It’s no secret that one of my favorite haunts in Hamilton is a bar called The Winking Judge (it is also often listed or referred to as Augusta’s Winking Judge). I discovered it while researching for my 2012 book Haunted Hamilton, began to visit the bar regularly shortly after that, and then, in 2014, when I moved to an apartment adjacent to the old English style pub, I became one of the semi-regulars at the bar.

Last Friday I was back in Hamilton enjoying a few pints and recorded an on-the-spot Facebook Live video in which I shared a few of the tales I had picked up from my research as well as just hanging out at the bar and listening to stories that the regulars would share about the place.

I thought it would be interesting to update that live video with ambient eerie music as well as accompanying images to go along with the stories.

The tales include an elderly man in an old Lincoln-styled top hat. He is affectionately nick-named “The Judge.” Multiple patrons have also told tales of feeling the distinct sensation of a feline rubbing up against their legs. And when they reach down the pet the amorous cat, they realize that nothing was there. There have also been stories of the spectral image of a figure hovering outside the frosted window of the men’s room on the building’s second floor.

For those interested, the beer I had been drinking in this video was the Unnamed Pale Ale from Mash Paddle Brewing in nearby Brantford, Ontario. This is a crisp and refreshing beer with a light yet solidly present hoppy taste to it.

Because I’m more like a ghost that can’t be exorcised from the location, I’ll be back again this Friday and broadcasting a live fiction ghost story from the second floor (where I had been wandering in the video above) as part of my Free Friday Frights series.

Friday’s Broadcast will include a fictional ghost story (“Phantom Mitch”) and will be simultaneously broadcast to my Author Page, my Haunted Hamilton book page and the Spirits Untapped page on Facebook.

And, yes, craft beer will also play a role in the video as well as in any of the folks there as part of the live audience.

Who knows, apart from the live audience, perhaps there might also be a few unseen presences there lurking in the shadows.