I am the founder since 1986 and I investigated more than 850 cases to date all over the world Canada, USA, Greece, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. I used to be one of the owners of the book of the dead the original copies that exist in the world Only 4 copies existed I obtained mine in Germany the book was destroyed by fire and I am glad it did.
Most of my paranormal investigations of the houses and historical places have connections to the parapsychology
That’s why I wrote my comprehensive review in my article the paranormal science A TO Z., you can find it in Google and in my blog.
You can also find it in my articles in LinkedIn.com under my name Steve Ramsey PhD
Let me know if you want me to share some of my Belshazzar investigation and stories that happened to me personally
or in the places that I investigated. Names and addresses will be kept for a private reason as people are afraid that they cannot sell their houses or for other reasons.
I can share with you the poltergeist activity that happened to my mother when I was 5 years old back in Baghdad, Iraq.
My dad told me about his father (my grandfather) with desert jinn, other and the weaving machine.
The one that happened to me in Baghdad when I was slapped and pushed by an unseen entity
Other case happened to me when I was Indio California when I was involved with the at of witchcraft and saw
The full manifestation of a demon and it was the scariest night of my life back in 1987-1988
The other story when I was pulled by a native Indian demon toward a graveyard in north Ontario –Moose factory
Canada. And many more stories that I investigated,
One case that I investigated in Canada, north of Edmonton was a fight between two human spirits. they were fighting over a rocking chair pulling the chair to left and to the right in a tug of war and I found that both of those old men died on that rocking chair. The first owner was an old Canadian man who fought in Germany and loved his wife, his wife passed away and he felt ill later and found dead on his rocking chair, the chair was sold and other family bought it to their grandfather, but again he too passed away on it in his sleep.
It took me some time to find out that this chair was the hot object and wasn’t the house at all, it took lots of prayers from myself and 2 pastors and for a few hours, we managed to let one spirit depart to the light from his chair but the first spirit stayed and refused to leave. Some people suggested it was a poltergeist but I don’t think so as both spirits belong to real people who lived and died and it wasn’t that of manifestation or active noisy energy created by a teenager in the house
the family sold the chair to get rid of the activities as the chair seen rocking by itself at early morning and also at the evening before and after sleep time . It scared the dog in the house that kept barking
My mother was tormented with a poltergeist for 2 years, pushed from the stairs and broke her elbow. I got slapped by an unseen force when I was
11 years old. My brother Sam was a sleep walker and he used to say that a voice tells him to go upstairs and jump from the top of the house
my mother saved him once he was standing on the edge of the house in Baghdad.
My 2 sisters in Baghdad had an encounter with what I think was the Virgin Mary back in 1963. They were given food, modest food
After praying and said prayers for her and asked her for food because they were so hungry and my father was in the political prison in Iraq
I used to ask them how they got the food; they used to tell me that the lady gave it to them. I used to think that they meant our neighbor
a good old Christian Iraq lady that used to give us some food. But one day that lady was away as I used to play with her son. My sisters were young
4 and 5 years old and they told me that they will pray and wait for the lady to give them food.
So I waited and followed my sister to the small altar that my mom put for Virgin Mary with candles on the corner, a rosary and a chair was in the modest small room that my mom used to pray and says her rosary.
My sisters prayed and asked I was watching from far away. After about 30 minutes I see a light
a bright beautiful light with the face of a white figure lady with a beautiful multi colorful aura around her face covered her head with white and golden Vail
my sisters were so happy and joyful they quickly picked up the dishes they had ready beside them and put if forward with an extended arms . The lady reached once on each plate and pulls her arm back and the food was on the plates. The food was very modest contains what we eat most
Rice with lentil mix with shredded lamb meat, thick yogurt with white honey in it.
This lasted for 90 days every Friday night. We moved out from that house. I told my mother about it and she fell on her knee beside the altar and starts to praying and crying and thanks God for his mercy. She continued to light candles in her memory until her last day in earth my mother passed away in 1997 in Baghdad. My sister’s still living in Baghdad.
