Ep. 38 Meet the Ontario Family Who Bought a Haunted Funeral Home!

What if buying a haunted house could be the real estate adventure of a lifetime? Join us in this spine-tingling episode of Keeping it Real as we unravel the mysterious tale of the Blumberg family, who dared to transform a 38-room mansion, once a funeral home, into their dream abode in Dresden, Ontario. Their bold move from the bustling life of Toronto to the quaint charm of Dresden, population 2,460, is as intriguing as it is spooky. Perfect for Halloween enthusiasts, this episode blends the thrills of the supernatural with the practicalities of a unique real estate venture. With a shared passion for Halloween and all things eerie, the Bloombergs embrace the mansion's ghostly past as an opportunity to craft a modern, haunted-style family home. 

As we explore their captivating journey, discover how their love for the occult turns potential deterrents into exciting possibilities. The family's decision captivated Toronto's media, sparking widespread curiosity about their unconventional choice and ambitious renovation plans. This playful yet chilling episode guides you through the fascinating process of turning a historic funeral home into a lively family residence, while also pondering the stigmas and stories that haunt such properties. Whether you're a real estate enthusiast, a fan of all things spooky, or simply curious about blending the past with the present, this entertaining narrative offers a unique perspective on the unexpected intersections between real estate and the paranormal world.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey everybody, welcome back to Keeping it Real, the Vancouver and area residential real estate podcast that aims to keep things real. Obviously I apologize in advance for any additional noises on this episode. My fluffy cat has refused to leave my side today for some bizarre reason and she keeps meowing into the microphone. I've tried starting this a number of times and now I'm just going to give up and you know, let her do her thing. So sorry about that.

Speaker 1: 0:32

On this episode of Keeping it Real, I want to talk about stigmatized properties again, which I've done a couple of times on the podcast. But in honor of Halloween cast, but in honour of Halloween, I thought it would be really fun to look into really what it would be like to buy a haunted house. I don't think my disclaimer is necessary this time because this is all just speculation, so I'm not too worried about the information being 100% accurate in this case. But I'm excited to share this really fun story with you Also. I'm leaning on the side of fun because I am not super great with horror. I don't know what it is. I cannot watch those scary movies like Friday the 13th or anything made by Jordan Peele. I can't watch any of those. They're too scary for me. But this is kind of a fun scary story Sort of more fun than scary. So without further ado, let's jump right in.

Speaker 1: 1:43

Some of you may already know this story about a Toronto family named the Bloombergs who, during the pandemic, they decided they were going to leave their home in Toronto and find something bigger. They lived in a beautiful home in Toronto in Ronsonsville Ronsonsville it's been a long time since I've lived in Toronto. Anyway, lovely neighborhood in Toronto, beautiful house, and they decided that they wanted something bigger. So they were looking through publications and this house jumped out at them and it turns out it was a 38 room mansion in Dresden, ontario, listed for $600,000. So those of you who live in Vancouver like me all, north Vancouver a 38 room, 12,000 square foot mansion for $600,000 is insane. We are hard pressed to get a one bedroom condo here for that price. So, needless to say, these people were intrigued. Now, the ad for the mansion did not mention what its use had been, its previous use had been, and it wasn't really until they got there that they learned that it had been a funeral home since the late 1800s. The cool thing about the Bloomberg family is that they are all kind of super cool, super keen on Halloween and scary stuff. And so it's the mom and dad and their two kids the eldest son is a teenager and the youngest, the daughter, is, I guess, preteen and they were super excited to go and check out this mansion haunted house.

Speaker 1: 3:40

As you know from if you've listened to the other episodes, a lot of people are put off by stigmatized properties and even though this particular property didn't have a specific stigma like did somebody die in the house, was it part of a crime or you know, is it haunted? Those are kind of the stigmas that are considered reasons to not purchase a home in Canada. And even though it wasn't considered a stigmatized property, it certainly came with an enormous amount of history Sorry, with enormous amount of history which could very well make it a haunted house. But that did not deter the Bloombergs in any way. They're super excited about this house because, again, they really liked the occult and all that sort of stuff. So they, they got in there, they it took them 10 minutes to decide that they were going to buy it.

Speaker 1: 4:38

They sold their house in Toronto and they all trooped up to Dresden, ontario, to live in their new gigantic home. They knew that they were going to do some major renovations. I mean, the place is set up as a funeral home, there's all kinds of carpet and lots of rentals to be done, and the cool thing is that they decided to kind of keep everything on theme for a very dark haunted look Modern, dark haunted Haunted nouveau riche I don't really know what the genre would be called. This kind of became a bit of a darling of the Toronto news cycle and people were really interested in why this family purchased a gigantic funeral home out in the middle of nowhere, because the population of Dresden is about 2,460 people, which is a huge departure from where they had been, huge departure from where they had been. But I guess, very shortly after they purchased the house, they were approached by an entertainment company to do a demo reel, to promote the idea of doing a TV show in the house. And they went and they filmed the demo reel, which you can see on YouTube and I'll put a link to it in the show notes. So, um, so you can take a look. And, um, then there's a, then there's a show on uh, discovery Plus in Canada about this cool little family that they're all English and they, um, they moved from their Toronto home to this uh mansion.

