Haunted Canada 4
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Holland Cove
The legend states that the ghost is Captain Holland’s wife, a beautiful woman named Racine who came from French royalty. One wintry day on the cove, Captain Holland was late returning home from an expedition. Fearing the worst, Racine carelessly ventured out onto the ice in hopes of seeing her husband, but the ice was too thin and it cracked. Racine plummeted into the icy water and drowned. Captain Holland returned shortly thereafter to the heartbreaking news, but it wasn’t long before he was reunited with his deceased bride. He reported seeing her a few days later, soaked to the bone and deathly pale, wailing and calling his name, before vanishing in front of his very eyes.
The story doesn’t hold much water due to some large holes. First, the ghost appears every summer, but Racine supposedly died in the winter — it’s common lore for ghosts to appear on the date of their death. Some believe this can be explained by the high tide, which might spew her spirit to the beach much like a piece of driftwood.
The larger problem is that Captain Holland was married twice but neither wife was named Racine. His second wife, the one who lived with him at Holland Cove, Marie-Joseph Rollet, was French as the legend suggests. It’s possible “Racine” was a nickname. However, Marie-Joseph outlived her husband, so it’s unlikely the ghost can be attributed to her if the story is to be believed.
The true identity of the water ghost might never be determined, but that won’t stop the tide from rising. Every July the water ghost is sure to emerge from the ocean, water draining from her every pore as she laments the loss of Samuel. And whether or not you believe in the legend of Racine and Captain Holland, you’d be well advised to heed one piece of advice those familiar with the tale hasten to add: if you hear the water ghost of Holland Cove, don’t venture anywhere near her. It’s believed everyone who lays eyes on her will one day drown as well.
DEAD AND BURIED, BUT NOT GONE
St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
Some buildings inspire fear the moment you spot them. Others are trickier and don’t immediately stand out, like they’re trying to hide a secret or erase the past. One such location is the Cathedral Street Bistro in downtown St. John’s. On the surface it’s a charming restaurant offering fine dining, a small red building attached to a larger blue one that was at one time rented out for use as apartments. But appearances can be deceiving, and the stories about the Cathedral Street Bistro point to the building’s eerie, hidden history.
A number of businesses were located in the building before the Cathedral Street Bistro opened, including other restaurants, an inn and the aforementioned apartments. But it also used to be a funeral home dating back to 1891, the final earthly stop for many a soul, and many believe the ghosts that still dwell within the restaurant date back to that time. Some even believe the negative energy of the living people who visited the funeral home to grieve the loss of a loved one is soaked into the walls like a stain that can’t be washed clean. Whatever one decides to believe, there’s no question that the stories told in hushed tones about the Cathedral Street Bistro are frightening.
Brian Abbott owned and operated Chez Briann, one of the restaurants that occupied the building before the Cathedral Street Bistro opened. He knows of at least two spirits that have haunted its halls. One day an employee began to walk down the stairs when she saw something and stopped. There was a person at the bottom of the staircase, but the figure appeared to be made more of smoke than flesh and bone. Suddenly the misty spectre flew up the stairs and passed straight through her.
The other ghost his staff encountered regularly was an old man who dwelled in the dining room when the restaurant was quiet. He had a stern face and ice-cold eyes, and would catch your stare as if challenging you to look away or run. That’s exactly what the wait staff would do. For every time they held his stare for more than a few seconds he would begin to approach them. No one ever stuck around long enough to discover the stern man’s intentions.
It’s certainly not the type of place you’d want to spend the night, but of course, that’s exactly what people did when the building was the Victoria Station Inn during the 1990s. One night a woman woke up with severe pain in her chest. Floating above her was a ghost, an old man, quite possibly the same one that would later be seen by restaurant staff. She lay paralyzed in her bed, unable to blink and forced to watch as the man placed two coins over her eyes. The act of placing two coins on a dead body’s eyelids is an old custom based on the belief that the departed would need the money to pay a boatman to carry the body across the river Styx. But this woman was still alive. Either the man was mistaken or his actions hinted at darker plans. Fortunately, the woman regained control of her body and was able to escape before the ghost could harm her.