STEVE RAMSEY, Ph.D.; OKOTOKS-ALBERTA -CANADA
Alberta
A Curious Case of a Haunted House
Written by John Savoie
When Fort Edmonton Park acquired a historic home in 1992, it was said to have come with a resident ghost. Dismissing the story as the work of an over-active imagination, park officials nestled the historic home on the busy 1905 Street in the heritage park and represented a reflection of the young, growing professional class in Edmonton.
Little was known about the original owners, The Firkins, who were originally from Illinois and had moved to Edmonton upon completion of the house in 1912. Park staff were more interested in showcasing the architecture and technology of the time instead of focusing in on previous occupants.
As the house was brought back to its former glory, workers said that they felt “strange” inside this particular house and noted that many of their tools would go misplaced, or moved on their own accord over night.
Park officials again, dismissed the occurrences and the feelings as nothing more than natural events and those of an over-active imagination.
As local folklore began to spread, as it often does, the historic home began to entertain different ideas about paranormal activity and that is when the Canadian production of Creepy Canada filmed a segment at The Firkin’s House in its first season. Producers had little to go on so they fabricated a story that consisted of a conjuring from a book of magic, a haunted ventriloquist’s doll and the ghost of a boy.
According to Park officials and historians the entire story is a work of fiction, but that didn’t stop curiosity seekers, mediums and psychics from visiting the home to seek out the spirit of the little boy and to see the haunted doll and book of magic.
In fact, the urban legend of the house were not only exaggerated, but other stories were added which included: a haunted teen boy, a ghostly red ball, a demented father and a murdered son, a tuberculosis family, a ghostly woman in white and on and on.
The Edmonton Paranormal Society conducted an investigation into the home and played Civil War era music to “induce paranormal activity”. This type of nonsense produced all sorts of orbs and self-serving evps to fill web pages with “evidence”. Its baffling why this would be entertained as The Firkin’s were born some 22 years after the Civil War had ended, and the house itself built in 1911 and 1912 in Edmonton, Alberta – a place we can, historically say, had no interest in the American Civil War and in an era where that type of music would have been forgotten.
Visitors continuously ask about the haunting and the artifacts associated with the haunting only to be disappointed with the interpreter’s answers. Staff who work in the home, who represent Mr. & Mrs. Firkins and entertain guests, never have reported any odd occurrences and do not believe the house to be haunted at all. They avoid having ghost hunters and paranormal groups from entering the building.
But, what is curious is that, visitors report a strange feeling emanating from the house, and some have even said they have seen ghostly apparitions. Are they simply feeding into their own imaginations? Or are they manifesting their own haunting? Or are they genuinely noticing something strange about this house?
Katie Karpetz grew up in the Firkin’s House before her parents had donated it to the Park and says that the story of the haunting is very inaccurate. According to Karpetz, the house is indeed haunted and her mother had experienced many occurrences within the home including the feeling of being hugged from behind, not only once, but twice, in as many days. She also says her mother witnessed a man sitting at their kitchen table who had suddenly vanished moments later.
What is interesting is that we have a history of a haunting, a fictionalized story, curiosity seekers, ghost hunters and then interpreters who spend more time in the house than anyone else all experiencing different activity, or lack thereof.
No one has reported being hugged or physically touched within the home or seeing a man, as reported in the original haunting that was not published in books or sensationalized on television.
The curiosity seekers and ghost hunters have all relayed on a fictionalized background story which has fed there own interpretation of the haunting. They report the ghost of a boy, a teen and a haunted doll. Are they manifesting their own haunting? Or are they merely fitting what they have heard into their own narrative?
The Park does not mind the attention during the Halloween Season, but have dismissed a lot of the stories and reported occurrences as a result of over-active imaginations.
As for the house, history tells us it had four owners, The original Firkin Family, Professor Newton of the University of Alberta, Dr. Strickland, another Professor at the University and finally the Karpetz Family. No one had died within the house leaving the Dead Person Hypothesis invalid in this case. The house is simply, a regular, old house.
