Spooky Hollow is situated in Normandale, more specifically, Spooky Hollow Road is the continuation of Front Road into the Normandale area. 

The beauty of Spooky Hollow has been celebrated for more than a century. In a September 12, 1929 article published in The Simcoe Reformer, Tom C. McCall described the area:

“Some three or four miles southwest of the little village of Vittoria there is situated one of the most beautiful and perhaps the most legendary spots in the county of Norfolk. From the very beginning of time beautiful trees have grown in abundance here… The spot is Spooky Hollow.”

Today, Spooky Hollow may be better known for its legends that have become part of its local identity than for its scenery.

That juxtaposition was evident even in McCall’s 1929 article, in which he also acknowledged the area’s folklore by referencing an even earlier work: Pioneer Sketches of Long Point Settlement by Egbert Americus Owen, published in 1898.

Owen portrayed Troyer as deeply superstitious, writing that he was a “confirmed believer in witchcraft.”

This belief made Dr. Troyer notorious, to the point that “the name Dr. Troyer and the term witches are so interwoven in the minds of the old people that they cannot think of one without being reminded of the other.”

As Owen tells it, Troyer believed several of his neighbours were witches, including the widow of Captain Edward McMichael, whom Owen described as clever and mostly amused by Troyer’s accusations.

 Owen recounts that Troyer eventually bolted a large trap to the floor of his home, believing it would catch witches during the night. 

He also tells one particularly unusual story: Troyer reportedly believed witches transformed him into a horse, rode him across the lake, and forced him to eat straw before returning him home. 

Some local residents have connected this story with the legend of the Headless Horseman. McCall, however, noted in his 1929 Simcoe Reformer article that Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is unrelated to Norfolk County’s Spooky Hollow.

Concluding his account of Dr. Troyer, Owen wrote: “Strange as it may appear, Dr. Troyer believed all of this yet, aside from witchcraft, he was considered a sane man.”

This fall, as you venture through Spooky Hollow on your way to Normandale or Turkey Point, keep an eye out for the spectre of an old Dr. Troyer being ridden by a witch towards the lake.

Whether or not the local legends are true, one thing is certain: Spooky Hollow is at its finest in early autumn, when brilliant leaves transform one of Norfolk County’s most storied roads into one of its most beautiful drives.

Written by The Norfolker Editorial Team

AUTUMN 2026