Others have reported seeing a lost spirit, this time a woman, wandering the halls in the middle of the night. She doesn’t speak or approach anyone, but those who have gotten close enough have seen a distinguishing characteristic that never fails to chill the blood: running down the length of her torso is a jagged scar, as if from a recent autopsy.
It’s unsettling to think that, as guests wine and dine in the restaurant, it’s still business as usual for the funeral home that closed its doors long ago. But the spirits of those who worked there or were prepared for burial within have no intention of going quietly into the night.
VALLEY OF THE HEADLESS MEN
Nahanni National Park Reserve, Northwest Territories
The Nahanni National Park Reserve, approximately five hundred kilometres west of Yellowknife, is a sprawling land filled with breathtaking scenery, endangered wildlife and a dark, deadly past. Although it’s only accessible by boat or plane, one thousand adventurous souls brave the elements each year to witness first-hand the isolating power of the park. Caution must be exercised — history has proven that it’s all too easy to lose one’s way, or worse, one’s head, in the Nahanni.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, Nahanni National Park is filled with steaming geysers, vicious sinkholes, icy caverns and a waterfall nearly twice as high as Niagara Falls. But in the early 1900s it wasn’t the scenery that attracted people to the location, but the mad hope that gold was nestled in the hills. Rumours began to swirl that two brothers, Willie and Frank McLeod, had staked a claim. Even if that were true it did them little good. In 1908, after a year without word from either brother, their bodies were found next to a Nahanni river. Their heads were not.
In the years that followed, more bodies — each roughly a foot shorter than they should have been — kept piling up.
In 1917, Swiss prospector Martin Jorgenson was found very close to the river where the McLeod brothers’ bodies were discovered. Jorgenson, likewise, had been decapitated. Shortly thereafter a trapper named John O’Brien lost his head to an unknown assailant. And in 1945 an Ontario miner was found in his sleeping bag with his head severed from his shoulders.
These mysterious and gruesome murders have given the 200 Mile Gorge area the brutally honest nickname “Valley of the Headless Men.” Take a glance at a map and you’ll find other morbidly named locations such as Deadman Valley, Headless Creek, Headless Range and Funeral Range. It’s as if the people who named these spots wished to warn visitors of the horror they might encounter in the park.
Odd occurrences and unexplained mysteries in the remote northern woodlands of the Nahanni, however, date much further back than the decapitation of the McLeods. There is evidence in the park of prehistoric human life dating back ten thousand years. A story passed down from generation to generation tells of a people known as the Naha. They were regarded by other tribes as a vicious group of thugs who would swarm down the great rivers and take advantage of all who lived in the lowlands. Eventually the lowland tribes decided to strike back, but when they travelled north and came across the Naha settlement, the fires had been put out and the tepees were empty. The Naha had vanished into thin air, never to be seen or heard from again.
Some attribute the disappearance of the Naha an
d the recent beheadings to the Nuk-Luk, a Sasquatch-like creature that has been spotted in the park. The Nuk-Luk is thought to have inhabited these woods for more than three thousand years, and at four hundred pounds and eight feet tall, he’s a creature better left alone. Others attribute the deaths and disappearances to an evil — but unknown — entity that has long terrorized the Valley of the Headless Men. The surrounding indigenous people have steered clear of the area for many years, believing it to be haunted.
Big, strong outdoorsmen such as miners and trappers have been decapitated with ease. An entire people has been wiped out without a trace. No matter who (or what) is responsible for these mysteries, it’s strongly encouraged that you keep a level head when you visit the Nahanni. Or else you might not keep your head at all.
