Monthly Archives: October 2017

Halifax Haunting

30 Monday Oct 2017

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One of the more “haunted” places in Halifax; a city that is rich in history and in mystery; the wonderful 5 Fisherman Restaurant. Strange grey mists, taps going on and off, glasses and cutlery landing on the floor. The common “haunted location” feeling of never being quite alone…

Staff report cold spots and disembodied voices, including a man and woman arguing in a private dining room (Captain’s Quarters); this room also has apparitions who wander in and out. Ghostly hands are have been known to tap unsuspecting folks on the shoulder.

A frequent non-corporeal visitor is an older gentlemen, described as tall, with long grey hair and a long dark coat. He is often noticed when objects crash to the floor; one waiter reported seeing the man in a mirror after an ashtray was found, in pieces, on the floor. When the man noticed the apparition in a mirror, he turned to see who this was and there was no one there, turning back to look at the mirror, in shock, the reflection had vanished.

This same man was seen by another staff member; the man was on the phone and noticed the strange, tall man standing a distance away; he addressed the gentleman and informed him that he was be with him, directly. Upon finishing his conversation, hanging up the phone, he turned to speak to the man. He had disappeared.

Another incident was not quite so innocent; a hostess was showing clients to a table when she felt something brush her cheek, hard. She didn’t think much of it, at the time, when she returned to her station, the Maitre’d asked what had happened to her face. She went to look in the mirror and there was a clear imprint of a hand, as if she had been slapped.

A definite “must” if you find yourself in Halifax.

Motherhouse Convent, Concordia University

29 Sunday Oct 2017

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On the corner of Guy and René-Lévesque, there stands the Grey Nun’s Motherhouse; it is now the property of Concordia University and believed to be one of the most haunted buildings in Montreal.

The Motherhouse was built in 1871 for the Grey Nuns; it was not only a residence for the sisters but a hospital and an orphanage. There is also a crypt in the basement where 232 nuns are resting, hopefully, in peace.

The reason the bodies are still there, are hygienic; many of the sisters died of contagions, presumably caught while tending the sick in the hospital. Concordia did do extensive renovations, but the sisters still rest eternal in the basement.

The history of the place takes sad turn, when in 1918 there was a fire on the top floor, the orphanage. Apparently more than 50 children were trapped and died in the inferno. The exact number isn’t known as the interior was incinerated.

The sound of children crying is reported to be heard, emanating from the top floor. Some people, in residence at the building, report severe sleep disturbances, nightmares about dead children – sounds of running feet, always accompanied by the terrible, terrified, weeping of children.

There is a daycare in the building and there have been reports of children of the center making friends with “imaginary” children. The friends are described as having tattered, burned clothing.

The Ghost of Mary Gallagher

29 Sunday Oct 2017

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I would not be a true “Montréalaise” if I allowed a collection of creepy stories without the gruesome tale of Mary Gallagher.

On the morning of June 27th, Mary, her friend Michael Flanagan decided, fatefully, it would turn out, to visit her friend and fellow prostitute, Susan Kennedy. Susan lived at 242 William Street, on the second floor.

Susan Kennedy was tried and found guilty of Mary’s murder.
Also at the residence was Susan’s husband – Jacob. Jacob left the home, shortly after Mary and Michael arrived. Susan testified that she left Michael and Mary alone, while she went out to buy whiskey.

When she returned, Kennedy, Gallagher and Flanagan attempted to polish off the bottle. Kennedy, during the inquiry, reported that Flanagan went to lie down, as a result of the whiskey’s effects, in a bedroom.

According to Kennedy’s testimony, she followed him and sat down to “talk”; while they were “talking”, Kennedy’s husband came home and was not impressed by finding his wife (although she was a prostitute), in bed – with Flanagan.
There was an exchange of words between Kennedy and her husband, and he stormed out of the residence.
It is important to note that Jacob Mears, Kennedy’s husband did not drink; Kennedy, on the other hand, not only drank but was known as a rather unpredictable as well as a nasty drunk.

