Rounding the stairs, Lizzie is the first thing you see; sitting still and quiet in the darkest corner of the room. Or more accurately, perhaps, she sees you. An eerie silence, thick with a sense of being watched, consumes the attic. Her lifeless eyes appear to follow your every movement, and it is apparent why this doll has earned a reputation for being haunted.
“Lizzie is probably our most intriguing artifact,” says Stephanie Cumerlato. “We actually received her kind of as a donation, but mostly because the previous owners didn't want to have her any more in their house. They were just so scared. They claimed they would see her blinking all the time.”
Cumerlato owns the Museum of the Paranormal, in Niagara-on-the-Lake, with her husband Daniel. They also offer ghost walks through what is legendarily known as the most haunted town in Canada. The museum was previously a blacksmith shop.
“There's a lot of history that comes with this building. It was owned by William Gollop, who lived in the building out front. This was a blacksmith shop across the street, and he just loved the building so much that when the gentleman who ran it passed away Gollop actually literally had it lifted and moved right back here.”
She says when they began renovating the building in March “ things were active” in the building.
“He had all this equipment laid out and we took it down to the basement...and from the second we started moving his stuff around things were active in here.”
Cumerlato says a friend “saw a face in the banister” while painting on the steps and, more recently, her own mother also had a paranormal experience with the banister.
 “My mom and I stayed pretty late and we were closing things down...we shut off all the lights (on the main floor) went upstairs to feed the pet tarantula some crickets and we were dilly-dallying and talking to him and stuff,” she explains. “And by the time we were ready to leave it was dark outside...we shut off all the lights upstairs and we were completely engulfed in darkness.”
Cumerlato was worried her mom might fall, so she told her to hold on to the banister as they made their way down the steps. Then, suddenly, Cumerlato's mother gasped.
“I felt this huge cold breeze, literally like someone put an air conditioner right in my face,” she says. “I thought that was what my mom had gasped at, but she said ‘No'. She had felt somebody grab her hand and squeeze it on the banister.”
And the supernatural activity continued.
“I realized I forgot to shut off the light in the basement,” Cumerlato says. “And as I was walking down the steps my mom was talking to me...but I heard over top of my mom's voice like a kid, a little girl, talking and laughing in my ear playfully.”
Lately, Cumerlato says, she has been coming across items moved from their original locations.
“The one and only photo with my mom in it was turned around and the gemstones were all messed up,” she says. “We were the last ones out and we were the first ones in again the next morning. We are particular about where we put things; we don't know how it happened.”
And then there are the unexplainable noises.
“(During) the first week we opened, Daniel was out beginning the tour. It was dark and I had shut all the lights out and was closing down. I heard a banging upstairs and started to panic, thinking I had left someone upstairs and forgotten (to announce) the tour was beginning. I started working my way up and actually heard a smash that sounded like glass. I panicked right away and thought ‘Oh geez, they took the crystal skull' but when I got up the stairs nobody was there. I know I heard something really heavy smash. ”
Cumerlato and her husband got into the “paranormal business” about 12 years ago and says they've had “tons of experiences.”
“You can't help (but) have experiences when you're in this business. Catching things out of the corner of your eye or footsteps or weird sounds...there's only been one occasion where both Daniel and I have actually seen an apparition.”
Cumerlato says a Victorian lady appeared to her in Hamilton, and her husband saw “two figures” seemingly joining him on one of the ghost walks.
“It was during a tour and I actually saw him talking to nobody. He's like, ‘Come on guys, we've got to go.' I thought he had lost it,” she laughs. “Then he told me he saw two figures, arm in arm, walking into the trees and just veer off and disappear.”
Cumerlato says there are often stories of unusual experiences in the attic from visitors at the museum.
“Sensitive people go upstairs and say they feel stuff,” she says. “Within a couple of hours of each other two separate ladies came down and told me they saw Lizzie wink at them. For them to both say that, when they didn't know each other and came separately, was really strange.”
The museum is filled with eclectic, spine-tingling items ranging from rare photos to an authentic Ouija board that visitors are welcome to use.
 “We're really proud of our artifacts up there. The post-mortem photography collection (is) really rare to find.”
Post-mortem photos were popular in the Victorian era when childhood mortality was very high. Keepsake photos were taken of the deceased and kept by the family.
“If you do find photos at antique malls or antique shops, they are worth a lot. The photos with babies are more common because more babies passed away back then. If you find photos with adolescents or even middle-aged people, those are very valuable.”
They even have an ESP board signed by the Amazing Kreskin.
“That's probably a highlight for us. He's legendary and kind of an inspiration for us. It is a more personal thing because we actually met him in 2007 and did an interview with him...we brought our ESP board (when he made an appearance in Hamilton) and he autographed and dedicated it to us for here.”
Those looking for a genuine haunted experience can visit the Museum of the Paranormal, at 118A Queen Street in Niagara-on-the-Lake, between 11:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. every day, and then join a nightly ghost tour which takes visitors up close and personal to some of the most famous haunted places in Canada.
But those expecting an attraction-like experience should look elsewhere.
“One thing that we don't like is when people come here and they assume upstairs is like a haunted attraction and things are going to jump out at you and scream at you and touch you,” Cumerlato explains. “Ours is based on real ghost stories. And for us, our passion is the Victorian era when the spiritualism movement started with the Fox sisters and the art of story telling.”

For more information call 1-855-8GHOSTS.