The Screaming Tunnel.
Dark, dank, creepy… Abandoned tunnels seem likely places for all manner of paranormal activity. And among the league leaders is a short but spooky one on the Ontario, Canada side of Niagara Falls. It is known as the Screaming Tunnel.
THE BURNING WOMAN
The limestone tunnel, 16’ high and 125’ in length, was built in the early nineteenth century. Its original purpose was to serve as a North to South line for the Grand Trunk Railway (now called the Canadian National Railway). For whatever reason, that idea was shelved. It became a drainage tunnel for the removal of water from farms that were located nearby.
As locals will be happy to tell you, the Screaming Tunnel is haunted by the ghost of a young woman who either burned to death inside the tunnel or somewhere close by. The legends vary, as legends sometimes do. Some say that her father set her on fire during a nasty custody battle. (Seriously?!) Another says that she died in a blaze at a nearby farmhouse. The ugliest claims she was assaulted and raped inside the tunnel, then set on fire by the perpetrator.
A reenactment of the doomed woman in the Screaming Tunnel.
Whichever happened to be the real story, the poor young woman died a horrible death, and we can only imagine the sound of her screams as she perished. Those screams, according to locals and ghost hunters alike, can still be heard. On some of the organized ghost tours, participants are encouraged to light matches (usually around midnight). These are instantly extinguished by an unseen force, followed by screams. If the woman’s tortured spirit truly remains there, I personally think capitalizing on her suffering is a terrible thing to do. That poor soul should be encouraged to peacefully move on to a better plane.
The Screaming Tunnel had its own 15 minutes of fame when it appeared in a motion picture. In 1983 director David Cronenberg featured the tunnel in his adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, The Dead Zone. I wonder what the tormented spirit thought about that intrusion.