIES; IN THE NIGHTMARE TYPE, OF THE SWAM MAIDEN GROUP OF STORIES, THE WIFE CANNOT TAKE THE WOODEN STOPPER OUT OF THE HOLE THROUGH WHICH SHE ENTERED, BUT, DIRECTLY, IT IS REMOVED BY ANOTHER, SHE VANISHES."
    A FASCINATING STORY IS TOLD BY WINTEMBERG ENTITLED "THE BLACKSMITH AND BEELZEBUB'S IMPS." IT GOES LIKE THIS: "ONCE UPON A TIME THERE LIVED, IN A CERTAIN TOWN IN ALSACE, A BLACKSMITH WHO HAD SOLD HIMSELF TO THE DEVIL. THIS DEVIL GAVE HIM THE POWER TO HOLD THE PERSON WHO PICKED NAILS OUT OF HIS SHOEING-BOX, SAT IN A CERTAIN CHAIR IN HIS HOUSE, OR ASCENDED A HIGH PEAR TREE IN HIS GARDEN. WISHING TO OBTAIN SOME MORE MONEY, THE BLACKSMITH AGAIN SOLD HIMSELF, BUT THIS TIME TO BEELZEBUB, THE PRINCE OF DEVILS, WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FABULOUSLY RICH. THE BLACKSMITH WAS TO GET SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS, BEELZEBUB HAVING THE RIGHT TO CLAIM HIM, BODY AND SOUL, AT THE THE END OF TWENTY YEARS. WHEN THIS TIME EXPIRED, BEELZEBUB SENT ONE OF HIS IMPS TO CLAIM THE BLACKSMITH. THE LATTER ASKED THE IMP IF HE WOULD HELP HIM FOR HE WAS VERY BUSY. THE IMP WAS WILLING, SO THE BLACKSMITH TOLD HIM TO PICK THE BENT SHOENAILS OUT OF HIS SHOEING-BOX, BUT AS SOON AS HE PUT HIS HAND IN THE BOX, HE BECMAE POWERLESS AND COULD NOT MOVE. THEN THE BLACKSMITH, IN GREAT GLEE, HEATED A PAIR OF TONGS AND BEGAN TO PINCH THE IMP. AFTER TORTURING HIM TO HIS HEART'S CONTENT, HE RELEASED HIM FROM THE SPELL, AND THE IMP RETURNED TO BEELZEBUB. BEELZEBUB THEN SENT ANOTHER IMP, AND THE OTHER ONE HAVING RELATED HIS EXPERIENCE, THIS ONE WAS A LITTLE MORE CAUTIOUS. WHEN THE IMP ARRIVED, THE BLACKSMITH WAS JUST GOING INTO THE HOUSE TO EAT HIS DINNER, SO HE INVITED HIM TO COME IN ALSO, AND TOLD HIM TO SIT DOWN WHILE HE WASHED AND GOT READY FOR DINNER. THE UNSUSPECTING IMP, SEEING NO OTHER CHAIR IN THE ROOM, SAT DOWN IN THE MAGIC CHAIR, AND THEREUPON CAME UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE BLACKSMITH'S SPELL. THE BLACKSMITH RETURNED TO HIS SHOP AND HEATED SOME IRONS WITH WHICH HE TORMENTED THE UNLUCKY IMP, MORE THAN HE DID THE OTHER; THEN RELEASING HIM FROM THE SPELL, HE SAT DOWN AND ATE HIS FOOD, CONFIDENT BEELZEBUB WOULD NOW BE WILLING TO LET HIM LIVE IN PEACE.
     "BUT FIEND, UNDAUNTED, SENT ANOTHER IMP. THE BLACKSMITH HAD STILL ANOTHER METHOD OF ESCAPE - THE HIGH PEAR TREE. AT THIS PARTICULAR TIME THE TOPMOST BRANCHES BORE SOME LARGE JUICY PEARS. WHEN THE IMP APPEARED THE BLACKSMITH TOLD HIM ABOUT HIS PEAR-TREE AND THE PEARS THAT WERE RIPE AND WHICH, OWING TO THE FACT HE AND HIS APPRENTICE WERE BUSY, AND ALSO BECAUSE HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER WERE UNABLE TO CLIMB TO SUCH A HEIGHT, WOULD SPOIL IF THEY WERE NOT SOON PICKED OFF THE TREE. SO HE ASKED THE IMP IF HE WOULD KINDLY UNDERTAKE TO PICK THEM FOR HIM. THE IMP, EAGER TO CLAIM THIS TROUBLESOME SOUL FOR HIS MASTER, CLIMBED THE TREE, BUT AS SOON AS HE WAS UP AMIDST THE BRANCHES HE BECAME POWERLESS. THE BLACKSMITH THEN CALLED HIS APPRENTICES AND THEY HEATED UP SOME LONG IRON RODS WITH WHICH THEY TORTURED HIM UNTIL THEY THOUGHT HE HAD ENOUGH. BEELZEBUB COULD NOT GET ANOTHER IMP TO GO FOR THE BLACKSMITH, AND SO HE WAS LEFT IN PEACE."
     ON THE SUBJECT OF "RENDERING ONESELF INVISIBLE AT PLEASURE," THE AUTHOR-HISTORIAN WRITES, "THE POWER OF MAKING HIMSELF INVISIBLE WOULD BE THE GREAT 'DESIDERATUM,' OF A MEDIAEVAL MAGICIAN. THE BELIEF IN THIS MAGIC POWER APPEARS TO BE CONFINED TO THE TEUTONIC RACES. THE ICELANDERS BELIVE 'THAT THERE IS A STONE OF SUCH WONDEROUS POWER THAT THE POSSESSOR CAN WALK INVISIBLE.' AND IN ONE OF GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES, 'THE RAVEN,' THIS POWER IS CONFERRED ON A PERSON BY WEARING A CERTAIN CLOAK. THE OLDER GERMANS OF THE COUNTRY OF WATERLOO BELIEVED THAT A PERSON COULD BECOME INVISIBLE BY PLACING A CERTAIN BONE OF A BLACK CAT, BETWEEN THE TEETH. THAT CAT WAS TO BE STOLEN, AND AT MIDNIGHT PUT INTO A KETTLE A BOILED.
     "WHEN THE BODY WAS BOILED TO A PULP, THE BONES WERE TO BE PICKED OUT OF THE MESS AND PLACED BETWEEN THE TEETH. WHILE PERFORMING THIS OPERATION, THE PERSON LOOKED IN A MIRROR, AND WHEN HE FOUND THE RIGHT BONE HE COULD NO LONGER SEE HIS REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR. MR. W.W. NEWELL, THE EDITOR OF THE 'JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE,' IN COMMENTING ON THIS SUPERSTITION, SAYS, 'HOW SINGULAR SUCH A BELIEF, RETAINED TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY! THE UNDERLYING IDEA IS OBVIOUS. A BLACK CAT, AS A WITCH, POSSESSES THE ABILITY OF TRANSFORMATION; AND SUCH MAGIC POWER MUST BE DUE TO SOME PARTICULAR ELEMENT OF THE ORGANISM' THE THING TO BE DONE IS TO DISCOVER THAT ELEMENT, WHICH CONFERS ON ITS POSSESSOR A LIKE POTENCY. THUS THE SURVIVAL OF THE PRESENT DAY GIVES A GLIMPSE INTO THE PREHISTORIC CONCEPTS OF MILLENNIALS AGO'."
     IN CONCLUSION, THE AUTHOR, WINTEMBERG NOTES, "THE GATHERING AND PRESERVATION OF ITEMS OF FOLK-LORE IS ALMOST AS IMPORTANT AS THE COLLECTION OF HISTORICAL RECORDS. TO THE FUTURE STUDENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY, THEY WILL BE OF INCALCULABLE VALUE. WE ALL ARE MORE OR LESS SUPERSTITIOUS, THOUGH MANY SCORN TO ADMIT IT. THE LARGE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS WHO ANNUALLY FLOCK TO OUR SHORES ARE 'CHUCK-FULL,' OF SUPERSTITION, AND IT IS ONE OF THE DUTIES OF THE FOLKLORIST TO GATHER FROM THE LIPS OF THESE PEOPLE, THE DARLING FAITHS AND SUPERSTITIOUS PRACTICES OF THEIR DAILY LIVES. WE HAVE WITH US BESIDE THE ABORIGINES, REPRESENTATION OF NEARLY EVERY EUROPEAN RACE - ENGLISH, SCOTCH, IRISH, WELSH, FRENCH, GERMAN, DUTCH, RUSSIAN, SLAV, RUTHENIAN, ITALIAN, AND GALICIAN. EVERY CITY AND NEARLY EVERY TOWN HAS SUCH ORIENTALS, JEWS, SYRIANS, ARMENIANS, AND CHINESE. THOUGH THE LAST-NAMED MAY NEVER BECOME PERMANENT CITIZENS, (REFLECTION OF THE TIMES, AS REGARDS TO THE CHINESE), THEIR IDEAS REGARDING ETHICS AND THEIR SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS WILL BE OF GREAT VALUE TO THE STUDENT OF COMPARATIVE FOLK-LORE, AND EVERY EFFORT SHOULD BE MADE TO GATHER AND PRESERVE ORAL TRADITIONS OF THESE PEOPLE. THIS SHOULD BE DONE BEFORE ALL KNOWLEDGE OF THEM HAS PARISHED. THROUGH THE COLLATION AND STUDY OF THE FOLK-LORE OF THESE VARIED RACES, WE MAY HOPE TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE BELIEFS AND IMAGININGS, AND THE 'HOPES AND FEARS,' OF OUR OWN ARYAN FOREFATHERS." KEEP IN MIND THIS WAS WRITTEN FIRST IN THE 1940'S, AND THERE ARE REFERENCES TO THE CHINESE, AS CANADIANS CITIZENS, THAT IS OUT OF PLACE, AND OF COURSE, MISTAKEN.
     THE CULTURES AND RELIGIONS OF THE SETTLERS, WHO RESPECTED THESE TIME-HONORED AND MATURED STORIES OF "THE FANTASTIC;" FOLK-LORE THAT EMBODIED THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HISTORY, THE SUPERNATURAL AND WHAT PREVAILED AS NATURALLY-PRESENT, GAVE THEM A RICH VOLUME OF LEGEND AND LORE, TO DISCUSS ON THOSE LONELY HOMESTEAD NIGHTS, SITTING BY THE CRACKLING FIRE. THEY WERE TOLD AND RE-TOLD, AND OF COURSE EMBELLISHED, WITH KEEN PRIDE BY THESE NEWCOMERS, FACING THEIR DEMONS IN A HARSH ENVIRONS. THE FOLK-TALES AND SUPERSTITIONS, WERE AS DIVERSE AS THE PLACES OF ORIGIN OF THESE PEOPLE. THEY BROUGHT WITH THEM MANY FASCINATING FOLK-TALES, SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS IN THE PARANORMAL GENERALLY, THAT THEY FORMED, WITHOUT ACTUALLY INTENDING TO, INTO A DEEP, RICH FOLK-PATINA ACROSS THE HINTERLAND.....FROM ACCOUNTS OF WITCHES AND DEMONS MUCKING ABOUT, TO TROLLS AND OGRES LIVING UNDER BRIDGES, OR IN THE CREVICES OF ROCKS ON CLIFF-SIDES. THERE WERE POCKETS OF WOODLAND, CONSIDERED PRECARIOUS BECAUSE OF NASTY FAIRIES (YES THERE WERE), WHO SOUGHT REVENGE FOR SOME PERCEIVED SLIGHT; AREAS OF THE FOREST THAT WERE SAID TO BE HAUNTED BY GHOSTS OF TRAVELLERS WHO MET THEIR FATE THERE, BY UNNAMED MISFORTUNE. AND WHEN I WAS GROWING UP IN MUSKOKA, IN THE MID 1960'S, I HEARD MANY OF THESE SAME STORIES AND WARNINGS, ABOUT THE PLACES WE LOVED TO HIKE-THROUGH; SWIMMING HOLES WE LOVED TO ATTEND FOR SUMMER RECREATIONS.
     IN MORE CONTEMPORARY TIMES, GROWING UP IN BRACEBRIDGE, WE WERE TOLD TO STAY AWAY FROM THE LOCAL HOBO JUNGLE, THE HELTER SKELTER ENCAMPMENT, ALONG THE RAIL LINE, TOWARD FALKENBURG, BECAUSE THESE QUESTIONABLE CHARACTERS POSSESSED MURDEROUS INTENTIONS; OR IF THEY DIDN'T KILL US, WOULD FORCE US UP ONTO THE PASSING FREIGHT TRAINS, AS THEIR NEW TRAVEL SLAVES.
    I CAN REMEMBER MY MOTHER TELLING ME, THAT THE LOCAL FATHERS OF THE SOCIETY OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, WOULD PUT WAYWARD CHILDREN IN THE BLACK BAGS THEY USED TO CARRY DOWNTOWN IN THOSE YEARS. SHE NEVER SAID WHAT THEY WANTED CHILDREN FOR, SO I ASSUMED IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN FOR A TASTY COUNTRY STEW. HEY, I WAS A KID, AND THE STORIES SEEMED PLAUSIBLE. THESE WERE STORIES TOLD TO SCARE US FROM BOTHERING THESE CHAPS, ON THEIR DAILY HIKES AROUND OUR NEIGHBORHOOD; THE OLD COMPOUND WAS ONLY SEVERAL BLOCKS AWAY FROM WHERE I LIVED; HOUSING WHAT WAS KNOWN WIDELY, EVEN THEN, AS THE "HAUNTED" MONASTERY. THE BLACK BAGS, BY THE WAY, WERE FOR PICKING UP THE MAIL AT THE MAINSTREET POST OFFICE, AND THERE WAS NEVER A SINGLE REPORT OF A CHILD ABDUCTION VIA "MAIL BAG." IT WASN'T JUST FROM THE PIONEER ERA THAT WE GOT OUR LOCAL FOLK-LORE. I CAN REMEMBER, AS THE THEN EDITOR OF THE HERALD-GAZETTE, IN THE 1980'S, GOING ALONG WITH A FABRICATED STORY, PLANTED BY THE CONTRACTORS, BUILDIING THE WELLINGTON STREET BRIDGE, OVER THE MUSKOKA RIVER...., REPORTING THAT POISONOUS WATER MOCCASIN SNAKES, HAD BEEN ACCIDENTALLY BROUGHT TO MUSKOKA, FROM THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES; HAVING SLITHERED INTO THE NOOKS AND CRANNIES OF THE PRE-FABRICATED IRON WORK. IT WAS A STORY CRAFTED TO SCARE SIGHTSEERS AND SWIMMERS AWAY FROM THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT, WHICH HAD MANY OTHER INHERENT DANGERS. IT APPARENTLY WORKED, AS NO SWIMMER OR SIGHTSEER WAS LOST DUE TO SNAKE-BITE. I DID FEEL A LITTLE FUNNY ABOUT MY OATH TO OFFICE, BEING THE "PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW," AND THEN RUNNING A BOGUS STORY, JUST TO FACILITATE ORDER AT A MAJOR CONSTRUCTION SITE. PROBLEM IS, FOR HISTORIANS DOWN THE ROAD, TO FIGURE OUT IF THE STORY WAS TRUE, OR NOT, BECAUSE THIS, TODAY, IS THE ONLY TIME IT HAS BEEN PUBLICLY DECLARED AS BEING PURPOSEFUL PROPAGANDA TO ACHIEVE A POSITIVE RESULT.

     PLEASE JOIN ME AGAIN TOMORROW FOR A LOOK AT SOME OTHER INTERESTING SUPERSTIONS AND WELL,...... OLD-WIVES' TALES. "RED SKY IN THE MORNING.....SAILOR TAKE WARNING!"

