Ghost Stories, Murder, and Mayhem in Oshawa

September 4, 2024

By Alicia Bertrand, M.A.

This article contains information from my Haunted Oshawa walking tour and Murder and Mayhem in Oshawa presentation at the Oshawa Library from 2019-2021. I hope you use it as a self-guided walking tour in downtown Oshawa for Halloween or in historical or macabre interest. If you have any personal spooky stories you’d like to submit, please email alicia@ancestrybyalicia.ca.

Oshawa, Ontario has an interesting history. If you ask any Oshawa historian or citizen about what’s so interesting about the city you might hear about Parkwood Estate, General Motors, Robert Samuel McLaughlin, other important families, and other popular historical topics. Most cities don’t want negative attention and discussion of their dark pasts. I argue that everyone needs to be aware of all historical events, good and bad. As Netflix documentaries and TV shows prove, people are very interested in true crime and paranormal stories.

The following stories were collected during my research for a book I’m writing about small-town murders in Ontario before 1950 and my ghost stories walking tour in downtown Oshawa.

The stories can be read as a self-guided walking tour. Directions to stops will be mentioned. Oshawa residents can begin their tour at the Oshawa Public Library, McLaughlin Branch at Bagot and Centre Sts.

Oshawa Public Library, McLaughlin Branch
65 Bagot St
Oshawa, ON L1H 1N2

The McLaughlin Branch of the Oshawa Public Library is named after Col. R. S. McLaughlin. In 1949, he donated $400,000 to establish the current building as it stands today.[1]

At this branch of the Oshawa Public Library, former maintenance staff were convinced that there was a ghost in the auditorium. They named him Bob. Maybe Bob can help us pick out books from the Library Book sale! Bob is not a malevolent spirit.

One of the librarians told me that while she was working at the Jess Hann branch in south Oshawa, she was sitting alone in a room at a desk. Suddenly, a commotion occurred behind her. She turned to find several books on the floor a few feet away from the bookshelf. They were further away than they should have been if they had simply fallen off the shelf from their weight. She is certain that they flew off due to something supernatural.

The Collective Market & Coffee Shop – Formally Grimstone Manor
83 Centre St S.
Oshawa, ON L1H 4A1

Directly on the other side of Centre St. from the library, at 83 Centre St. S. is The Collective Market & Coffee Shop.[2] Before the 2020 lockdown, the building housed the S. Caper’s Breakout Zone, formally Grimstone Manor. The second and third floors were used as escape rooms.

There are numerous spirits in this house. Some of them have lived there in life and continue to do so in death. Some of them use the house as a communication hub with the Paranormal Seekers group. The Paranormal Seekers used to hold investigations and meetings in the house, where spirits who had lost their lives by violent means would come to communicate with the groups’ psychics and machinery.

The house is classified by the City of Oshawa Heritage Committee as a Class A house. So it is one step below designation, however, it does have some protections. We can assume that the house was built in 1924. The first man who lived in the house, James Hinkson,^[3] lived here until his death in March 1931. He died in the hospital of bronchial pneumonia.^[4]

In 1929, Hinkson, his wife Julia, and their son James E Jr. who worked at General Motors, lived in the home. James and Julia had six children over the years. Hellen, one of their granddaughters, passed away in the house on March 18, 1930 and is one of the eight spirits that the Paranormal Seekers have come in contact with there.

In 1936, the Power family moved from Bowmanville to Oshawa. First, they lived diagonally across from this house on Simcoe St. Edward Power died in that house but he has been seen and heard in the Centre St. house, most likely because he is with his wife there in spirit. His wife, Emma Power passed away in the house on March 17, 1953. She also connected to the Paranormal Seekers through their electronic devices. The Power’s son Harold Hilton Power was a Canada Pacific Railway agent in Oshawa and a member of the Nickel Masonic Lodge in Sudbury. He died in Oshawa General Hospital on December 31, 1976. His sisters Merle, Hazel, and Maud never married and lived with their mother in the house. After these grown children’s deaths, the home was sold and became a commercial space, including a lawyer’s office, a bridal salon, etc.

I spoke to the Paranormal Seekers founder, Rachel Cross, who said that they have experienced the doorbell ringing on numerous occasions. The door will open by itself. Rudely enough, the ghosts don’t even bother to shut the door! The Paranormal Seekers frequently use devices to communicate with ghosts without a psychic. The Ovilus is a ghost-seeking tool that converts environmental readings into words from an internal dictionary, and the REM pod is a device that measures the magnetic field around it to sense ghosts. According to Rachel, one day the doorbell rang, and the Ovilus device said “Come quickly mommy”. The REM pod went off in the attic near an old armchair, which surprised the group because it’s rare for the REM pod to have an interaction, and then one of the group members felt something touch the back of their neck.^[5]

A few former guests of the Breakout Zone or to the house for the Paranormal Seekers events have reported seeing shadows and apparitions. Some have heard giggling and singing possibly from a child spirit.

