Ghost Hunting Gone Wrong

It’s been a year since the tragedy at Knox College in Toronto. September 2009 saw an internet spawned first date end in tragedy for a 29 year old American woman at the University of Toronto.

They started their escapade on the ground floor, finding a window that they could get through in order to access the building. After making their way up through the building, they managed to make it to the roof. Once on the roof, they decided to try to make it across to another section of the roof by jumping over a void. The male made the leap, the female was not so lucky. She apparently got caught up in the meshing used to keep birds out, and ended up falling to her death. She fell around 2 a.m., alcohol was believed to be a factor.

Rumours of the building being haunted are just that, rumours. To the best of my knowledge, there are no reports of the building being haunted. The building has some history though. In January of 2001, lecturer David Buller was found stabbed to death in his office. His murder remains unsolved to this day.

This story is tragic, but let us use it as an example of what NOT to do when ghost hunting or legend tripping:

It was only a rumour that this place was haunted. There are no published stories or any ‘eyewitness’ testimony. Only stories of stories of stories, no first hand stories seem to exist. An unsolved murder will not make the place haunted!

They had been drinking. This is fine for a first date. Not so good for ghost hunting, or barring that, roof jumping. This may have led to my next point…

Breaking and Entering. These would be criminal offences committed, and not a very bright idea. Some people like me like to have a record of their ghost hunts, just not a criminal record.

Jumping rooftop to rooftop seems cool, and looks good in the movies, but it’s not for you. It’s not easy to judge distance apart from things when they’re also separated by height. Plus, it’s 2am and dark, even with a flashlight, you can only see so much and not nearly enough to try something like that. Remember, you’re not Jack Bauer hunting terrorists, you are YOURSELF hunting ghosts, don’t try to become one.