The Legend of Skeleton Lake And Other Folk Tales

A spiritual fall visit to the cemetery -  A beautiful fall afternoon at St. George’s Anglican Cemetery in Cooper’s Falls with only the sound of the rustling leaves in the cool fall breeze.   The many weathered monuments stand as a proud memorial to the many pioneers who cleared the land to settle the area. (Photo by Fred Schulz)

THE LEGEND OF SKELETON LAKE, FACT OR FICTION; BUT A GREAT FOLK TALE FROM PIONEER TIMES

CREATED BY METEOR IMPACT? THIS BEAUTIFUL MUSKOKA LAKE HAS ITS MYSTERIES


    IT'S HUMID OUT. I'VE BEEN WORKING AROUND THE YARD, EARLY THIS EVENING, TO PREPARE FOR THE COMING RAIN WE'RE SUPPOSED TO GET SOMETIME BEFORE THE MORNING. IT WAS SO NICE TO HEAR THE YOUNGSTERS OUT PLAYING, ON PROPERTIES BORDERING THE BOG.....AND IT REALLY IS NEAT TO HEAR THEIR LAUGHTER, MIXED SO SENTIMENTALLY, WITH THE SOUND OF THE LEAVES FALLING, HITTING THE GARDENS AROUND OUR HOUSE. IN THE PAST SEVERAL HOURS, IT HAS GONE FROM A PLEASANTLY COOL DAY, TO BEING ONE QUITE HOT, AND HUMID, ESPECIALLY IN HERE RIGHT NOW. I WISH I HAD WRITTEN THIS SOONER TODAY, BUT WE WERE OUT TRAVELING THIS AFTERNOON, TAKING IN THE AUTUMN SIGHTS AND OF COURSE, STOPPING IN AT ALL OUR FAVORITE ANTIQUE VENUES. IT WAS JUST A NICE SUNDAY, MIXING A LITTLE HOME IMPROVEMENT WITH RECREATION....AND WITH OF COURSE A LITTLE BUSINESS THROWN IN. I HAVE RUSTLED-UP A FEW MORE FOLK TALES TO ADD TO THIS SMALL SERIES OF BLOGS ON OUR SOCIAL - CULTURAL PAST.
      "BEFORE THE ACTS OF DEVELOPMENT LEAD US INTO THE 1870'S, THERE ARE INCIDENTS IN THE LIVES OF OUR PEOPLE, THAT IT WILL BE OF INTEREST TO RECORD," WRITES FAMILY HISTORIAN, BERT SHEA, IN HIS BOOK, "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS, BIRTH OF A TOWNSHP." AS IT HAS BEEN SAID, THE WORK OF THE SURVEY WAS THE FIRST SOURCE OF INCOME TO THE SHEAS. YOUNG WILLIAM, AND LATER, JOHN L., IN WORKING WITH THE SURVEYORS, IN THEIR ARRANGEMENT, THE MEN LIVED A COMPLETE OUT-OF-DOOR LIFE. IN THOSE DAYS IN DEEP OF WINTER, THE BRUSH SHANTY WAS THEIR SHELTER; AN OPEN FIRE AT THE DOOR."
     HE CONTINUES, "AS JOHN L. SAID, 'EVERYONE SLEPT WITH THEIR FEET TO THE FIRE AND MANY A NIGHT I SLEPT WITH MY BOOTS UNDER MY HEAD FOR A PILLOW.' THE BLANKETS AND GRUB WAS SUPPLIED BY THE GOVERNMENT BUT WE HAD TO BRING IT. THIS WAS PART OF CAMP MANAGEMENT TO SEE SUPPLIES WERE KEPT UP. AT CERTAIN PLACES, CACHES WERE MADE. THE PLACES OF STORAGE WERE OF NECESSITY, MADE OF LOGS FOR SUFFICIENT SECURITY TO KEEP THE BEARS OUT; THAT WERE FOND OF BACON. ONE OF THESE CACHES WERE ON LOT 13, CON. 5, ON THE HILLSIDE NORTHEAST OF THE FALLS. IT WAS IN FEBRUARY, WE WERE CAMPED IN NORTH CARDWELL. I WAS SENT DOWN TO OUR CACHE AT THE FALLS TO GET A BAG OF FLOUR AND A SIDE OF PORK. THE SNOWSHOWING WAS VERY GOOD IN THE BUSH, BUT THE LAKES I HAD TO CROSS, THERE WAS NO SIGN OF A TRAIL.
     "I HAD A HAND SLEIGH WITH WIDE RUNNERS. I REACHED THE STORE-HOUSE, GOT THE FLOUR AND PORK AND STARTED THE RETURN TRIP. I WAS WEARING LEATHER SHOEPAKS, AND ONE SHIRT. THE TRIP WOULD BE TWENTY MILES THAT DAY WITH TEN MILES OF LOAD UP HILL AND DOWN. AS THE DAY WORE ON THE TEMPERATURE BEGAN TO FALL; THE LAKES WERE TERRIBLY HEAVY GOING; IT WAS IN THE NIGHT WHEN I GOT INTO CAMP WITH MY LOAD. MY BOOTS WERE FROZEN ON MY FEET AND MY FEET WERE ALSO FROZEN. I NEVER GOT OVER THAT TRIP. MY FEET WERE NEVER THE SAME."
     BERT SHEA CARRIES ON HIS STORY, NOTING, "HE TOLD US ABOUT A FIND THAT FOR YEARS WAS OF MUCH INTEREST TO ME. I WAS A BOY AT THE TIME AND NEVER FORGOT THE STORY. THE SURVEYORS HAD CROSSED SKELETON LAKE, AND WERE WORKING SOMEWHERE ON THE NORTH SHORE. THEY FOUND TWO HUMAN SKELETONS LAYING ON THE ROCKS. APPARENTLY TWO PEOPLE HAD DIED THERE ALONE AND NO ONE HAD FOUND THEM TILL THE SURVEYORS CAME, AND BY THE APPEARANCE OF THE BONES, THEY HAD LAIN THERE FOR SEVERAL YEARS. THIS STORY STAYED IN MY MIND, AND MANY TIMES HAVE I THOUGHT OF IT AND WONDERED. THE YEARS PASSED BY AND I BECAME OVER MIDDLE AGE; THE OLD PIONEERS HAD GONE WHO KNEW OF THE INCIDENT. MANY ASK THE QUESTION, 'HOW DID SKELETON LAKE GET ITS NAME?' WHO COULD ANSWER, SHROUDED IN MYSTERY? FEW, IF ANY, I THOUGHT, OTHER THAN MYSELF, WHO KNEW THE FIRST HAND STORY OF THE SKELETONS, TILL ONE DREARY AFTERNOON IN NOVEMBER, ONE OF THOSE LATE AUTUMN DAYS WHEN THE GLORIES OF ALL NATURE SEEM BURIED; AND WE LONG FOR SOMEONE OR SOMETHING TO FILL THE LONGING DEEP DOWN IN OUR HEART; SOMEONE TO CONVERSE WITH, WHO TOO ARE DREAMING OF OTHER DAYS, AND FRIENDS THEY HAVE KNOWN.
     "I SAID TO MY WIFE, BERNICE, LET'S GO OVER AND SEE BILL HAMMELL AND MRS. HAMMELL. PERHAPS THEY ARE ALONE TOO. NOW THE HAMMELLS AND THE SHEAS WERE OLD PIONEER FRIENDS AND WHEN I KNOCKED AT HIS DOOR, AND HE OPENED IT, THE SMILE OF HIS FACE SHONE WITH THE GLOW OF PIONEER FRIENDSHIPS. AS THEY WELCOMED US INTO THEIR HOME. IT WAS NOT HARD TO LEAD THE OLD GENTLEMAN INTO CONVERSATION OF YESTERYEARS. AND WHEN I SPOKE OF THE TWO SKELETONS, HIS EYES BEAMED WITH INTEREST. 'YES,' SAID HE, 'I CAN TELL YOU, THIS AFFAIR WAS A MYSTERY TO OUR PEOPLE AND WE THOUGHT MUCH OF IT, BUT BY GRANDFATHER ROBISON, WHO LIVED UP IN CARDWELL, LEARNED FROM THE INDIAN CHIEF OF THAT DAY, HE AND HIS PEOPLE HAD CAMPED FOR THE WINTER ON THAT SITE. THE LAKE WAS AN EXCELLENT ONE FOR TROUT, AND THE SWAMPS OF CARDWELL WERE USUALLY THE YARDING PLACES FOR THE DEER. BUT WHATEVER TOOK PLACE, DUE TO LACK OF FOOD, THE CAMP WAS FACING STARVATION; THEY MUST MOVE THOUGH IN THE WINTER; IF NOT, ONLY DEATH BY STARVATION FACED THE WHOLE CAMP. SOME OF THEIR MEMBERS WERE ALREADY WEAK. AND ONE BOY WAS UNABLE TO MOVE, AND WOULD HAVE TO BE LEFT. HIS MOTHER, A YOUNG SQUAW, WHO HAD LOST HER HUSBAND, REFUSED TO LEAVE HER SON, ABOUT FOURTEEN YEARS OLD, TO DIE ON THE BLEAK SHORES OF THE LAKE; THAT AFTERWORD SHOULD BE A LASTING MEMORIAL TO ESPECIALLY THE AFFECTION OF A MOTHER FOR HER HELPLESS SON."
     THE HISTORIAN WRITES, "THERE IS LITTLE MORE TO SAY, SAVE THAT WHEN THE VOICES OF HER PEOPLE FADED FROM HER HEARING, THE DEATHLY SILENCE OF WINTER SETTLED IN AROUND THEM. A MOTHER AND HER SON. THE REMAINS OF THE FIRE BURNED LOW AS THE COLD CREPT TO THE MARROW OF THE BONE. SILENCE REIGNED, AND SLEEP, THAT GHASTLY THING GIVEN FROM THE HAND OF THE FROST KING, THE SNOW SPIRITS, BORN ON THE WINGS OF THE WIND, PLAYED OVER THE PLOT, AND COVERED THE TWO LIFELESS FORMS IN A SHROUD OF WHITE. THE FOREST SAPPED IN THE FROST, AND IN THE NIGHT THE POLAR STAR LOOKED ON UNMOVED IN HIS STARS, FROM SOME HEIGHT. THE BLOOD CURDLING HOWL OF THE OLD DOG WOLF, WHO HAD LED HIS PACK OF WHELPS AND BITCHES INTO THE DEER YARDING AREA OF CARDWELL BESPOKE SLAUGHTER AND DEATH. YES, THE DEATH OF A MOTHER AND SON, THROUGH STARVATION."
     AS A LONG-SERVING REGIONAL HISTORY MYSELF, I OWE A HUGE DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO BERT SHEA, FOR THE TWO IMPORTANT BOOKS HE WROTE ON HIS FAMILY HERITAGE, AND THE CHRONICLE OF WATT TOWNSHIP, THE LOGGING INDUSTRY IN MUSKOKA, AND SOCIAL, CULTURAL HISTORY AS IT PREVAILED IN THAT PIONEER HAMLET BORDERING THE SHORE OF THREE MILE LAKE, IN THE PRESENT TOWNSHIP OF MUSKOKA LAKES. HE WAS AS MUCH, A CONSERVER OF FOLK TALES AND LOCAL LORE. EVEN BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, HE HAD MISSED A LOT OF PIONEER TALES, AS THOSE WHO WITNESSED THEM HAD PASSED ON, BEFORE HE COULD HARVEST THEIR OBSERVATIONS. HE WRITES, OF THIS, AS FOLLOWS:
     "WITH HESITATION, BUT WITH DEEP CONCERN, I HAVE TAKEN UP THE PEN TO RECORD THE HISTORY OF MY FAMILY; THE SHEAS, LEST AT THIS DATE I FAIL THIS, A DUTY TO OUR RACE; LEST THE RECORD SHOULD BE LOST THAT I HAVE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO HEAR FROM THE TONGUE OF THE ELDERS, WHOM I HAVE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO KNOW, OF RECORDS HANDED DOWN TO THEM, AS WELL AS IN LATER YEARS, THE FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS OF THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES AND ADVENTURES. I HOLD IN MY HEART, A DEEP SENSE OF GRATITUDE FOR THE TOWNSHIP OF WATT, AS WHEN FRIENDS AND RELATIONS FAILED IN MY PEOPLE AND THEY WERE HOMELESS, AND ALMOST DESTITUTE OF A PLACE TO LAY THEIR HEADS, THE GREAT ANCIENT FORESTS OF WATT RECEIVED THEM, AS ITS OWN, AND GAVE SHELTER AND WARMTH, WITH MEAT FROM ITS EARTH AND HIDDEN BOWERS.
     "AND FOR THREE MILE LAKE, WHOSE FIRST SIGHT WAS A VIEW OF SPOTLESS WHITE AND AS THE CHANGING SEASON BROUGHT ITS SPARKLING WATERS, THAT GAVE FROM THEIR DEPTHS SUPPORT FOR LIFE AND RECREATION TO MY FATHERS; WHOSE CANOES OFT CUT THEY WATERS, AND WHOSE BEAUTY OFT CAUSED THEIR SOULS RESPONSE, AND VOICES RAISED IN SONG. BECAUSE I LOVE THEE AND THY MEMORIES; I DO WRITE ABOUT THEY SHORES AS THE GREAT FOREST TREES. SHEAS HAVE SET THEIR ROOTS, THE PARENT TREE HAS CAST ITS SED THAT HAS SPREAD TO DISTANT PARTS OF THE EARTH. BUT YET OUR HOME IS BY THY GLISTENING WATERS AND THE EARTH THAT HAS SO BOUNTIFULLY FED, SHALL GIVE ME COVER WHEN I LAY WITH THEM TO SLEEP."
     BERT SHEA LOVED MUSKOKA, AND HIS BOOKS REFLECT THIS UNYIELDING PASSION.
     SUZANNE AND I  ALWAYS ENJOY OUR TWICEW WEEKLY DRIVE BETWEEN BRACEBRIDGE AND GRAVENHURST, ALONG OUR FAVORITE MUSKOKA BEACH ROAD. THE AUTUMN COLORS ARE DEEPENIING, AND A LOT OF LEAVES ARE ALREADY SPIRALLING TO EARTH. THE TEMPERATURES ARE MUCH WARMER TODAY AND THE SUNSHINE, WELL, AS PERFECT AS THE SKY; APPEARING SO ENDLESS, AND BEAUTIFULLY BLUE. IT'S HARD NOT TO BE AFFECTED IN SOME WAY, BY THIS DRAMATIC CHANGE OF SEASON, AND SPELLBOUND BY THE TWISTS AND TURNS OF THIS WINDING COUNTRY ROAD, THROUGH THE HAUNTED MUSKOKA WOODLANDS. WE DROVE THROUGH MANY OF THE THICK, WINDBLOWN SPIRALS OF OLD LEAVES, DUSTING LIGHTLY UPON THE PASTURES AND LANES, AND WHEN WE STOPPED FOR A WEE RESPITE, WE COULD CLEARLY HEAR THE WHISPER OF WIND THROUGH THE PINE BOUGHS THAT BORDER THE ROAD; OVER THE CAWING OF SEVERAL CROWS IN THE PINE TOPS. THE AREA I CALL THE MAPLE CATHEDRAL, IS AN ALMOST HEAVENLY VISION, ON THE APPROACH FROM THE SOUTH, AND ALL THE VOYEUR CAN HEAR, WHEN ALL ELSE IS QUIET, IS THE GENTLE LANDINGS OF THE LEAVES UPON THEMSELVES, STILL WET WITH MORNING DEW. IT IS AN IDENTIFIABLE ENCHANTMENT, YOU FIND YOURSELF AMDIST, AND AT THE SAME TIME, LIKE THE AUTUMN SEASON IS FAMOUS FOR, IT'S LOGICAL THAT WE WILL, AT SOME CROSSROAD, OR LOOKOUT, FIND OURSELVES BECOMING SENTIMENTAL AND NOSTALGIC, FOR THOSE DAYS OF ONCE, WITH FAMILY; WHEN WE COULD, WITHOUT FEAR OF WHAT IT WOULD LOOK LIKE, TO OUR PEERS, JUMP INTO THE NEWLY PILED LEAVES, AND MAKE SILLY IN PLAY, IN THE SPRAY OF LIGHT BEAMS, BLOTCHING ONTO THE FLOOR OF LEAVES, LIKE AN ARTIST'S PALETTE, FROM THE BORDERING BIRCHES AND PICTURESQUE MAPLES.
     THERE ARE TIMES, IN THIS SOOTHING SOLITUDE, THAT ALONE, WE MIGHT FEEL A WARM HAND SUDDENLY SLIP INTO OURS, WHILE REMINISCING ABOUT THOSE WE USED TO WALK WITH, ALONG THESE SAME COUNTRYSIDE LANES.....OR HEAR A VOICE CALL OUT TO US, WHEN NO ONE IS ANYWHERE NEAR. IF YOU WERE TO HEAR A CHILD'S LAUGHTER, OR THE SWEET SINGING OF AN AUNT OR MOTHER, FROM YOUR OWN CHRONICLE, THEN YOU SHOULD BE PLEASED THESE MEMORIES HAVE BEEN SET FREE, AS YOU FIND YOURSELF, TO MEANDER AS YOU WISH, THIS PAINTED MUSKOKA LAKELAND.
     "A CHIEFTAIN FROM THE HIGHLANDS BOUND, AS WELL YE ALL MAY KNOW, TO SEEK FOR ME A HAPPY HOME, BY ROSSEAU'S SPARKLING GLOW. BY LOCK AND FERN I'LL SETTLE DOWN, AND SWEAR TO LEAVE IT NEVER, FOR 'TIS THE PLACE I HAVE SOUGHT SO LONG, MY HOME AKIN TO HEAVEN."
(BERT SHEA, BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP)
     THIS IS LIVING HISTORY.