Justin Wentzell, the former owner of the house, also had paranormal experience in the building. He witnessed doors slamming by themselves, mysterious noises, and one particular door that just wouldn’t stay shut.

Other homes may have this much activity, it just so happened that a ghost investigation group held office hours at this one!

Rescue Mediums House
Centre St N.
Oshawa, ON L1G 4C1

If you stand at the corner of Centre St. and King St., face north. The house in this story is north of Centre St. For the privacy of the current owners, I will not divulge its address. The house was featured on a Canadian-produced television show called Rescue Mediums.^[6]

When the show aired in 2006, the homeowner had experienced some paranormal activity. They believed this activity began after playing with an Ouija board as a teenager. Before meeting the homeowner, the Rescue Medium psychics said they received the name Walter. Coincidentally, that was the name of the spirit the homeowner communicated with through the Ouija board.  

Inside the house, the psychics also saw a floating shadow. They also felt a man’s presence in the basement. When they were on the second floor one of them felt something blow on their ear and the back of their neck. The male presence in the home was depressed and made the air in the house feel heavy to the living. The psychics felt that the depressed male spirit was murdered by two men, one of which also resided after death in the house.

The homeowner heard heavy boots pacing the hallway upstairs on their first night in the house. They heard their name being called and heard what sounded like church organs in a low hum. Any object that is supposed to keep time, such as a watch or a clock in the house, begins to lose time or gain time for no reason.

A neighbour saw a ball of light flash around the house, but not in the same way that car headlights would move across the wall coming in from a window, but more spastic than that. The psychics supposedly cleansed the house of the spirits, but who knows what has happened since then. I met a man on my first Haunted Oshawa Jane’s Walk in 2019, who said he lived in the house at the time, and that he had heard and felt strange things that could not be explained. So perhaps the house is not completely clear of spirits.

(While on Centre St., walk toward King St. When you get to King St., walk west until you’re directly across from the King St. parking garage. You’ll see the bridge over the creek.)

On November 9, 1871, 55-year-old William Caulfield and his wife, 50-year-old Ann[7], were at a neighbour, James Wood’s house, when Ann physically abused her husband and they had a verbal argument. However, before they left that evening, James Wood said they seemed in good spirits and made up.[8] The couple were known to drink and fight often. Ann had previously left the Caulfield marital home and was living elsewhere. Later that night, the two left their friends’ house. Ann never made it back home that night.

At about 8 p.m. that evening, Mrs. Wood and her son heard screams and a commotion outside, not too far away. James Wood searched the nearby area, and found Ann drowned in the stream by Warren’s Mill. James Wood and Constable Gourley also found Ann’s bonnet and what was thought to be William’s cap near the stream. When they recovered Ann’s body, Constable Gourley noted that her hands were clasped into fists that contained human hair.[9]

The coroner confirmed that Ann died of asphyxia due to drowning, and also had a mark above her left eye that was from either being hit with a blunt object to stun her or was the result of her head if it struck the bottom of the riverbed. By 10 p.m., when asked where his wife was, Caulfield was asked where Ann was. He claimed Ann was in bed. He was immediately the main suspect for her murder. He was arrested and sent to Whitby jail to await his trial.[10]

Caulfield’s trial began in May 1872. The jury took an hour and a half to return with a guilty verdict, with a recommendation of mercy.[11] Justice Wilson sentenced Caulfield to be hanged on June 30, 1872. He was given mercy, and his sentence was commuted to life in prison at Kingston Penitentiary.[12] He died in Kingston Penitentiary in 1877.[13]

King and Simcoe Street Intersection

(Walk east on King St. to the intersection of King St. and Simcoe St.)

The book Upper Canada Sketches by Thomas Conant is the source of many fascinating stories in the early history of Oshawa. In that book, Thomas wrote about a duel at the Four Corners aka King and Simcoe Sts.

It began at a fancy event in Whitby in April 1838. A grand ball was being held, complete with the catering of exquisite little cakes. One young man accused another man of stealing some of these fancy little cakes, which did not go over well. The accused believed that the only way to clear his name was through a duel.

The accused young man cakes quickly made his way on horseback to the tavern operated by Richard Woon at the south-west corner of Oshawa’s Four Corners.^[14]  It was here that the duel was to take place.

As the gentlemen positioned themselves at each end of the hotel’s front porch, Captain Trull (of Courtice’s Trull Rd. fame) who had command of a few troops stationed in Oshawa, attempted to end the fight. He placed one of his men between the duelling men to prevent it. It was easy enough for one of the men to step aside around this man and shoot anyway. The bullet missed and the accused man turned, threw his pistol on the ground, and ran away. Captain Trull was so disgusted by this cowardice that he picked up the man’s gun and tried to chase him down to shoot him himself. To quote Thomas Conant, “So laughably ended Oshawa’s only duel”.

(Walk south on Simcoe St. until Metcalfe St. On the other side of Simcoe St is the Canadian Automotive Museum.)

