THE GHOSTS OF SPARTA HOUSE
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The Sparta House Tea Room was featured on the Canadian television show Rescue Mediums (Season 4, Episode #42). The show airs on VIVA in Canada. |
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Norma Roberts didn’t believe in ghosts – at least not until she and her husband, Ken Roberts, moved into the Sparta House Tear Room & Restaurant.
The couple migrated from Liverpool, England to the sleepy village of Sparta in 1996, taking ownership of the Sparta House – a landmark building that had, since its construction in 1836, undergone a series of transformations from hotel to a funeral home to a general store.
Initially, the Roberts were able to look past the oddities that occurred as early as the day they moved into their new home, which is located on Sparta’s Main Street. Inexplicable occurrences included a radio flying from a night table; the constant crashing of glasses from the kitchen table and framed photographs falling from their moorings on a wall; and the sound of revellers in abandoned rooms late at night.
The couple migrated from Liverpool, England to the sleepy village of Sparta in 1996, taking ownership of the Sparta House – a landmark building that had, since its construction in 1836, undergone a series of transformations from hotel to a funeral home to a general store.
Initially, the Roberts were able to look past the oddities that occurred as early as the day they moved into their new home, which is located on Sparta’s Main Street. Inexplicable occurrences included a radio flying from a night table; the constant crashing of glasses from the kitchen table and framed photographs falling from their moorings on a wall; and the sound of revellers in abandoned rooms late at night.
Twelve years and dozens of sightings later, Norma’s opinions have changed. Norma and Ken encourage skeptics and believers to judge for themselves.
Norma remains confident that, based on the frequency of “happenings” within the halls, tourists are liable to witness any number of events, including the most common – the latched door of their bedroom being physically manipulated without a touch, constantly and impossibly, night and day.
In the heart of the towering building, a stretch of corridor no more than 10 feet long connects the main lounge to a smaller dinning nook. The hall adjacent to a doorway separating the staircase and the Roberts’ loft above from the commotion of the business below.
This particular stretch, fully enclosed, dark and somewhat eerie, is the location of the majority of ghost sightings. To date, there have been multiple reports of at least two spirits haunting the hall. The first is a woman in a bonnet and blue dress seen by Norma’s father, Tom Gillman, on his first visit to his daughter’s new establishment. The second has been described as a “scruffily dressed” man who, by many accounts, was a caretaker of sorts in his lifetime.
Norma remains confident that, based on the frequency of “happenings” within the halls, tourists are liable to witness any number of events, including the most common – the latched door of their bedroom being physically manipulated without a touch, constantly and impossibly, night and day.
In the heart of the towering building, a stretch of corridor no more than 10 feet long connects the main lounge to a smaller dinning nook. The hall adjacent to a doorway separating the staircase and the Roberts’ loft above from the commotion of the business below.
This particular stretch, fully enclosed, dark and somewhat eerie, is the location of the majority of ghost sightings. To date, there have been multiple reports of at least two spirits haunting the hall. The first is a woman in a bonnet and blue dress seen by Norma’s father, Tom Gillman, on his first visit to his daughter’s new establishment. The second has been described as a “scruffily dressed” man who, by many accounts, was a caretaker of sorts in his lifetime.
Visiting Medium:
Norma recounts a visit from a medium and her confirmation that there were indeed two separate apparitions within the building, unaware of one another, and from different time periods. The medium’s matching descriptions for the woman in the bonnet her father admitted to seeing were enough to alter Norma’s perceptions regarding the after-life.
Ken remains skeptical, although he’s no longer a staunch disbeliever. He admits witnessing “one too many” strange occurrences to rule out any possibilities and invites visitors to judge for themselves. With a word of a haunting spreading, tea is no longer the main attraction to the rustic building.
Ken remains skeptical, although he’s no longer a staunch disbeliever. He admits witnessing “one too many” strange occurrences to rule out any possibilities and invites visitors to judge for themselves. With a word of a haunting spreading, tea is no longer the main attraction to the rustic building.
Go to the bottom of the page click on Ken Roberts or Vimeo to see Rescue Mediums TV show
Sparta house Tearoom from ken roberts on Vimeo.