The Muskoka Pioneer, Death and Burial

A splash of colour reflects in the Black River along the historic Cooper’s Falls Road on Sunday afternoon.   The colours have not reached their peak as of yet, but the evening frost will soon bring out the full beauty of the season. (Photos By Fred Schulz)

-THE MUSKOKA PIONEER, DEATH AND BURIAL - AND THE FOLKLORE IT HERALDED

"THE BURIAL OF A PIONEER"

     "THEY WASHED THEIR BODIES SO WHITE AND CLEAN, THOSE MEN OF THE PIONEER DAYS; THEIR BLOOD THEY LEFT TO SET IN THEIR VEINS, IT WAS THEIRS AND IT IS THERE TO STAY," WROTE FAMILY HISTORIAN, BERT SHEA, IN AUGUST 1962. THE POEM WOULD LATER BE PUBLISHED IN "THE COMING OF THE SHEAS, AND BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP."
      AN AMBITIOUS HISTORIAN, WITH KEEN INTEREST IN PIONEER TRADITIONS, COULD WRITE A FAIRLY THICK BOOK ON THE TRADITIONS, OF PIONEER FUNERALS, AND THE FOLKLORE, THAT GENERATED FROM MORTAL ILLNESSES, DEATHS, VIEWING, BURIALS AND WAKES, ON THE ONTARIO HOMESTEADS OF THE 1800'S. THERE ARE MANY FASCINATING STORIES DEALING WITH PIONEER FUNERALS, THAT GO BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF FUNERARY PROTOCOLS AND THE MORTAL PROCESS OF GRIEVING AND RECOVERY. BERT SHEA HANDLES THIS QUITE EFFECTIVELY, IN THIS SHORT FOLK STORY, PRESENTED AS A POEM.
     "THEY COMBED THEIR HAIR AND FOLDED THEIR HANDS, THEIR EYES THEY CLOSED WITH CARE; AND A CLEAN PRESSED VEST THEY GIRDED ON, AND COMBED OVER THEIR WHISKERS THERE. IN THE CASKET MADE FROM CLEAN WHITE PINE, THE CHOICE FROM THE FOREST GROVE, WITH PINS OF OAK TO JOIN IN TIGHT, BY STROKES OF THE HAMMER DROVE.
     "SO THEY LAID HIM THERE, TO REST IN PEACE, WHILE THEY YEARS IN HURRY FLY; TILL THE DAY WHERE EARTH AND TIME SHALL CEASE; TO WAKE AT THE TRUMPET'S CRY. AND THERE HIS IS RESTING IN SILENCE LONG, HIS SLUMBER UNMARRED BY THE CLAY, THE STORMS PASS ON, THE SEASONS CHANGE, AND THE WILD FLOWERS SPRING WITH MAY. BUT STILL THERE IS A MURMUR AT EVENTIDE, AS THE BREEZES WHISPER LOW, AND MEMORY STEALS O'ER THE GRASSY SPOT, AS SOFTLY, AS THE FALL OF THE SNOW. THEY HAVE LAID HIM THERE WITH LOVING CARE, AND THEIR TEAR DROPS, DAMPENED THE SOD; AS THE GOOD MAN COMMENDED HIS BODY TO EARTH, BUT HIS SOUL, IS AT REST WITH HIS GOD."
     THANKS TO BERT SHEA, SOME OF THESE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS, OF PIONEER DEATHS AND FUNERALS HAVE BEEN PRESERVED, THAT PAINT A PORTRAIT OF THOSE EMOTIONAL EVENTS. FEW OTHER HISTORIANS FOUND THEM TO BE RELEVANT, UNLESS THEY WERE FUNERALS OF COMMUNITY LEADERS AND POLITICIANS. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THIS MUSKOKA HISTORIAN, PORTRAYED THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF A THREE YEAR OLD CHILD IN THE UFFORD SETTLEMENT, VERY EARLY IN ITS HAMLET HISTORY.
     IT IS CONTAINED IN THE SECTION CAPTIONED, "COMING OF THE MORLEYS."NEWS OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST SON TO PIONEER PARENTS IN THE VILLAGE, AND IN WATT (TOWNSHIP OF PRESENT MUSKOKA LAKES), WAS RECEIVED WITH JOY BY ALL INHABITANTS, AND NEEDLESS TO SAY, HE WAS THE CENTRE OF INTEREST. BUT JOY DOES NOT ALWAYS REIGN AND OFT TIMES GREAT SORROW FOLLOWS CLOSE AT HAND, AND THE LITTLE COMMUNITY WAS SMITTEN BY SHOCK AND SORROW, WHEN THE LITTLE THREE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER OF THE SUFFERNS, WHILE AT PLAY BY ACCIDENT, FELL INTO THE CAMPFIRE AND LATER DIED OF BURNS.
     "EVERY EXPRESSION OF TENDER SYMPATHY WAS EXTENDED TO THE SORROWING PARENTS. LITTLE THERE WAS THAT COULD BE DONE; LITTLE THEY, THE HUMBLE PIONEERS HAD TO DO WITH, BUT TENDER HANDS PREPARED THE LITTLE BODY FOR BURIAL. JOHN L. SHEA, WHO ALWAYS SEEMED TO FILL THE PLACE OF THE NEED, MADE FROM THE WHITE PINE BOARDS, CLEAN AND SMOOTH, AND FASTENED THEM TOGETHER WITH FINE OAK PINS TO FORM THE LITTLE CASKET. NO, DEAR READER, THERE WERE NO NAILS OR SAWN LUMBER IN HER NEAT LITTLE BOX LINED WITH THE BEST THEY HAD, AND HER HEAD LAID ON A PILLOW OF DOWN. SHE WAS GIVEN CHRISTIAN BURIAL TRUE; THERE WERE NO CLERGYMEN PRESENT, BUT THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY GATHERED ABOUT THE LITTLE GRAVE SURROUNDING THE PARENTS, AND ONE WHO THERE ALWAYS IS, TO FILL THE NEED, STOOD BY HER HEAD AND IN TREMBLING VOICE DECLARED THE WORDS OF THE MASTER FROM THE OLD BOOK. 'I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE,' AND THEN THEIR VOICE ROSE IN PRAYERFUL SONG; 'ABIDE WITH ME,' THEN THE PRAYER FOR COMFORT AND CONSIDERATION TO THE SORROWING AND ABIDING PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH ONE AND ALL, AMEN'."
     THE AUTHOR WRITES, "HEADS THAT WERE BOWED AND EYES THAT WERE DIMMED, ROSE TO VIEW THE HILLS THAT SEEMED TO STAND IN SILENT REVERENCE, AND LASTING WITNESS TO SORROWING COMMUNITY, AS THEY TURNED FROM THE GRAVESIDE. LITTLE GROUPS GATHERED TO TALK QUIETLY, SOME HELD THE HANDS OF THE PARENTS AND LED THEM GENTLY AWAY FROM THE GRAVE, THOUGH THE SUN SHONE BRIGHTLY, A DARK CLOUD HUNG HEAVILY OVER THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE OF THE COMMUNITY. THAT WAS NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN, EVEN IN OLD AGE, AS JOHN L.SHEA RELATED TO THE WRITER AS MUCH OF THE ACCOUNT AS WE KNOW. THERE WAS YET REMAINING IN HIS MANNER THE TRUE INDICATION OF THE SADNESS OF THE WHOLE AFFAIR; BUT THE WRITER REGRETS TO SAY HE FAILED TO ASK THE OLD VENERABLE THE EXACT PLACE OF HER GRAVE AND AT THIS DATE, THERE IS NONE ALIVE TO ASK; ALL WHO KNEW ARE NUMBERED BY MANY YEARS AMONG THE NOBLE DEAD, AND THE PLACE OF THE LITTLE GRAVE SHALL TO US REMAIN UNKNOWN."
     AS QUOTED EFORE IN THIS BLOG, FROM BERT'S SECOND BOOK, PIONEERS WOULD LATER BECOME VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE SOUND OF THE HORSE HOOVES, THE WHEELS OF THE HEARSE, AND THE DIM FLICKER OF LANTERN FLAMES, IN THE BLACK OF NIGHT, COMING ALONG THE COUNTRY LANE, TO DEAL WITH A HOMESTEAD DEATH. IT WAS NECESSARY, IN THE CASE OF CONTAGIOUS ILLNESSES, LIKE DYPHTHERIA, TO BURY THE BODIES LATE AT NIGHT, TO AVOID HAVING ANY CURIOUS CITIZENS ATTEND THE GRAVE-SITE. THE BODIES WERE STILL POTENTIAL SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION, AND EVEN THE GRAVEDIGGERS AND UNDERTAKER WERE AT SERIOUS RISK OF CONTRACTING THE DISEASE. MANY FOLK STORIES DEVELOPED SURROUNDING THESE "MIDNIGHT" BURIALS, AND THE FEAR-INSPIRING SOUNDS OF THE WAGON WHEELS AND CLOMPING OF HOOVES, PASSING THEIR HOMESTEADS. IT CREATED GREAT ANTICIPATION ABOUT WHO HAD SUCCUMBED, OF THEIR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS. THESE WERE THE SOUNDS AND EVENTS OF UNFOLDING HORROR, AND THERE WERE THOSE WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN THE HORSE-DRAWN HEARSE PASS THEM, ON THE ROAD, ONLY TO FIND OUT THEY HAD WITNESSED A PHANTOM UNDERTAKER.....WHEN THEY FOUND NO REPORTS OF ANY HOUSEHOLD REQUIRING THESE SERVICES. IT'S NOT DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE, WHY THESE EVENTS AND SCENES, A SILHOUETTE IN THE MOONLIGHT OVER THE RURAL CLIME, WOULD INSPIRE GHOST STORIES AND CREATE FOLK TALES SHARED BETWEEN NEIGHBORS, AND THE GENERATIONS.
     "THAT FAIR YOUNG MAIDEN OF THE CLAN, THE SWEETEST OF THEM ALL, THAT DEATH'S COLD HAND TO LAY ON HER, SHE WOULD BE GONE BY FALL; HER PARENTS CRIED WITH BROKEN HEARTS TO THEIR GOD ON HIGH, TO SPARE THEIR DAUGHTER, THEIR YOUNGEST CHILD, ERE THEY IN SORROW SHOULD DIE. BUT HER GOD HAD OTHER PLANS FOR HER, AND HE FOR HER DID PREPARE; HE TOOK HER FROM THIS WORLD OF WOE, TO BE WITH HIM UP THERE; HE TOOK HER FROM THEIR LOVING ARMS, INTO HIS TENDER CARE. THERE IN THE SILENT NIGHT OF JUNE, IN THE CABIN BY CANDLE GLOW, HER BODY LAY COLD AND STILL, HER BROW AS FAIR AS THE SNOW; THE NEIGHBORS CAME FROM EVERYWHERE, AND BROUGHT FLOWERS KIND; TO SHARE THE GRIEF OF THEIR DEAR FRIENDS, IN THE EARLY SUMMER-TIME. BY JIM AND ALMIRA SHEA THEIR SORROW BORE; THEY KNEW THEIR DAUGHTER IN A BETTER LAND, ON THAT CELESTIAL SHORE, HER SUFFERING O'ER, SHE AWAITS ON THE GOLDEN STRAND." (THE POEM, "MARIA SHEA," WRITTEN IN RESPECT TO THE FIVE YEAR OLD'S DEATH AND BURIAL, IN A CEMETERY, IN THE HAMLET OF FALKENBURG.)
     THERE IS AN INTERESTING OVERVIEW, OF ANOTHER DEATH IN THE THREE MILE LAKE HAMLET, THAT I THOUGHT IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE IN TODAY'S BLOG ABOUT DEATH AND BURIAL. GEORGE HOLDICH, AN UPSTANDING GENTLEMAN, HOMESTEADING IN THE AREA, HAD GONE OUT FISHING ON THREE MILE LAKE, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE FOOD FOR HIS FAMILY. THEY WERE STRUGGLING PIONEERS, AND AS MANY HOMESTEAD EXPERIENCED IN THOSE EARLY YEARS, AGRICULTURAL SUCCESS WAS LIMITED TO NON-EXISTENT.....HARDLY ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN THE NEEDS OF A FAMILY. IT'S WHY THE LOGGING INDUSTRY PROVED TO BE A WINTER AND SPRING BOON TO THE HOMESTEAD ECONONMY. IN THIS CASE, HOWEVER, THE GOOD MR. HOLDICH UPSET HIS CANOE, AND WAS FOUND FLOATING NEARBY, ON A SEARCH CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM SHEA. IT SEEMED A GALE HAD MET THE LONE PADDLER, AND CAPSIZED HIS HANDMADE CANOE. AS IT WAS STILL COLD, IN APRIL, THE MAN HAD BEEN WEARING HEAVY CLOTHING, WHICH WEIGHED HIM DOWN WHEN HE ENTERED THE WATER. WHEN WILLIAM FOUND THE BODY, HE TOWED IT TO A BEACHFRONT, AND BECAUSE HE HAD TO SECURE LAWFUL ASSISTANCE, TO DEAL WITH THE ACCIDENTAL DEATH, HE HAD TO POUND A STAKE INTO THE GROUND, AND ATTACH A ROPE TO IT AND TO THE BODY, SO THAT IT WOULDN'T DRIFT AWAY. THE WATER WOULD TEMPORARILY PRESEVE THE BODY'S CONDITION. THE SAME THING WAS DONE TO CANADIAN LANDSCAPE ARTIST, TOM THOMSON, WHEN HIS BODY WAS FOUND IN ALGONQUIN PARK'S CANOE LAKE, IN JULY 1917.
     WHAT BOTHERED WILLIAM, AND FAMILY, WAS THAT MR. HOLDICH'S DROWNING DEATH, WHILE BAD ENOUGH, DESTINED HIS YOUNG FAMILY TO GREAT SUFFERING, AS HE WAS THEIR PROVIDER. BERT SHEA WRITES, "THIS TRAGEDY CAUSED A SHROUD OF GLOOM TO FALL OVER THE COMMUNITY, AS GEORGE HOLDICH WAS A MAN OF VERY FINE QUALITIES. BELOVED BY ALL, ESPECIALLY THE SHEAS. A MAN WHO WAS STRUGGLING AS THEY TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN, IN A LAND AND A DAY WHEE THERE WAS NONE TO SPARE; AND NO SOCIAL LEGISLATION IN FORCE. UNNUMBERED AND UNKNOWN ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE WOODS WHO ARE LEFT IN THEIR COMFORTABLE HOME NEST, WHILE THEIR MOTHER GOES OUT TO SEEK FOOD FOR HERSELF AND HER FAMILY, BUT NEVER RETURNS, HAVING FALLEN PREY TO SOME EVIL BEAST OR BIRD OF THE DAY, OR NIGHT, WHEN HUMAN FAMILIES ARE LEFT WITHOUT THEIR SOURCE OF SUPPORT, THIS HAS BEEN THE LOT OF FAR TOO MANY OF OUR PIONEER FAMILIES, WHO LIVED AND FELT THE CHILLING WINDS OF LIFE IN BODY AND MIND, OR DIED OVERCOME IN THE STRUGGLE."
     ON THE UPBEAT SIDE, BERT SHEA CONCLUDES, "HOWEVER, THROUGH IT ALL, THE HOLDICH FAMILY CARRIED ON THROUGH THE HARD AND TRYING TIMES AND IN LATER DAYS HAVE BEEN NUMBERED AMONG THE SUCCESSFUL AND INDEPENDENT PEOPLE OF THIS, OUR BELOVED AREA."
     DEATH AND BURIAL IN THE DAYS OF STRUGGLING HOMESTEADS, WERE PROFOUNDLY SPIRITFUL COMMUNITY EVENTS, AND TRADITIONS THAT RAN DEEP TO THE CORE OF NEIGHBORHOOD VALUES......SUCH THAT EVERYONE WAS IMPACTED, AND THRUST INTO MOURNING....BECAUSE IT WAS SEEN AS GOD'S WILL......THE RESULT, POSSIBLY, OF THEIR MORAL, RELIGIOUS FAILINGS. THESE WERE BLOWS TO THE WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY GENERALLY, AND GIVEN A PROFOUND LEVEL OF RESPECT; JUST AS MUCH AS IT INSPIRED FEAR ABOUT WHAT MIGHT LAY AHEAD FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE....OF WHICH THEY COUNTED THEMSELVES IN THAT NUMBER. BERT SHEA HAS CLEARLY SHOWN THIS IN HIS POEMS AND OVERVIEWS OF THESE FUNERARY EVENTS.
     MORE ON THE FOLK LORE OF MUSKOKA, IN COMING BLOGS.