Canadian Automotive Museum
99 Simcoe St S.
Oshawa, ON L1H 4G7

The spirits in the Canadian Automotive Museum are less attached to the building itself, and more-so attached to the vehicles within the museum. The building was built around 1921 and was originally a Chevrolet-Oakland car dealership.^[15] There are a few ghosts of employees hanging around from when the building was a car dealership, a pharmaceutical warehouse, and a doctor’s office.

Cameron is one of the museum spirits who the Paranormal Seekers have had numerous experiences captured through electronic devices and psychics. Cameron doesn’t belong to the museum but is attached to it in death. Cameron told the Paranormal Seekers’ psychic that his name was Cameron Dart. He died in Belgium during World War I as a private who was killed in action^[16] and returned after death to his family in Oshawa. Cameron Dart was a real person. He was born south of Blackstock, in a little area called Burketon Station, north of Oshawa. He was only 22 years old when he was killed on the battlefield (of Ypres) in WWI. He is listed in Memorial Park (across the street from the museum) as one of Oshawa’s fallen soldiers. He was very vocal to the Paranormal Seekers group on their first investigation and acted as their “tour guide”.

Psychic medium Brenda Montgomery says that a little girl who haunts the museum died in a car accident and is attached to one of the cars in the museum. She also says that a little boy died in a fire in a building near the museum and he is now haunting the museum with the little girl. Guests and psychics have noted the children move the chains and ropes around the cars. As you tour the museum, you might hear the sound of little feet pitter-pattering around on the floor, and you might hear children giggling. The psychic also has said that a pharmacist is attached to the lower level but is not very talkative so it would be rare for anyone in the public to see or hear him. Also, a security guard is supposedly still doing his job every night, walking the museum for eternity as a ghost.^[17]

There have also been reports of hearing the radio in one of the cars turn on and softly playing music. Perhaps the ghost is tuning the radio and looking for a channel. A well-dressed female ghost has been seen near the 1921 Rauch and Lang Electric car. Guests of the museum have also experienced yelling, touching of the shoulders, their hair being stroked, and more.  

(Walk north to King St. again and go east. You’ll see the Regent Theatre before you reach Victoria St.)

Regent Theatre
50 King St E.
Oshawa, ON L1H 1B3

Regent Theatre was constructed in 1919 and designed in the Georgian style. The theatre was designed by J. McNee Jeffrey, a famous Canadian theatre designer. Regent Theatre’s opening night was on October 16, 1921 with the performance of  “The Prince Chap”. The theatre was a cinema and performance space for decades until it became a nightclub and fell into disrepair. The Heritage Committee and the City of Oshawa designated it a historical property, and in 2009 the University of Ontario bought and renovated the building. The university turned it back into a theatre for lectures and community events.

Regent Theatre allegedly has a shadow man that guests will see out of the corner of their eye. Guests may also feel cold temperature spots mostly in the upstairs area. There is supposedly a ghost of an employee who committed suicide at Regent Theatre in the 1970s.^[18] Zsuzsana Summer, a psychic and metaphysical expert, claims the spirit is that of “Murray”, a former theatre owner or manager who she said is one of the negative energies in the theatre.^[19] One of the opening managers from Famous Players was H.M. Thomas. I thought the M could stand for Murray, however Mr. Thomas was in Winnipeg five years later at the opening of a Capitol Theatre. It wasn’t him.^[20] Ms. Summer also felt the presence of a very sad young woman and a second negative presence that wasn’t “Murray” the former owner.

I wasn’t able to find any records of a Murray that worked there, or any suicides to confirm the psychic’s findings.

(Walk west back to Simcoe St. Walk north on Simcoe St on either the east or west side. The next two stories are across from each other. Walk a block and a half north, past Bond St. but stop before Richmond St.)

R.S. McLaughlin Armoury
53 Simcoe St N.
Oshawa, ON L1G 4R9

The Colonel R.S. McLaughlin Armoury opened in 1914, just a couple of months before the breakout of the First World War. The large structure, constructed of brick on a stone foundation, contains a large drill hall. It is distinguished on the principal façade by crenellated towers and a low-arched entrance. Buttress-like pilasters, arched windows and stone trim enliven the otherwise functional design. The armoury is home to the Ontario Regiment, a reserve unit that traces its history to 1866.^[21] In 1920, General Motors Canada founder Robert Sam McLaughlin became the honorary lieutenant colonel for the Regiment and the honourary colonel in 1936.