But what did the Karpetz family experience and why did these occurrences not transfer over to the new location?
The answer may be, that the house was moved. It wasn’t the house that was haunted, but rather the land.
The original house sat on a forested lot along Saskatchewan Drive overlooking the Saskatchewan River. Today, many houses line the street and perhaps, just one of them is experiencing a haunting.
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Alberta
Drumheller Private Home Haunting
“I was living in an older home (1940’s approx.)with my husband and two year old. I had heard footsteps before when I was in the basement walking across the floor (convincing enough that I would call out greeting to my husband who I thought came home un-expectedly)but there would be no one there. We had a separate dining room with wooden bi-fold doors that had louvers in the top half. Looking straight on you could not see through but from below had a clear view upwards. My son, who was about two years old, was standing right beside the doors, staring intently up through the louvers. He was so intent I asked what he was looking at.”The man” he replied. I nearly had a heart attack as we were alone in the house! I ran and grabbed him and stood with the front door open, ready to run. I listened, called out, but it seemed nothing was there. I knew all the doors in the house had been locked and I could see the only other exit. That door was still locked. After about 15 minutes I felt silly and told my son to wait on the step and I went to investigate. Of course no one was there. When questioned my son said a man was standing there. Sometime before this happened I had a strange conversation with my son. He was eating his lunch and out of the blue, he said matter of fact-ly “I used to be a brick layer.” Puzzled I questioned him on it but he wouldn’t say anymore. I even asked if he knew what a brick layer was. He would just kind of shrug and munch on his sandwich. He was only two but was quite the chatterbox, except for this time. If it was something he saw in town or on TV he would talked all about it. For the life of me I could not figure out how he would have even heard of a brick layer, as it is very uncommon to even see someone in our town building with bricks. Despite questioning he would say no more, it was like he didn’t recall even saying it. It was spooky.I don’t know if the two things are related but both events were creepy.”
Our thanks goes out to the witness for sharing this experience with us. It takes much courage to do so and we appreciate it. If you have had a similar experience, or have experienced something that you believe may be a haunting in Canada please contact us ; DRSTEVERAMSEY@GMAIL.COM
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Grande Prairie Apparition
Grande Prairie is a city in northwest Alberta, Canada within the southern portion of an area known as Peace River Country. It is located at the intersection of Highway 43 and Highway 40, approximately 456 km northwest of Edmonton
The witness writes:
In August of 1986 I was sent to our Grande Prairie office to work for three weeks while the usual staff member was on holidays. I stayed in his home during the family’s absence. There was also a border away but expected back in the next few days, who was described to me as a young man with blond hair. This was an early “open design house” and you could see from one end to the other, with a half horizontal wall in the kitchen area. On this particular day, around 5pm, I was sitting in the living room area having supper and watching TV. I could feel someone watching me and looked up into the kitchen area, which was about 20 feet away. I saw a young man with blond hair and I recall that he was wearing a jade green golf shirt. As he was standing in front of the stove, I could only see him from the waist up and I remember that he had a blank expression on his face. Thinking that he was the expected border, I said a cheery “Hello there”, at which point the young man vanished. Of course I was quite shocked but I didn’t feel any fear and didn’t see him again. The border did arrive a few days later, followed by the family in two weeks. I felt I couldn’t mention what I had seen to the homeowner as I didn’t want to frighten the family but I have often wondered who this young man and his history.
I felt that this young man likely had at some point lived in the house, which had been sold to my co-worker a couple of years previously. I think he was just wondering who I was. I didn’t feel any threat or sense of him being back during my remaining two weeks in Grande Prairie although I must say that I did leave the lights on overnight from that time on!
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Alberta
Fort Saskatchewan Phantom Dog
We received the following report in June 2013, but the events described occurred in 1992.