Flanagan was called to testify at Susan Kennedy’s trial and claimed that when he decided to have a lie down, Susan and Mary were in friendly spirits. He said, when he woke up in the afternoon, he was thirsty and asked Susan to get him a glass of water. Flanagan then suggested that they go out for a beer; there was a heated discussion regarding who would pick up the tab. Flanagan left and claimed that he saw Mary lying, face down on the floor. He claimed that there was no blood to be found. He further claimed to have not questioned why Mary was on the floor because he was in too much of a hurry to grab something to drink.

Susan’s version of the events were somewhat different. She claims that she was in bed with Flanagan, sleeping when she heard Mary invite a man into Kennedy’s home. Susan claims to have met the man, previously, but couldn’t remember his name. Due to drink, she fell back asleep but was awakened by arguing between Mary and this mysterious stranger.
Susan went back to sleep; when she awakened, the arguing had stopped….the man was gone and Mary was no more.

Susan testified, “When I saw her I got such a fright that I fell upon the floor. She was lying on her breast. Her body was next to the door with the feet pointing to the street. Her head was in the tub, also one of her hands. I am not sure but that this hand was on the floor. I went to call the police but I was too weak.” Going on, Kennedy claimed Flanagan not only saw the state of Mary’s body but when he did, he ran away.

Poor Jacob, Kennedy’s sad sack hubby, came home to the sight of Mary’s dismembered body. He left is wife in the home and ran to get the police.

Kennedy’s clothes were covered in blood. She claimed that while trying to clean up, she slipped and fell in it.

The police called in, to testify, said: Kennedy had told them that “a man came into the house Friday morning and gave her (Kennedy) some money, which, arousing the jealousy of the deceased, the latter and the man had a quarrel and the man killed her. She said she saw the man wash the blood from his hands and clear out. Before going he warned her not to tell the police. She did not know the man’s name, and was glad he had escaped because he was a good-looking fellow.”

This is a link to the story in the Witness. http://collections.banq.qc.ca/erezFullScreen…

The mystery man was never identified but, the police did find Jacob’s axe covered in blood, flesh and hair, inside the Kennedy/Mears home. Susan and Michael Flanagan were arrested.

During the trial – witnesses claimed to have heard fighting between the two women and Kennedy screaming, at someone in the flat, “If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll split your head open.”

The tenant, living downstairs from Kennedy, testified that she hears a loud sound, like a body drop, then, the sound of the axe being used on something. She also claimed to have heard Kennedy say, “I’ve wanted revenge for a long time. I finally got it.”

Kennedy was found guilty and Flanagan was released. She was sentenced to be hung on Dec. 5th.
She didn’t hang, instead her sentence was commuted, and she spent the next 16 years in prison. She was released and promptly disappeared.

Michael Flanagan ended up drowning, on Dec. 5th , in 1879 – strangely, on the very day that Susan had been scheduled to hang.

Our poor victim, Mary, was buried in what is termed a “pauper’s grave”. While she may not have been on people’s minds while she lived, she certainly gained notoriety by her death and for over a century following.

The Irish, a superstitious cultural group, began to swear that Mary was still wandering the neighbourhood, minus one important detail of her person…her head.

Somewhere along the line – Mary’s legend solidified, and Montreal legend now has it that every 7 years, the next appearance should be June 27th, 2019, Mary walks the streets of Griffintown – William and Murray Streets, looking for her head.

This is all that remains at the address. If you are feeling up to the task – take a walk….


Tranquille Sanatorium

26 Thursday Oct 2017

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Off to British Columbia and the Tranquille Sanatorium; it was built in 1907, first as a ranch but shortly thereafter, it was re-tooled to house tuberculosis patients. The hospital closed as a sanatorium in 1958 as the incidents of TB had declined, it re-opened in 1959 as a hospital for the mentally ill. It closed, permanently, in 1984.

Sanatoriums and the various types of hospitals are always fruitful hunting grounds for paranormal experience. Tranquille is no exception.