Sir Sam Hughes allegedly haunts the officer’s mess hall in R.S. McLaughlin Armoury. He was Prime Minister Robert Borden’s defence minister in World War I. Sir Sam Hughes is an incredibly controversial figure in Canadian history. He may have been influential with his energy and drive in the military, but his push for the Army to purchase the Canadian Ross rifles which soldiers took into the trenches only to find that they were terrible in the trench environment and got stuck up with mud, as well as some of his strategic moves in the war, were an embarrassment. He was knighted in 1915, but by November 1916, Prime Minister Robert Borden booted Hughes out of the government, due to his anti-French, anti-Catholic views, and distrust of Hughes from Cabinet colleagues. According to author John Robert Colombo,^[22] on August 24, 1921, Sir Sam Hughes shot himself to death. However, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, he died of pernicious anaemia (neurological complications due to vitamin B12 deficiency). According to Colombo, the doors of the mess hall fling open by themselves around that time of year. Officers have claimed to feel a chilling presence, and that portraits of Hughes and other colonels around the armoury fall off the walls by themselves.

Formerly The Bent Willow
54 Simcoe St N.
Oshawa, ON L1G 4S1

The building, 54 Simcoe St. N, and its neighbour 50 Simcoe St. N was built in 1878 as the first location of the McLaughlin Carriage Company.^[23] In 1895, the building was Brooks Livery and Stable, and it was situated to the left of the fire hall of the time. (A livery stable is a stable where horse owners pay a weekly or monthly fee to keep their horses)

In 2019 when I originally researched the building, The Bent Willow took residence at 54 Simcoe St. The owner of The Bent Willow, Tara, told me that the store is full of energetic paranormal experiences. The store’s resident spirit is named “Henry”, who Tara says is her favourite guardian of the store. Henry has made himself known to Tara on many occasions. The first time was when Tara was in the furnace room. She bent down and a male voice spoke in her ear. The voice wasn’t clear, but she heard the voice say “Henry”. An apparition of a tall man with a long beard wearing a long coat suddenly appeared. As soon as it appeared, it had dissipated.

During the second experience, Tara heard a male voice again, so she and her colleague went to investigate in the furnace room, but they didn’t feel anything in there. In the furnace room is a short ladder with a can on it, and a copper pot on the next step down, leaning up against the wall. As Tara and her colleague walked down the hallway away from the furnace room, Tara asked her colleague if she had ever been in the basement and she replied “no”, and as Tara reached out and touched the doorknob of the basement door, the copper pot flew off the ladder and loudly hit the floor. They took it as a sign to not go into the basement. Tara noted that she has had two main experiences in the basement and she believes Henry is very protective of it. Tara has seen orbs, heard voices, seen apparitions and smelled different odours that are unaccounted for in the basement.

She has seen and heard objects around the store move when the air conditioning or air from the door opening could not explain it. Wind chimes sound, crystal suncatchers start to swing, orbs are noticed, and more. Tara also senses movement and sees fleeting images in the corner of her eye.

Tara’s sister, Heather, has experienced paranormal activity in the store. She was with a customer and both of them heard children’s laughter even though they were the only two in the store, another time in one of the back rooms of the store, she and two customers heard someone whistling.

(Walk north to the north west side of Simcoe St and Richmond St.)

Holiday Inn Express & Suites
67 Simcoe St N.
Oshawa, ON L1G 4S3

The huge square block where the Holiday Inn Express and Wendel Clark’s Classic Bar and Grill (and formerly the Wilson & Lee store) now stand has a long commercial history. However, could the depression and suicide of a farmer on the property lead to hauntings?

On the North Half of Lot 1 and Lot 2 on the north side of Richmond St. where the Holiday Inn Express & Suites now stand atop what was most likely the site of Martin Bambridge’s carriage and blacksmith shop, barn, and house in 1859 to 1862.^[24] Martin Bambridge came to Oshawa from England in 1846 and established his carriage and blacksmith shop which his son William later took over.

On May 16, 1862, at 5 a.m., Martin Bambridge’s body was found hanging by a rope in the barn. Police interviews with Martin’s son William, who found his body, and his mother claimed that Martin had suffered mental and physical illness in the weeks prior, and bouts of what they called “dull spells” in the past ten days. His wife and son claimed that “for many years, he had been subject to spells of mental depression, lasting for weeks at a time, during which he would imagine that his business was going to ruin, but that he never broached the idea of taking his life, and hence his friends had no suspicion of his doing so.”^[25]

In many cultures around the world, people believe that committing suicide leaves the victim unable to cross over or find peace. Martin Bambridge could be haunting the area of the Holiday Inn or Wendel Clark’s Restaurant as a ghost for the last 157 years.

(You can end your walking tour here if you want to stay downtown.)

(Further north and eastward on Mary St.)

Mary Street School
Corner of Mary St. and Colborne St. (The current Mary Street Community School is not the building in this story.)

On September 10, 1924, while “hundreds” of children played during recess in the Mary Street School yard, a prize bull on a walk with a wrangler to the Oshawa Fair got spooked and charged into the children.[26]

One unfortunate child, Betty Marks, was badly trampled by the bull. She sustained cuts to her head, one very close to her left eye, but at the time of the newspaper report, doctors were unsure which bones were broken. Poor Betty had bad luck with animals that month. Three weeks earlier, she had to receive two stitches after a dog bit her face.

