"Ghosts of Niagara-on-the-Lake" by Maria Da Silva and Andrew Hind

After visiting the spectacular town of Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario, I wanted to find out more about it.  The town is classy and cool.  AND, according to several people I talked to, it is considered the most haunted town in Canada.

The whole "haunted" title doesn't impress me as much as it used to... but it does still get my attention.  And I do like good ghost stories- especially when history is attached to them.

Well, "Ghosts of Niagara-on-the-Lake" by Maria Da Silva and Andrew Hind covers the legendary ghost stories of the area, linking them to the history.  There is a nice "notes" section in the back, mentioning sources and more details to the stories.  Many books in this genre give wimpy sources, if any at all.

The first 15 chapters each cover one of the well known haunted locations.  Another chapter gives a short section to several more haunted locations that the authors could not fit into a fuller chapter.  They do tease that these locals might be researched more for a future volume.  There is a section with contact information and visiting details.

We did visit and pass by several of the spots mentioned in this book during our brief visit to the town.  After reading this book, I want to go back and visit so many more places in Niagara-on-the-Lake.  We parked right next to Angel Inn.  If I had known the terrifying story of Captain Swayze, and of his tragic end at the Angel Inn I would have had to have stuck my head inside!

I am not a golf fan, but I sure as heck would have checked out the oldest golf course in North America, which has remnants of an old historic fort on it!

I had never heard of Laura Secord before, but I love the odd tales of locals helping out during a battle..... even if she was helping the British against the good guys.  A visit to the Laura Secord Homestead will be a must on our next trip.

Oh!  There is one absolutely disturbing story about how some marks got on tombstones at the St. Mark's Cemetery!  It is one of the darkest tales I have ever read!

With that, let me say again that Da Silva and Hind do an outstanding job of telling a ghost story, and linking it to known history and locations.  This book will be enjoyed by skeptics who love dark history, and by believers who love scary ghost stories.  Add Niagara-on-the-Lake to your bucket list, and read this book to get excited about your trip there.  "Ghosts of Niagara-on-the-Lake" gets my highest recommendation.