The buildings are abandoned now and are off-limits, but people still manage to sneak in.

Orbs are reportedly seen throughout the buildings and sudden temperature drops from one area to another.

Feelings of sadness, being watched and just general heebie-jeebies permeate in all of the buildings. There are tunnels as well, these seem to have the most paranormal activity; the tunnels were used to move food, laundry and supplies between the various areas of the hospital but they were also used to transport the dead. The staff felt that this was the best way to avoid upsetting the other patients. Tuberculosis had/has a high mortality rate.

People report being pushed by unseen hands, in the tunnels, severe cold spots and moans are heard throughout.

Before the hospital closed as a sanatorium, it houses over 600 people, staff included. Over 1600 people died in the facility.

When it was clear that TB was on a marked decline; the hospital began to take in the mentally ill; this was from 1959 to 1984.

There are reports of a nurse, who had been murdered by a patient, in the tunnels, when he was being moved to another ward, she is still seen in the facility – sometimes in the tunnels and sometimes in the hallways.

Before it closed, nurses reported feeling like they were being watched; the mentally ill patients often became agitated, restless until they were outside of the buildings. Lights would go on and off, of their own volition. Photos taken have shown a mist that was not seen by the naked eye.

Nurses also reported hearing footsteps in empty hallways and screams from empty wards, even on the day shifts.

The “B” wing was the Pediatric ward; the sounds of children crying are said to be heard; a full apparition of a woman is seen wandering the hallways, crying – the sound of her weeping is heard even after she has disappeared.

In the basement, an electrician who died, has decided to stick around his last job site. Perhaps unaware that the job finished with his demise.

There are current non-corporeal residents that don’t seem to welcome intrusion into their cloistered world and will chase the living out of the buildings.

Headless Valley of Nahinni National Park

25 Wednesday Oct 2017

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For this one, we head to the Northwest Territories; Nahinni National Park, an insanely beautiful but scary piece of Canadian geography.

Nahinni is very remote and not a typical tourist destination. You can’t drive in – you need a bush plane or be adept at insane white water rafting and portage.

The area has a rather bad reputation with aboriginal Canadians; an evil place, filled with demons and horrific carnivores. The mountainous areas of Nahinni was the home of the Naha tribe – also a subject of horror and mystery. The Naha were aggressive and violent, frequently attacking the lower-land Dene villages, taking with them, after the attack, the heads of their victims.

Then the Naha disappeared, without a trace. Nothing. Simply disappeared.

Long after the disappearance of the Naha people; the gold rush began. Due to the remote location and some fascinating geographic anomalies (areas that never freeze due to hot springs), rumours began of huge gold veins. Few miners, regardless of “gold fever” were brave enough to venture to the area but enough had caught the gold fever to find their way to the valley now known as 200 Mile Gorge. It was through these people that the horrific legends from the area began to spread.

Enter the McLeod brothers, soon to play a pivotal role in the Gorge’s dark reputation.

In 1908, Willie and Frank McLeod made their way to an area, now known as 200 Mile Gorge; with the belongings packed, they headed into the interior and were never heard from again. Nobody really sounded an alarm; the Gorge was the deep northern wilderness after all, replete with bogs, sinkholes, bears, wolves, a territory whose dangers were totally uncharted.

A year after the brothers disappeared, their bodies were recovered, next to a river. They had both been decapitated and their heads were missing.

This could have been written off as the work of robbers, after whatever gold the brothers had found. It could have, except about 9 years later, another miner died. Martin Jorgenson. He had built himself a small cabin. He died in that cabin when it burned down; his remains were recovered. Most of his remains, there was no skull.

Several decades later, another miner was found in his sleeping bag, also minus his head.

These are the bodies that were recovered. It is estimated that 44 people have simply vanished in the valley.

The native Canadians of the region believe the valley is cursed, some believe that the disappearances and gruesome decapitations are the work of the ghosts of the Naha tribe.

The area remains as a largely untouched part of the country; the difficulty in reaching the area and perhaps the legends manage to keep Nahanni mysterious and not a little scary.