Muskoka Superstitions, Ghosts and Folk Tales

A split-rail or log fence (also known as a zigzag fence)  along the Sparrow Lake Road in Gravenhurst, was historically used for agricultural purposes to fence in cattle or other livestock.   This type of fencing can been seen throughout Muskoka along the back roads where it was very popular in rocky areas where post hole digging was almost impossible. (Photo By Fred Schulz)

MUSKOKA'S FOLK-LORE NEEDS TO BE PRESERVED - AS DO THE STRANGE FICTIONS OF BANDY-LEGGED WEE BEASTIES, GHOSTS AND GOBLINS
WHAT THESE TALES MEANT TO OUR REGIONAL IDENTITY

     MY MOTHER WAS A DESCENDANT OF THE DUTCH-AMERICAN FAMILY, THE VANDERVOORTS. SHE USED TO TELL ME ABOUT HER GRANDMOTHER, SITTING ON THE VERANDAH OF HER FARMHOUSE NEAR TRENTON, ONTARIO, DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL ATTIRE, (AS YOU WOULD EXPECT IN HOLLAND), SMOKING A PIPE. MY MOTHER MERLE, FROM QUITE A RELIGIOUS FAMILY, WAS DEEPLY SUPERSTITIOUS, BUT I'M NOT SURE, SHE EVEN KNEW WHY. IT'S NOW OBVIOUS TO ME, SHE PICKED UP A LOT OF THESE FOLK SAYINGS, AND BELIEFS, FROM HER MOTHER'S SIDE OF THE FAMILY. I'M REASONABLY SURE IT DIDN'T COME FROM HER BRITISH BRANCH. WHILE MY FATHER DIDN'T BUY INTO ANY OF IT, I WAS CONSTANTLY IN THE FIRING LINE, OF HER ALMOST OBSESSIVE BELIEF THAT ONE SHOULD STAY ON THE GOOD SIDE OF KARMA......OR ELSE.
    THE BASICS WERE ONES YOU PROBABLY KNOW FROM YOUR OWN CHILDHOOD....LIKE THE SEVEN YEARS OF BAD LUCK FOR BREAKING A MIRROR, OR TIPPING OVER THE SALT SHAKER. I WAS A CLUMSY KID, SO I HAD TO SPRINKLE THAT SALT SHAKER OVER MY LEFT SHOULDER MANY TIMES. LET'S JUST SAY THERE WAS A LOT OF SALT ON THE FLOOR, AFTER MEALS. SHE INSISTED WE PERFORM THE RITUAL FOR FEAR OF PARANORMAL RETALIATION. SHE BELIEVED IN GOD, BUT I THINK SHE WAS FAR MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE NEGATIVE REPERCUSIONS FROM, SAY, A FAILURE TO OBSERVE BLACK CATS CROSSING, IN FRONT, OR BEHIND; THE TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES OF WALKING UNDER A LADDER, OR OPENING AN UMBRELLA INDOORS. SHE DIDN'T STEP ON CRACKS AS A RULE, UNTIL HER HIP GAVE OUT, AND SHE COULDN'T TAKE BIG ENOUGH STEPS, TO AVOID CONNECTING WITH THE LINES. I HEARD "IT'S BAD LUCK," A MILLION TIMES AS A KID. THE ONE SHE FEARED THE MOST, WAS IF AND WHEN A BIRD GOT IN THE HOUSE. NOT A DEMOSTICATED BIRD, LIKE A BUDGIE, BUT A WILD SPECIES, THROUGH AN OPEN DOOR OR WINDOW OF OUR APARTMENT. THIS WAS A HARBINGER OF A DEATH IN THE HOUSE YET TO COME. WE HAD A FEW BIRDS GET IN, BUT NO ONE EVER DIED AS A DIRECT RESULT. SHE WOULD THEN HEAR ABOUT A NEIGHBOR, OR AN ACQUAINTANCE DIEING, IN AND AROUND THIS TIME, AND THEN FEEL JUSTIFIED SAYING, "SEE, I TOLD YOU SOMEONE WOULD DIE."
     I LIVED WITH THESE TIDES OF SUPERSTITION UNTIL THE DAY MY MOTHER PASSED. SHE BELIEVED IN GOD BUT SHE HAD GREAT REVERENCE TO THE POWER OF THE PARANORMAL. SHE HAD CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN HER MOTHER AND FATHER, HOURS AFTER THEIR RESPECTIVE DEATHS, VISITING HER BEDROOM. I THINK IT WAS HER MOTHER, WHO ACTUALLY SAT ON THE END OF THE BED, AS AN IDENTIFIABLE VAPOR, AND HER FATHER JUST STOOD IN THE DOORWAY. HER TAKE ON THE VISITATION, WAS THAT THEY WERE JUST SAYING GOODBYE, AND MAKING SURE WE WERE ALL OKAY. WHEN GOOD THINGS HAPPENED IN OUR HOUSE, SHE WOULD SAY THINGS LIKE, "THAT'S WHY YOU ALWAYS SCOOP-OFF 'THE MONEY,' FROM YOUR CUP OF TEA." THE 'MONEY' SHE WAS REFERRING TO, WAS THE TINY CLUSTER OF BUBBLES, LIKE A FOAM, THAT FORMED AS PART OF THE MILK-TEA MIXTURE, WHEN STIRRED WITH A SPOON. I'D WATCH HER CAREFULLY INSERT THE SPOON, SLIPPING IT BENEATH THE FOAM, AND THEN QUICKLY SCOOPING IT OUT, TO DRINK IT UP. THERE WERE NO SECOND CHANCES, SO I THINK IT WAS SUPER IMPORTANT TO GET ALL THE BUBBLES IN ONE TEA SPOON, OR ELSE IT DIDN'T COUNT AS GOOD LUCK. YOU KNOW, AS WEIRD AS IT WOULD GET, AT TIMES, I'M THANKFUL THAT I HAD A CHANCE TO EXPERIENCE THESE PASSED-DOWN SUPERSTITIONS AND TRADITIONS, EVEN IF, AT TIMES, THEY SEEMED TO BURDEN HER DOWN, FROM ENJOYING AN OTHERWISE NORMAL EXISTANCE. SHE ACTUALLY SEEMED TO BENEFIT FROM THESE BELIEFS, BUT SHE COULD ALSO LAUGH AT HERSELF FOR BEING A TAD IRRATIONAL.....AT TIMES, LIKE THE TRADITIONAL "KNOCK ON WOOD," WHICH WAS DONE IN OUR HOUSE VERY OFTEN....TO ENSURE THAT A "HOPE" WAS EVENTUALLY REALIZED.
     IN MY LAST BLOG, I INTRODUCED YOU TO A NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA, HERITAGE BOOKLET, ENTITLED "FOLK-LORE OF WATERLOO COUNTY, ONTARIO," AS WRITTEN BY W.J. WINTEMBERG, IN THE 1940'S. IT WAS EDITED AND PUBLISHED AFTER HIS DEATH, AND INCLUDED AS NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN, NUMBER 116, AND NUMBER 28 IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES, CIRCA 1950.
     THE RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN BY W.J. WINTEMBERG, ON LARGELY, THE SUPERSTITIONS AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS OF THE SETTLERS OF GERMAN DESCENT, IN THE WATERLOO REGION, INCLUDING THE AMISH PIONEERS, WAS FROM THE PERIOD OF THE EARLY 1800'S IN UPPER CANADA. ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NOT A LARGE GERMAN IMMIGRATION, ESPECIALLY DURING THE FREE LAND AND HOMESTEAD ACT PERIOD, OF THE LATE 1860'S, A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER DID ARRIVE IN THE MUSKOKA REGION, IN THE LATER PART OF THE 1800'S....A TREND THAT CONTINUED INTO THE NEW CENTURY. AS THE BOOKLET DEALS LARGELY WITH THE GERMANIC CULTURE, IT DOES HAVE SOME APPLICATION IN MUSKOKA, DURING ITS PIONEERING ERA. THE STORIES HAVE MANY PARALLELS IN CHARACTER, WITH THE FOLK TALES AND SUPERSTITIONS OF MANY OTHER CULTURAL GROUPS, FROM EUROPE AT THIS SAME PERIOD. THE BELIEF IN WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT WERE ACCEPTED AMONGST SETTLERS GENERALLY, DESPITE THEIR OTHERWISE STRONG RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. THERE ARE A FEW OTHER ILLUMINATING MENTIONS OF WITCHES, GHOSTS AND FAIRIES, IN THE BOOKLET, WORTH INCLUDING IN THIS MUSKOKA FOLK-LORE SERIES, THANKS TO THE WORK OF W.J. WINTEMBERG, AND THE PUBLICATION COURTESY THE MUSEUM OF CANADA.
     THE FOLLOWING IS PUBLISHED UNDER THE HEADING "BAVARIAN WITCHCRAFT.
     "IN ANSWER TO THE INQUIRY WHETHER SHE BELIEVED IN WITCHES, AN AGED BAVARIAN WOMAN, NOW DECEASED, TOLD ME THAT ONLY ONE CASE OF VERITABLE WITCHCRAFT HAD EVER COME UNDER HER OBSERVATION, AND THAT WAS OF A COW THAT HAD BEEN BEWITCHED BY A NEIGHBOR. IT APPEARS THAT HER EMPLOYER'S HOUSE WAS SEPARATED FROM THEIR NEIGHBOR'S BY A CANAL. THE COW CALVED AND FOR TWO DAYS GAVE A LARGE QUANTITY OF MILK, BUT ON THE THIRD DAY THE COW FAILED TO GIVE ANY MILK. THEY CONSULTED A WITCH-DOCTOR, WHO ASKED THEM WHETHER THEY SOLD ANY MILK, AND WHO HAD BEEN THE PURCHASERS, AND ON BEING INFORMED THAT THEY HAD SOLD SOME TO THEIR NEIGHBOR, HE TOLD THEM THAT HE HAD BEWITCHED THE COW.
     "THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSLATION OF A STORY OFTEN TOLD BY THE WRITER'S MOTHER, WHO, IN TURN, GOT THE STORY FROM HER MOTHER, A NATIVE ALSACE. 'ONCE THERE WAS A YOUNG MARRIED MAN WHOSE MOTHER WAS A POOR WIDOW. ONE DAY THE YOUNG MAN AND HIS WIFE HAD A ROAST FOWL FOR DINNER, BUT JUST AS THEY WERE GOING TO SIT DOWN TO EAT, THE MAN SAW HIS AGED MOTHER COMING DOWN THE ROAD TOWARD HIS HOUSE. HE QUICKLY HID THE JUICY ROAST IN A CHEST NEAR AT HAND, AND EXCLAIMED, 'THE OLD WOMAN IS COMING; SHE SHALL HAVE NONE OF IT!' AFTER SHE WAS GONE, THE SON LOOKED INTO THE CHEST AND SAW A LARGE SNAKE THAT HAD COILED ITSELF AROUND THE FOWL. HE THEN SAW THAT GOD HAD SENT THE SNAKE AS A PUNISHMENT TO HIM FOR BEING UNFILIAL."
     "ANOTHER WITCH HAD A WAY OF MILKING A NEIGHBOR'S COW WITHOUT THE OWNER'S KNOWLEDGE. SHE FASTENED TOGETHER FOUR TOWELS WITH PINE, SUPPOSED TO HAVE SOME MAGIC POWER. THE TOWELS WERE THEN HUNG ON THE WALL, OR ON A DOOR, AND THE WITCH WENT THROUGH A MOCK MILKING PERFORMANCE, AND THE MILK FROM THE COW'S UDDER WAS IN THIS MYSTERIOUS WAY, INDUCED TO DRIP FROM THE WITCH'S TOWELS AND THE NEIGHBOR'S COW WAS SOON DRY," NOTES THE HISTORIAN, W.J. WINTEMBERG. "THE WRITER'S MATERNAL GRANDFATHER, AN ALSATIAN, WHO WAS ONE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF WATERLOO COUNTY, USED TO TELL OF AN EXPERIENCE HE HAD WHEN HE WAS A BOY. HIS PARENTS BEING DEAD, HE LIVED WITH AN UNCLE. EVERY NIGHT AFTER HE HAD RETIRED, A BLACK HEN FLUTTERED ABOUT HIS HEAD. HE ENDURED THIS NIGHT AFTER NIGHT FOR SOME TIME, BUT AT LAST, SEEING THAT THE MYSTERIOUS PERFORMANCE WAS BOUND TO CONTINUE INDEFINITELY, HE DECIDED TO TELL HIS UNCLE AND ASK WHAT WAS TO BE DONE. SO ONE MORNING HE TOLD HIM, AND HIS UNCLE ADVISED HIM TO GO TO SLEEP WITH HIS HANDS AND FEET CROSSED. HE DID THIS AND THE HEN NEVER APPEARED AGAIN."
