One thing I love about owning a GPS is when I`m taking the long drive to visit my parents I can venture off on back roads I wouldn`t normally be willing to travel on as I don`t need to worry about getting lost. It takes a little longer to get where I am going, but I get to learn my way around a little better and I sometimes stumble upon gems like this one. Just off an old country road I found this home, which looked as if it had sat empty for 20 or 30 years. I can`t say for certain when it was abandoned, but I do know that the owner left most of what they owned behind when they left. My guess is it was an elderly person who passed away and left no heir.

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It`s funny how you can drive by a spot a hundred times and never notice something like this. Burried in a bit of overgrowth my friend and I unconvered an abandoned car garage. Judging by the pop bottles I found lying around it I would guess it was abandoned in the 1950`s, though it is hard to say for sure when.

We were on our way to go explore the Blue Ghost Tunnel and the Screaming Tunnel in Thorold when we spotted this just off a main road. After parking the car at the nearest lot and hiking through dense overgrowth we reached the building. It was hard to find the entrance, and thankfully we were watching our step as we could have easily fallen into what appeared to be either a storm cellar or an old well.

After circling the building we finally found the entrance. We had to climb through the dense overgrowth to get inside, as trees were growing right in the garage doors. Another good indication of how long this building has sat empty. We wandered around the old garage, trying to identify the various things we found lying upon its floors. An old fridge, a sign for the by drive-in theatre, a random rope hanging from the ceiling. Birds swooped at us from above, definding their territory. It looked as though no one had stepped foot in here for quite some time. Although there wasn`t much to see here, it was well worth the effort — definitely worth checking out if you`re in the area.

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There are many variations of The Screaming Tunnel’s story. The most prominent of these is the one of a father who burned his daughter alive in the tunnel after learning he had lost custody of his children. Other variations include the child escaping a house fire nearby and trying to extinguish herself in the tunnels water, or that the child was raped and burned. Despite which story you chose to believe, if any, it is said that to this day her screams still can be heard in this tunnel. Due to the child’s fiery death a lit match or candle is said to invoke her screams, only to have the flame blown out shortly after.

I ventured to this tunnel one afternoon with a friend, not really sure what to expect. After a few wrong turns we eventually found it and ventured into the tunnel. It was wet and dark but we felt no supernatural presence in the tunnel, nor did we hear any screams. This may be due to the fact that neither of us remembered to bring a match to light, but I honestly do not believe there is much truth to this story. If you are interested in old stone structures that have stood the test of time or seek to find a supernatural presence, The Screaming Tunnel is worth the trip if you live in the area, but if you live far away I wouldn’t make a long drive as it won’t keep your interest more than 5 or 10 minutes.

Something interesting about this tunnel is that it was used in the 1983 Stephen King movie “The Dead Zone” which stared Christopher Walken.

Co-ordinates

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People who grew up in the Niagara Region take the Welland Canal for granted. Some even see it as an eye-sore. Personally, I find it to be a cache of forgotten treasures waiting to be rediscovered. It amazes me how I can drive by a spot every day for a year and not notice an ancient treasure hiding in the trees as I pass it by, all it takes is the one day where you catch something out of the corner of your eye and do a double take. And that is exactly how I discovered this gem.

As I passed what I had always thought was just a river I noticed that a couple hundred meters from the bridge there was an old stone wall crumbling into the river. So I pulled over and found a path way that took me down to the water. From there I was able to see that this was not just a river, but an abandoned section of the canal.

After taking a few pictures from water level I managed to find a path up through the bush which took me to the top of the wall. From there I was able to follow a path down to the other end of the lock, which had collapsed due to errosion. Despite the unbelievable craftsmanship of the lock walls they could not hold up to the relentless force of water, in less than 100 years the walls were being consumed by nature.

From this point the canal openned up into a larger body of water that is known as the Welland Canal Parklands. When this section of the canal was in use the land looked much different, where as now it has been flooded by the lake. Off in the distance to the north-west I could see another lock which appeared to be between what is now an island and another thin strip of land. This is Lock 11 of the third Welland Canal, and beside it is an old weir. Unfortunately my camera failed to capture this beautiful view.

After climbing my way back out to the main road I peered over the other side of the bridge and was happy to see that much more of the canal was still intact, however I decided to save that section for another day. After returning home and doing some research to determine the history of what I had discovered, I found that not only were there several more sections of the old canals to explore but also a few old tunnels. Plans have already been made to explore them this summer.

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