Spirits of Sandwich Ninth Annual Walking Ghost Tour

By Alyssa Leonard

A local medium says she can hear possible “unexplained things” that are oblivious to others attending the Spirits of Sandwich Walking Ghost Tour.

Earlier this month, a local theatre company held its ninth annual Spirits of Sandwich Walking Ghost Tour. Over two weekends, people attended four tours through Olde Sandwich Towne learning about some of the oldest buildings in Windsor and the paranormal lore surrounding them.

Brenda Davies, a local medium, has attended the tour for the last three years. She explained how she and her girlfriend have felt many paranormal experiences when touring Mackenzie Hall. They are part of a local paranormal investigators group.

“You hear some things, some bumps-in-the-night kind of things when they’re telling the stories. You have to investigate … you never know,” said Davies.

Davies said the tour continues to be interesting every year and highly recommends it to anyone who wants to take part.

“It’s the history of the city you live and grew up in,” said Davies. “And if you’re new to the city it’s something interesting. A little history, whether it’s haunted history or not.”

Approximately nine years ago Rob Tymec, owner of Monkey’s with a Typewriter Theatre Company, was approached to put together an outdoor walking ghost tour. The Olde Sandwich Towne Business Association had been looking for a way to bring people back to Sandwich during the fall and, having known about Tymec and his company, commissioned him for the job. Tymec has written the scripts and presented the tour every year since.

The first tour of the year had approximately 40 attendees and started in the Mackenzie Hall parking lot. The group followed Tymec and another presenter, Tyler Workman, North along Brock Street, East on Russell Street to the town Mill, South on Mill Street past the Duff-Baby House, West on Sandwich Street past the post office and finally returning to Mackenzie Hall where Tymec ended the tour by telling his own personal paranormal event he experienced during his time at Mackenzie Hall.

According to Tymec, he had arrived early one night of the tour, so he went around knocking on doors and windows of Mackenzie Hall to see if anyone would let him in to keep warm. When nobody answered, Tymec said he knew there was no one inside so he went to the back of the hall into a little area sheltered from the wind. Suddenly he could hear someone dragging boxes around inside the storage room. Tymec knew the stories of Mackenzie Hall’s “dragging ghost,” but this was his first encounter.

“That’s when I put two and two together. (I) just did a full check. There’s nobody in the building,” said Tymec. “There’s nobody in there to move those boxes right now.”

He said he was able to see shadows of boxes shifting in the storage room through the windows above but he never saw a person in there to move them. After doing one more check of the building and knocking on the windows and doors, he returned to the back of the hall where he could still hear boxes being dragged. That’s when he decided to wait in his vehicle until the other actors for the tour arrived.

Tymec said one of the things he really enjoys about his job is having the opportunity to bring the history to life.

“I like to think of (the tour) as much a cultural event as it is just a night of fun and getting scared a bit,” said Tymec. “Because we do try to make sure we give some historical background of the area and get people to learn more about Sandwich.”

Tymec said even though the west end does not have the best reputation, he believes Sandwich Towne has been getting better at promoting itself and showing it is still a vibrant community. He has been watching the town over the last few years reinvent itself and grow.

“I like that I’m part of that,” said Tymec. “That I’m helping people to re-embrace Sandwich.”