Scouting The Marr Residence

I was a little hesitant walking up to the oldest building in Saskatoon still on it's original location. I had been there once before in 2005 on a sunny beautiful summer day to support a charity book sale. This building is an important part of our Saskatoon heritage and there is a lovely sign which sums up why. There is also another reason why people visit this building: it's haunted. 

Broadcast in season 2 of "Creepy Canada", it is reported that there are ghosts pretty much on every level. Children's laughter can be heard upstairs, on the main floor there is a man by his writing desk, and in the basement is a man who is supposedly a woman hater.

When I first visited in 2005 I felt a little weirded out. I was allowed to go on the back enclosed porch and it was as cold as can be. You can no longer go out there, and definitely not in the basement. I remember not wanting to be there very long, so I picked out a couple of books to buy and left quickly.

Today's experience was a little different. My sister and I went knowing a little more about the place, and genuinely interested in the heritage. I actually brought my camera this time, and decided to over photograph everything. Taking shots like this and this, pointless really. And here I am looking dreadful and like nothing at all is about to happen (and yes, that is a Hanson bag you see). 

We strolled on up to 326 11th Street East, and entered the lovely veranda. Nothing creepy there. We took our time though, taking in little details, perhaps we were a bit reluctant to go inside. Upon going in, this is what we saw. Yeah, again nothing creepy. Unsure of where to go next we headed up those steep stairs and encountered two staircases. Torn between which way to go we took the left one, and upon seeing a closed door at the end, we entered the bedroom on the left instead. 

It was huge really, although we then learned that 4 children slept in that one bed. The other side had a sewing machine, and a creepy cradle, Clothing was shown as well. I thought I was imagining things, but after being in that room for a few minutes I couldn't deny it: I felt strange. I felt a little dizzy and light headed and felt a definite presence. I then voiced these feelings to my sister who affirmed she felt the same way. When we visited the room a second time I took a picture just outside of the door. You can use your imagination as to what that light on the bottom right of the picture showed. Could it be light from the window? I'm doubtful only because the door was completely open and there was no filtering of any light that would have hit that spot. I decided to take a few more pics in that room and this is what I came up with. Two spots in different locations (side/lower right), pictures taken one right after the other (these are a bit fainter). This whole orb thing is not something everyone believes in, but I do think it holds some weight in some situations.

That room still felt creepy so we visited an office, which was uneventful and then went to the other large bedroom. I felt absolutely nothing in there and tried to get artsy with a photo. It took a bit to get it to focus for some odd reason. Well the light was magnificent and all kinds of orbs appeared, the one on the left that has lines through it is a reflection off a part of my camera, and some are obviously sun spots, but you be the judge. Another pic right after. I later went back into the room to satisfy a bit more curiosity and this is the picture I took.

We headed downstairs to check out the rest of the place, the sun was shining lovely into this large dining area. Nothing strange here. Took a left to enter another room, perhaps this is a den, with a fireplace and a writing desk. Yes, this is the writing desk. I have to admit, I felt a weird sensation through my body when I stood right in front of it, same as what I felt upstairs. It wasn't as strong but it was definitely there. For some reason I felt compelled to take a picture of the window, and took another one just for good measure. You see what I see right? Very faint, but it's there in one picture (side right) and gone the next.

After that we headed to the kitchen where sugar coated jujubes of some sort and Fudgeios were had. I felt absolutely nothing, but it was obvious there were three rooms we weren't allowed to go in that branched off of there. One in particular led to the basement I'm sure. Not too interested in the rather large kitchen for its day, we went outside. This is what we saw. I know right? Nothing except the back of the house.

I wouldn't say we were disappointed. Our ghost hunt officially being over, we decided to try our luck on Roll Up The Rim at Tim Hortons. I won a coffee. My sister was so completely pre-occupied with sharing ghost stories of her own, she forgot to roll up that rim. Better luck next time.