Ghosts of Place du Canada

23 Monday Oct 2017

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Going to hang around Montreal for another story; this one is about a popular spot in Old Montreal, Place du Canada.

During spring, summer and fall, you can see all sorts of Montrealais(e) enjoying the lunch or just taking in the scenery in and around the square.

It is a popular place and as you can see in the photo, a very pretty one but….and isn’t there always a “but”, beneath their feet lie the metaphorical and literal skeletons from Montreal’s past.

In this case, the Sainte-Antoine Cholera Cemetery; estimates are hard to come by but safe to say, thousands of people were, in some cases, all too quickly turfed during the cholera and typhus epidemics, some in mass graves, beginning in 1832. The largest admitting period for the cholera victims – some of them, horrifically, not quite dead, was between 1832 and 1854.

In deep rooted Montreal tradition, roadwork had been planned and this included widening of streets, encroaching on the cemetery. Bodies were being exhumed. Cholera and typhus victims’ remains. The citizens objected – vocally and applied pressure. No one wanted the plague dead transferred through the city. So, the remaining bodies were left where they were, in some cases, unceremoniously, dumped.

The city decided to build a park, this way they were not obliged to move anymore bodies. So under those picturesque walkways, park benches and flowers, lie the hapless bodies of ex-Montrealers.

The square, understandably, is known for its….atmosphere, most often, after dark. A lot of people have reported feeling nervous and uncomfortable; some have claimed to have heard prayers and in some cases, strange shapes, mists and even orbs have been observed.

Sometimes You Leave With More Than Your Luggage.

05 Thursday Oct 2017

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My husband and I booked a bed and breakfast in xxxxx, outside of Ottawa, Ontario. It was an older former farm home, rolling hills, well-kept lawn. Really a nice place. We were only there for the weekend, a wedding.

We checked in and put our bags in our room. It was nicely decorated, antiques – the whole works. My husband was acting strangely, while we were unpacking. He kept looking over his shoulder and was behaving very antsy. I asked him what the problem was and he told me that it was nothing. Forget it.

We grabbed a bite to eat and I was really tired at this point. I wanted to go back to our room and get some sleep, the wedding was the next day, at 11:00. My husband ordered a second coffee and asked for dessert. He never has a second cup of coffee after dinner and absolutely never eats dessert.

I asked him, again, what was bothering him. He repeated that it was nothing and to drop it. He really started to draw out the dessert and coffee. I was getting irritated and told him to finish up, that I wanted to go back and get some sleep. He got huffy but finished up his coffee – left most of his dessert.

When we arrived back at the B & B, he started fussing around the car. Picking at lint and brushing off his dash – he had it cleaned before we left. There was no lint and the dash was spotless. I was really irritated and went in without him.

I said good night to the owners, they were in the living room, watching television. I explained that my husband would be in, shortly.

I headed up to the room and changed into my pyjamas, I heard the door open downstairs and my husband’s voice. He was talking with the owners. I went about my night routine and had finished brushing my teeth when he finally came up stairs. He sat down on the bed. There were two lamps, on the night tables, on either side of us. I climbed into bed and turned off my lamp. I asked him if he was planning to come to bed or sit there all night. His behaviour was peeving me.

He snapped at me so I turned over and closed my eyes. He sat there for a while and then, I guess he realized he was tired as well. He went to the bathroom, did his routine and came back to the room. He sat on the bed again, fully clothed. I remember I was pretty mad at this point. I told him to get into his pyjamas and turn off the light.

He did 50% of what I asked, he put on his pyjamas but left the light on. I told him he had better tell me what his problem was or I was going to get really mad.

He told me that he felt uncomfortable as soon as we arrived. He said he felt like someone was watching him. He tried to laugh but I could tell he was upset. So, I told him to leave the light on but to please lie down and try to get some rest. He was probably overtired.

He laid down and I dozed off. Somewhere in the middle of the night, he shook me, hard.

