"Charles De Lint - Spiritwalk" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Lint Charles)

There was a funeral for JamesтАФknown in literary circles as "Jamie Tarns"тАФbut it was a closed-coffin
affair and rumors persist that there was, in fact, no body interred. The current owner, Sara Kendell,
James Tamson's niece, is proving to be as much of a recluse as were her forebears and is rarely seen in
public.

Tamson House is situated in the heart of a residential district known as the Glebe. The house takes up an
entire city block east of Bank Street, is fronted on three sides by residential streets, and on the fourth by
Central Park. The general appearance from any view is that of a long block of old-fashioned townhouses
set kitty-corner to each other. There are three towers, one each in three of the structure's corners; an
impressive observatory, oddly unaffected by light pollution from the city, occupies the fourth.

Inside, there is a labyrinth of corridors and rooms, an impressive library and a garden surrounded on all
four sides by the house, the actual acreage of which is subject to question as evidently no two
measurements have come out equal.

Beyond the odd disappearances and reclusive nature of most of its owners, not to mention its existence
as an architectural curiosity, Tamson House is listed in this volume for two further reasons.

The first is that while much of Ottawa's downtown core is built upon a limestone headland, the area
surrounding Tamson House was originally fenland, reclaimed by those who settled the area. Before the
arrival of European explorers and settlers, however, the native peoples of the area spoke of a sacred
island in the fens, the location of which, legend has it, is where Tamson House now stands.

The island was considered a gateway to the spiritworld, the place from where the manitou came to visit
the world of men. Until the coming of the Europeans, the island was a regular site for thejessakan, or
conjuring lodges, of shaman from local tribes as well as those from tribes that lived as far as a thousand
miles away. Curiously, there was never any protest made when first Philemon Wright and then Braddish
Billings brought settlers into the area in the early 1800s, subsequently cutting off shamanistic access to the
island.

A more current reason for Tamson House's inclusion in this volume is that over the yearsтАФparticularly
from the time that James Tamson took ownership, late in 1954тАФthe house has proved to be a haven for
certain individuals who might be considered "outsiders" to normal society. It has been home not only to
an impressive array of poets, artists, musicians, scholars and writers, but also to those not traditionally
considered to be involved in the arts, but who still communicate in terms not readily accepted as the
norm.

So circus performers have lived there, side by side with those involved in occult studies; it has been
home to strippers and Bible students, martial artssensei and chefs, gardeners and hedgerow
philosophers; it has been a waystop for travelers from many lands as well as backpackers and hikers
from closer to home.

What draws them to Tamson House is a sense of community, the opportunity to collect their strengths in
a safe haven before they must go out once more to face the world that lies beyond the house's walls.
Most remain for no more than a few weeks or months, a year at the most, although there do appear to
be a few permanent residents.

There is no hidden sign or handshake required to gain admittance, no secret societal obligation involved
for those who find welcome in Tamson House. The harmony that lies behind its walls appears to have an