EPILOGUE
Still don’t believe in ghosts? Then maybe you should spend a night — alone — in a haunted house. That’s what I decided to do while writing the book you hold in your hands. Throughout my research I was astounded by the credibility of the ghost stories I unearthed, by the sheer number of eyewitness accounts that lined up with one another, by the ability of the tales to get under my skin and send me running around my darkened home turning on every single light.
I had never seen a ghost myself. Don’t ask me why (morbid curiosity, most likely), but I wanted to — needed to — change that.
And so I drove to the picturesque town of Niagara-on-the-Lake and checked into The Olde Angel Inn. You know an inn is old when it spells the word with an E. In fact, it’s the oldest inn in Ontario, incorporated in 1789. It burned down (and was later rebuilt) after the War of 1812. It’s a beautiful building that has sheltered many famous guests over the years, including the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe; explorer Alexander Mackenzie; and Queen Victoria’s father, Prince Edward. In short, it’s seen a lot of history, and some of that history has been bloody.
Naturally, The Olde Angel Inn has a resident ghost.
During a secret rendezvous at the inn with his sweetheart, Captain Colin Swayze of the British Army hid in the cellar when he received word that American soldiers had invaded the town. He slipped into a barrel and hoped he’d go undetected. He didn’t. The Americans stormed the inn, thundered down the cellar steps and stabbed each of the barrels with their bayonets. Captain Swayze spent his final living moments alone and afraid as he watched the blood drain from his body.
Shortly after the captain’s death, people began witnessing odd things, and reports of paranormal activity continue to this day. Items fly off shelves. Footsteps plod down empty halls. A man in an old-fashioned military uniform walks through rooms in the middle of the night without pausing to open doors.
After interviewing staff and being guided into the cramped cellar to see the exact spot where Captain Swayze was killed, I spent a night in the General’s Quarters, the Angel’s most haunted bedroom. I locked myself in (little good that would do), left the lights on and pulled the bedsheet up to my chin.
Unexplained noises filled the room throughout the night. Out of the corner of my eye I saw countless shadows moving about. A curtain rustled as if someone hid behind it. My room key, dangling over the edge of a small table in the corner of the room where most of the paranormal activity has been witnessed, swayed from side to side on its own — I checked for a draft or an open window but the air around the key was dead still. A toy rabbit my daughter had lent me rested on the floor facing my bed as I finally fell into a restless sleep. When I woke up, the rabbit was in the exact same spot … but had turned 180 degrees to face the wall.
I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve never been so creeped out in my life. The goosebumps on my arms could’ve been used to sand wood.
Don’t believe me? I had a feeling you might say that. So I decided to record the entire night with my camcorder. You can watch the video of my night alone in the haunted Olde Angel Inn on Scholastic Canada’s website at www.scholastic.ca/hauntedcanada.
But before you visit the website and press play, make sure the lights are on. Grab a friend or sibling for safety in numbers. Make sure there’s nothing under the bed or in the deepest corners of your closet, just in case.
And beware toy rabbits.
Read the whole chilling series.
Haunted Canada: True Ghost Stories
By Pat Hancock
ISBN 978-0-7791-1410-8
Paperback, 112 pages
A collection of chilling true ghost stories, from all across Canada, to send shivers down your spine: from poltergeists who terrorize hunters in a remote cabin, to a man who gets frightened to death in a graveyard.
Prepare yourself to be haunted!
Haunted Canada 2: True Tales of Terror
By Pat Hancock
ISBN 978-0-439-96122-6
Paperback, 120 pages
These true tales of terror from all parts of Canada will chill you to the bone. Strange fires break out, serpents rise from the waves, and giant beasts lumber through the trees. Ghostly forms drift by and eerie discs lower silently from the sky.
Prepare yourself to be haunted!
Haunted Canada 3: More True Ghost Stories
By Pat Hancock
ISBN 978-0-439-93777-1
Paperback, 128 pages
Ready for more true ghost stories? Somewhere in Canada, a strange light glows near the water, a chain rattles in an abandoned cell, and footsteps scurry across an empty room. Somewhere a headless woman wanders the streets, a blood-covered face appears in a mirror, and the eyes of a statue flutter open.