The light was off – he was telling me to look near the window – there was a woman. I looked over but I couldn’t see anyone there. He insisted that a woman had been standing by the window, staring at us.

I told him, he must have been dreaming and switched on my lamp. There was nothing there but I did notice a definite smell of perfume in the air. It wasn’t mine. It was very flowery. I felt it was best not to say anything about it but he did. He asked me if I smelled something – like flowers. I lied and told him that I didn’t and in all honesty, I was getting a little spooked.

I said that if he felt that strange, to leave his lamp on. He told me that he had never turned it off. I’m pretty level headed but I have to admit, I was getting a little nervous and I was glad for the light from the lamp.

We tried to go back to sleep and really didn’t do much more than doze on and off. I was dozing when he poked me again – he said the smell was back and he looked scared. I think that scared me more than the perfume smell, which was back.

I tried to make light of it and tell him that the owners probably had those spray deodorizer things. Neither of us were convinced but we had to get some sleep. We tried again.

He didn’t have to poke me – I woke up because there was the distinct feeling of someone sitting on the end of the bed and my lamp was out. I didn’t turn it off. I knew I didn’t. My husband and I lay there, holding hands, tightly. He reached over and switched on the light. It felt like, whatever was at the end of the bed, got up, but slowly.

That was it, we knew were not going to get any more sleep. It was about 5:00 am so we stayed up. We decided we would either stay in a hotel that evening or head home. We put out our clothes for the wedding and packed up everything else. When we heard movement downstairs, we grabbed our suitcase and garment bags; my husband took them to the car and I went into the dining room. The lady of the house had coffee prepared and mentioned that we were up early. She asked if we had not slept well and seemed very concerned. I didn’t know what to say, so I just blamed it on our not being used to sleeping away from home. It was a lie but I just didn’t know how else to explain our behaviour.

We had paid for the entire weekend but told the owner that we would be heading back to our home, due to an unexpected business call. We told them we didn’t expect a refund as we had booked for the two nights.

After the wedding we did, in fact, drive home.

That should have been the end of things but it wasn’t. A few nights later, I was reading in our room when I smelled that same perfume. My husband walked into the room and I thought he was going to faint. He became very pale and his eyes were opened wide; he was looking around our room in a panic and I knew he smelled the perfume as well.

The smell disappeared and we prepared for bed, leaving one of our lamps on. We didn’t even discuss it, the lamp was left on.

We slept well that night, after the perfume incident. I think we convinced ourselves that it was just our imagination.

Then, later in the week, we were both awakened by something – the lamp was still on but near our window was a shadow. It looked like a woman. My husband flew out of bed and switched on the overhead light; the shadow disappeared but we both felt like something was in the room with us.

We had brought more than our luggage home.

This went on for a few weeks, the smell, the feeling like someone was watching but we didn’t see the shadow again. My husband and I were exhausted; we didn’t know what to do. This was our home and we felt, unsafe, in it.

I mentioned what was going on to a very good friend of the family and she suggested we call a medium. My husband was resistant at first; he didn’t want people thinking we were crazy but a few more nights of the perfume, with that uneasy feeling and he agreed to the medium.

I don’t know what we expected a medium would look like but she was a surprise. She was dressed like anyone you see in the mall, she was very nice, polite and respectful. We sat down and offered to tell her our story but she didn’t want to hear it. She asked if it would be okay if she took a solitary walk around the place. My husband and I went outside.

After about 10 minutes the medium came outside, she explained that we had an entity in the house. It didn’t feel like it meant us harm although the spirit seemed to be focused on my husband. She asked about the house and its history; we explained that we had never had a problem until the stay at the B&B.

The medium thought that perhaps my husband reminded the spirit of someone and she had attached herself to us.

She arranged to do a “cleansing”, she called it. There were three people and the medium, my husband and I were not present. The medium felt it would be easier to convince the spirit to leave, if my husband was not around.

Whatever they did, seems to have worked. It has been 3 months since the last incident.

(Names and places have been removed by request)