Romancing the Mississippi Hotel

Brian Carter in front of the Mississippi Hotel – 1980’s

To anyone that thinks a building like the Mississippi Hotel sitting around empty doesn’t bother you, well you would be wrong. I have been in love with this building since I moved to Carleton Place in 1981. I also hated the hotel when it was home to strippers, motorcycle groups and drug users in the 80’s. The ‘ole gal’ deserved way better than that.

My late husband bought this hotel years ago and spent a great deal of money to bring her up to date. Youngest son Perry and his wife Stephanie did a good job running it until Angelo died. After his death it became a matter of utmost importance to delegate focus and time to other family real estate, and unfortunately the Mississippi fell by the wayside.

The only known photo of Napoleon Lavallee sits on my wall

Napoleon Lavallee bought the property for $50 in 1869 and opened the hotel in 1872 after he sold the Leland Hotel/ Carleton House on Bridge Street.  The McIlquham family bought it 11 years later in 1883 and when Joe Belisle worked there from 1917-1920 it had ornate woodwork, a grand staircase and the stone facade had wooden white wrap-around verandas. The elegant dining room tables were covered in  fine lace linen and gleaming cutlery, and the Mississippi Hotel became known for its homemade food and attracted travelling salesman from far and wide. The salesmen set up trunks in their rooms offering everything from dishes to clothing that was scooped up by local merchants that came to buy at the hotel. The place was packed daily with fans from Stittsville, Smiths Falls and Perth–and if you talk to Gerald Hastie people came in early for the fresh baked pies, and by noon they were pretty well sold out.

 

Clipped from

1. The Ottawa Journal,
2. 11 May 1899, Thu,
3. Page 2

 

In 1907 after Mr. McIlquham died his son Clyde took over until a fire ravaged the veranda and top storey of the hotel in the 1950s. After the devastating fire that resulted in one life lost the McIlquham’s wanted out, and Lorraine and David Lemay bought the place for $30,000 in 1964.  Lorraine was indeed the Queen of the Mississippi Hotel and during the 60’s and 70’s it was known for its country music, especially Stompin’ Tom Connors. She once said that when she bought the Mississippi it was in better shape than it became in the later years that she owned it.

Photo- Linda Seccaspina– Dining room– Perry and Steph named it the “Eliseo Seccaspina” room after his beloved Grandfather

When anything dies or is sold,  you seem to inherit something- and Lorraine inherited a number of long-term residents who treated the hotel more like a boarding house. When she brought in loud rock music to the hotel it really wasn’t up their alley and they all soon left.

Having a business is tough–just because you own a business doesn’t mean you are rolling in the greenbacks. So once Lorraine lost the boarders she ran into financially stressed times trying to compete with local competition. Looking for ideas she decided to feature strippers and she said she was forced to bring them in to compensate for high priced rock bands. Well, it didn’t take long for the local folks to begin to criticize her even though they were not the ones paying her taxes.

Similar to the story of Art Fleming who tried to open a funeral parlour on Lake Ave West, the town citizens took matters into their own hands and began to protest in front of the hotel. Short lived, life moved on in the small town of Carleton Place, and drugs in the establishment became more of a problem than the strippers. In 1985 Lemay had just about enough and she sold the hotel to Brian Carter’s parents, who both died in a car crash three years later.

Motorcycle gangs began to hang out and the hotel was known for having the longest bar in the Valley. If you listen to gossip it was said that some bikers didn’t even bother to park outside and they just rolled right into the hotel. The average person wouldn’t dare go in there with the rows of bikes parked outside — and the hotel went into a major down slide.

Carter closed the hotel and looked for a buyer with a price tag of $625,000 and the only offers that came in were from oil companies that wanted it for the land–not the historic hotel that it was and still is. Carter, fed up, obtained a demolition permit and the building was going to go the same way as the Prince of Wales High School, Central School, and the Findlay home on High Street. In the end it was saved by the community, inspired by the late Stompin’ Tom Connors and the rest is history.

After many years of ups and downs I can happily say the “ole lady” has been sold and this 29,000 square feet of downtown real estate is going to very good hands. What fills the eyes fills the heart, and now every passing minute is a chance to turn this hotel all around again. Old places have soul and hopefully new ideas need old buildings. No matter what the hotel is named by the new owners it will always be “The Grand Ole Lady of Carleton Place” and I personally thank them for bringing her back to life.

Let’s support these new owners! Thank you.

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place.