Prepare yourself to be haunted!
The Unexplained: A Haunted Canada Book
Edited by Janet Lunn
ISBN 978-0-545-99314-2
Paperback, 160 pages
Fifteen shivery stories, including tales by some of Canada’s top writers:
* Joyce Barkhouse
* Hazel Boswell
* Karleen Bradford
* Jean Brien
* Brian Doyle
* Monica Hughes
* Jean Little
* Janet Lunn
* Andrew MacFarlane
* L. M. Montgomery
* Kit Pearson
* Ken Roberts
* James F. Robinson
* Sharon Siamon
* Carole Spray
Haunted Canada: Ghost Stories
By Pat Hancock and Allan Gould
ISBN 978-1-4431-2894-0
Paperback, 176 pages
eBook ISBN 978-1-4431-3307-4
A ghoulish face in the window … A throaty whisper … A boy possessed … The thrills and chills of these fifteen haunting stories will make your hairs stand on end. Think you’re ready? Then turn down the lights, lock the door and prepare to be spooked!
For Haunted Canada bonus material, visit www.scholastic.ca/hauntedcanada.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joel A. Sutherland is an author and librarian. He is the author of Be a Writing Superstar and Frozen Blood, a horror novel that was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. His short fiction has appeared in many anthologies and magazines, including Blood Lite II & III and Cemetery Dance magazine, alongside the likes of Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. He is a two-time juror for the John Spray Mystery Award.
He appeared as “The Barbarian Librarian” on the Canadian edition of the hit television show Wipeout, making it all the way to the third round and proving that librarians can be just as tough and crazy as anyone else. He has a Masters of Information and Library Studies from Aberystwyth University in Wales.
Joel lives with his family in southeastern Ontario, where he is still on the lookout for ghosts.
PHOTO CREDITS
Horror Cinema Verité: Courtesy of Michelle Prins
Rotting in a Cage: CBC
Red Eyes in the Night: Courtesy of Peel’s Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries
The Tombs of Hell: Kingston Penitentiary, Kingston Picture Collection V23 Pub-
Kingston Pen-15
The Family That Haunts Together: Canada. Patent and Copyright Office / Library and Archives Canada / PA-030973
Hospital of the Dead: City of Edmonton Archives EA-160-1522
The Mob Princess: Glenbow Archives NA-3282-2
The Man in Grey: Courtesy of Delta Bessborough Hotel
The Show Must Go On and On and On: Dawson City Museum, 1962.7.111
Haunted Nightmares: Courtesy of Historic Resources Branch, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection
The Bloody Battlefield: Library and Archives Canada, accession number 1995-134-1 (General James Wolfe); Library and Archives Canada, accession number 1991-209-1 / c027665 (Lieutenant General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm)
A Ghostly Alma Mater: Courtesy of August Donnelly
Fed Into the Furnace: Courtesy Margaret Deefholts
Dining with the Dead: Nova Scotia Archives, Argyle Street at the corner of George Street, Halifax, showing pine coffins supplied by Snow & Co., Undertakers, second building from right, for victims of the explosion, W.G. MacLaughlan, photographer, December 1917; NSA, Halifax Relief Commission, 1976-166 no. 64
Where Horror and Hockey Share a Home: Toronto Star Archives
The Lady in Blue: Nova Scotia Archives, Lighthouse, Peggy’s Cove, N.S., W.R. MacAskill, photographer; NSA, W.R. MacAskill fonds, 1987-453 no. 3820
The Haunted Hotel: Courtesy of Fairmont Empress Hotel
The Hangman’s Knot: Jules-Ernest Livernois / Library and Archives Canada / PA-024205
The Water Ghost: VIEW-5909.1 / Photograph / Holland Cove, PE, 1916-17 / Wm. Notman & Son
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