The Screaming Tunnel

A simple tunnel, with a dark story attached to it

During the 19th century, the Grand Trunk Railway planned to build a north to south line for the railroad in the area near Niagara Falls. At some point during construction, the plans changed, possibly due to a lack of funding. Instead of going through the tunnel, the railroad now went over the tunnel.

While not used for trains to go through, it was used as a drainage tunnel so that water could be removed from farmlands nearby.

During the early 20th century, the tunnel was also used as a transportation link for locals to move goods and animals by avoiding the railroad above.

Measuring in at 4.9 metres in diameter and 38 metres long, the tunnel is known for something else.

Being haunted.

According to the legend, a young girl was caught in a farmhouse fire and as she fled the fire, with her clothes burning, she went through the tunnel. It was in that tunnel that she died.

Other versions of the legend state it was her farther who burned her as he was in the middle of a custody battle. One version simply states she was murdered in the tunnel and now haunts it.

For those who go into the tunnel, they try to recreate the legend by lighting a wooden match at midnight and then extinguishing it. As they stand in the dark, the process is supposed to summon the ghost of the young girl and hear her scream of death from the great beyond.

In 1982, director David Cronenberg played into the dark nature of the tunnel to film a scene of a brutal murder for his film, The Dead Zone.