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun and Screamin’ Mamas (USA)

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  27 Dec 1898, Tue,  Page 3

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  14 Sep 1907, Sat,  Page 1

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  24 Aug 1961, Thu,  Page 18

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  18 Feb 1907, Mon,  Page 12

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  20 Dec 1909, Mon,  Page 3

 

 

Clipped from The Ottawa Journal,  17 Aug 1899, Thu,  Page 7

 

 

Related Reading

Murders and Mysteries of the Mississippi Hotel

Thieves at the Mississippi Hotel–When Crime Began to Soar

All About Lorraine Lemay –Mississippi Hotel

The Old Side Door of the Mississippi Hotel

Architecture Stories: The Hotel that Stompin’ Tom Connors Saved

The Napoleon of Carleton Place

Grandma’s Butterscotch Pie

Mississippi Hotel Beer — Brading’s Beer

In the Mississippi Hotel Mood with Mrs. Glen Miller

The Mystery Murals of The Queen’s and Mississippi Hotel

Burnin’ Old Memories –The Mississippi Hotel Fire

Romancing the Mississippi Hotel in 1961

Where Was Linda? A Necromancer Photo Blog -Victorian Seance at the Mississippi Hotel

Spooky Night at the Seccaspina Hotel

Different Seasons of Witches in Lanark County

Different Seasons (1982) is a collection of four Stephen King novellas with a more serious dramatic bent than the horror fiction for which King is famous. The four novellas are tied together via subtitles that relate to each of the four seasons. The collection is notable for having had three of its four novellas turned into Hollywood films, one of which, The Shawshank Redemption, was nominated for the 1994 Academy Award for Best Picture.

In July of 1995 Stephen King’s Different Seasons became the centre of a hot literary discussion in Lanark County. English heads of the local schools chose this collection of novellas to be the standard senior high school reading list partly on the basis of its  reluctant readers, and later the board of trustees voted to have it removed from the list. Unruffled by it all and maybe thrilled it was on a short banned list King offered free copies to all those who were interested. (Writing Horror and the Body- The Fiction of Stephen King etc.)

Why did they ban the books with supernatural content I asked myself?

Was it because some had remembered the stories of a forgotten feature of Lanark County that was once full of charms, divination and superstitions?  It has been said the folklore came over from the old countries and the goblins and faeries were still seen from time to time.

There were still the tales of children disappearing and substituting faeries in their place in the highlands. Some still thought there were folks that held mystical power  like  poor *Reverend Buchanan was allegedly charged with.  You had to watch your neighbour carefully as the evil eye to make crops shrivel up and cow’s milk dry up was still afoot. Some even tried to end quarrels by creating effigies of clay of their suspicious neighbours donned with pins and then placing it in a stream. If you did it correctly it was said to end the quarrel of all quarrels.

In 1823 ghosts and witches were reportedly still seen in Beckwith and supposedly interfering with maple sap, milk and crops. But the house gatherings continued if there was no local churches to ward off bad luck. The crozier, the holy Quigrich a relic of St. Fillan, which had spiritual and healing  had been dipped into the water of Andrew Dewar’s farm on the 8th concession in Beckwith. It still drew locals to obtain some of the holy water on Dewar’s Farm to remedy sick cattle. Bibles were supposed to be invested with magical powers and the settlers held a trial by ordeal and spun a bible to see who the culprit was in the community was. Farmers would hire strangers said to remove the bad charms or hexs on their cows.

In the 1840s and 1850s  The Carleton Place Herald launched an attack on the continuing belief of the supernatural in everyday life. Editor James Poole was horrified to learn the sheriff consulted The Witch of Plum Hollow on a murder case and made his point in the press.

But eventually superstition gave way to religion and the locals cast their many doubts on churches instead of hexes on cows. The Carleton Place Herald flip flopped from witches over to religion in a fight with the United Church of England and yes once again- Ireland. The paper tried feverishly to distance the Anglicans and the Presbyterians  and pit them against each other. Of course Carleton Place led the foray and one day in 1852 a group of Presbyterians threw a pig in one of the windows of the local Anglican Church.

There were no fewer places to worship there than three in the village: a stone building that was so run down God would certainly pass it over and not venture in the shattered windows and two wooden buildings that the doors were locked and the voice of prayer hushed. Carleton Place was described on Sundays with hardly a living creature seen except for the occasional pig. There were only two things to do on Sunday in town: go to church or enjoy the tales of *Napoleon Lavallee at his hotel who could keep you up to date with the Sciences and Arts and maybe Australian sheep.

