Bad news for anyone planning a moody mirror selfie in a 19th-century parlour this month. Eldon House, the Harris family's old home turned museum on Ridout Street North, covers its mirrors in October.
"Mirror selfies are a bit more difficult this month!" the museum wrote, before dangling the real hook: "Come visit us and learn why we cover the mirrors in October!"
We do love a museum that answers a question with an invitation. Our own nosy guesses run from the spooky to the practical (a ghost with a vanity problem? a very thorough dusting?).
And it's quite a house to turn up at. Eldon House dates to 1834, when it was built for John Harris, the London District's treasurer, and occupied by his wife Amelia and their eight children, with two more born in 1836 and 1839. It started life as Eldon Terrace before the name changed to Eldon House.
For much of the 19th century it was a hub of London social life, especially in the British Garrison years from the late 1830s to 1868. Four of the Harris daughters married officers stationed in town. Dance cards, scarlet coats, the works.
A ballroom arrived in the 1870s, along with a new kitchen and bigger servants' quarters, as you do.
John died in 1850, and Amelia stayed on until her own death in 1882. Around 1960 the children of Ronald Harris gave the house, most of its contents and the property to the city, and it opened as a museum in 1961. The land running down to the Thames became Harris Park.
Four generations of Harrises called it home, and it holds the family's heirlooms and furnishings.
The covered mirrors aren't the house's only October mood, either. Eldon House makes a habit of hosting eerie events this time of year.
The door is open Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. through December, at 481 Ridout Street North, and the museum's phone number is 519-661-5169.
Fix your hair before you go. Inside, nothing's giving you a second look.