(Further north on Simcoe St. from the Holiday Inn Express & Suites)

Former St. Joseph’s Convent
171 Simcoe St N.
Oshawa, ON L1G 4S8

On June 14, 1910, 23-year-old Bernard Sheridan and his brother-in-law, 29-year-old John McAdam worked together on the garden of St. Joseph’s Convent at 171 Simcoe St. N.[27] Just after their dinner, they began to quarrel over business issues, when Sheridan pulled out a knife and stabbed McAdam in the side. The knife penetrated between the ribs, and right near his heart and lung. Sheridan fled the scene, and McAdam was found in a field and taken to his home in the south end of town. The Globe did not mention whether Sheridan had dragged McAdams to the field or if McAdams sought help and crawled there. Either way, although the newspaper reported that evening that McAdams was not looking good, he survived. Sheridan was caught by police in his north-end Oshawa home and arrested for attempted murder.

John McAdams lived another 18 years after this event. Sheridan seems to have evaded jail time thanks to McAdams’ recovery. I was unable to find any records of jail time for the stabbing. He died in 1942.[28]

(Further north on Simcoe St.)

Oshawa General Hospital aka Lakeridge Health
1 Hospital Ct.
Oshawa, ON L1G 2B9

This story was sent to me by an Oshawa resident. I’ve edited it for clarity.

“There was a patient at Oshawa General on the 6th floor, wing C, in his early-to-mid-30s who was suffering from kidney disease and cancer. He was going through treatment at the hospital. He sort of hinted to the nurses on duty that he would simply “like to end it all” but never said anything of the sort to his family or doctors. As time dragged on, he became aware of the comings and goings of the nurses during shift changes.  During one of shift changes he ended his own life by wrapping the IV cord around his neck to asphyxiate himself. It wasn’t until the shift change was complete that the next nurse on duty found him dead in his hospital bed. A short time after this occured, patients reported to their nurses that they saw a man with a crooked neck in their room.” Was this crooked neck man the same man that asphyxiated himself in the room? We may never know.

On Christmas Day 1920, 50-year-old Mary Kushner was beaten by her husband, Fred Kushner. Fifteen days later, she died in the Oshawa General Hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage.[29] At first, Kushner was charged with assault and causing grievous harm, but a month later a pre-trial jury determined that Kushner had caused her death. Kushner told police that he only hit Mary once.[30] During the trial, Dr. Howland, a brain specialist from Toronto, provided evidence that Mary had died from a blood clot that was brought on by the blows to the head her husband delivered.[31] On April 21, 1921, the jury found Fred Kushner not guilty of manslaughter and he was acquitted.[32]

(Outside of walking distance unless you’re really keen.)

354 Kingsdale Ave.

On April 29, 1930, 27-year-old Annie Morrison lay in bed when her skull was bludgeoned on the left side of her head with a hatchet. The Globe newspaper stated that her husband William, who was the prime suspect in Annie’s murder, was found by police with razor injuries and attempted to poison himself by drinking Lysol.^[33] The Lethbridge Herald reported more details from William’s June 10 trial. ^[34] The razor injuries were from Morrison slitting his own throat.

After being apprehended by police and treated in the hospital, Morrison admitted to police that he killed Annie after they fought about another man. Annie’s parents claimed that Morrison had been fired by General Motors, recently fired from a local furniture company, and was depressed. Considering these events in his life, it was believed that caused his anger issues. According to Annie’s death notice, she died of a compound fracture to the skull, lacerations to the brain and head, hemorrhage, and shock.[35] William Morrison was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment at Kingston Penitentiary on September 17, 1930.^[36]

Unknown location

If you were around in June 1997 you might remember the huge media coverage that happened when boxer Mike Tyson took a bite out of his contender, Evander Holyfield’s ear. Well, Oshawa was setting ear-biting trends 117-years-prior!

            On December 11, 1880, Fred Inch was charged with biting the ear off of a man named Carpenter.[37] He plead guilty to assault. The Bowmanville Statesman specified it was more that an “inch that Inch had bitten off”.[38]

Highway 2

This story from Thomas Conant’s Upper Canada Sketches could be one of Oshawa’s oldest homicide stories. Conant recalls that on February 15, 1838, the author’s grandfather, also named Thomas Conant was walking down what is now Highway 2 between Oshawa and Bowmanville when a man only noted as Cummings was sitting on his horse outside a tavern when Conant said “Good day Cummings, drunk again as usual!” Well Cummings didn’t like that, and he was known to be a drunkard and a total jerk so he tried to run Conant down with his horse, but Conant was quick for an old man and grabbed the horse by it’s bridle and got out of the way of harm. Cummings was even more enraged by his dodging and grabbing the horse and drew his sword. He slammed the sword down into Conant’s head, fracturing his skull. Even more horrifically, it took Conant hours to die of these head injuries. I can’t imagine how painful those hours must have been! Even though three witnesses said they saw what happened through the tavern window, the authorities never punished Cummings. Either that tavern window was incredibly dirty, or the authorities didn’t believe drunks in a tavern in 1838. Cummings did get his comeuppance though, in his continued drunkardly life, he fell under the wheels of a loaded wagon and was crushed to death.^[39] A tragic story, and one of the oldest gruesome stories we have in Oshawa’s past.

