The Keyhole House

The Keyhole House Two magicians move into an abandoned Victorian home and unlock its secrets—expect history, mystery, and a grateful ghost.
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I found this in the garden this afternoon. A fragment of antique porcelain displaying a web of tiny cracks in its glaze ...
06/01/2026

I found this in the garden this afternoon.

A fragment of antique porcelain displaying a web of tiny cracks in its glaze known as crazing. A portion of the backstamp remains. “King” may refer to the maker or the pattern.

We are the 11th owners of this house since 1892. Every time I find something like this — and the Keyhole House keeps offering us gifts like this — I get goosebumps. I don’t know which of the ten families before us it belonged to. Whoever held this cup or plate lived here, loved here, set a table in these same rooms where we now sleep and work and make magic.

They were real and this proves it.

The house keeps introducing us to the people who came before.

We are listening.

This is a Frost & Wood lawn mower. It’s approximately 100 years old, and this morning I used it to cut the lawn at the K...
05/31/2026

This is a Frost & Wood lawn mower. It’s approximately 100 years old, and this morning I used it to cut the lawn at the Keyhole House.

It still works beautifully.

Frost & Wood was once one of the largest manufacturers of farm equipment in Canada — known worldwide, and for many years the largest employer right here in Smiths Falls.

What I didn’t know when I found this mower — what I couldn’t have known — is that Alexander Wood, one of the founding partners of Frost & Wood, was Agnes’s uncle.

Agnes. Our Agnes. The one who has lived in this house since long before we arrived.

His name is right there on the mower. It has been all along.

This house keeps pulling the past forward. Every time we think we understand it, it shows us something else. A 100-year-old mower cuts the grass in front of a 130-year-old house, and the man who built it turns out to be family.

05/26/2026

Performance ten. Huai’an Grand Theater. We arrived and got straight to work with the local crew. During setup, Jeffrey was rocking some gold fringe. Twelve hundred seats. A massive LED wall that travels on a stage truck to a storage position in the wings when not in use. This was not a small stage. By stop ten, we had the right apps to get around China — but we had yet to embrace the squat toilets. The House opened 30 minutes before showtime. We took our pre-show walk from our dressing room to backstage — and then Showtime. A keyhole appears on the curtain. A story begins. Magic for every age in the house.
Marion was in an especially good mood — and the audience felt it. Her brother Burkhard — had flown in from Jakarta with his son. She hadn’t seen them in two years. Thank you, Huai’an for an amazing evening!

Eight years ago, we moved into an abandoned Victorian home in a town we’d never heard of. Smiths Falls, Ontario.We are m...
05/09/2026

Eight years ago, we moved into an abandoned Victorian home in a town we’d never heard of. Smiths Falls, Ontario.

We are magicians. We wrote a show about it — the first magic show based on a slice of Canadian history. Mysteries of the Keyhole House took us across the country, to the Caribbean, and now — to China.

We checked into our hotel in Taizhou, walked into the bathroom, and stopped cold.

Hanging on the wall: a piece of vintage map artwork. Ontario. And at the bottom — Smiths Falls.

Thousands of kilometres from home, and the house found us anyway.

The show must go on. Apparently, so must the magic.

05/08/2026

We are in China.

Today took us across the world’s longest cable-stayed bridge to the Kunshan Poly Grand Theater — a thousand-seat venue where Mysteries of the Keyhole House found its place in the season brochure.

There was a rose in the ceiling. An enthusiastic local crew. A golden balloon that the audience loved. And Agnes the ghost, who exited stage left right on cue.

We ended the day sharing the elevator with a robot.

More to come from this extraordinary tour.

05/03/2026

We started the day sharing an elevator with a robot in China. We ended it staring at a map of Smiths Falls, Ontario on a hotel bathroom wall — 10,000 km from home. We were expected. Tap to see the full story.

We didn’t expect any of this. When we moved into an old abandoned Victorian called the Keyhole House, something about it...
04/25/2026

We didn’t expect any of this.

When we moved into an old abandoned Victorian called the Keyhole House, something about it just wouldn’t let go. The creaky floors, the hidden corners, the mystery of it all… it inspired us to write a magic show.

And that show has taken us places we never dreamed of.

From the small towns of Canada to the warmth of the Caribbean — and next week, an entire month in China — the story of our little Victorian house is being told on the international stage.

Outerbridge Magic: Mysteries of the Keyhole House is a show born from a real place, a real adventure, and a whole lot of wonder. And we’d love for your family to be part of the next chapter. Some keys open houses. Ours opened the world. Tickets & tour dates — link in bio!

Someone is waking up after a long winter’s nap. Ariel lives in a shady corner of our garden, and she’s quite proud of th...
04/18/2026

Someone is waking up after a long winter’s nap. Ariel lives in a shady corner of our garden, and she’s quite proud of the numerous varieties of lichen which add to her timeless complexion.

Can you believe this followed us home from the antique store?An original Smiths Falls Dairy advertising card, complete w...
04/16/2026

Can you believe this followed us home from the antique store?

An original Smiths Falls Dairy advertising card, complete with the most charming robin and birdhouse illustration. Clark’s Sanitary Dairy was sold in 1924 and renamed Smiths Falls Dairy — and at that very moment in history, Alice McNeill was living in our house with her youngest son, Edwin.

History has a funny way of finding its way home.

“Whenever You’re Thirsty… Smiths Falls Dairy Chocolate Dairy Drink”

Have you ever found something at an antique store that felt like it was waiting for you?

1923. The Burroughs family had already moved to Montreal, renting The Keyhole House to their friends the Forbes. When th...
04/09/2026

1923. The Burroughs family had already moved to Montreal, renting The Keyhole House to their friends the Forbes. When the Forbes left for Ottawa, the house stood empty.

They needed it sold — fast.

Alice McNeill paid the asking price of $4,100 and made it her own. Her husband had gone west. She did it alone.
And what a bargain it was. A solid brick house with 10 rooms, a bath, hot water heating, a stable, garage and garden on a 60x240 lot.

Her son Stanley McNeill was a familiar face around town — manager of both the Rideau Theatre and the Princess Theatre, right at the golden age of cinema in Smiths Falls.

Alice owned The Keyhole House from 1923 to 1930. Named for its striking Moorish keyhole arch, unlike anything else on Brockville Street.

We own it now. Some houses just have a story worth telling.

Address

182 Brockville Street
Smiths Falls, ON
K7A3Z1

Website

https://outerbridgemagic.com/

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