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strolling down by the lake. Other times they are seen inside the home, and at times, Lady Mitchell sits at the piano while her mother sits and listens. They do not appear to be upset, nor do they attempt to convey a message to the living.
    Martha and Lady Mitchell go about their mysterious ways even when tourists from many lands and cultures visit Uniacke House. Most visitors are unaware of the ghosts. But as Goldie Robertson, the Chief Heritage Interpreter, reminded me, there are those who have a special insight into these things—they feel a presence of something or someone from beyond. Such was the case with a family visiting from Lebanon. They were about to enter a bedroom on the first floor when the mother gasped and withdrew from the room. She quickly gathered her children around her and left, telling the guide the room was haunted by two women. The frightened visitor told the guide one spirit was sitting on the bed, while the older lady was seated in a rocking chair.
    There is little else to be said about why these two 18-century ladies who haunt Uniacke House; until and unless they somehow convey to the living why they are not at peace in their graves, it will remain a Maritime Mystery.
    Next time you visit Mount Uniacke, look beyond the obvious. You’ll never know what might be watching from the top of the stairs or staring back from behind the hemlock.
    The Man They Hanged Twice
    H e was taunted by relatives, and picked on by his friends. They told him that he had to get even with the man who took his woman. So, young Bennie Swim swapped his guitar for an old .38 Smith and Wesson and set off on a murderous journey in a place called Benton Ridge, New Brunswick.
    It was March 27, 1922, sometime around four o’clock in the afternoon when Bennie knocked on the back door of the farm house where his pregnant former girlfriend lived with her new husband. The husband answered the knock, and he was shot dead in his tracks. Bennie then turned the gun on his old girlfriend and shot her in the chest. When she tried to run, he shot her a second time in the back and she fell to the kitchen floor dead. Bennie then turned the gun on himself, but the bullet that lodged in his head did little damage and he survived to face the hangman’s noose.
    The first words out of his mouth when the sheriff caught up with him were, “Sheriff this is awful, I suppose I’ll hang for it.” And he would. Not once, but twice!
    Bennie’s last days were spent behind the bars in the Woodstock, New Brunswick, provincial jail. According to guards, Bennie was a model prisoner.
    During his preliminary hearing, a plea of insanity was entered by the defense. Many witnesses testified that young Bennie Swim was insane. A Government psychiatrist, however, found him mentally competent to stand trial for the double murder. When it was over, the jury found Bennie guilty of first degree murder and he was sentenced to hang on July 15, 1923.
    There were, according to reports, several volunteers wanting the hangman’s job. Some even came from the state of Maine, willing to do the job for a price. The sheriff who was responsible for hiring a professional hangman was having a difficult time getting an experienced one. Because of that, the hanging was postponed twice. The country’s top hangman, Arthur Ellis (not his real name) was otherwise engaged; no doubt hanging other Canadians. Finally, two Montreal hangmen were recommended—a poor recommendation for Bennie Swim. They were little more than amateurs who had gained their so-called experience hanging blacks in the southern United States.
    Seven months after the murders and at approximately 5:00 P.M. on Friday, October 6, 1923, Bennie Swim was led up the steps of the provincial jail in Woodstock to the gallows. While Bennie Swim prayed, a black hood was placed over his head and the noose placed tightly around his neck. Bennie was still praying when the trap door was sprung. A