On Jessep McDowell’s farm, concession 15, Raleigh, there have been supernatural happenings of late which have created a great scare among the farmers of the neighbourhood. A reporter yesterday drove out to investigate, and found that the spook stories had very decided foundations in fact.
The McDowell household consists of Mr and Mrs McDowell and an adopted daughter, Lettie, aged 13. All three were interviewed, as also several neighbours. Their several stories go to establish that the house is haunted in a most inexplicable and disagreeable, not to say terrifying, way.
Showers of stones fall upon the house and any person standing near it, coming from above, while gravel is flung by unseen hands apparently from the ground. At times a shower of large pebbles will come through the windows.
An unearthly creature like a huge wild cat also visits the house, and terrifies the inmates. Tobacco worms, red ants, and crickets, have in succession invaded the premises and attacked Mrs McDowell.
Besides all this, mysterious rappings are heard at all hours, interspersed with groans and unearthly sounds for which there is no apparent cause.
The persons interviewed are all intelligent and truthful. Their awe-stricken countenances as they tell the tale of the mysterious occurrences evidences the powerful impression made on them. Psychologists will find a rare field for investigation out at the McDowell farmstead.
Toronto Daily Mail, 21st September 1894.