This is the area where there were bones sticking out of the ground. some were larger but they were frozen.
I was assuming that this could be the place where the old german church and st peters anglican church burial grounds are located. we found several grave stones and another adventurer pointed out this area to us. I've also seen on a google map this area confirmed and a message from someone who was in the area in 1959!
It sure looks different now!
It's Feb 2010 and the brush has been cleared here where we found some gravestones. There was a marker here a few months ago but it has disappeared too.
there is still a lot of snow here so we couldn't really explore the area to be entirely sure.
Here we find what looks like something that holds gravestones.
There is a cluster of stones in this area on top of the ice.
It's completely frozen so we cannot see anything else.
I want to explore this area when it's melted.
this is the roadway that leads from Lock 6 of the fourth welland canal, down into the pondage area.
I assume this is the lock 6 pump house - pondage area.
the area directly in front of me where there is no snow, we found bones lying in the dirt there.
These are the grave stone markers found near where we think St Peter's Cemetery is from 1802 - 1886. (around 200 years old)
Here's a long shot of the gravestone holder and lots of ice here.
These bones were lying around in the ground. I thought they were human bones. Others say they are animal bones. I was all excited to find these bones. I figured I found this 200 year old cemetery. I made a video about it and posted it on my idea girl consulting youtube channel. It's a 5 part series - The Welland Canal Wetlands.
Notice here there is no seaweed. We thought that was odd because the whole pondage area is covered with it. Why isn't it here? Also the land here is in little mini hills. Are there bodies buried in these pockets of soil?
Some of the ground is covered in snow, we cannot look to see what's there yet. It's frozen.
We are approximately 150 feet plus from the roadway and 175 feet from the east side of the lock 6 pondage area. I'm wondering if there is a cemetery here, then maybe the universe put the little bones out to show us where the bigger bones are. I've seen that happen before in my psychic investigations. My clues I would find animal bones and then a week later, the person we were looking for, is found somewhere else.
In the middle of the photo along the far east side is a cement marker of some sort. Not sure what it is but there are holes in the ground on either side of this thing. There is a pathway here that leads to the old pump house and the west end of the blue ghost tunnel . To the left is LOCK 6 of the Fourth Welland Canal Entrance Gateway.
100 feet to the right is another cement marker along this east side of the Lock 6 pondage area. The bones were scattered in between these two markers, towards the lower parts of the dirt. There is no seaweed in this WHOLE section. This is why I think this is a burial ground area.
You can see the bones protruding from the ground but the seaweed is very far and few between.
Here is is starting to show a little more. The elevation of the land is different here and the ground isn't hard as a rock. It felt spongy and almost -10 to -20 colder in this area. I was shivering and I had the oddest feeling when I saw the bones. I was excited to find evidence of something here after looking for three years, you would too! At first it was an old wives tale, a legend that people told us about everytime we went to see the blue ghost tunnel. Then I started doing research about it and found out all sorts of strange things.
The funniest part was the St Catharines Standard reporters over the years share conflicting stories as to how many people are buried in this burial plot. It was strange that none of them had the exact same number dating as far back as 1923 when I read the archives posted at the St Catharines Museum at Lock 3.
It was a cool experience. You have to sign a special book and ask for permission to be in the archives. You have to give your purpose, and email address. They also document what materials you research. I was there for a few months a couple of days of the week. Looking for information as to why on earth that area would be haunted. I knew it wasn't the railroad accident 100 feet away.
Judging by the size of a orb in a photo taken there. It was 4 feet by 6 feet wide in the photos. The guy told us there were a lot of spirits there. And when the girl took my photo I had about 50 orbs surrounding me, yet the two guys in the same frame had none. That was when I heard voices. I had asked the ghosts what their unfinished business was and they said the wanted to be buried properly.
So a week later I couldn't get a pastor to go out to do it, so I blessed the blue ghost tunnel spirits and prayed for their souls to be released and sent to heaven. They said thank you but they still wanted their bodies moved to the graveyard. They don't like being under water. It's hard for ancestors to place flowers and pay their respects to their loved ones. Many do not know that they have family there.
Many of the people buried in that cemetery are from St Peter's Anglican Church, The Old German Church and the locals of Thorold, Ontario. There was probably some of the Welland Ship Canal workers from the First , Second and Third Canal. The cemetery closed in 1886.
Not all the graves were moved. Families were told to pay $5 to move loved ones, if they didn't they couldn't claim them. I think that was ridiculous! The government or the St Lawrence Seaway , along with the church should have moved the graves. There's over 1000 unmarked graves in that area. 300 were documented as marked and only 130 or so are reported as being moved to the Lakeview Cemetery. There were some families that had their loved ones moved to other cemeteries in the region or elsewhere.
I was meditating here just listening to the water , nature and I felt so cold there. The coldness stayed with me for a week. My house is freezing until I send an email to the St Peter's Anglican Church. All week I spent time in prayer and meditation asking the powers that be for guidance on how to deal with this matter.
Eventually they told me to email the church and let them know what is happening in this pondage area. They have in turn contacted St Peter's Cemetery. I've been giving them the links to the newspaper articles about the bodies being exhumed from this area back in March 2009 just a week or two before they reopened. They only moved seven caskets, three were empty. They have two bodies that are not identified, but were supposedly buried at Lakeview Cemetery. We could not find any fresh graves there. We have been trying to keep track of things there to make sure that it's done right. So that those spirits that asked to be buried will be taken care of. Then their unfinished business will be done.
There is a pile of rubble and stones in the middle of the pondage area. I thought it was from a church or building. I still don't know why it's there.
Another area of bones. I must be about 300 feet or more from the old pump house straight ahead.
It's strange how the land has mounds of dirt in perfect circles on the east end of the pondage area by Lock 6 and Lock 7.
The rubble and stones out in the middle. We found a few bones in this area too.
This lock is from the 3rd Welland Canal. During the year it's submerged under water. I always wondered how the birds were all standing out in the middle. I thought it was an island, until some dude who hikes and takes photos there told me it was an old lock. We came back in Feb 2010 just to see it.
I got pictures of it up close. I can't figure out why the walls are so small. They are either 10 to 20 feet high. Yet the canal has 80 feet high walls in the fourth welland canal and in the mountain locks they seem to be 60 feet?
There is this wall out in the middle, can't figure out why it's there or what it's for!
I think it's cool how the water naturally curves in a certain direction. To the left of this view is the old cemetery spot where we found gravestones and markers of a grave site.
the water is crystal clear here but it smells a bit fishy and mildew.
Here is the view looking towards the old pump house for the 3rd welland canal.
I got down as close as possible to take a photo of the pondage area. I originally thought this was Lake Gibson because of the maps I looked at. I guess my geography isn't the greatest. LOL
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