Did you know that Carleton Place’s twin city Comrie in Scotland is just 15 miles from where the witches were  mentioned in Shakespeare’s Macbeth?

Scotland fully accepted the Christian witch theory so that when one witch was found, others were hunted out– so it is no surprise the Scots that emigrated here brought their superstitions. Prior to 1590, it seems that witchcraft was seen as a minor issue by those in power in Scotland.  Witches were accused of attempting to drown  King James by calling up a storm while he was at sea with his new wife. Other charges include trying to kill the wing by melting a wax effigy of him (note clay effigy in stream above). They were also accused of performing perverted rituals in a church in Berwick – though it is not clear what this had to do specifically with trying to kill the king. However, it did point the way to witchcraft and it is thought that over one hundred witches were actually put on trial. It is said that a large number were executed but there is accurate no figure for this. I can happily report that no witches in Lanark County were harmed–at least I think so. Your story might be better than mine:)

 

Witches. —Because we are deriving very little and in some cases no butter from our
travelling starved cows, many believe the cream is bewitched by a maliciously inclined
man or woman, supposed to receive power from the devil. It is astonishing how many Protestants, even church members,believe as strongly in superstition than they do in the Bible. We are inclined to ask what Protestant religion is doing when superstition is cultivated to such an alarming extent, W e must be getting back near the time when the witches were burned, and perhaps in our next we can give you the gratifying news of the capture and burning of this one.–Almonte Gazette Pakenham August 6 1880

The relic was actually a filigreed silver case which enclosed the original bronze head of St. Fillan’s staff of 750 AD, and it was here in Beckwith from 1818-1850. Son Alexander, the last Keeper, sold it to the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh Scotland on 30 Dec 1876 for 700 dollars. Rumour was they needed the money, but I can’t even imagine having to part with something that was in the family that long.

With files from Beckwith by Glenn J. Lockwood and Lanark Legacy by Howard Morton Brown

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read.

Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in Hometown News and now in The Townships Sun

 

*The Gnarled Beckwith Oak

What I Did on Beckwith Heritage Days – Alexander Stewart – Ballygiblin Heroe

Beckwith –Settlers — Sir Robert the Bruce— and Migrating Turtles

Crosier, known as The Coigrich, associated with St Fillan of Glendochart

The Dewar Plaque

The Witches of Rochester Street

Hocus Pocus –Necromancy at Fitch Bay

The Witch of Plum Hollow – Carleton Place Grandmother

The Witch Hollow of Lanark County

*The Napoleon of Carleton Place

The Napoleon of Carleton Place

 

 

There have  been few stories told of the man called Napoleon Lavallee that once owned the Carleton House in Carleton Place and then the Mississippi Hotel, and I have often wondered why. The only picture of him we know of hangs on the wall of the Mississippi Hotel. I have a  copy of it somewhere but cannot find it. Yesterday I found a story about him and want to document it.

March 7th 1890- Almonte Gazette

 

N APOLEON  LAVALLEE Called to Rest

A Resident of Carleton Place for Sixty Y ears—Sketch of His Life.

Few men in this county are better known than was the late Napoleon Lavallee, who passed away from earth on Tuesday morning last at four o’clock, aged 88. The Ottawa Citizen says: “At the moment of his death no one was present in his chamber, death not being then expected, but that the old man passed away all alone, his light going slowly out.”

Mr. Lavallee was born in the Province of Quebec on the 20th day of February, 1802. Very little is known of his early life. At fourteen years of age he left his home and began to paddle his own canoe. He had a strong and active -constitution, and from the very start of his independent career forged ahead in the face of obstacles which would have terrified and turned back a less indomitable spirit.

We first hear distinctly of him in the Canadian North-West about the year 1816, where he worked for the North-West Fur Company that subsequently was swallowed up by the Hudson’s Bay Company, for whom Mr. Lavallee continued to operate. At that time the most rapid of transits was accomplished by dog trains, and these the young adventurer handled with pride and skill. His intimacy with the country was so accurate that he could in recent years readily recall places and distances, astonishing railroad travellers by the mass of the geographical knowledge he possessed.

Leaving that country, he made his way to Toronto, where he worked at his trade as a cooper, and then pushed on down the Mississippi as far as New Orleans. At last he arrived in Ogdensburg, and seemed to settle down. A gentleman there, who was a friend of Mr. Bellows, then a merchant of many departments in Carleton Place, and our first postmaster, was asked if he knew of a good cooper, and recommended the young Paul and as the result was that Mr. Lavallee came to this spot, in the year 1830.