Cedardale neighbourhood

Sarah Winkle married John Bateman after replying to a newspaper ad for a wife.[40] They wed in their advanced age, likely to find companionship, but it would not end well for Sarah. The couple lived in Sarah’s multi-unit property in Cedardale, in which she also rented out space to two other couples. Their nine-year marriage was filled with arguments. One of those arguments was due to Sarah’s love of cats. She kept thirteen cats in the couples’ portion of the house.[41]

On September 5, 1912, Sarah Bateman was horrifically murdered by an axe to the head and then set on fire. The Globe reported, “…in the top of the skull it is said a long gaping hole will be shown corresponding in the shape to the blade of an axe, and the whole back of the head was smashed like an egg-shell.”^[42] Sarah was 78 years old when she was murdered by her 77-year-old husband.[43]

The neighbours, Mrs. Kaales, and Mr. and Mrs. Colborne, heard quarrelling and went to see what was going on in the Bateman’s unit. They saw a bloody and battered Sarah on the ground with numerous objects and furniture around her on fire. Bateman had left to buy milk for his breakfast. When he returned, another neighbour Frank Mallet, told him to unlock the door so they would get Mrs. Bateman out of the fire. He refused. Mallet broke down the door.[44]

The neighbours stated that not only did the couple argue frequently, but that Bateman said his wife “was not right in the head” and had doctors “examine her mental state.”^[45] Bateman was also heard saying that his wife owed him $500 for money that he spent on the property.[46] This sounds like “victim blaming” 1912-style.

During the trial, the Colborne’s testified to the incessant arguments and vile verbal assaults that Bateman would spew. On October 10, 1912, the jury found Bateman guilty of murder.[47]  The judge sentenced him to be hanged on December 9, however, petitions were created to have the elderly man serve the rest of his life in prison rather than be hanged.[48] Bateman was reportedly an agnostic and did not seem phased by the death sentence, or the petition to save him. Due to his age, his sentence was commuted to Portsmouth penitentiary.[49]

Oshawa Railway Company
Bruce St. between Simcoe St and Ritson Rd.

            The Oshawa Railway Company[51] had an original carhouse for the trains, and offices on Bruce St. between Simcoe and Ritson. At 3am on March 29, 1912, a huge fire broke out from one of the freight cars’ coal stoves.[52] The “car barns” aka parking garages, were completely destroyed including all of the contents within. This included two large passenger cars, one small passenger car, one freight motor, and a street sweeper. The offices beside the garages did catch fire on the roof, but were not destroyed.[53] The fire caused an estimated $20,000 in damage, which with inflation in today’s terms would be approximately $450,000.[54] The Globe reported that the company intended to rebuild immediately and have new modern cars constructed.

158 Bloor St. East.
Currently 146 Bloor St E, Oshawa, ON L1H 3M4

In 1925, where the Tim Hortons is near the 401 highway on/off ramp near Ritson Rd. at 158 Bloor St East, was a boarding house. At 10:30 p.m. on February 27, 1925, five police officers and an American detective, Patrick O’Mara, surrounded the boarding house. Two officers and O’Mara quickly surrounded the sleeping Italian-American, Giovanni Volturi, and arrested him.

Volturi was on the run from a murder he committed in New Britain, Connecticut four months prior. He shot a couple, both in the stomach, as they slept. The man died the next day. The violence was supposedly due to jealousy. He fled and hid in Oshawa for three months, rarely going outdoors to stay hidden from sight. He was extradited back to Connecticut the next morning.[55]

Thieves in downtown Oshawa

This story is notable because, like video games are blamed today for teenage violence, in 1929, it was “thrillers” aka detective stories from the United States that were blamed for influencing these teenage boys.

Police caught the boys after 16-year-old Morley Carter[56] was seen entering 92 Gladstone Avenue to attempt the robbery of William Penwright, the homeowner at the time.[57] Two policemen, Police Constable Fawbert and Detective Sergeant McGee attempted to apprehend him when he pointed a revolver at McGee, they fought, and he shot off the gun next to his ear. The officers found that the revolver was just a toy gun. Carter submitted to his arrest.

As soon as he was in the police station, Carter started to spill the beans. He confessed that he had robbed two drug store messengers and several homes. He named two other teenage boys as his accomplices, 16-year-old Wilfred Barnes, and 17-year-old Gordon Vandriel. One was a student at Oshawa Collegiate and Vocational School (what O’Neill was called before 1959)[58], and the other boy was a former student.[59]

The officers apprehended one of the boys, but in a move I don’t think would happen today, the police left the third boy at home due to his illness at the time. The boys’ parents, reported as “upstanding local families” blamed their “son’s troubles on reading detective story magazines […] He forbade him from reading them, but he recently found one of the magazines hidden under a mattress in the lad’s room.”[60] One father said “They are nothing but a curse” just like my mom used to say about my heavy metal CDs and horror movies! Wow, how things don’t change.

