Believed to be one of the most haunted places in Peterborough by local residents and also one of our most famous Historic Landmarks, the Peterborough Lift Lock has an ideal tragic back ground and history that make for great ghost stories and sightings.
Before the Peterborough Lift Lock was built in 1904, there was a local legend of a lady who was burned for being a witch in the 1840's just a few thousand feet away from the future building site of the Lift Locks.
Local legend states this woman had changed professions of work to a field that the locals didn't understand or mistook as witch craft. Shortly after the poor woman's change of job the town's people decided she would be branded as a “Witch” and burned alive for that very reason.
I'm not sure of the exact date since there's no official paper work but stories say that after she was burned on “Armour Hill” which is the highest hill in Peterborough and use to be thick forest, a ghostly figure could be seen roaming the bush and area where the awful event took place and with that the legend began.
About 60 to 65 years later in 1903 the Lift Lock construction started at the bottom of “Armour Hill” which is only a couple thousand feet away from the famous spot in which the burning took place decades ago. From the start of construction there were strange occurrences happening and accidents that people claimed to be the witches hand at work from be on the grave, but the construction moved on.
Now I have found paper work stating that one of the builders of the Peterborough Lift Lock lost his life when the build was almost 3/4 complete, in what on lookers claimed to be a freak accident. After that accident and a few more deaths and suicides the residents started to attribute all the bad happenings to the burning off the witch decades before.
Finally on July 9 th, 1904 the Lift Lock was completed and opened to the public. At the time it was the World's biggest structure built with un-reinforced concrete and was the World's biggest Lift Lock.
Shortly after the opening of the Lift Lock, it was again in the headlines of local papers as more deaths occurred on it or due to it. One of the ghosts that's supposedly haunts the Lift Lock is not that of the witch but actually that of a person who committed suicide there 5 days after his mother jumped from the same spot to her death. Also over the years many people have claimed to see the same ghostly pair of beings through out the Lift Lock buildings and all over the locks themselves. These ghost have been linked to a couple who committed suicide together because of some tragic love story.
These Lift Locks here in Peterborough are known through out Canada because of the ghost sightings and even Creepy Canada has done a show on it, so you never know maybe there is something there. Tons of the residents here have also claim to see ghostly figures peering out of the bars on the windows that face the locks from tunnel within.
So if you a ghost hunter or paranormal fan then I would highly recommend a trip to Peterborough, Ontario and come visit one of our most haunted places in the city the “Lift Lock”. You can make a day trip out of the tour within the Lift Lock then swing over to the spot where the witch was burned and the legends started.
Peterborough Lift Lock is the most haunted place in Peterborough, Ontario Canada check it out some time if you can. Great stories and great history!