     THE AUTHOR CONTINUES, "A WITCH IN THE ANCIENT CITY OF STRASBOURG, ALSACE, HAVING APPARENTLY NO OTHER MEANS OF DIVERSION, CHANGED HERSELF INTO A HORSE, AND DAY AFTER DAY APPEARED AT A CERTAIN BLACKSMITH SHOP. ONE DAY THE SMITH'S APPRENTICE, WHO SUSPECTED THAT THE HORSE WAS A WITCH, NAILED SHOES ON TO ITS HOOFS, AND WHEN THE WITCH RESUMED ITS NATURAL SHAPE; THE SHOES, BEING UNCHANGEABLE, WERE STILL ATTACHED TO HER HANDS AND FEET. THIS STORY WAS RELATED BY THE WRITER'S MATERNAL GRANDFATHER."
     AS FOR GHOSTS, THE FOLK HISTORIAN OFFERS THIS STORY, WHICH MIGHT WELL HAVE BEEN TOLD IN OUR OWN REGION, WITH SOME ADAPTATIONS. "ABOUT THIRTY OR FORTY YEARS AGO (CIRCA 1900), THE HOUSE OPPOSITE THE ROSEVILLE POST OFFICE, IN WATERLOO COUNTY, WAS BELIEVED TO BE HAUNTED. MRS. G., THE ORIGINAL OCCUPANT, DIED OF PARALYSIS. THE STROKE HAD RENDERED HER MUTE, AND IT SEEMS SHE WISHED TO SAY SOMETHING BEFORE SHE DIED. WHENEVER ANYONE CAME INTO THE ROOM WHERE SHE LAY, SHE WOULD POINT FRANTICALLY TO A SPOT ON THE WALL, AND IT WAS AFTERWARDS BELIEVED THAT SHE HAD SOME MONEY HIDDEN THERE. ONCE MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER WENT THERE TO SEE HER AND THE WOMAN TOOK HOLD OF ONE OF HER ARMS AND POINTED TO A PLACE ON THE WALL, BUT GRANDMOTHER FAILING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE WANTED, THE WOMAN PUSHED HER AWAY FROM THE BED IN DISGUST. AFTER HER DEATH THE HOUSE WAS SAID TO BE HAUNTED. SEVERAL FAMILIES LIVED THERE IN SUCCESSION, BUT NONE OF THEM REMAINED FOR LONG. STRANGE NOISES WERE HEARD DURING THE NIGHT, AS IF A HEAVY BAG WERE BEING DRAGGED DOWN THE STAIRS. ONE OF THE OCCUPANTS WAS A SCHOOL-TEACHER, AND HIS WIFE WAS ON THE VERGE OF NERVOUS PROSTRATION. HIS ASSURANCE THAT THE NOISES WERE CAUSED BY VEHICLES BEING DRIVEN UNDER THE HOTEL-SHED NEXT DOOR, ALLAYED HER FEARS FOR A TIME. A WOMAN WHO LIVED IN THE HOUSE FOR A SHORT TIME, SAID THAT WHEN SHE PUT HER CHILDREN TO BED, AND RETURNED LATER, SHE FOUND THEM UNCOVERED. SHE OBSERVED THIS SEVERAL TIMES, AND ON ONE OCCASION SHE SAW THE GHOST LEAVE THE ROOM JUST AS SHE ENTERED, AND THEN VANISH.
     "I HEARD OF A BAVARIAN WOMAN NEAR JOSEPHBURG, IN WILMOT TOWNSHIP, WATERLOO COUNTRY, WHOSE SPIRIT AFTER HIS DEATH WAS SAID TO HAUNT HIS FORMER HOME. HIS WAY OF ENTRANCE WAS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN THE CHIMNEY, WHICH, IN THE EARLY SETTLER'S HOUSE, WAS BUILT VERY WIDE. THE PARISH PRIEST WAS ASKED WHAT THEY COULD DO TO 'LAY' THE SPIRIT. IT SEEMED TO WANT SOMETHING AND SO THEY TRIED TO FIND OUT WHAT IT WAS. THE PRIEST FIRST SPRINKLED HOLY WATER AROUND THE HAUNTED APARTMENT. HE, OR SOMEONE, HAD COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT BURIED TREASURE WAS THE CAUSE OF THE SPIRIT'S UNREST, SO THEY TORE UP THE BRICKS THAT COMPOSED THE FLOOR OF THE HEARTH, BUT, OF COURSE, DISCOVERED NOTHING. THIS OCCURRED IN THE 1850'S. THE HOUSE WAS STILL STANDING IN 1899."
     "ONCE A YOUNG MAN, GOING AWAY TO THE WAR, PROMISED HIS AFFIANCED WIFE THAT HE WOULD RETURN TO HER WHETHER HE WAS DEAD OR ALIVE. HE WAS KILLED IN BATTLE AND HIS SPIRIT AFTERWARDS HAUNTED THE YOUNG WOMAN'S HOME. FINALLY SHE COULD NOT STAND IT ANY LONGER, SO SHE ASKED THE PARISH PRIEST WHAT SHE WAS TO DO TO GET RID OF THE GHOST. THE PRIEST'S ADVICE WAS TO TAKE THE PRECAUTION OF WRAPPING HER HAND IN A FOLDED SALFEED (A HANKERCHIEF). SHE DID AS THE PRIEST HAD ADVISED HER AND THE GHOST NEVER REAPPEARED. THE SALFEED WAS FOUND TO BE BURNT BLACK FROM CONTACT WITH THE GHOST'S HAND."
     AS FOR "FAIRY GOLD," THE AUTHOR RECORDED THE FOLLOWING: "AS A PARTY OF YOUNG ALSATIANS WERE RETURNING AT A LATE HOUR FROM A FESTIVAL HELD AT A NEIGHBORING DORF, THEY FOUND AT THE SIDE OF THE PATH, THEY WERE TRAVELLING, A HEAP OF GLOWING COALS. EACH ONE TOOK A COAL AND PUT IT INTO HIS PIPE TO LIGHT THE TOBACCO. THE PRESENCE OF THE COALS OUT IN THE MIDST OF THE SNOW, DID NOT SEEM TO CAUSE ANY SURPRISE, AS THEY MIGHT HAVE BEEN LEFT BY SOME TRAVELLER; BUT JUDGE OF THEIR ASTONISHMENT IN THE MORNING, WHEN EACH ONE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF HIS PIPE A SHINING GOLD COIN. THE OLD ALSATIAN, WHO USED TO RELATE THIS STORY TO MY FATHER, WHEN HE WAS A BOY, RELATED IT AS AN ACUTAL EXPERIENCE, HE HAVING BEEN ONE OF THE YOUNG MEN IN THE PARTY. THE ABOVE IS A TRANSLATION OF MY FATHER'S VERSION."
     ONE OF MY FAVORITE GHOST STORIES IN MUSKOKA, IS THAT OF THE PHANTOM RAILWAYMAN, WHO IN CERTAIN WEEKS OF THE YEAR, AROUND THE TIME OF HIS ACCIDENTAL DEMISE, APPEARS ALONG THE TRACKS NEAR THE OLD MOORE'S MILL, IN THE HAMLET OF FALKENBURG, NORTH OF THE URBAN AREA OF BRACEBRIDGE. IT IS SAID THIS CHAP HAD FALLEN UNDER THE WHEELS OF THE TRAIN, ALONG THAT ROUTE, MANY YEARS PREVIOUS, AND BEEN SEVERED IN TWO. IT WAS CASUALLY REPORTED, BY PASSENGERS ON TRAINS, ON THAT PARTICULAR SECTION OF TRACK, THAT THEY HAD SEEN A MAN WALKING WITH AN ILLUMINATED LAMP, AS IF SIGNALLING THE TRAIN'S ENGINEER. THE MAN APPEARS FACELESS, AND CAN NOT BE IDENTIFIED AS THE MAN KILLED BENEATH THE TRAIN. APPARENTLY, HE IS STILL ON THE JOB, WITHOUT PAY, ON MOONLIT NIGHTS IN THE AUTUMN OF THE YEAR. THIS OF COURSE IS A FOLK STORY, AND THERE IS NO PHOTO EVIDENCE, AND NO NEWS PAPER CLIPPING, ON HAND, TO VARIFY HIS PASSING. IT DOESN'T STOP PEOPLE FROM CLAIMING TO HAVE SEEN HIM, AND HIS LANTERN, WARNING THE ENGINEER OF SOMETHING DANGEROUS AHEAD.....A FOREWARNING POSSIBLY OF HIS OWN IMMINENT DEMISE.
     THERE IS A FAMILY STORY, AS TOLD BY MY WIFE AND RESEARCH PARTNER, SUZANNE, (OF THE SHEA AND STRIPP FAMILIES, OF UFFORD AND WINDERMERE), ABOUT A FUNERAL FOR A YOUNG RELATIVE, BACK IN 1867, AT THE FALKENBURG CHURCH CEMETERY. IT WAS FOR A FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD, MARIA SHEA, AND THE PROCESSION, ON FOOT, CARRYING THE TINY COFFIN, HAD TRAVELLED BY A NARROW FOREST PATH, FROM THE HAMLET OF UFFORD, WHERE THE GIRL HAD DIED, AT THE FAMILY HOMESTEAD. IT WAS IN JULY. THERE HAD BEEN A GREAT DEAL OF HOT WEATHER, MAKING THE WALK THROUGH THE BUG INFESTED WOODS, DIFFICULT, AND SLOW TO TRAVERSE. ACCORDING TO SUZANNE, THE FOLK STORY ABOUT THIS, IS THAT A DISTANT PACK OF WOLVES, HAD FOLLOWED THE FUNERAL PROCESSION, INVISIBLE TO THE MOURNERS, ALMOST FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE MOURNFUL ROUTE TO FALKENBURG. THIS WAS POSSIBLY CONSIDERED A BAD OMEN, EVEN FOR A FUNERAL, WHICH IS SORROWFUL ENOUGH; BUT THE IRONY WAS, THAT THE SHEA MEN, AT THAT TIME IN HISTORY, WERE KNOWN THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICT THEMSELVES, AS THE "THREE MILE LAKE WOLVES," BECAUSE OF THEIR ROWDY BEHAVIOR IN AREA TOWNS. WHEN THE PROCESSION ARRIVED AT THE CEMETERY, THE FAMILY WAS AGHAST TO FIND THE PREVIOUSLY DUG GRAVE, ALMOST FULL OF WATER. THEY COULDN'T PUT THE ROUGH BOX IN THE GRAVE, CONSIDERING THE WATER, AND THE SHEA MEN GOT TO WORK REMOVING THOUSANDS OF GALLONS OF RUN-OFF WATER, FROM A SOURCE UNKNOWN, UNTIL IT WAS PRATICALLY DRY. THEN AND ONLY THEN, COULD THE CHILD'S BODY BE COMMITTED TO THE EARTH. THE WOLVES? THEY RESPECTFULLY DISPERSED.
     BERT SHEA INCLUDED THIS IN HIS BOOK, "HISTORY OF THE SHEAS - BIRTH OF A TOWNSHIP," AND MAY BE ONE OF THE FIRST FUNERAL PROCESSIONS ACKNOWLEDGED AND DESCRIBED IN PRINT. "HER PARENTS MOURNING FOR THEIR CHILD, BENEATH THE PINE TREE LAY; THEY SAY THINGS ARE N'ER THE SAME, SINCE MARIA WENT AWAY; AND ANGELS WEEP WHILE OTHERS SLEEP, AND SURE IT IS TRUE THEY MAY; TO SEE HER LOVED ONES GRIEVE FOR HER, THE FAIR MARIA SHEA." "HER CASKET MADE WITH LOVING HANDS, WAS HEWN FROM THE NOBLE PINE; WITH PINS OF OAK TO HOLD IT TIGHT, TO MAKE IT SO NEAT AND FINE; HER PARENTS' HEADS BOWED LOW WITH GRIEF, AS THEY FOLLOWED IN HER FUNERAL TRAIN; THROUGH THE WILD AND UNMARKED WAY, AND O'ER THAT ROUGH TERRAIN; HER CASKET THEY MORE ON LOVING HANDS; FAR THROUGH THE WILDERNESS WAY; TO THE CEMETERY AT FALKENBURG, THERE IN THE GRAVE TO LAY; BESIDE THE WAY WHERE TRAVELLERS GO, IN COLD OR HEAT OF DAY; BUT LITTLE WILL THEY EVER KNOW, OF THE MAID MARIA SHEA."
     PLEASE JOIN ME AGAIN SOON, FOR ANOTHER LOOK AT MUSKOKA'S FOLK HERITAGE.