He worked with fidelity for Mr. Bellows a great many years, and then set up for himself, doing a tremendous business all over this country, making tens of thousands of flour and pork barrels, butter tubs and like articles, chiefly with his own strong skilled hands, during a portion of this period occupying the office of Government Inspector of Pork. His place of business then was in the shop now occupied by -Mr. Miner, which he built. He owned half of a lot there, and sold half of his half to Mr. Robert Bell.

Giving up his business, he bought the Carleton House, built by James Bell, and ran it until his old love for roving broke out furiously, and he made plans for a trip to California. He had married the Widow Paris (Sarah Coates), an amiable and athletic young woman. She had come to this country with her husband, Mungo Park Paris, whose father was a friend of the famous African explorer, and along with them were his brothers John and James Paris, David Pattie and Adam Beck. It was the cholera year that they landed in Montreal, and young Paris died. The widow came onto Carleton Place with the others of the group, and in the fall of 1833 married Mr. Lavallee.

When he resolved to go to California, she and her son Hugh Paris accompanied him, as well as a young man who had been clerking for Mr. McArthur. He took with him £200. They did not tarry long in California, but pushed on through South America, and finally wound up in Australia. Here they stayed number of years. One day a mine caved in, and Hugh and the clerk were smothered. Mrs. Lavallee could not endure to stay longer in that place of sorrow, and they came back home much poorer and the hotel business was resumed. Mr. Lavallee prospered all the time until the Carleton House became too small, and he had to find relief for the pressure by erecting a larger hotel, the Mississippi as it was when Mr. Mjcllquham bought it in 1883.

Lavallee joined Rev. Mr. Fairbairn’s church, 6th line Ramsay, in 1830, largely through his respect for his friend Mr. Robert Bell, who from the start was his guide, philosopher and friend, and managed for him for a period of sixty years his financial operations. The personality of no citizen has been so marked as that of Mr. Lavallee. He had no claims to any educational advantage.

He was simply a “plodder”—a plain, simple, honest man, who lived within a comparatively limited circle, but whose mind grasped the wide and varied questions of the day as conveyed to him by the lips of readers or narrators. He saw a great deal of the world—its glitter, pomp and show, as well as its dark trappings of misery and misfortune. Calm and cool as he was, he was beyond the reach of- temptation, and even as a youth, when thrown in the way of tempters he never allowed himself to find out whether there were within him the seeds of abnormal desires. He had the means to gratify any taste, however luxurious’ it might have been, but he avoided experiments calculated to develop unhealthy’ characteristics with a philosophical contemplation of the worth of the results to be achieved. He measured every thing and founded his decisions on merit always.

There were no children of the union, but through the years a number were adopted and well educated. Many incidents of the busy life now no more might be mentioned, and the popularity of the deceased with commercial travellers, particularly with respect to his powers of entertainment in the line of narratives from his own affluent experience. The history of his life is a useful lesson of inspiration to all young men, in that he showed how, without an education, equipped only with the qualities of honesty, industry and perseverance, he commanded success in an ‘adverse world’ and secured a considerable fortune.

Mr. Bell was present at his marriage sixty years ago , when Napoleon was in the full bloom of  youth. He saw him yesterday as he lay in his coffin, and to him he seemed more attractive in death than on that day of joy so many years ago. Mrs. Lavallee is very feeble. She was just able to go to the room Tuesday to look upon the face of the dead.

Read the Almonte Gazette here

Related reading:

The Mystery Streets of Carleton Place– Where was the First Train Station?

 

 

Perth Courier, March 28, 1890

The late Napoleon Lavalee of Carleton Place left an estate worth $30,000 to $40,000 which he left to an adopted son Burgess “Johnnie” Lavaelle  now nine years old.

Linda, do you not have a copy of “Lanark County Legends”? 

Terry Skillen wrote an extensive history of Napolean in it last year. There is a whole story about his will.

