The Face in the Oven

In St. John, Canada, in the mid-1980's, there happened to be the strangest of discoveries in a restaurant.  The restaurant was originally a private residence, built in the late 18th century.  In 1878, it was rebuilt using the original foundation.  From 1976 to 1981, it operated as the Iron Duke Restaurant. 

A woman patron who once stopped in, had an interest in architecture, and so asked if she could tour the building.  While she was in the cellar, she discovered an old oven.  Upon opening the oven door, she noticed what seemed to be a design on the inside of the oven door.  When the door was cleaned up, the above image of a girl was discovered.  According to the owner, here's what happened:

 " We had a lady tourist in for lunch, and she had a great interest in old St. John buildings, so we let her wander through." Peters recalls.  "She came across the old brick oven with the iron door in the basement.  Suddenly, there she was at the top of the stairs, choking and gagging, looking just petrified.  She had a Polaroid camera, and when the picture she took of the iron door began to develop, there was the smiling face of a little girl.  We even lied to her and told her that she was imagining things.  But there it was, a little girl, with  bangs and short hair."

Attempts to clean the image from the door failed.  The door was examined by experts from the New Brunswick Museum.  Their conclusions were thus:

"The oven was not a baking oven, but rather a crematorium.  Fairly rich families sometimes cremated the bodies of their departed at home during epidemics such as cholera during the 19th century.  In the case of 31 Leinster street, the original owners, the John Roop family, had a young and sickly daughter, who, following her death, was cremated in the basement of the house.  The intense heat and light of the fire acted as a lens and etched the image of the young girl onto the door of the oven."

The house was demolished in 1987, but the door is on display at the New Brunswick Museum in St. John.  Attempts to find copies of the lady tourist's photos have proved futile.