TALES OF BE-WITCHING ON THE MUSKOKA FARMSTEADS - A NEW MUSKOKA STUDY

Visiting the Historic Community of Germania -  Rich in local history, the community of Germania is one of the early settlements in area where you can still visit the historic Germania Lutheran Church which was established in l876. (Photo By Fred Schulz)

MUSKOKA IS JOYFULLY HAUNTING, PARTICULARY IN THE AUTUMN OF THE YEAR

THE COUNTRY ROADS BECKON US TO WANDER

     FRED SCHULZ AND I HAVE A LOT MORE IN COMMON, THAN JUST OUR CEASELESS ENJOYMENT OF MUSIC ON THE BARGE, EACH SUMMER AT GULL LAKE PARK. WE ARE BOTH MESMERIZED BY THE AUTUMN SEASON IN MUSKOKA. THERE IS SOMETHING IN THE AIR.....SOMETHING ON THE HORIZON, SOMETHING IN THE TREES, AND BUILT ELEGANTLY UPON THE LANDSCAPE, THAT DRAWS US OUT TO EXPLORE AND INTERPRET. FRED TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS OF THESE AMAZING VISTAS, AND I WRITE ABOUT THEM. FOR MOST OF OUR PROFESSIONAL LIVES, WE'VE WORKED APART, BECAUSE WE DIDN'T REALLY THINK WE HAD SO MUCH IN COMMON. ESPECIALLY, IN THE COMPANY OF ENCHANTING LANDSCAPES. SO WHEN WE BEGAN TALKING ABOUT OUR MUTUAL INTERESTS, OF REPRESENTING THE SEASONS IN MUSKOKA, WE DECIDED TO FOLLOW A SIMPLE PLAN. FIRST WE'D TRY TO COLLABORATE ON A BLOGSITE I USED AS MY THOREAUESQUE OUTLET, WHEN I NEED TO WRITE ABOUT MY OUTDOOR ADVENTURES. HE WOULD TAKE SOME OF HIS MOST INTERESTING PHOTOGRAPHS, FIRST FROM HIS HUGE ARCHIVES COLLECTION, AND I'D WHIP UP SOME TIMELY EDITORIAL MATERIAL, AND SEE IF WE COULD ATTRACT A MODEST READERSHIP. THIS WAS BACK IN APRIL.
     WE HAD A COUPLE OF TRIAL AND ERROR MONTHS, BUT GENERALLY, WRITER AND PHOTOGRAPHER SEEMED TO GET ALONG OKAY. SOMETIMES THESE RELATIONSHIPS DON'T WORK. I HAVE TO ADMIT WE USED THE BOOK, "SUPERIOR; THE HAUNTED SHORE," BY AUTHOR, WAYLAND "BUSTER" DREW, AND BRUCE LITTELJOHN, AS OUR MODEL. THIS LANDMARK CANADIAN BOOK HAS BEEN THE INSPIRATION FOR A LOT OF OTHER WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS OVER SEVERAL DECADES, BECAUSE OF THE EXCEPTIONAL WAY THE ARTIST AND THE WRITER MADE IT ALL COME TOGETHER, IN TRIBUTE OF A TRULY SPIRITED GREAT LAKE. WE SET WHAT WOULD OBVIOUSLY, BE A GIGANTIC TASK, AND AN ENORMOUSLY LONG STRETCH, TO BE CONSIDERED EVEN MARGINALLY CLOSE TO THE EXCELLENCE ACHIEVED BY DREW AND LITTELJOHN. BUT HAVING WORKED CLOSELY WITH WAYLAND, WHEN WE WERE BOTH ON THE BRACEBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, I HAD MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO ASK ABOUT THE SUCCESSES THEY HAD WITH THE "SUPERIOR" BOOK, AND ANOTHER ON THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. AS HE DID WITH HIS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, HE ALWAYS PLACED EMPHASIS ON THE WILLINGNESS OF ANY CREATOR, TO LEARN FROM TRIAL AND ERROR, OVER AND OVER, AND KNOWING NO BOUNDS TO ACHIEVE THE BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME. HE WAS BIG ON SELF CRITICISM, AND NEVER BEING RESISTENT TO CRITIQUES. I WAS A LITTLE WEAK IN THIS AREA, BUT GRADUALLY I LEARNED TO ACCEPT INPUT, AND JUDGE THE BEST IDEAS FOR IMPROVING MY WORK. I'M SURE FRED HAS HAD A LOT OF SUGGESTIONS FROM MENTORS AS WELL. AND WE HAD OUR SHARE OF TRIAL AND ERROR.
     THE RESPONSE FROM THE FIRST COUPLE OF MONTHS WAS ENTIRELY POSITIVE, AND AT TIMES, READERSHIP MORE THAN DOUBLED, FROM BETWEEN FOUR HUNDRED TO SIX HUNDRED DAILY. WE WERE BEING ACKNOWLEDGED FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND IN EUROPE, AS WELL AS FROM THE HOME DISTRICT. IT WASN'T A PERFECT AMALGAMATION OF ART WORK AND EDITORIAL, BECAUSE I WAS STILL ON MY POLITICAL RANT CAMPAIGN, AGAINST TOWN COUNCIL, AND HE WAS ABOUT TO BECOME AN INTERIM MANAGER OF THE OPERA HOUSE. SO WE JUST TOOK A WEE BREAK, UNTIL THE FALL SEASON, TO LET THE DUST SETTLE FROM SEVERAL LITTLE CALAMATIES,  FROM JUNE THROUGH THE SUMMER. MOSTLY IT WAS JUST WORK-LOAD HERE IN COTTAGE COUNTRY. NOW WE HAVE SOME TIME TO SETTLE INTO THIS, AND SEEING AS WE BOTH REALLY WANT TO REPRESENT THIS REGION, AND THE COMPELLING REALITIES OF ITS DRAMATIC CHANGES OF SEASON, I CAN GUARANTEE YOU NOW, WE WILL BE OFFERING-UP THE BEST OF THE BEST IN THE COMING MONTHS. THE AUTUMN SEASON IS THAT HARVEST, FULL MOON, TANTALIZING COLOR, ENDLESS SKY TIME OF YEAR, WHEN HISTORY IS AS WARM AS THE TEA IN HAND. IT JUST BRINGS OUT THE PIONEER-STOCK IN US, AND WE HAVE AN INSATIABLE APPETITE TO CAPTURE IT ALL......ON FILM AND IN PRINT.
     FRED AND I TRAVEL SEPARATELY AROUND MUSKOKA, BUT WE COME BACK TO THE TABLE, WITH MUCH THE SAME MATERIAL......THAT CLEARLY SHOWS OUR OWN PERCEPTIONS OF WHERE THE ENCHANTMENT IS MOST ABUNDANTLY EXPERIENCED, ON ANY GIVEN DAY OF THE WEEK. WE BOTH LIKE THE ALLURE OF THE OPEN ROAD, AND MORE SO, THE DAYS WHEN WE FEEL TOTALLY UNFETTERED. OBVIOUSLY IT'S WHEN WE DO OUR BEST WORK. WE VISIT THE NOOKS AND CRANNIES WE WANT TO SEE, AND EXPERIENCE, AND WHAT INSPIRES US TO CAPTURE THE MOMENT AND THE LOCATION.....WHETHER IT IS AN OWL SITTING ON A FENCE POST, A COUPLE OF VENERABLE CROWS PERCHED ON A RAIL FENCE, A BARN WITH A BACKGROUND OF CRIMSON MAPLES, OR A SILHOUETTE OF A LONE CANOEIST EMERGING FROM A MORNING MIST, IT'S OUR TIME TO PROSPER, COURTESY THIS MAGNIFICENT REGION IN ONTARIO.
     IT IS MY OPINION, THAT THE NEXT TEN YEARS WILL INSPIRE A GREAT NEW INTEREST IN THE QUALITIES AND QUANTITIES OF LIFE AND LIVING IN MUSKOKA. WHAT WE ARE PHOTOGRAPHING AND WRITING ABOUT TODAY, MAY BE COMPROMISED SOME TIME SOON. THERE MAY BE SUDIVISION LOTS ALONG THE ROLLING, WINDING, DUSTY COUNTRY ROADS WE MOTOR ALONG NOW, AND WE COULD WELL SEE A STEADY REDUCTION OF THE OLD BARNS AND OUT BUILDINGS WE'VE RECOGNIZED AS LANDMARKS, FOR SO LONG, ON THESE SEASONAL PILGRIMMAGES. WE WANT A RECORD OF THESE LANDMARKS WHILE WE HAVE THE CHANCE, SO THAT FOLKS IN THE FUTURE WILL HAVE THIS AS RECORD.....OF OUR MUSKOKA, ONCE UPON A TIME. IT IS SAID THAT GROUP OF SEVEN ARTIST, A.J. CASSON, ONCE REMARKED TO COLLEAGUE, ABOUT PAINTING IN MUSKOKA,... THAT HE WAS NO LONGER ABLE TO FIND ANY REMARKABLE OLD BUILDINGS TO DEPICT. THIS WAS MORE THAN A HALF CENTURY AGO. I THINK HE WAS RIGHT, AT LEAST CONSIDERING THE INTERESTING ARCHITECTURE THAT USED TO BE HERE IN THE EARLY PART OF THE 1900'S. FRED AND I KNOW HOW PROFOUND THESE CHANGES HAVE BEEN.....IN KILWORTHY, FOR FRED, WHERE HIS FAMILY USED TO RUN THE KILWORTHY GENERAL STORE, AND FOR ME, IN BRACEBRIDGE, WHERE I ARRIVED AS A WIDE-EYED CITY KID, IN THE MID 1960'S; WHEN FOR RECREATION, I SKATED ON THE PONDS OF BALL'S FLATS, WHERE SHOPPING PLAZAS NOW DOT THE LANDSCAPE.  WE'RE BOTH TRADITIONALISTS, SO WE WANT TO MAKE UP FOR SOME LOST TIME, AND LOST HERITAGE BUILDINGS, BY GOING TO WORK NOW ON THIS NEW CENTURY REPRESENTATION OF OUR HOME DISTRICT. AS FOR FAILURE? THE ONLY REASON WE COULD POSSIBLY DROP THE BALL, IS IF WE END OUR MISSION PREMATURELY, WITHOUT SATISFYING YOU, AND OURSELVES, THAT WE'VE PROFILED THE REGION RESPONSIBLY, AND HISTORICALLY. IF YOU THINK SOMETHING SHOULD BE INCLUDED, THAT HASN'T BEEN, OR A LANDMARK MISSED, PLEASE SEND US SUGGESTIONS VIA EMAIL. WE ARE ALL PARTNERS IN THIS PROJECT, WHEN IT COMES RIGHT DOWN TO IT.......BECAUSE THE EFFORT IS SOMEWHAT WASTED IF WE CAN'T MUSTER A READERSHIP.
     WE ARE NOT GOING TO APPLY ANY PRESSURE TO THIS PROJECT. WE AREN'T PUTTING TOGETHER A BOOK, AS WE WOULD HATE TO INJURE ANY TREES ON OUR JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY. ADMITTEDLY, WE DO OUR BEST WORK WHEN TIME IS ABUNDANT, AND SCHEDULE IS DETERMINED BY OUR SENSE OF WANDERLUST, AND NOTHING ELSE. IT'S POSSIBLY THE CLOSEST WE WILL EVER BE, TO BECOMING FREE SPIRITS; AND IF THIS SHOWS THROUGH, DURING THIS COLLABORATION, THEN WE'RE AS CLOSE AS WE COULD POSSIBLY BE, TO MEETING OUR OWN MEASURE OF STEWARDSHIP TO THIS REGION. BUT YOU WILL BE OUR JUDGES. WE HAVE A BUSY AND INTERESTING FALL AND WINTER SEASON AHEAD. PLEASE JOIN US IN THIS PARTNERSHIP-EXPLORATION OF MUSKOKA......BROUGHT TO YOU BY TWO CHAPS WHO HAVE SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS IN BOTH WRITING AND PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS.



