Pictou NS | A Ghostly Presence at the McCulloch House
Pictou is often referred to as "The Birthplace of New Scotland", and home of the ship Hector, a ship famous for having been part of the first significant migration of Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia in September of 1773.
When Michelle Davey, curator and site manager at McCulloch House Museum and McCulloch Heritage Centre, invited us to drop by her museum, we were thrilled to be given the opportunity to investigate such a historic location.
Not only is there a lot of history in Pictou, it is also associated with many notable figures, such as Reverend Thomas McCulloch, who arrived with his family in Pictou in 1803, from Scotland. He was a man of many talents, highly educated, and soon became well known throughout Nova Scotia, and Canada. He went on to establish the Pictou Academy, in 1816 and began offering classes in 1817. The Pictou Academy started its operation in a private home until the academy building opened its doors in 1818. In 1838 he became the first president of Dalhousie College, a position which he held until his death in 1843, at the age of 67.
During his time spent in Pictou, he had a 1 ½ story house built for him and his family, circa 1806, overlooking Pictou harbour. McCulloch called his home "Sherbrooke Cottage" as a tribute to Sir John Sherbrooke, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia who had been sympathetic to the development of the Pictou Academy. Now, the home is 2 1/2 stories, and has a beautiful entryway, with a wide door with double shutters.
Thomas McCulloch lived in the home until 1835, along with his wife Isabella, and 9 children. It’s hard to imagine raising 9 children, as well as setting up a school in his home to educate the “sons of Pictou”. A schoolhouse had to be built on his property to accommodate the growing numbers.
The McCulloch’s home has been owned by a few others over the years, with the last being Murdock and Emma McCuish, who purchased the home circa 1934. When Emma’s husband died, Emma was in her early 70’s, and she wanted to preserve the story, and history of the home, so she sold it to the province. The sale came with the stipulation that she would live above the first floor museum, and be the caretaker of the museum for the rest of her life. Story has it; Emma didn’t like people visiting the museum, and would often chase them off, and move and hide things from the staff who were working there! Everyone knew her, as she would often sit in the upstairs window and watch the harbour, and all those who would pass by. She lived to be 102 years old!
We definitely enjoyed spending time at The McCulloch House, with its ornamental trim work, old artifacts, and a wonderful host; Michell Davey.
Here is one of the evps we recorded.
On October 14th, 2017 we returned to the McCulloch House, this time we invited a local Psychic medium, Judy Logan, to join us. You can see the results from our investigation, in the video below!
We are located in Truro NS and offer our services Free of charge throughout Colchester and surrounding areas. Have a location you know we would be interested in? Feel free to contact us anytime!
Sources
http://haggis.mccullochcentre.ca/
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mcculloch_thomas_7E.html
https://en.wikipedia.org
