Mysterious Footprints

Witness: [Name Withheld Upon Request]
Location: Toronto, Ontario Canada
Date of Encounter: Summer 1975

I grew up in an old house located in a river valley to the west of Toronto, Ontario. This house had always been somewhat unusual in that while growing up we all got used to the lights going on and off at all times of the day and night, faucets turning on and off, doors opening and closing, mysterious footsteps, etc. Occasionally our family dog would stand and bark at something we could not see, teeth bared, and hackles raised. These things were so common that as a family we just accepted them as “normal background noise.”

For many years after my siblings and I had grown up and left home, my mother lived alone in this house. One time, she had gone out of town for a few weeks and had asked me to keep an eye on the house. On one of these occasions I stopped in late at night on my way home and decided that I would watch the late news on TV before heading off home.

The living room was a large room with heavy carpet and a folding door leading to the upstairs was to the left and about ten feet away from the armchair where I was sitting. In order to open the folding door considerable force needed to be applied in order to force it over the carpet. (As opposed to the other doors in the house, which swung open and closed relatively easily.)

As I was watching the news I heard the folding door rattle. I looked over and saw nothing unusual, so just ignored it. A couple of minutes later I heard it rattle again, this time when I looked over I watched the door open, fold itself flush against the wall, pause for about ten seconds, then close itself again. Of course there was nobody there and since considerable force was required to open this door, the opening and closing was not the result of wind, settling of the house, etc.

Some years later, my mother phoned me and asked me to come over because she had something to show me.

When I arrived, she pointed to the carpet in the living room. Starting at the folding door mentioned above, and proceeding diagonally across the living room to the far corner of the far wall, was a set of footprints. These prints were very clear and distinct; one track was clearly of a shoe: the heel and sole were clearly visible. The other was of a bare left foot: the heel, arch, and all five toes were clearly visible.

The interesting thing about these footprints is how they were formed. The carpet was subjected to a lot of traffic, so over the years the nap had been crushed down. The footprints were the opposite: the nap had been raised and resembled brand new carpet, and as such stood out and were a distinct contrast to the rest of the carpet. These footprints were subsequently observed and commented on by numerous visitors; it was some months before vacuuming and foot traffic obliterated them.

I have no explanation for any of these events, but I have been told that some hundreds of years ago there had been a Jesuit mission somewhere in the general vicinity of the house. This mission had apparently been attacked by native Indians, the missionaries killed, and the buildings burned to the ground. It was never rebuilt, and the exact site is unknown.