EARLY SETTLERS AND THEIR SUPERSTITIONS - WHAT WAS FEARED ON THE MUSKOKA HOMESTEAD?

A BELIEF IN WITCHES? YOU BET!

     I HAVE BEEN SITTING OUT ON OUR VERANDAH, FOR THE PAST HOUR,  ENJOYING ANOTHER AMAZING FALL DAY, HERE IN SOUTH MUSKOKA. EARLIER, SUZANNE AND I STOPPED BY MUSKOKA BEACH, OVERLOOKING LAKE MUSKOKA, AND IT WAS A BREATHTAKING SUNSET......ONE OF THE MOST DAZZLING I'VE SEEN.
     AS I WROTE ABOUT SEVERAL DAYS AGO, I WAS ABLE TO SECURE A FASCINATING NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA BOOKLET, ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1850, ENTITLED "FOLK-LORE OF WATERLOO COUNTY, ONTARIO," AS ORIGINALLY PREPARED BY W. J. WINTEMBERG, WHO DIED BEFORE THIS FINAL MANUSCRIPT WAS PREPARED. BUT THE RESEARCH WORK HE INTIATED, PROVIDED EXCEPTIONAL FINDINGS, AND THE NATIONAL MUSEUM DECIDED TO PUT IT INTO BULLETIN 116, OF THEIR ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES, LISTED AS NUMBER 28, IN CASE YOU WOULD ALSO LIKE TO HAVE ACCESS TO THIS MATERIAL.
     THE BOOK DEALS WITH AN EARLIER PERIOD IN THE HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT IN UPPER CANADA, AND THOSE HAVING IMMIGRATED TO NORTH AMERICA FROM GERMANY AS WELL AS BORDER AREAS. ALTHOUGH MUSKOKA DIDN'T HAVE A LARGE GERMAN INFLUX, DURING THE FREE LAND GRANT AND HOMESTEADS ACT PERIOD, FROM THE LATE 1860'S, THESE SETTLERS DID ARRIVE IN GROWING NUMBERS AS SETTLEMENTS GREW. AS THIS SERIES OF BLOGS IS LOOKING AT THE FOLK-LORE OF THE REGION, WHICH HAS BEEN LARGELY NEGLECTED BY HISTORIANS, SOME MATERIAL IN THIS PUBLICATON WILL RELATE TO BELIEFS HELD BY CERTAIN RESIDENTS, NEWLY ARRIVING IN THE HAMLETS AND FARMSTEADS, DOTTING THE MUSKOKA COUNTRYSIDE IN THE LATE 1800'S. THERE WERE A WIDE RANGE OF SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS IN THE PARANORMAL, THAT THESE SETTLERS BROUGHT TO THE CANADIAN WILDS, AND MUCH EVOLVED WITH THESE STRANGE FICTIONS, WHEN CULTURES INTER-MARRIED, AND EVOLVED THESE SUPERSTITIIONS INTO MULTI-CULTURAL BELIEFS. I HAVE INCLUDED PORTIONS OF A CHAPTER ON "WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT" FROM THE WORK OF W.J. WINTERMBERG, THAT MAY HAVE HAD A PLACE, IN THE SUPERSTITIONS OF THOSE HOMESTEADERS OF GERMANIC ORIGIN. THE STORIES ARE FROM EARLIER IN THE 1800'S, BUT IT IS LIKELY THEY WERE STILL AROUND BY THE TIME MUSKOKA WAS BEING SETTLED, LATER IN THE CENTURY. NOW IN THE WORDS OF THE STUDY'S AUTHOR:
     "BELIEF IN WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT WAS QUITE COMMON IN THE RURAL PARTS OF ONTARIO IN THE EARLY DAYS, AND ESPECIALLY SO AMONG THE GERMAN SETTLERS IN WATERLOO COUNTY. THE NUMBER '99' IS CALLED 'HEXE-G'WICHT,' MEANING 'WITCHES' WEIGHT."
     THE AUTHOR REPORTS THAT, "A SHARP SHOOTING PAIN IN THE SIDE, BACK, OR SHOULDERS IS CALLED A 'HEXE-SCHTICK,' I.E. 'WITCHES' STAB. THE MILK OF A BEWITCHED COW SHOULD BE PUT ON THE HINGE OF A DOOR SO THAT EVERY TIME THE DOOR IS OPENED AND CLOSED, THE WITCH WILL BE TORTURED. TO KEEP THE WITCHES OUT OF THE STABLE, A SPRIG OF CEDAR BLESSED BY THE PRIEST WAS PLACED ABOVE THE STABLE DOOR ON PALM SUNDAY. PUSSY WILLOW SPRAYS WERE USED FOR LIKE PURPOSE.
     "ON THE LAST DAY OF APRIL, A CROSS WITH THE NAMES OR INITIALS (USUALLY THE LATTER) OF THE THREE WISE MEN OF THE EAST, - CASPAR, MELCHIOR, AND BALTHAZAR - WAS MADE ON THE DOORS OF THE HOUSES TO KEEP WITCHES OUT. THE BELIEF THAT BLACK CATS ARE THE ASSOCIATES OF WITCHES WAS AT ONE TIME WIDESPREAD. A YOUNG MAN (THE SON OF A GERMAN CONJURE DOCTOR) OFTEN TOLD HIS FRIENDS THAT WHEN HE PASSED BY AN OLD WITCH'S HOUSE, AT NIGHT, HIS PROGRESS WAS IMPEDED BY A HOST OF BLACK CATS, AND HE WAS SOMETIMES FORCED TOTAKE TO THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD TO REACH HIS HOME. THIS OCCURRED IN THE VILLAGE OF NEW HAMBURG NOT MANY YEARS AGO."
     W. J. WINTEMBERG WRITES, "IT WAS FORMERLY BELIEVED THAT A HORSE THAT APPEARED TIRED OR RESTLESS IN THE MORNING HAD BEEN RIDDEN HARD BY WITCHES. IT WAS ALSO BELIEVED THAT THESE WITCHES SOMETIMES ENTANGLED THE HAIR OF A HORSE'S MAIN IN SO INTRICATE A MANNER THAT IT COULD NOT BE DISENTANGLED. SOME BELIEVED THAT WITCHES HELD A MIDNIGHT ORGY OR FESTIVAL EACH MONTH, AND THAT DRINKING VESSELS USED AT THESE FESTIVALS WERE COW-HOOF CUPS AND BOWLS MADE OF HORSE'S HOOFS. ABOUT 1880 THERE LIVED AN OLD WOMAN NOT FAR FROM THE VILLAGE OF NEW DUNDEE WHO WAS SAID TO HAVE BEEN A WITCH. SHE IS SAID TO HAVE POSSESSED THE 'SIXTH AND SEVENTH BOOKS OF MOSES,' AND IT WAS BELIEVED THAT SHE COULD TRANSFORM HERSELF INTO ANY ANIMAL SHE CHOSE. SHE SOMETIMES TRANSFORMED HERSELF INTO A CAT AND PROWLED AROUND HER NEIGHBORS' PREMISES.
     "ONE DAY A SOW, AND HER LITTER OF TEN LITTLE PIGS, BELONGING TO A WILMOT TOWNSHIP FARMER, STARTED TO RUN A CIRCLE AROUND THE BARNYARD; THE PIGS FOLLOWING CLOSE ON HER HEELS. EVERY FEW MINUTES ONE OF THE PIGS FELL OVER AND DIED. THIS CONTINUED UNTIL ONLY A FEW PIGS WERE LEFT. THE FARMER THEN CONSULTED AN AMISH WITCH-DOCTOR NAMED LUGOBULL. THE DOCTOR BROKE THE SPELL THAT THE WITCH HAD CAST OVER THE PIGS, AND TOLD THE FARMER THAT THE WITCH WOULD SOON CALL TO BORROW SOMETHING, BUT HE WAS NOT TO LET HER HAVE IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, FOR THUS SHE WOULD REGAIN HER POWER OVER THE PIGS. THE WITCH-DOCTOR'S WORDS PROVED TO BE TRUE, FOR BEFORE LONG A WOMAN CAME TO BORROW SOMETHING AND HE REFUSED TO LET HER HAVE IT. SHE CALLED SEVERAL TIMES BUT WAS ALWAYS REFUSED AND HER PLANS WERE THWARTED.
     "ONE DAY AN OLD WOMAN CAME TO A FARMHOUSE IN WILMOT TOWNSHIP AND ASKED FOR SOME FOOD, WHICH WAS REFUSED HER. SHE LEFT, MUCH INCENSED AT THIS REFUSAL, AND AS SHE WAS GOING DOWN THE LANE SHE CALED THE COWS, MEANWHILE HOLDING UP THREE OF HER FINGERS. THE FARMER DID NOT THINK MUCH ABOUT THE MATTER AT THE TIME, BUT WHEN THE WOMEN BEGAN TO MILK THEY FOUND THAT ON EVERY COW ONLY ONE TEAT PRODUCED MILK, THE OTHER THREE BLOOD. THE FOLLOWING MORNING THE SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN AND THE FARMER, BECOMING ALARMED, CONSULTED AN AMISH WITCH-DOCTOR WHO CURED THE COWS BY A PROCESS OF CHARMING."
     THE FOLK HISTORIAN WRITES, "ANOTHER FARMER'S COW WAS BEWITCHED, THE MILK BEING THICK EVERY TIME THE COW WAS MILKED. A WITCH-DOCTOR WAS CONSULTED AND HE ADVISED THEM TO PUT THE MILK INTO A PAN AND SET IT ON THE STOVE TO BOIL, AND THEN THEY WERE TO GIVE THE MILK A THOROUGH WHIPPING WHILE IT BOILED. THIS WAS DONE, THE COW WAS CURED, AND THE WITCH'S POWER WAS DISPELLED. ONE DAY TWO YOUNG MEN WERE LOADING HAY IN A FIELD WHEN A WOMAN CAME WALKING ALONG THE ROAD THAT PASSED NEAR THE FIELD. THE WOMAN WAS A WITCH AND SHE BEWITCHED THE TWO YOUNG MEN AND THEY COULD NOT PROCEED WITH THEIR WORK. ONE OF THE YOUTHS THEN THREE HIS FORK IN THE AIR AND IT STUCK THERE, BUT WHEN HE PULLED IT DOWN AGAIN THE WITCH RAN AWAY. (TOLD BY A YOUNG AMISHMAN)
     "THE MANGERS IN THE SETTLER'S BARNS WERE MADE FROM HALF A HOLLOW BASSWOOD LOG, WITH BOARDS NAILED ACROSS THE ENDS, AND HOLES WERE BORED THROUGH THE SIDES, JUST AS THEY ARE NOWADAYS FOR FASTENING THE ANIMALS. OLD KUTLER HAD A NUMBER OF CALVES FASTENED IN HIS STABLE IN THIS WAY. THE CHAINS AROUND THE CALVES' NECKS WERE QUITE LOOSE, BUT NOT SUFFICIENTLY SO AS TO ALLOW THE ANIMALS TO GET FREE. ONE MORNING WHEN HE WENT OUT TO THE STABLE HE FOUND THE TWO CALVES FASTENED TOGETHER WITH ONE CHAIN; THAT IS, IT LOOKED AS IF ONE CALF HAD SLIPPED ITS HEAD INSIDE THE CHAIN OF ANOTHER CALF, AND THUS BECOME SECURELY FASTENED. THE CHAIN WAS SO TIGHT THAT IT COULD NOT BE REMOVED, AND SO THEY HAD TO CHOP OUT THE END OF THE CHAIN WHERE IT WAS FASTENED TO THE MANGER AND THEN FILE APART ONE OF THE LINKS. KUTLER CLAIMED THE CALVES HAD BEEN PUT IN THIS POSITION BY A WITCH, BECAUSE THE UNITED STRENGTH OF TWO MEN PULLING ON THE CHAIN COULD NOT RELEASE THE CALVES. HE SHOWED MY FATHER THE NOTCH IN THE MANGER WHERE THE CHAIN HAD TO BE CUT LOOSE. THIS HAPPENED ABOUT 60 YEARS AGO. KUTLER WAS AN ALSATIAN SETTLER IN WILMOT TOWNSHIP.
     "OLD MAN MERKLINGER, WHO FORMERLY LIVED NEAR STE. AGATHA, WAS A HEXE-MEESHTER OR 'WTICH DOCTOR,' AND WAS LOCALLY KNOWN AS HELL-DEIFEL, I.E. 'HELL DEVIL.' IN ONE FAMILY OF ALSATIAN SETTLERS IN WILMOT, OF WHOM I HEARD SOME YEARS AGO, THE FATHER WAS SHUNNED BY HIS OWN DAUGHTER BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED HE WAS A WIZARD. HIS SISTER HAD THE REPUTATION OF BEING A WITCH, ALTHOUGH THERE WAS NOT A MORE KIND-HEARTED WOMAN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. THE WRITER'S MOTHER ONCE HAD THE QUINSY AND THIS WAS SAID BY HER EMPLOYER TO HAVE BEEN DUE TO THE MALICE OF TWO OLD WITCHES WHO LIVED BY. AFTER SHE HAD RECOVERED, SHE RETURNED TO HER EMPLOYER'S PLACE, BUT ON THE VERY DAY OF HER RETURN, THE TWO OLD WOMEN HAPPENED TO BE THERE AND ONE OF THE SAID, 'YOUR THROAT WILL BE AS SORE AS EVER TOMORROW,' AND SURE ENOUGH IN THE MORNING THIS WAS SO. IT WAS BELIEVED THAT THE WITCHES HAD BEWITCHED HER AGAIN, AT LEAST THAT IS WHAT HER EMPLOYERS BELIEVED; AND THESE PEOPLE ACTUALLY MOVED FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD TO GET AWAY FROM THE BANEFUL INFLUENCE OF THOSE TWO OLD WOMEN. CHILDREN COULD NOT BE INDUCED TO EAT EVEN AN APPLE GIVEN TO THEM BY EITHER ONE OF THE SUPPOSED WITCHES."
     THE AUTHOR CONTINUES, BY NOTING THAT, "THE WRITER'S MATERNAL UNCLE WAS SAID TO HAVE BEEN BEWITCHED BY AN OLD WOMAN WHEN HE WAS A BABY. ONE DAY WHILE HE WAS LYING IN HIS CRADLE A TALL, GAUNT-LOOKING WOMAN, A PERFECT STRANGER, CALLED AT THE HOUSE AND WENT TO THE CRADLE AND THE CHILD BEGAN TO CRY AND DID NOT STOP UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING WHEN THE STRANGE WOMAN LEFT. ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A SHOEMAKER IN ALSACE, WHO EMPLOYED SEVERAL ASSISTANTS, AND THESE HAD TO WORK AT NIGHT. HE SOMETIMES WAS ABSENT FROM HOME, SO HIS WIFE, WHO WAS A WITCH, TRANSFORMED HERSELF INTO A CAT AND WENT INTO THE SHOP TO WATCH THE MEN. THEIR DOINGS ALWAYS BEING REPORTED TO THEIR MASTER, THEY BEGAN TO SUSPECT THAT THE CAT WAS THE MASTER'S WIFE, AND SO ONE NIGHT ONE OF THEM CUT ONE OF THE CAT'S PAWS WITH A KNIFE. THE NEXT MORNING THE WIFE HAD ONE OF HER HANDS BOUND UP.
     "THE WITCHES HELD MONTHLY ORGIES OR FESTIVALS. IN ALSACE THE CHIMNEYS OF HOUSES ARE VERY WIDE, AND IT WAS THROUGH THESE THE LEFT THE HOUSE WITH OUT BEING SEEN. AT A CERTAIN FARMHOUSE THERE WERE TWO WOMEN - MOTHER AND DAUGHTER - WHO WERE WITCHES. WITH THEM LIVED AN INQUISITIVE YOUNG FARM-HAND. HE HAD NOTICED SOMETHING UNUSUAL WAS TAKING PLACE IN THE HOUSE EVERY MONTH, SO ONE NIGHT HE HID IN THE KITCHEN AND WATCHED. ABOUT MIDNIGHT THE WOMEN CAME AND STOOD NAKED BEFORE THE FIREPLACE, BENEATH THE CHIMNEY, AND AFTER ANOINTING THEMSELVES WITH AN OIL THAT THE GERMANS CALL HEXENFETT, (I.E. WITCH'S FAT), UTTERED SOME MAGIC WORDS, AND UP THEY WENT THROUGH THE CHIMNEY. THE YOUNG MAN THEN EMERGED FROM HIS HIDING PLACE AND SEEING THE VESSEL CONTAINING THE OIL, HE ANOINTED HIMSELF TO SEE WHAT EFFECT IT WOULD HAVE ON HIM. HE HAD SCARCELY PRONOUNCED THE MYSTIC WORDS WHEN HE WENT UP THE CHIMNEY WITH A SUDDENNESS THAT WAS SURPRISING, AND WHEN HE REACHED THE GROUND HE FOUND HIMSELF ASTRIDE A LARGE BLACK SOW, WHICH CARRIED HIM WITH GREAT SPEED ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THEY SOON ARRIVED AT A BROAD AND SWIFT-FLOWING RIVER, BUT THIS DID NOT HINDER THE ONWARD ADVANCE OF THE SOW, FOR IT CLEARED THE BROAD EXPANSE OF WATER AT A SINGLE BOUND. THE YOUNG MAN LOOKED BACK, AND, ADMIRING ITS LEAPING POWERS, HE SAID TO THE SOW, 'THAT WAS A LONG LEAP YOU MADE,' BUT AS HE SPOKE, THE SPELL WAS BROKEN, AND THE SOW DISAPPEARED, AND HE FOUND HIMSELF IN A STRANGE COUNTRY MANY MILES FROM HOME."
   ONCE AGAIN, THE INCLUSION OF THIS MATERIAL, GATHERED ORIGINALLY FROM THE WATERLOO AREA, OF THE PROVINCE, DOES NOT APPLY STRICTLY TO OUR AREA, BUT HAS BEEN USED AS A MODEL FOR COMPARISON, AGAINST FOLK-TALES TOLD IN THE FARMSTEADS AND HAMLET RESIDENCES OF PIONEER MUSKOKA. THERE ARE MANY PARALLELS TO THE STORIES ABOVE, AND SOME FAMILIES HAVE TAKEN THE TIME TO RECORD THEM, IN PERSONAL JOURNALS, AND SOME ON TAPE WHICH IS OF HUGE SIGNIFICANCE.....BEING ABLE TO HEAR THE VOICES OF THE STORY TELLERS FIRST HAND....AS RECALLED FROM THEIR ANCESTRAL CHRONICLE. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF SIMILAR STORIES THAT SHOULD BE CONSERVED AS PART OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE. MAYBE YOU KNOW SOME FROM YOUR OWN UPBRINGING, AND CULTURAL HERITAGE. PLEASE WRITE THEM DOWN, AND IF YOU EVER WISH TO SHARE THEM, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SEND ME A NOTE. I'D LOVE TO INCLUDE THEM IN THIS BLOG.
     WHEN FOLK HISTORIAN BERT SHEA, RE-TOLD THE STORY OF "BLACK" BILLY CROWDER, DURING THE SPRING LOG DRIVE (CIRCA 1890'S), ON THE DEE RIVER (DOWN FROM THREE MILE LAKE) THE REVELATION THAT HE HAD SHOWN SUPERNATURAL CAPABILITY, WHEN SHUTTING THE WATER DOWN, RAGING OVER THE DAM, DEMONSTRATED A GENERAL BELIEF OF WITNESSES,  IN THE PARANORMAL. DESPITE THEIR RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS, THEY SAW SOMETHING BEYOND COMPREHENSION, TAKE PLACE ON THAT NARROW DAM OVER THE FALLS. CROWDER HAD EXHIBITED SUPER HUMAN STRENGTH AND AGILITY, IN ORDER TO RESCUE HIS NEPHEW, WHO HAD FALLEN INTO THE CHURNING WATER AND RUNNING LOGS BELOW. WHILE HE WASN'T SUCCESSFUL IN SAVING HIS LIVE, MANY OF THAT LOGGING CREW, SAW THE MAN PERFORM THIS FEAT OF STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE.....EVEN IF IT WAS ONLY TO RECOVER HIS SISTER'S SON, WEDGED BETWEEN THE ROCKS BELOW. DID IT HAPPEN EXACTLY AS BERT SHEA WROTE THE STORY? I EXPECT IT WAS EMBELLISHED OVER TIME, AS MOST FOLK TALES WERE. THAT'S WHAT MAKES THEM INTERESTING. NOT THE HISTORICAL ACCURACY, BUT THE HUMAN, CULTURAL CHARACTER WITHIN. THE SAME AGAIN, WITH THE STORY OF PAT LOVELY, AND HIS ARRIVAL IN THE HAMLET OF UFFORD, TO TAKE UP A FARMSTEAD IN AMONGST A CLUSTER OF IRISH PROTESTANTS; THE SHEAS, KNOWN AS THE LEGENDARY "THREE MILE LAKE WOLVES." THE LOVELYS WERE AN IRISH CATHOLIC FAMILY. WHILE THEY APPARENTLY GOT ALONG, IT WAS SAID PAT LOVELY COULD BEWITCH A NEIGHBOR'S LIVESTOCK IF HE WAS SO INCLINED. HE CONVINCED THE LOCAL YOUTH, VISITING HIS FARM, THAT HE COULD MAGICALLY SHRINK DOWN SMALL ENOUGH, TO ENTER A WOODEN BARREL, FROM WHICH HE USED TO TALK TO THEM. PAT LOVELY COULD OBVIOUSLY THROW HIS VOICE, AND THAT WASN'T REALLY MAGIC AT ALL. BUT THE STORY ITSELF IS MAJGICAL. THESE ARE THE STORIES WE NEED TO BE AWARE OF, NOT BECAUSE THEY'RE PIVOTAL IN THE APPRECIATION OF LOCAL HISTORICAL ACCOMPLISHMENT......BUT BECAUSE THEY REPRESENT, LIKE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, HOW OUR FOUNDERS NAVIGATED EACH DAY ON THOSE LONELY, ISOLATED FARMSTEADS; AND DEALT WITH THE RIGORS AND HARDSHIPS OF MAKING A FARM-LIFE IN A HOSTILE ENVIRONS. THESE ARE FASCINATING STORIES AND WHAT THEY LACK IN FACT, THEY MORE THAN MAKE UP WITH CHARACTER......THAT MOST OF US DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT.
     THE RECOLLECTIONS OF THESE FOLK-TALES ABOUT WITCHES, FROM OUR PIONEER HISTORY, DOES NOT MEAN TO BE CRITICAL OF THOSE WHO CHOOSE TODAY TO PRACTICE THEIR BELIEFS IN THIS REGARD. THIS SERIES, IS NOT DEALING WITH CONTEMPORARY BELIEFS OR CHOICE OF RELIGIONS, FAITH, OR LINGERING LOYALTY TO SUPERSTIONS AND ANCIENT LORE. IT IS AN ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND, BEYOND RELIGION, WHAT THESE EARLY SETTLERS BELIEVED, HUDDLED AROUND THOSE CABIN HEARTHS, AND TOLD AND RE-TOLD ON COLD WINTER NIGHTS, ISOLATED ON THEIR MUSKOKA ACREAGE. JUST LIKE US, THEY HELD FIRMLY TO THEIR LIFE-LONG BELIEFS AND VALUES......AND THAT INCLUDED WITCHES.....AS DID MOST CULTURES AT THAT TIME.
     PLEASE JOIN ME AGAIN TOMORROW, FOR ANOTHER GLIMPSE OF FOLK LORE, AS TAKEN FROM THIS SAME MUSEUM DOCUMENT.

