Mysteries of Ontario

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

John Robert Colombo has spent a lifetime as a squirrel-like collector of
Canadian facts, references, quotations, and—especially in recent
years—mysteries, oddities, ghost stories, and instances of the
paranormal. In 1988, he was the compiler of a book entitled Mysterious
Canada, and in 1996 of one called Haunted Toronto. This new collection
fits itself between the others by bringing together all sorts of odd and
unexplained happenings associated with the province of Ontario.

In his preface, he offers himself as a scholarly collector who is no
more responsible for the authenticity of the stories he relays than a
collector of folklore is responsible for the truth of the material
amassed. He casts his net widely, including stories of haunted
buildings, listings of sacred sites of Native peoples, records of people
who suddenly disappeared without trace, rumours of buried treasure,
reports of visitants from outer space, commercial exploitation of the
mysterious (ghost walks, Halloween “boo-barns”), and so forth.

Colombo is a canny snapper-up of unconsidered trifles and keeps his
cards close to his chest. He is clearly interested not only in the weird
stories themselves but also in the psychology of people who spread them
and of those who wish to believe them. Often enough, a skeptical, even
humorous detachment is to be found in the way he presents his material.

Some of it can be rather depressing if one is concerned about the
extent of human gullibility (especially in the UFO entries), but, if one
wants to be entertained with an anthology of the odd, the potentially
scary, and the downright wacky, this is a book that, when browsed
through, can produce a good deal of pleasure.