The Screaming Heads of Midlothian

Stepping away from Japan for a moment, I’d like to highlight the most unique property I know from my home province of Ontario: The Screaming Heads of Midlothian.

Like so many amazing stories, it begins with an artist having a vision. He went and bought himself a huge piece of land up in Burk’s Falls, Ontario. He then passed the next decades by creating great concrete sculptures of screaming ghostly faces, creeping hands, and the occasional grim horse. The scene was finally set by scattering the sculptures across the land to climb eerily out of the hills.

I’ve known this place for a long time, affectionately, as Pete’s Castle. The brilliant, talented, and unstoppable artist behind the piece, Peter Camani, is a long time friend of my mother. He was actually her high school art teacher, as well as a personal and family friend (my grandmother referred to him lovingly as her oldest son back in the day). I have quite a few memories of looking around the grounds and receiving peacock feathers from Peter when I was young.

For funny preteen, Tim Burton-loving, ever-dreaming Katherine, this place was the absolute coolest. And for older Katherine, who has kept and expanding on all her strange tastes, it’s still the coolest.

I hadn’t been back in about 15 years, but this summer we went for a long overdue visit. Trees have grown and the sculptures are more numerous, but nothing much else had differed from my memories. It remains a curious, brilliant, and hauntingly sensational piece of art hidden up in cottage country.

If you’re passing up by the Muskoka area, I highly recommend you stop by. The grounds are open and free to browse. Just roll up, park your car in a space not occupied by a peacock, and have a stroll through the surreal wonderland.