JOHN RUTHERFORD MADE AN HISTORIAN OUT OF ME WITHOUT KNOWING IT. IMAGINE THAT?

A flock of Canada Geese come in for a landing to enjoy a grassy spot and early morning breakfast along the Jones Road in Gravenhurst this morning. (Photo By Fred Schulz)

JOHN RUTHERFORD GAVE ME A CHANCE TO EXPLORE CULTURE AND HISTORY

BAND TRIP TO ENGLAND MADE ME AN HISTORIAN FOR LIFE


    I REMEMBER MEETING MY FORMER HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER, MR. PETERSON, IN THE OLD DOMINION STORE, ON BRACEBRIDGE'S MANITOBA STREET, WHERE I WAS STOCKING SHELVES, AND HIM LAUGHING OUT LOUD, IN THE AISLE, WHEN I TOLD HIM I WAS MAJORING IN HISTORY AT UNIVERSITY. I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT HE SAID AFTER A ROBUST CHORTLE, BUT IT WAS SOMETHING LIKE, "YOU'RE PUTTING ME ON." IN REALITY, I WASN'T A GOOD STUDENT IN HIGH SCHOOL GENERALLY. I WANTED TO BE OUTDOORS....EXPLORING, PADDLING A CANOE, HIKING, ANYTHING BUT WEDGED INTO A DESK STARING AT A BLACKBOARD. IN RETROSPECT, I COULDN'T BLAME THE MAN FOR LAUGHING, BECAUSE I WOULDN'T HAVE MADE IT ONTO THE TOP TWENTY, OF STUDENTS FROM HIS CLASS, THAT HE WOULD HAVE BET WOULD VENTURE ON IN HISTORY. I DIDN'T TELL HIM I WANTED TO BECOME AN HISTORIAN, IN CASE I GAVE THE MAN A CORONARY. I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE THOUGHT I'D BECOME. POSSIBLY A HOBO, I DON'T KNOW. I PASSED THE CLASS BUT WITH ONE FOOT ON A BANANA PEEL.
     I SAT UP AFTER EVERYONE HAD RETIRED TO BEDLAM, LAST EVENING, REMINISCING ABOUT THE TRIP TO ENGLAND, THE BRACEBRIDGE AND MUSKOKA LAKES SECONDARY SCHOOL BAND, ENJOYED BACK IN THE SPRING OF 1974; COURTESY THE ORGANIZING WORK OF CONDUCTOR JOHN RUTHERFORD, AND SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, KEN BLACK. AFTER GETTING THE NEWS THAT JOHN RUTHERFORD HAD PASSED AWAY EARLIER IN THE WEEK, AND PUBLISHING A SMALL EDITORIAL TRIBUTE, ON THIS SITE, LAST EVENING, I SPENT SOME TIME, HUDDLED IN MY OFFICE, SORTING THROUGH THE BOX OF NOTES I KEPT, WHILE ENROUTE TO ENGLAND; AND ENTRIES PENNED OFTEN DURING OUR TOUR NORTH FROM LONDON; STAYING IN NOTTINGHAM WITH HOST FAMILIES, AND GOING ON TO YORK, WHERE WE CLIMBED THE FAMOUS HEIGHTS OF YORKMINSTER ABBEY. AND OF COURSE WE HAD A NUMBER OF PLAYING GIGS WHICH WAS ALSO A LOT OF FUN.
     IN BETWEEN THE PLAYING AND HISTORICAL STUFF, I ACCOMPANIED FRIENDS TO THE OPENING OF THE MOVIE "THE EXORCIST," ON ONE BLOCK, AND THE NEXT NIGHT, THE STAGE PERFORMANCE OF "JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR." AT BOTH VENUES, THERE WERE PEOPLE HANDING OUT PAMPHLETS EXPLAINING WHY WE SHOULDN'T GO TO THE RESPECTIVE SHOWS. ONE BECAUSE IT PROFILED THE DEVIL, AND THE OTHER, BECAUSE IT IRREVERENTLY PORTRAYED JESUS. I THINK THOSE PEOPLE WERE WORKING FOR THE THEATERS, BECAUSE THEIR PROTESTS OVER LOUDSPEAKERS WERE ACTUALLY ATTRACTING PEOPLE TO TICKET BOOTH....TO SEE WHAT ALL THE FUSS WAS ABOUT. LONDON AT NIGHT IN THE 1970'S. FANTASTIC.
     WHILE I NEVER REALLY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK WITH JOHN ABOUT HIS INFLUENCES, AND ENGLAND'S, REGARDING MY CHANGE OF HEART FOR THAT SAME YEAR'S UNIVERSITY STUDIES, THE TRIP OVERSEAS, AND EXPOSURE TO HISTORY, AS I HAD NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE, MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE TO ME. STANDING THERE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, IN DOWNTOWN LONDON, WAS SO MIND-BLOWING FOR THIS COUNTRY KID, WITH AN EAGERNESS TO EXPLORE HISTORICAL PLACES, THAT WHEN IT CAME TIME TO SET MY COURSE PROGRESSION, AT YORK UNIVERSITY, A FEW MONTHS LATER, THERE WASN'T A DOUBT IN MY MIND WHICH DIRECTION TO FOLLOW. I ENDED MY STUDIES WITH A DEGREE IN CANADIAN HISTORY, AND WHEN I ARRIVED HOME TO BRACEBRIDGE, GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS RIGHT AWAY.....AS A FOUNDER OF THE LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF WOODCHESTER VILLA AND MUSEUM, IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ANOTHER PARTNER FROM THAT ENGLAND TOUR, KEN BLACK. I'VE BEEN INVOLVED IN LOCAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE CONSERVATION, IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, SINCE THAT MIND-EXPANDING OVERSEAS ADVENTURE.
     SUZANNE AND I WERE TALKING ABOUT THE TRIP A FEW WEEKS AGO, PARTICULARLY ABOUT THE FASHIONS OF THE MID 1970'S. BEING IN ENGLAND FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE WERE EAGER TO DRESS THE PART OF LONDONERS.....ALL WITHIN A FEW HOURS OF LANDING AT HEATHROW AIRPORT. WE WERE TALKING ABOUT IT, BECAUSE SUZANNE HAS A COMPONENT OF OUR GRAVENHURST ANTIQUE BUSINESS, DEVOTED TO VINTAGE CLOTHING, AND WE HAVE SOLD A LOT OF HATS, COATS, SHAWLS DRESSES AND SUITS, TO OUR OUT OF GUESTS....ESPECIALLY MUSICAL PERFORMERS, WHO VISIT OUR SONS RESPECTIVE MUSIC BUSINESSES, AT THE FRONT OF THE BUILDING. I CAN REMEMBER IN ENGLAND, THE RUSH FOR THE GENTS, AT LEAST, TO GET INTO THE CLOTHING SHOPS, TO PURCHASE PEAK CAPS, SCARVES, LONDON FOG OVERCOATS, AND TRADITIONAL BLACK UMBRELLAS. WE LOOKED PRETTY DAPPER AND INHERENTLY BRITISH, BY TIME WE FINISHED OUTFITTING OURSELVES, TO LOOK AS IF WE BELONGED IN ENGLAND. THE GIRLS DID SOMEWHAT THE SAME THING, BUT I'M NOT SURE WHAT IT ALL ENTAILED. I STILL HAVE THE UMBRELLA BUT HAVE MISPLACED IT SOMEWHERE IN MY ARCHIVES COLLECTION. SHOULD BE EASY TO FIND, BUT MY ARCHIVES IS A LITTLE NON-CONVENTIONAL. SO SUZANNE AND I HAVE BORROWED A LITTLE OF THAT EXPERIENCE, FROM ABROAD, TO KEEP OURSELVES IN THE KIND OF VINTAGE APPAREL, A VISITOR TO OUR REGION MIGHT LIKE TO DON, TO FEEL A LITTLE MORE MUSKOKAN, TO SUIT THE ENVIRONS.
     WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE VERY REAL POSSIBIITY, I MIGHT HAVE MISSED THE OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN THE BAND THAT YEAR, IT REALLY MAKES ME PONDER ALL THE REALITIES THAT WOULD HAVE CHANGED AS A RESULT. JOHN INFLUENCED ME IN STAGES. THE FIRST MAJOR IMPACT, WAS WHEN HE INVITED ME TO JOIN THE BAND IN THE FALL OF 1973, AND GAVE ME A CHANCE TO IMPROVE MY BARITONE PROWESS, BEFORE THE SPRING TOUR, WHICH I BELIEVE WAS IN MARCH OF 1974. MY NOTES ARE PRETTY CRUMPLED AND STAINED, AND I CAN ONLY READ SMALL PORTIONS. AS I POINTED OUT IN YESTERDAY'S BLOG, I WAS A LONGSHOT TO MAKE THE BAND, AND THERE WERE YOUNGER PLAYERS, IN THE GRADES BELOW, WHO COULD PLAY BETTER. BUT JOHN WANTED TO GIVE ME A CHANCE TO PROVE MYSELF, AFTER FOUR YEARS ON THE SIDELINES. I DECIDED THAT THIS WAS GOING TO BE A LIFE-ALTERING ADVENTURE, AND I WASN'T WRONG. WHEN WE GOT TO ENGLAND, AND I SAW HISTORIC LONDON, GETTING TO THE REGENT PALACE HOTEL, I BECAME SO ENAMORED WITH THE WHOLE PICTURE, I COULDN'T SLEEP. I SURVIVED ON CAT NAPS FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP. I DIDN'T WANT TO MISS A THING. I WAS IMMERSED IN WORLD HISTORY IN THIS WONDERFUL PLACE, AND THE ONLY PROBLEM, WAS HOW TO SEE IT ALL INSIDE OF TWO WEEKS.
     THE POINT OF THIS BLOG, TODAY, IS TO CREDIT JOHN RUTHERFORD, AND OF COURSE KEN BLACK, FOR OFFERING A GUY LIKE ME, AN OPPORTUNITY (HE WOULDN'T HAVE HAD OTHERWISE)....TO NOT ONLY BE PART OF HISTORY, BUT AFFORDED THE RARE AND GENEROUS OCCASION, TO DRINK IN AS MUCH AS I COULD CONSUME.... TO REMEMBER IT ALL, IN THE STILL SHARP PANORAMA OF SNAPSHOTS, TUCKED SAFELY IN MY OLD MENTAL SCRAPBOOK. WHAT INSPIRED ME THEN, HAS GONE ON TO BE PART OF MY EVERYDAY ADVENTURES TODAY, AND THE REASON I NEVER GET TIRED OF DELVING INTO A NEW HERITAGE PROJECT, OR INITIATING A BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE, AS RELATES TO OUR REGIONAL HISTORY. I WOULD BE PRETTY COCKY IF I SAID THAT THE BAND TRIP TO ENGLAND MADE ME A BETTER HISTORIAN, BECAUSE FRANKLY, I REALLY DON'T KNOW IF I'M AS GOOD AS I THINK I AM. IT WOULDN'T BE A STRETCH HOWEVER, TO SUGGEST THAT JOHN RUTHERFORD, SPECIFICALLY, DECIDED THAT THIS TRIP FOR ME, WOULD GIVE ME A CHANCE TO PROVE MYSELF. IT WOULD BE THE KIND OF INCENTIVE, THAT JUST MIGHT DO A KID LIKE ME SOME GOOD; AS IT WAS THE CASE MY FAMILY DIDN'T HAVE THE KIND OF MONEY TO SEND ME TO ENGLAND ON A LARK. THIS TRIP WAS SUBSIDIZED AND AFFORDABLE TO A LOT OF STUDENTS, WHO WOULDN'T HAVE HAD THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE, TO ENJOY SUCH A GREAT, LIFE-ENHANCING OPPORTUNITY.
     I DECIDED BEFORE WE LANDED BACK IN CANADA, THAT I WAS GOING TO TAKE A CRACK AT THIS HISTORIAN-THING, FIRST AT UNIVERSITY, AND THEN AS A PROFESSION.....AT LEAST AS BEST  I COULD, WITHOUT ACTUALLY GETTING A TEACHING DEGREE, AND FINDING A SCHOOL THAT WOULD HAVE A WANDERLUST GUY LIKE ME ON STAFF. I DON'T THINK I WOULD HAVE MADE A VERY GOOD TEACHER, SO I MARRIED ONE INSTEAD. SO SINCE THE BAND TRIP, THAT YEAR, I HAVE BEEN WORKING IN THE FIELD OF LOCAL, PROVINCIAL AND NATIONAL HERITAGE,  WITH SOME WELL KNOWN HISTORICAL CRONIES, AND HONESTLY, I CAN'T ATTRIBUTE MY INSPIRATION FOR THIS, TO ANY ONE OTHER THAN JOHN RUTHERFORD. IF I HAD TOLD HIM THIS, IN ONE OF MANY CASUAL CONVERSATIONS WE HAD, IN THE YEARS AFTER, HE WOULD HAVE DISMISSED HIS CONTRIBUTION AS JUST NORMAL FARE FOR ANY TEACHER-MENTOR. NO BIG DEAL. HE NEEDED A BARITONE PLAYER AND I HAPPENED TO PLAY ONE. THE SIDE TO THIS THAT WE NEVER REALLY TALKED ABOUT, WAS THAT HIS STAR PLAYER, TIM ROWE, HAD DIED EARLIER, AND IT WAS TIM WHO HAD INSTRUCTED ME HOW TO PLAY THE GREAT BRASS BEAST. TIM GOT ME THROUGH MY PLAYING TESTS, AND IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR HIS MENTORSHIP, I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE OPTED TO TAKE ANOTHER COURSE INSTEAD OF MUSIC, IN LATER YEARS. IN ENGLAND, MY MENTOR THEN, BECAME FRASER WRIGHT, AND WITHOUT HIS ELBOW NUDGES AND GRIMMACES, I MIGHT HAVE SERIOUSLY DISAPPOINTED JOHN. I WAS ONE OF THOSE MARGINAL PLAYERS THAT NEEDED DAILY UPGRADES JUST TO MAINTAIN AN AVERAGE PERFORMANCE STANDARD.
     JOHN RUTHERFORD WAS A TOUGH TEACHER, AND IN LATER YEARS, AN EQUALLY TOUGH HEAD REFEREE, IN THE BRACEBRIDGE MENS RECREATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, CIRCA THE 1990'S. I WAS ONE OF JOHN'S REFS THOSE YEARS, AND BOY OH BOY, HE HAD HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL OF US, TO KEEP THE GAMES FAIR AND UNDER CONTROL. HE'D OCCASSIONALLY REMIND ME OF MY BARITONE PLAYING, AND HOW IT WAS A GOOD THING, AS HE USED TO ADMIT, THAT MY REFEREEING PROWESS WAS MORE OF A SYMPHONY.....THAN MY PERFORMANCES ON STAGE. STILL, HE TOOK AN AVERAGE LAD WITH HIGH HOPES TO ENGLAND, AND APPARENTLY, I KEPT MY PROMISES, AND ALLOWED ONLY A FEW WRONG NOTES TO SLIP OUT.....THAT WERE QUICKLY DROWNED OUT BY FRASER WRIGHT'S ANTICIPATION OF WHERE I WAS GOING TO SCREW UP......IN THE PROGRESSION OF "THE LONDON SYMPHONY," OR "THUNDERCREST." JOHN EVEN FORGAVE ME FOR KNOCKING OVER, LIKE DOMINOES, FOUR MUSIC STANDS ONCE, BECAUSE I TOPPLED MINE WITH MY HEAD, WHEN I BENT OVER TO PICK-UP MY MUSIC SHEETS, OFF THE FLOOR OF THE STAGE. JOHN JUST CLENCHED HIS JAW, LOOKED DOWN AT THE FLOOR, AND GAVE ME A TELEPATHIC MESSAGE, TO SMARTEN UP OR ELSE. GOOD TIMES.
     I THINK MOST OF US, WERE PROFOUNDLY INFLUENCED BY THAT HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE, OF TRAVELLING OVERSEAS, AND PERFORMING OUR MUSIC AT SOME VERY SIGNIFICANT VENUES. IT WAS PRETTY NEAT WANDERING THROUGH SHERWOOD FOREST, AND MEETING THE STATUE OF ROBIN HOOD (MINUS HIS ARROW), AND THE TRULY MORTAL SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM, WHO SHOOK OUR HANDS, AND WELCOMED US TO THIS LEGENDARY CITY....WHERE OUR ODYSSEY TRULY BEGAN. ACCORDING TO PARK AUTHORITIES, TOURISTS KEPT SWIPING THE ARROW FROM ITS PLACEMENT ON ROBIN'S BOW.
     HONESTLY, I DON'T THINK JOHN RUTHERFORD WOULD EVER HAVE BELIEVED, THAT HIS DECISION TO ALLOW ME INTO THE HIGH SCHOOL BAND, FOR THAT ENGLAND TOUR, WOULD HAVE LED TO A LIFETIME COMMITMENT TO HISTORY, AND HERITAGE CONSERVATION.  I CAN STILL HEAR MR. PETERSON LAUGHING, AS HE CARRIED ON WITH HIS SHOPPING. "HISTORY?" BUT REGARDLESS, I KNOW HOW MUCH I CHANGED IN A MATTER OF WEEKS, GOING FROM A GENERAL MALAISE ABOUT CAREER, TO BEING STALWARTLY COMMITTED TO PERSUE WHAT HAD TURNED MY CRANK, ON OF ALL THINGS, A BAND TRIP. NOT A TRIP TO EXPLORE THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT, OR TO SEEK MAYAN ARTIFACTS.....OR RAISE THE TITANIC. IT'S WHAT I SAW ON THE WAY THAT CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER. HOW DO YOU THANK SOMEONE.....WHO WAS SO STEADFASTLY RELUCTANT TO TAKE CREDIT FOR BEING ANYTHING MORE THAN A DUTIFUL TEACHER. WELL, I SUPPOSE, LIKE THIS; THAT I  MUST REINFORCE WHAT MANY OF US KNOW AS FACT...... THAT HIS CONTRIBUTION TO OUR WELFARE, AND SELF IMPROVEMENT, WAS MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN NORMAL DUE-DILIGENCE PROFESSIONALISM. HE OPENED A DOOR FOR ME THAT I DIDN'T KNOW WAS THERE, AND OTHERS IN THAT GROUP, CAN ATTEST TO THE ADVANTAGES THIS OPPORTUNITY AFFORDED US FOR THE FUTURE.
     I'VE BEEN WORKING AS A MUSKOKA-REGION HISTORIAN SINCE 1977, ONLY THREE YEARS AFTER THE ENGLAND TOUR....SO WHEN I TELL YOU THAT IT WAS JOHN RUTHERFORD WHO OPENED THAT DOOR FOR ME.....YOU KNOW I'M NOT EMBELLISHING THE TRUTH. IT'S BEEN THE SAME EVER SINCE, AND THERE ISN'T A DAY THAT GOES BY, THAT I DON'T USE SOMETHING FROM THAT TRIP, AS A TOOL OR SUBTLE INSPIRATION, TO INCH AHEAD ON SOME RESEARCH OR CONSERVATION PROJECT, INCLUDING THIS MOST RECENT SERIES OF RELATED ARTICLES, ON THE FOLK-LORE OF THE MUSKOKA DISTRICT FROM PIONEER TIMES.
    IT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A WIDE-EYED KID STANDS AT THE HEAD OF TOMBS, OCCUPIED BY SOME OF THE MOST REVERED AUTHORS, STATESMAN, AND GREAT MINDS OF OUR CIVILIZED WORLD.....AND QUESTIONS THOUGHTFULLY, "WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY LIFE?" I'VE GONE ON A LOT OF TRIPS IN MY LIFE, BUT NOTHING LIKE THIS ONE, FOR SUSTAINING IMPACT. JOHN, LIKE MY MOTHER, ONCE  INFORMED ME, IN HIS CASUAL CONVERSATION, (AS  I REMEMBER STANDING THERE, STARING DOWN AT ONE OF THESE TOMBS), "I THINK YOU MUST HAVE AN OLD SOUL TED." I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANT, AT THE TIME, BUT I THINK I DO NOW. I TAKE IT AS A COMPLIMENT, AS I HAVE OFTEN BELIEVED, I MUST HAVE LIVED IN THOSE ENGLISH HAMLETS IN ANOTHER LIFE.....BECAUSE THEY ARE OH SO COMPELLING AND HAUNTING TO ME NOW.
   THE FIRST STRANGE THOUGHT OF MANY, GENERATED BY THAT TRIP, WAS FEELING AS IF I HAD ARRIVED HOME AGAIN, AS SOON AS WE COULD LOOK DOWN FROM THE PLANE, AND SEE THE MOTHER OF THE COMMONWEALTH COMING INTO VIEW. FOR THE WHOLE TRIP I FELT AS IF I WAS REVISITING PLACES, MORE SO THAN SEEING THEM FOR THE FIRST TIME. NOW THAT WAS WEIRD. AND WHEN WE LIFTED OFF, FOR THE TRIP HOME, I TRULY FELT I WAS LEAVING MY BIRTH-PLACE FOR ANOTHER LAND.....AS THE IMMIGRANTS MUST HAVE FELT, TRAVERSING THE OCEAN ON THE WAY TO THE NEW LAND, AND THOSE ISOLATED MUSKOKA FARMSTEADS I OFTEN WRITE ABOUT.
     ALTHOUGH YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TAKEN CREDIT JOHN, IT DOESN'T ALTER THE FACT, YOU GAVE ME SOMETHING NO ONE ELSE COULD HAVE, AND I HAVE BENEFITTED EVER SINCE. IF YOU WERE TO SUMMARIZE ALL THE TESTIMONIALS GIVEN, AS MEMORIALS, TO THIS HIGHLY RESPECTED TEACHER, YOU WOULD FIND MANY PARALLELS TO MY OWN BIOGRAPHY.....OF ETERNAL FLAMES OF INSPIRATION THAT HAVE NEVER ONCE, OVER ALL THESE YEARS, DIMMED OR BECOME A LESSER SOURCE OF REKINDLING, WHEN WE'VE INADVERTENTLY LOST OUR WAY. WE REMEMBER THAT TRIP, OF 1974, AS IF IT HAD ALL HAPPENED YESTERDAY. AND THIS AFTERALL, IS THE HISTORIC MAGIC OF THAT LONG AGO ODYESSY.
     FARE THEE WELL, JOHN RUTHERFORD. YOU MEANT A LOT TO US. I JUST HOPE YOU KNEW THAT!