Folklore and beliefNorth America
Baldoon Mystery
A ghost story from Wallaceburg, Ontario, about a cursed farm and a silver bullet
The Baldoon Mystery is a ghost story told in the folklore of Wallaceburg, Ontario, in Canada. As the tale is told, strange noises, stones thrown through windows and small fires troubled the McDonald family farm, and the trouble stopped only after a silver bullet broke a goose's wing and an old woman was seen with a broken arm.
Baldoon is a place in Ontario, Canada, and the mystery named after it is a ghost story. People in Wallaceburg tell of a farm near their town where marching footsteps, stones thrown through windows and sudden fires were blamed on a curse. The tale ends when a silver bullet breaks a goose's wing and an old woman is found with a matching injury.
What the story says
The tale belongs to Wallaceburg, a town in Ontario, Canada, and it is told as something that happened to a family living nearby. John T. McDonald's farm, in this telling, was not quiet. The household heard what sounded like people walking in step across the kitchen floor. Stones and bullets came in through the windows. Small fires broke out here and there around the house. Anyone hearing the story is meant to understand that the farm lay under a curse, and that a witch was behind it.
The silver bullet
Help came from a woman the family consulted. Her advice was unusual: melt silver into a bullet, then fire it at a goose with a black head. The point was not the bird itself. If the shot drew blood or broke a bone, the person responsible for the haunting would feel the same wound. McDonald took the shot and broke the goose's wing. Soon afterwards he came across an old woman sitting in a rocking chair on her porch, her arm broken. From that moment, the story says, the farm was left in peace.
Where it lives now
The mystery is remembered as part of the folklore of Wallaceburg. It is the kind of story families pass on and local writers set down, and it has been gathered into written accounts of the town's past. It has also been discussed by people who look at strange reports with a skeptical eye. Nothing in the tale has been confirmed. It survives because it is a good story, told about a real place and a family whose name is given.
How Baldoon Mystery is kept
There is no ritual attached to the tale. It is kept alive by being told: a storyteller describes the McDonald farm, the noises, the stones and the fires, then the advice about the silver bullet and the goose, and finally the old woman with the broken arm. Local writers have set it down in print, which is how it lasts beyond the spoken telling.
When and where
Wallaceburg, in Ontario, Canada, is the place the story belongs to. The farm in the tale lay in the countryside around the town, and the town is where the legend is remembered and retold. No other place is named in connection with it.
What Baldoon Mystery means
The story turns on a belief that harm can be sent back to whoever sends it. A curse is said to fall on the McDonald farm, and the counter-charm works the same way in reverse: whatever is done to the goose is done to the witch. The tale also pins a named family and a real farm to events that nobody can now check.
Questions people ask about Baldoon Mystery
What is the Baldoon Mystery?
It is a ghost story from the folklore of Wallaceburg, Ontario, in Canada. People there tell of a farm troubled by strange noises, stones thrown indoors and small fires, all blamed on a witch's curse, and of the silver bullet that put an end to it.
Where is the story told?
In and around Wallaceburg, a town in Ontario, Canada. The tale is part of the folklore of that place, and it has been written into accounts of the town's past and taken up by writers who treat hauntings with a skeptical eye.
Who was John T. McDonald?
He is the man named in the tale as the owner of the farm where the disturbances happened. His family is said to have asked a woman for advice, followed her suggestion about a silver bullet and a black-headed goose, and found their home quiet afterwards.
Did the events really happen?
The sources present the Baldoon Mystery as a legend, not as a documented event. Nothing confirms the haunting, the curse or the wounded witch, and readers who doubt the story have proposed other ways of understanding it.
See also
Fortune-tellingReading cards, palms or tea leaves to tell a client what may lie ahead
Jack-o'-lanternA carved pumpkin lantern lit with a candle to brighten and protect Halloween nights
MaximónA folk saint of the Guatemalan highlands, asked for health, crops and protectionHalloweenAn annual observance on 31 October marking the eve of All Saints' Day, rooted in Christian tradition and Celtic heritageGood reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Baldoon Mystery", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-09.
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