 

Of John Alexander Burgess on p. 194 he says:

“John Alex Burgess, born at Carleton Place, died of tuberculosis at age 21 on 30 May 1902. John Burgess was employed as a clerk and residing at the Mississippi Hotel in Carleton Place at the time of his death. The attending physician was Dr. Preston. George. E. Leslie provided the information recorded in the death register. “Dr. Preston (was) the sole executor and beneficiary of the will of the late J. A. Burgess. The estate was valued at about $20,000.”  Almonte Gazette, June 6, 1902 p. 6

Rose Mary Sarsfield

 

DetailSource

Name:	Mrs. Napolean Lavaelle
Marital Status:	Widowed
Age:	87
Birth Year:	abt 1804
Birth Place:	England
Residence Date:	1891
Residence Place:	Carleton Place, Lanark South, Ontario, Canada
Relation to Head:	Head
Religion:	engl church
Can Read:	Yes
Can Write:	Yes
French Canadian:	No
Father’s Birth Place:	England
Mother’s Birth Place:	England
Neighbours:	View others on page
Household Members Age Relationship Napolean Lavaelle 87 Head (deceased) Burgess J Lavaelle 10 Son Christian Garland 16 Domestic

Name:	Burgess J Lavaelle
Gender:	Male
Marital Status:	Single
Age:	10
Birth Year:	abt 1881
Birth Place:	Ontario
Residence Date:	1891
Residence Place:	Carleton Place, Lanark South, Ontario, Canada
Relation to Head:	Son
Religion:	engl church
Can Read:	Yes
Can Write:	Yes
French Canadian:	No
Father’s Birth Place:	England
Mother’s Birth Place:	England

Napoleon Lavallee

Ontario Deaths and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947

Name	Napoleon Lavallee
Event Type	Death
Event Date	04 Mar 1890
Event Place	Carleton Place, Lanark, Ontario
Gender	Male
Age	88
Birthplace	Quebec
Birth Year (Estimated)	1802

Perth Courier, Jan. 15, 1892

*LaVallee—Died, at Carleton Place on the 8^th Jan., Sarah Coates LaVallee, relict (widow) of the late Mr. Napoleon LaVallee, aged 82.

 1851 Carleton Place Business Directory

Alphabetical List Of Professions, Trades, &C.
Pattie, David, carpenter and builder.
Bell, R., & Co., tannery.
BELL, ROBERT, & CO., dealers in dry goods, groceries, crockery, hardware, &c.
Bell, Robert, M.P.P., agent for marriage licenses, town reeve, and postmaster.
Bells & Rosemond, grist, saw, and oat mills.
CARLETON PLACE HERALD, weekly, James C. Poole, publisher.
Constable, Rev. T. W. Wesleyan Methodist. County Agricultural Society, Robert Bell, secretary and treasurer.
Duncan, James, blacksmith and axe factory. Equitable Fire Assurance Company R. Bell & Co., agents.
DUNNET, GEORGE, dealer in dry goods, groceries, hardware, crockery, drugs, &c.
Fuller, Samuel, foundry.
Galvin, Patrick, tailor.
Graham, John, wagon and sleigh maker.
Gray, Rev. Peter, Free Church.
Halcroft, Rev. L., Baptist.
James, Cameronian.
Johnston, Robert, general store.
Lavallee, Napoleon, hotelkeeper and inspector of beef and pork.
M’ARTHUR, A., & CO., general store, dry goods, groceries, hardware, crockery, &c.
M’Gregor, Duncan, blacksmith and axe factory.
M’Laren, Robert, Robert Burns tavern
M ‘Donald, Allen, wool-carding and cloth-dressing mills.
Moffat, William, carpenter and builder.
Murphy, Michael, tavern keeper.
National Loan Fund Life Assurance Company,
Nelson, Hugh, saddler and harness maker.
Nelson, Johnson, classical and commercial school.
Peden, William, general store.
Pittard, Joseph, wagon and sleigh maker.
Poole, James C., clerk of division court.
POOLE, JAMES C., printing office.
Pyne, Rev. A., Church of England.
R. Bell & Co., agents.
ROSEMOND, JAMES, woolen manufactory.
Wilson, Rev. Richard, Wesleyan Methodist.
Wilson, William, M. D.

 

Mungo Park Paris

Scotland Births and Baptisms

Name	Mungo Park Paris
Gender	Male
Christening Date	31 Mar 1800
Christening Place	, STOW, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
Birth Date	28 Feb 1800
Father’s Name	James Paris
Mother’s Name	Mary Pringle

Hugh Parris

Canada Census, 1851

Name	Hugh Parris
Gender	Male
Age	19
Birth Year (Estimated)	1832
Birthplace	Canada
Province	Canada West (Ontario)
District	Lanark County
District Number	19
Sub-District	Beckwith
Sub-District Number	175
Page Number	93
Affiliate Film Number	C_11731

Photos property of Gary Box

Photo Gary Box —

Murders and Mysteries of the Mississippi Hotel

Please play while reading

In 2009 Chaps Paranormal attempted to uncover if the old Mississippi Hotel was indeed haunted. The team experienced personal sensations of heavy chests and a smoke filled hall was witnessed. The names Jacob, Heddy and Stan were all felt by them and multiple EMF spikes were captured in places, as well as catching a moving apparition on camera.

