The Legend of Hopkins Tomb
Who would have known back in 1996 that I would become part of an urban legend. I owned an occult store in Fort Erie Ontario Canada, where I sold supplies and did psychic readings. One day an investigative journalist friend came to ask me if I had any information on Hopkins tomb in Port Colborne. I told him what I knew- the tomb was said to be cursed after three young men who had tried to break in suffered similar fates. One lost his life in a car accident, another would lose his leg in a motorcycle accident and the third lost an arm in an accident. My friend asked if I would like to investigate- I eagerly said yes. Little did I know at the time that it would change my life forever.
We set out on a Friday night after I closed my shop "the other way". It was a perfect b-movie night, rain, thunder and lightning- you couldn't ask for better. The journalist stayed in the van to videotape while I and another friend Brett hopped the retaining wall and approached the tomb. Legend states that if you wish to break the curse you must circle the tomb seven times knocking on the door each time you pass. Brett did just that and upon completion asked that I do the same. Considering my years of work in the paranormal I decided it was not necessary- it would be 24 hours before I realized how wrong I was. That night ended without incident.
The next night I was visiting family in Niagara Falls Ontario. Upon leaving my cousins house the car I was in hit a tree at a high rate of speed. I remember the impact and then everything went black. The next thing I remember is standing at the foot of my cousin's driveway some 300 or more yards away from the scene- my face covered in blood. When I regained my faculties I sent my cousin back to the car to help my sister and the driver. When my cousin got to the car the driver was kicking in the passenger side window and pulling my sister out. It was a brand new two door car with electronic windows. It seems that when the driver awoke the windows were up, the doors were locked and I was gone. I had been sitting in the backseat of this two door car- nobody knows how I escaped.
To this day the tomb remains a place of mystery. Hopkins himself has been said to visit the tomb during the spring equinox and even his old reliable dog has been said to have been seen guarding the tomb. Is it curse or coincidence that I suffered a similar fate to those young men whose adventure had sparked our investigation? It is up to each individual to decide for themselves- I know what I believe.
Michael, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
