It started in childhood: whispery voices, footsteps, doors opening and closing. Then Patrick Cross began seeing dark entities, walls moving like waves on water, a bedroom wall that was always freezing cold to the touch.
Paranormal occurrences seemed to cluster around Cross, so he leaned into his sensitivity, eventually founding Burlington Ghost Walks, and appearing on or consulting for TV shows like Haunted Case Files, Ghostly Encounters, and Ghost Trackers. He’s always been interested in history and journalism, and these interests have served him well in the telling of ghostly tales and haunted happenings.
But to backtrack a little, it was growing up in a haunted house in Rexdale, with his mother who also “felt things,” a younger brother (who saw some of the things that Cross saw), and a religious father that set the stage for Cross to realize his sensitivity to the paranormal. The house was a good deal at the time, and though disclosure might not have been what it is today, the family discovered that a murder had occurred there — hence that great price.
Though his father would ascribe the noises to the “house settling” (to which Cross says, “How long can a house settle for?”), later sights, of blood coming down a wall, for instance, were harder even for Cross’ father to explain away. Conflict between his parents, coupled with his father’s disbelief in Cross’ paranormal experiences, led to a negative atmosphere at home.
The teenage Cross gravitated towards music as a respite from the negativity in his house. The rock and roll that Cross favoured then became another avenue of blame for the hands that appeared to come out of the wall, or the saloon door that would move of its own accord (one time flying open all the way and staying open, despite Cross’ father trying to pull them shut). Cross’ father decided that it was the rock music that was “conjuring the devil.”
One night, Cross was walking home in the dark when he saw a black dog running at him. Growling. With red eyes. He ran home to find a locked door, and had to wait until his dad unlocked it. Soon after, a heavy body was thudding into the door, howling and screaming “like a banshee,” Cross remembers. Eventually, Cross and his father heard howling, that got quieter as if it were descending, falling down deep into the ground.
When it was quiet, they opened the door to find deep claw-like gouge marks in the door.
Cross’ father called the police, who quickly put it down to a prowler.
The story of the Cross family’s haunted house made its way to reporters, resulting in Cross meeting author and anthologist John Robert Colombo — who is also known for his interest in the paranormal. Colombo invited the young Cross to go out ghost-hunting with him, sometimes testing out Cross’ sixth sense. This, alongside Cross’ studies in radio and television broadcasting at Humber College, led to an interest in trying to record ghostly voices.
“One thing led to another,” says Cross, whose parents had kicked him out of the house at that point, and he began getting more and more involved in paranormal investigations, recording the sounds he was hearing, and doing TV interviews.
Then came the band, Sci-Fi Prodigy, “Canada’s most-haunted band.”
Cross was the band’s lead singer and guitar player. The band played haunted houses, cemeteries, and the like, and gained quite a cult following across Canada and the U.S. They were known for their special effects, their “Sci-Fi girls,” and the unexplained power failures, on-stage fires, and flickering lights. “It was a whole KISS thing, only weirder,” describes Cross. He remembers it as a fun time, but it eventually started costing too much money, marking the end of the band.
Next came the ghost walks. After a big Friday the 13th event in 2001 at the now-closed Emma’s Back Porch, with authors, psychics, TV coverage, and a short ghost tour drew upwards of 150 people (“It was nuts, but it was fun!”), Cross decided to offer up ghost walks regularly. He had already been living in Burlington, and as the walks started up, local businesses began approaching him, wanting to be included in the tours: “Our place is haunted, too!” they would tell him. And so, upwards of 23 haunted sites in Burlington came to be included (apparently many downtown Burlington businesses housed in old buildings have haunted basements).
There’s also the story of Alfred Johnson, the ghost who inhabits the bronze statue by City Hall and likes a cigarette once in a while. Cross wrote that up for us last year; read it here.
These days, alongside the ghost walks, Cross does seminars and talks. Though he is very sensitive to peoples’ energies, and can see auras (the author’s is green and orange, if you’re interested) and tends to see details about peoples’ lives, Cross does not perform readings for payment. For one, he believes he shouldn’t be making money out of that gift; secondly, he has to turn it off sometimes, otherwise it can be…a lot. A lot of energy coming at him, a lot of too much information.
Whether you believe that Cross’ experiences are due to paranormal events or a spiritual dimension, or are more of a skeptic, you’re sure to learn something from his ghost walks or in conversation with him, about local history or different sensitivities to the energy around us. And if you’re grounded and open-minded — and in the right haunted place on the right dark and spooky night — who knows what you’ll see?
For more information on Patrick Cross, or to reserve a spot on one of his ghost walks (it’s $10 per person; email ghostly1@bell.net), go to his website, www.burlingtonghostwalks.ca, his Discovery Ghosts Facebook page, or TikTok (@patrickcross71).
And be sure to ask Cross about the mirror in his bathroom. It’s haunted.
