The Ghosts of Queenston Heights
An Illusion or Echo in Time?
Hello, lovely readers!
Thank you for joining me for another episode of i hope it’s a ghost.
This week, we’re going to take a quick (and creepy) trip to a historic battleground in Niagara, Ontario called Queenston Heights.
The Battle of Queenston Heights
We can’t talk about the ghosts of Queenston Heights if we don’t talk about the battle of Queenston Heights.
So, if you’ve been keeping up with this Haunted Ontario series, first of all, THANK YOU. I hope you’ll consider sharing this post with some of your ghost-loving pals! 👯♀️
Secondly, if you’ve been reading along, you’ll have already heard about the War of 1812.
Here’s a brief recap:
British-held Canada made life difficult for the newly formed United States.
The British placed many restrictions on American trade and maritime rights, and also prevented them from expanding their territory.
And so, the Americans declared war on Great Britain in June of 1812.
The Battle of Queenston Heights marked the first major battle of the War of 1812.
At 3:00 a.m. on the morning of October 12th, six hundred American troops climbed into rowboats and headed for the City of Queenston.
Their ultimate goal?
To capture a highly strategic position: Queenston Heights.
🤔 Why Queenston Heights?
Queenston Heights makes up part of the Niagara escarpment. It’s a massive ridge that sits 100 meters above the river.
From a strategic standpoint, capturing Queenston Heights would give the Americans a vantage point that spanned the entire area.
The British knew this, which is why they fortified the top of Queenston Heights. This fortification also included a massive cannon.
🔥 The Battle
Despite these fortifications, the American troops managed to gain the upper hand during the first half of the battle.
At least until reinforcements arrived!
Haudenosaunee warriors greeted the Americans, using the thickly forested area to take out soldiers from behind. Their fierce war cries spooked the soldiers and many refused to step onto the battlefield.
Eventually, over nine hundred British soldiers arrived on the battlefield. They snuck up the escarpment to defeat the Americans in less than 15 minutes.
The battle ended twelve hours after it began.
250 Americans were buried where they fell, and 925 were captured. The British saw 14 dead, and 77 wounded.
(I acknowledge that the land on which the American and British soldiers fought for that day truly belonged to the Haudenosaunee warriors and their people.)
👻 Queenston Heights Today
Today, it’s not difficult to spot the tall monument and final resting place of Major General Isaac Brock, commander of the British troops1.
If, however, you didn’t know the area’s history, you’d likely never know you were standing on a battlefield.
Queenston Heights has since been turned into a national historical park, which includes a lovely restaurant.
Hauntings at Queenston Heights
Check out two hauntings recorded by Niagara residents that take place at Queenston Heights2:
🐶 The Dog Walker
Early one morning, a man walked his dog along his usual route through Queenston Heights.
Quite alone, he felt a jolt of surprise to see the flash of musket fire in the distance.
Doubting what he had witnessed, he stopped to take a closer look. Shocked, he realized he could make out the grim faces of men fighting for their lives.
His dog started barking.
The man felt overcome with nausea and closed his eyes. He heard the distant sound of a cannon blast.
Overcome, the man couldn’t shake his nausea and fell to the ground. He heard gunshots, closer now, gaining ground . . .
Everything, including his dog, went silent.
The man opened his eyes. He found the world was as it should be, except for the bristling fur along his dog’s back and lingering nausea.
It took days for the man to feel right again, and even longer for him to return to the place where he felt certain he had seen ghosts of the Battle of Queenston Heights.
🚘 The Driver
Early one evening, just after sunset, a young man went for a drive along York Road (the major road that leads directly to Queenston Heights).
This young man had driven along this road many times before.
This time, however, when he neared a small monument that marks where the British reinforcements climbed the escarpment to attack the invading Americans from the rear, he broke into a cold sweat.
To the young man’s surprise, he saw more than a dozen red-coated men, creeping up the escarpment, in a single file with muskets at the ready.
It’s possible he simply saw men re-enacting a battle scene. However, in the young man’s eyes, these soldiers appeared almost translucent.
He could practically see through them as they marched forward and slowly faded into the dense woods.
An Echo in Time
I’m fascinated by the reported hauntings at Queenston Heights.
Why?
Well, many of the haunted locations I’ve explored so far come with a specific spirit or ghost, like the previous owner of a historic house.
I find it very interesting that the reported hauntings at Queenston Heights seem to include soldiers who might not have died during the battle. Remember, only 14 redcoats lost their lives.
Could these hauntings come from the energy of so many spirits, buried where they fell?
I’ve been to Queenston Heights a few times.
I didn’t visit during the early hours of the morning, or just after dusk. Despite this, walking across the grass in certain areas gave me the heebie geebies.
This didn’t come as a surprise, at least not to me.
It’s a feeling that’s hard to shake when you know you’re walking across blood-soaked earth.
That’s why I like to think the ghost sightings here are a result of an echo in time.
That the soldiers who met their brutal end here can’t rest because they’re so desperate to accomplish their final mission: the capture of Queenston Heights.
Now it’s your turn!
What do you think? Is Queenston Heights haunted due to its brutal, bloody past? Or are these ghost sightings the product of a tired mind and an overactive imagination?
Let me know in the comments! And if you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to hit that ‘like’ or ‘share’ button too.
Until next time, and as always, thanks for reading. ✌️ 🖤 👻
Unfortunately, Brock was one of the British soldiers who lost his life during the Battle of Queenston heights. Shot in the chest by an American soldier, it’s said that his death on the battlefield caused the British soldiers to fight in his honor and ultimately win the battle.
Stories retold from, Ghosts of Niagara-on-the-Lake (second edition), written by Maria Da Silva and Andrew Hind.