To understand the mayhem going on in Oshawa in 1929, we can get a picture from the robberies and crimes that Chief Constable Friend believed the three teenage boys were NOT a part of, but that they did a number of west end Oshawa break-ins, and the Thomson’s drug store, and Mitchell’s drug store messenger robberies. The boys were not connected to the following: the hold-up of a taxi-driver in Courtice the previous Fall, the robberies of Soane’s grocer, Silberry’s clothing store, Campbell’s studio, and the shooting of John Gaultier at his grocery store on Olive Avenue.

Due to the boys’ age and Crown Attorney McGibbon’s work in Toronto to lighten the sentences, the boys were not sent to prison. Carter was sent to Victoria Industrial School in Mimico (current day Mimico Correctional Centre) until the age of 21.[61] Barnes and Vandriel were sentenced to the Ontario Training School for Boys in Bowmanville to be given a chance to learn a trade and “redeem themselves.”[62]

Here is a map of the robberies the three teens committed in 1929:

80 Roxborough Ave
80 Roxborough Ave.
Oshawa, ON L1G 5W4

October 17, 1945 was a horrific day for the Holloway family of Oshawa. John Philip Holloway returned home from a work trip to find a note from his wife on the table. The contents of this note led him to the basement. There, he found his wife, 32-year-old Marian hanged herself.[63]

Holloway ran to his neighbour’s house and asked if they had seen his young children. He and one of the neighbours rushed throughout the house looking for his two-year-old son Ronald, and five-year-old daughter, Deborah, only to find them drowned in the bathtub.[64]

On their death registry, the coroner elaborated on the gruesome deaths of the children. Little Ronald and Deborah had both been hit in the head with a hammer and knocked unconscious before being drowned.[65] Marian’s death certificate cites a mental condition as a pre-condition leading to her suicide.

Mr. Holloway was able to remarry and have a new family after this horrible event. He died in 1961. 

Unknown location in Oshawa

On June 15, 1948, 65-year-old Marie was found bludgeoned to death in her nightgown in the bedroom. Her husband, the murderer, 65-year-old Howard Bradley asphyxiated himself via carbon monoxide poisoning in his car in the garage of the home. Their daughter Margaret, who also lived in the house, found their bodies.^[66] Howard was a prominent real estate agent. Neighbours and friends of the daughter who had been to the house the night before were all shocked and had no idea why the incident would have occurred.

If you have any paranormal stories or true crime stories, email me at alicia@ancestrybyalicia.ca so I can add them to this list.

Disclaimer: These stories are historical or explore paranormal stories and claims from Oshawa residents. This article is for entertainment purposes only and does not seek to offend anyone of a particular religion, creed, historical background, ethnic background, identification, etc. If you are sensitive to stories of death, ghosts, or other matters in that realm, be aware that this article involves these topics.

---

[1] Oshawa Daily Times-Gazette, (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) November 11, 1949

[2] As of September 2024.

^[3]http://localhistory.oshawalibrary.ca/pdfportal/pdfskins/Vernon1926/pg_0001.toc.php?book=vernon1926

^[4]https://www.ancestry.ca/interactive/8946/ONMS935_422-1465/2696813?backurl=https://www.ancestry.ca/family-tree/person/tree/81039346/person/42432851912/facts/citation/620316425179/edit/record

^[5] http://oshawaexpress.ca/did-i-really-just-hear-that/

^[6] https://veryparanormal.com/videos/rm-s01e04-oshawa/

[7] Ann (née Rourke). Census of 1861 (Canada East, Canada West, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) for Image No.: 4391564_00096

[8] Ottawa Daily Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), Friday, May 3, 1872, pg. 4.

[9] Ontario Reformer, (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada), 10 Nov 1871, p. 2.

[10] The Sun (Orangeville, Ontario, Canada) Thursday, May 16, 1872, pg. 2.

[11] Ottawa Daily Citizen, Friday, May 3, 1872, pg. 4; The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]03 May 1872: 1; Ottawa Times (1865) (Oshawa, Ontario, Canada), 20 May 1872, p. 2.

[12] RG2, Privy Council Office, Series A-1-a. For Order in Council see volume 298, Reel C-3300, Order in Council #1872-0547, pg. 2.

[13] https://www.ancestry.ca/family-tree/person/tree/169622691/person/332199684949/facts

^[14] Roberts, Julia, In Mixed Company: Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada, pg 96 & 98.

^[15]http://toronto.citynews.ca/2014/10/30/paranormal-activity-detected-at-automotive-museum-in-durham

^[16] Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty), 1914-1948 for Cameron Dart

Europe – First World War, Dabate – Davison, pg. 480.