In the end everything was recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Their final verdict was that the hotel was haunted and it is listed in the top 100 haunted places in Canada. So what has happened in the past that has made it a haven for spirits?

In 1872 Napoleon Lavalee built the Mississippi Hotel now called the Greystone Hotel on land that was originally deeded in 1824 to Carleton Place, Ontario settler, William Morphy. Lavallee operated it as a hotel and the town council meetings were held there until 1883. Of course as any small-town hotel in those days, there was a room in the back where gentleman played cards complete with an automatic cigar lighter. There was said to be three deaths in the hotel during the Lavalee ownership even though no records can be found. Some thought they had occurred when it was a TB hospice or from an argument over gambling debts,

The hotel was purchased in 1883 by Walter Mcllquham who doubled the room capacity to 56. Walter’s son, Clyde Mcllquham and his family ran the hotel from 1907-1959 and according to history his son Watty was quite the character and would sell bottles of booze right out of his dad’s hotel bar. At 4:30 am on April of 1959, the Mississippi Hotel suffered a major fire. Fireman, aided by a crew and pumper from Smiths Falls eventually confined the blaze to the fourth floor and roof. Before anyone noticed the blaze, it had already broken through the roof on the south end of the building. Flames quickly ate along the studding between the ceiling and roof and soon the fire had engulfed every top floor window. For five hours they poured water on the fire and the ground floor was swimming in water and the damage was extensive.

The devastating blaze had been caused by a defective south-end chimney right beside caretaker  Bill Green’s room. In the end most of the Mississippi Hotel was rescued except the top floor (fourth floor) and the extensive ornate verandas had to be removed. Sadly, fireman James Garland who had been manning a heavy hose lost his life that day. He suffered a fatal heart-attack and was removed to hospital in an ambulance. Garland is said to haunt the hotel to this day and the footsteps heard in unreachable places are his.

In the early 80’s Brian Carter purchased the hotel from Ms. Lorraine Lemayand it became known for its sultry striptease shows. Hoards of bikers would roar into town for the beverages from the hotel’s famous long bar and many thought the hotel’s reputation had taken a nose-dive. Rumours have circulated for years that the hotel suffered two deaths during that period of time.

One of the female entertainers hung herself in hotel room #201 and a small boy who had been kept in a locked closet while their parents enjoyed themselves tragically suffocated and could not be revived. There was no mention of these two deaths in the local papers and people have long said that it was covered up to protect the hotel from losing anymore of its proud heritage. To this day the ghost in #201 will not allow any other female to reside in this room.

In 1985 the hotel closed its doors and fell to disrepair for 10 long years. From 1995-2010 it went through many owners until the Seccaspina family bought it in 2011 and once again began restoring it to its former glory. During the past 3 years many stories of the paranormal have been recorded.

The resident handyman told stories of unlocked doors that for some reason refused to budge and other doors that were found open when they had been locked. He saw many moving shadows along with odd noises and voices during his stay there. Sometimes spirits even banged the downstairs pillars in the dead of night. One paranormal told me he thought the hotel was an ongoing wormhole allowing spirits to travel through. After walking around the hotel and talking to me for hours he looked at me and said,

“I didn’t mean to leave you with an entire story. I just wanted to see that you aren’t alone in yours.”

I looked at him and wondered if we really are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have in our minds.

Photo of Jonathan Wish Heart 2012

Other photos by Linda Seccaspina and the CP Museum

I am pleased to announce that the building has been sold and the grand old lady will come alive again.

 

 

Related Reading—

Thieves at the Mississippi Hotel–When Crime Began to Soar

All About Lorraine Lemay –Mississippi Hotel

Architecture Stories: The Hotel that Stompin’ Tom Connors Saved

The Napoleon of Carleton Place

Grandma’s Butterscotch Pie

Mississippi Hotel Beer — Brading’s Beer

In the Mississippi Hotel Mood with Mrs. Glen Miller

The Mystery Murals of The Queen’s and Mississippi Hotel

Burnin’ Old Memories –The Mississippi Hotel Fire

Romancing the Mississippi Hotel in 1961

Where Was Linda? A Necromancer Photo Blog -Victorian Seance at the Mississippi Hotel

Spooky Night at the Seccaspina Hotel