Speaker 1: 6:20

The description of the show is an eerie news series that will unearth an unconventional side of the home renovation realm. The promotion for the premiere episode states the Bloombergs will run into a string of spooky occurrences while settling into their new funeral home, aron the dad. He said that he is not a believer and he still thinks the place is haunted, particularly that there's a woman that yells hello when people walk into the house. So I guess that would be a little bit off-putting to some, but not to the Bloombergs, because they have embraced their haunted house, which I think is awesome. This actually isn't the only time I've heard of people who've purchased stigmatized properties and then actually use the stigma to turn the property into kind of a financial gain. So whether that means dressing it up at Halloween to be a super cool haunted house, which these guys are doing, or charging admission to have people come through and witness the history in a home, that's another way that things have done, or another thing people have done with stigmatized properties.

Speaker 1: 7:38

There used to be a house at the corner of Cambie and King Edward that was Vancouver's most haunted home and it is. It was torn down in the last few years to make room for a bunch of townhomes that are there, and I often wonder if the people who live in those townhomes A knew anything about the history of the land that those homes were built on, or B have actually heard anything or run into any sort of paranormal activity while living there. I just think it would be a very interesting conversation to have. Someone should pick that up, like maybe I don't know like one of the local Vancouver YouTubers who are famous for doing haunted house stuff. I think it's fair to say that I'm not much of a believer in haunted houses or in the haunting of houses. But the house that I live in I don't know if the mom passed away here or not. I think maybe she did.

Speaker 1: 8:42

I have this very benevolent feeling when I'm in my bedroom and I don't have a clue if that's related to a presence being here or if it's just. Maybe I just want to have a mom around. It's never happened before, so I don't know if that's the case, but I mean, in my mom and dad's place my father passed away in the bedroom that I sleep in when I'm there and I feel nothing there, and you'd think that there'd be a much more strong connection if there was some kind of I don't know some kind of presence or possibility of a presence. I also think about Houdini, who said that he was really into the occult and afterlife and possibility of coming back and what comes after death, and he always said that if there was any possible way to come back he would, and no one's seen him. So I do feel that that's kind of the thing that keeps me from ever really believing that there's such a thing as ghosts and paranormal activity. That can be. That cannot be explained through some scientific method, some scientific method. But I bet those of you listening have different ideas about that and maybe you have even had experiences in your own home that might make you believe that it's haunted, or maybe you've been in a house that you think feels haunted, or a hotel.

Speaker 1: 10:16

There's all kinds of cool stuff in BC, like there's the 108 Mile Ranch in BC that was owned by this woman, agnes, and her husband Jim, and it was built during the gold rush and they used to. They would lure men to the hotel with prostitutes and then they would uh, kill them and take their money. I guess it took a while for people to kind of figure this out. But what? The way it got figured out was that, um, they, they lured a guy with a, the promise of a 17 year old prostitute and, um, the gem killed the man and the prostitute escaped and she went to the police and that's how these guys were found out. So I mean it only takes one, I guess, crucial mistake when you're running a horrible, horrible crime wave. But that building still stands, that a 108 mile ranch and the hotel is still there and apparently it's quite, quite haunted. It's also very dilapidated. But there are youtube videos you can go and take a look at people going through and, um, seeing the and I'm making air quote ghosts.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Even our waterfront station here in in vancouver is thought to be one of the most haunted places in Vancouver and it's the hallway, if you know the area. There's the Steamworks pub and then there's a big parking lot and then there's a door into Waterfront Station and that hallway has kind of cutouts for the big windows and apparently there is a ghost that hangs out in those big windows or in that hallway. I make it a point to go through there every single time that I'm at Waterfront Station, which is quite a bit, but I never end up seeing her, which is kind of a drag. Maybe I have to be there later at night or something. I don't know. I'll have to check it out, but if you've seen her, I would love to hear about that.

Speaker 1: 12:27

I really wanted to make today's episode about a seriously scary haunted house, but the one that I did a couple of months ago is really the only super cool haunted house story about people who purchased a house unwittingly, not knowing that it was haunted, and then finding out later that there were lots and lots of reasons to believe that it was, and then they ended up. I think they ended up staying in the house. I can't remember I'd have to re-listen to the episode. My memory doesn't cast back quite that far, but that was a super cool episode and I probably should have left it for halloween. But this one is fun too. I hope that you guys enjoyed it. I enjoyed researching all these things.

Speaker 1: 13:14

I didn't find any other really super haunted places that have changed hands in canada in quite a long time, because most of our haunted houses have been, or think people say are, haunted, have been turned into museums and museum and archives and guest houses where you can go and stay and get the experience, but I haven't. Really, there aren't very many. That are just sold to regular people and then those people find out that their house is haunted. Oh, another good one, too, if you live in Vancouver, is the former insane asylum, which is super creepy, and there are lots of good YouTube videos of people sneaking in there and making videos of being in there at night. It's absolutely terrifying. You see that place in lots of movies. So if you want to scare the hell out of yourself, I do not advocate going and breaking in. Please don't think that that's this, but I mean you could just go stand out front of that place. It's so weird and creepy. Even driving past it on the highway is creepy.

Speaker 1: 14:17

All right, let me know if you have had a haunting or if you know of anybody who has. I mean, I've heard other stories too, but I couldn't substantiate them so I didn't want to add them to this podcast. But if you have anything you want to share, I would be happy to repeat it and I hope you guys have a fantastic Halloween. Very excited about Halloween this year. It looks like it's going to be a fun one and if you have little kids. You could come to Pemberton Heights where the road is closed off to traffic, so there are no cars driving up and down the road when your kid's trick-or-treating. Anyway, have a great Halloween, have a great weekend. I will talk to you soon. You can get Keeping it Real anywhere. You get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and on North Van Home Sales slash podcast. There you will find all 30 episodes. Thank you.