^[17]https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/4926190-oshawa-ghosts-and-their-beloved-automobiles-caught-on-video/

^[18] https://www.hauntedplaces.org/item/regent-theater/

^[19] https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/3474095-is-there-a-ghost-at-the-regent-theatre-/

^[20] Robert Morris Seiler and Tamara Palmer Seiler, “Reel Time: Movie Exhibitors and Movie Audiences in Prairie Canada, 1896 to 1986,” AU Press, 2013. pg. 213.

^[21]https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/4522435-the-r-s-mclaughlin-armoury-100-years-of-history-in-oshawa/

^[22] John Robert Colombo, Mysteries of Ontario, Hounslow Press, 1999, pg. 169

^[23] https://industryinoshawa.wordpress.com/automotive/mclaughlin-carriage-company/

^[24] http://localhistory.oshawalibrary.ca/pdfportal/pdfskins/kaiser/pg_0001.toc.php?book=kaiser

^[25] Oshawa Vindicator newspaper, 21 May 1862. Pg 2, http://communitydigitalarchives.com/the-oshawa-vindicator/1862-05-21/002/newspapers.html

[26] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]11 Sep 1924: 11.

[27] https://www.ancestry.ca/family-tree/person/tree/53054181/person/132170640141/facts; https://www.ancestry.ca/family-tree/person/tree/53054181/person/27340391277/facts; The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]15 June 1910: 1.

[28] The Globe and Mail (1936-2017); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]01 Aug 1942: 7.

[29] Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 283; The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]04 Feb 1921: 2.

[30] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]12 Jan 1921: 3.

[31] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]22 Apr 1921: 17.

[32] Ibid.

^[33] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]16 May 1930: 13; The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]30 Apr 1930: 14. 

^[34] https://lethbridgeherald.newspaperarchive.com/lethbridge-herald/1930-06-10/page-2/

[35] Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 396

^[36] The Globe (1844-1936); Sep 19, 1930; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail pg. 15,

[37] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]13 Dec 1880: 2.

[38] Bowmanville Canadian Statesman Archives, Dec 24, 1880, p. 1

^[39] Conant, pgs 78-80.

[40] The Ottawa Journal (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), Tuesday, December 3, 1912, pg. 1.

[41] The Toronto Star (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) Friday, October 11, 1912, pg. 3.

^[42] The Globe (1844-1936); Sep 9, 1912; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail pg. 2,

[43] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]06 Sep 1912: 1; The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada), Friday, September 6, 1912, pg. 1.

[44] Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario]. 13 Sep 1912: 11. 

^[45] Ibid; The Globe (1844-1936); Oct 9, 1912; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail pg. 2; The Globe (1844-1936); Sep 6, 1912; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail pg. 1; The Globe (1844-1936); Sep 13, 1912; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail pg. 1,

[46] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]13 Sep 1912: 1. 

[47] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]11 Oct 1912: 1. 

[48] The Ottawa Journal (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), Tuesday, December 3, 1912, pg. 1.

[49] Saskatoon Daily Star (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada), Monday, December 9, 1912, pg. 5.

[50] Library and Archives Canada, “John [illegible], Nelson Parker, Harry Salsbury, John Bateman, Alex Christie, Norman Ryan, Robert McCue, Damicro (?) Chadziek (?), Corneilus Collino, Jas Murphy” (1912, RG73-C-6, Volume number: 558).

[51] A year earlier purchased by the Grand Trunk Railway.

[52] Star-Phoenix (SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA), Saturday, March 30, 1912, pg. 6.

[53] The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]. 30 Mar 1912: 3.  

[54] Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator, https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/

[55] Special Despatch to The Globe. The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]28 Feb 1925: 15.

[56] Special Despatch to The Globe.The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]22 Jan 1930: 14.

[57] Special Despatch to The Globe.The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]20 Dec 1929: 1.

[58] https://olivefrench.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/o%E2%80%99neill-collegiate-vocational-institute/

[59] Ibid.

[60] Ibid.

[61] Special Despatch to The Globe.The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]22 Jan 1930: 14.

[62] Ibid.

[63] Marian Holloway (née White).

[64] Archives of Ontario. Division Registrar Vital Statistics Records, 1858-1930. MS 940, reels 5-10, 16, 21, 26-27. Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), Thursday, October 18, 1945, pg. 1; The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada), Thursday, October 18, 1945, pg. 5.

[65] Ibid.

^[66] Marie (née Goley). Ancestry.com. The Lethbridge Herald (Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. <https://www.ancestry.ca/interactive/7196/news-can-alb-le_he.1948_06_16_0013?pid=497238029&backurl=https://search.ancestry.ca/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D7196%26h%3D497238029%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DDEv2601%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=DEv2601&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true>; The Globe and Mail (1936-Current); Jun 16, 1948; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Globe and Mail pg. 1; Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Deaths, 1948; Series: Rg 80-8; Reel: Registrations of Deaths (22-999), #022639.