Oh Danny Boy...

Here is the story of my possible ghostly encounter… It’s kind of long, but bear with me:1

I was in Ottawa for the first weekend this month, visiting my best friend (B let’s call her) who currently lives there.  She had all kinds of exciting activities planned for me, seeing as I’ve never been there before.  The night I arrived, we went on a “Haunted Walk” which mixed general sightseeing with noteworthy landmarks & combined the rich history of our Nation’s Capitol with local folklore.  The ghost stories weren’t really all that terrifying, but the one that caught my attention was the humourous haunting of the Bytown Museum, & the story of its curator, a Scotsman by the name of Duncan McNab.2

So ever the skeptic, I wanted to head down there the next day to scope things out.  B & I wander a bit, & experience nothing out of the ordinary.  Then we come to the third floor stairs.  The story here is that Duncan likes to climb them directly behind you if you walk up alone.  You can hear footsteps, & when you turn around to look, he continues up, right past you.    So I walked up first, but again, nothing.  As I rounded the top step, I whispered (as ridiculous as it sounds): “Come on Duncan… Come out to play.”   When we get to the top, the room is sweltering hot, while the other 2 floors had a comfortable breeze.  B made a crack like, “feels like you got your wish.” or something to that extent, but I wasn’t fully convinced.  I didn’t buy the Sixth Sense temperature theory.  I was tired from the trek, so we decided to take the elevator back down.  Here’s where it gets interesting…3

Once the door closed & we started our descent, I heard a bagpipe melody.  It was faint, like it was coming from outside.  To this day, I still can’t think of the song’s name, but I know I’ve heard it before, otherwise I wouldn’t have recognized it.  So I tapped B on the shoulder & told her about the Pipes.  She told me I was nuts & that it was probably the noise of the elevator, but when her voice trailed off & her eyes grew wide I knew she heard it too.4

When we reached the lobby, we must have climbed out with funny looks on our faces, because one of the gift shop ladies asked if we were OK.  I told her about the Elevator Bagpipes & this time B backed me up.  B knew that the city occasionally had heritage festivals & asked if they had a Piper playing outside or something.  She replied with “No, the festival isn’t for awhile yet.”  She peeked outside & reported that there was no one out there, then asked why, so we relayed the entire encounter to her.  She grinned & said he must’ve accepted my challenge & serenaded me.  We burst out laughing, purely from shock, & decided to look at the merchandise to take our minds off it.  Meanwhile, the woman popped her head inside the elevator & said she heard a faint something too.5

She told us we were quickly becoming her favourite customers, claiming we were “good for business”.  We gave her a smile & said our thanks (B to the ladies, me to Duncan) & off we went.6

Later, when B’s boyfriend arrived home, he told us how, on his bus ride, he too heard the Pipes a-Callin’!!  B & I burst out laughing again, & regailed him with our tale.7

Who knew a trip to the Museum could actually be interesting??8