Antique mall scares ‘paranormal activity’ for local ghost hunters

272 Innisfil St. has been home to a slaughterhouse and antiques market in the more than 95 years since it was built, but according to the crew of a popular YouTube series, it’s also home to many ghosts.

Raif Boric and Krista Maryk make up two-thirds of the paranormal investigation team. Walking Among UsHe spent three hours at the 25,000-square-foot building near Essa Road earlier this month after hearing about some not-so-normal things happening there.

Shirley Sanford, owner of Sanford and Son Emporium, located inside the building, said the team came to visit on Nov. 2.

“One of my employees was talking to one of the customers and a topic about spirits in that building came up,” he said. “The woman said she knew some people who do paranormal things so she asked if it would be done. It would be okay if they phone me.

“It was really interesting to see what was going on.”

Sanford said he witnessed many “unexplainable” things happen during the five years he was in the building.

“I was at a booth about three weeks ago. “Everyone had left and I was on patrol at night for closing,” he said. “I walked into this booth and was looking to see what new things they had brought. I could hear a female and a male voice… I thought. Maybe there was a radio in the cabin and it was low and they forgot to turn it off, but there was no radio.”

Sanford looked around a little more but couldn’t find the source of the noise. And although it was late and alone, he was not afraid.

While doing his closing routine the next week, Sanford said an Elvis watch started singing.

“There was an Elvis clock hanging on the wall… so I thought, it’s a motion sensor thing. “I went into the booth, I was singing and dancing, and then it suddenly shut down,” he said. “That night, I went back and forth to where I triggered it three times, but nothing happened.

“The next morning when I got to work I went to try it but nothing happened. I pulled the clock off the wall and you have to press a button for it to turn off,” he said.

He recalls another incident involving a ladder in the middle of the floor; Although the shop was closed, it was near where a man said he hanged himself.

Sanford said the building was the scene of five separate deaths; these included two suicides, one person gored by a cow, and two people killed in an explosion in the boiler room.

He has no idea what was on the property before the building’s construction in 1929, and he said that may very well play a role in the site’s memorability.

Raif Boric, the chief researcher of Walking Among Us, said that they did not know much about the history of the building when they visited and were not aware of what had happened here over the years.

“It was like, let’s go and see what happens,” he said. “We met up with Shirley… and we both went to different locations… to see what would happen.”

While she was alone with the wife of a store employee on one side of the building, she became interested in a doll on a shelf and said she was a collector of “haunted artifacts.”

“I have six fairy dolls and one fairy teddy bear at home. This doll drew me in,” said Boric. “When it was time to get started, I went to the doll and set up motion sensor cat balls, a REM pod (which is part of the ghost hunting equipment). changes in ambient temperature) and turned on my cameras. “This thing wasn’t going to end with motion sensor cat balls and sounds were being heard throughout the area,” he said.

“At one point I was standing there asking questions and we heard a little girl calling. We asked each other ‘what was that!?’ “We looked”

Boric said that they went to investigate where the sound was coming from, and that’s when they heard Maryk shouting from where the building was located.

“We started running back and he was right where the doll was… and he asked what all the fighting was about,” he said, adding that neither he nor the employee’s wife’s partner knew what they were talking about. “We had just heard the boy’s voice where Shirley had previously heard disembodied voices in the area.”

Boric said it felt like a cat-and-mouse game trying to track down spirits.

“We encounter this a lot, and sometimes it gets a little frustrating because you go in thinking you’re going to experience something and it takes you around the building,” he said. “It was a good experience and there is a lot of (paranormal) activity.”

Boric brought home the “haunted doll” to add to his collection.

“I keep him in the room with the others,” he said. “I’m pretty sure your arm moved the other night, so I’m setting up a security camera in the haunted room.”

Sanford adds that he found the whole experience “fascinating” and that he “absolutely” believes in ghosts.

“I’m not afraid of any of these things that are happening. “I’m here for this,” he said. “I saw it with my own eyes when these guys walked in. The white spheres and the gentleman at the end had forgotten something upstairs… One of the revolving displays was open when we got there, and it wasn’t until 15 minutes early when we got there.”

The episode is expected to be broadcast on screen. Walking Among Us YouTube channel iJanuary 2025.