“In 1992, the night of the Spring Equinox (March 20th) around 11:30 pm I got a call from my best friend asking me to come pick her up from Fort Saskatchewan (we live in Edmonton) from her mother’s house where she had just finished babysitting her younger sisters. Being late winter it was a cold night but clear and nothing interesting happened until I got within a couple blocks of the house. Stopped at a stop sign, trying to remember which way to turn, I’d only been to the house once before, suddenly there was what sounded like a big dog started to bay close by, really close by but I couldn’t see any dog. It startled me but didn’t scare me and I turned left and continued on. Not half a block later the dog bayed again, sounding like it was right beside my moving car. I didn’t hit the brakes but I checked side and review mirrors but didn’t see anything. Every few minutes the baying would sound again, always near the car as I circled around the neighbourhood trying to find the house.I have owned and do own dogs now and know when it’s the same dog baying/barking/howling verses different dogs so I know it was the same dog baying as would any long time dog owner.Eventually I found the house, pulled to the curb just as my friend came sprinting down the front walk, jumped into the car and slammed the door. “Did you see it?” She had asked me.”See what?”Just like a in a horror movie the baying came again but this time it sounded like it was by the right front corner of her mom’s house.”That (swear word) dog!”By this time I’m freaked out and she’s freaked out so I pulled away as I say no and explain happened.Meanwhile, while she’s waiting for me to get there and watching out the front window of the house, she’s hearing the dog baying and it sounds like it’s moving back and forth from the back of the house to one side of the house to the other. Then she sees me drive past, starts to open the front door, the dog bays from the side of the house closest to the door so she decides to stay inside and wait for me to come back. Worried that when I finally stop that it will attack one of us, she opened the inside door (the house has a heavy wooden door and a screen door), locks the knob lock and waits with one hand on the heavy inside door doorknob and the other on the latch for the screen door. That way, the baying sounds louder and she can hear the sound of the ice crust (that forms on top of snow) cracking as the dog walked over it at the side of the house nearest her but never sees it. When I pull up, she quickly opens the screen door, shuts the heavy door and runs for the car.Neither of us ever saw the dog but the baying followed us until we turned onto Highway 21. Next day she phoned her mom, who slept through the whole thing and there were no dog prints anywhere on the property.
I have tried to learn more about this but haven’t been successful at all. About four years later my husband and I drove out there the night of the Spring Equinox and experienced the same baying that seemed to stay right with his truck but never saw a dog. He did pull over by a school, got out and looked around and when the baying came at that time it sounded like it was coming from the empty school field but the moon was out and there was no dog in the field. Again it followed us until we turned onto Highway 21 and headed back to Edmonton.My husband, who is a skeptic has refused to go back during subsequent Spring Equinoxes and I’m too weirded out to go alone and my friend’s mother has since moved away from Fort Saskatchewan and my friend and I have never had a chance to return so I have no idea if it’s still going on.A part of me wants to believe that it was just two regular dogs that just happen to be running lose in the middle of the night on two separate Spring Equinoxes and for whatever reason none of the three of us could spot them but that explanation just doesn’t sit right with me, too much of a coincidence I guess. So has anyone else ever heard of a phantom dog in Fort Saskatchewan? Is it only during the Spring Equinox or does it happen at any other time?”
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Alberta
The Disappearing Child
We received the following report in 2013, but the events described occurred in the early 1990s
I worked in a Daycare and had been there for a few years. We had a reading area that had a large purple or pink blanket the kids would sit on while we read to them in this book center area. We worked in groups, each care giver had a certain amount of children in her group. On this day my friend and I brought our groups together. After reading we let the children goof off playing under the blanket. When it was time to go to another center all the children came from under the blanket, except one. We did a head count and all the children were accounted for at the next center, my friend and I were confused, we both walked towards the blanket and wondered who/how we missed someone. When we got about 3 feet from the blanket, it dropped flat to the floor…… my friend looked at me and tears started coming from her eyes. I was not scared just stunned. No doubt it was child playing under there with the other children. That experience is something I will never forget.
The Daycare was in a church in Lethbridge at the time this happened, I have read that in that location, it was not always the same building but it was always a place where groups of children for choirs and other groups have been going for years.I have never read about any deaths there but being a church still to this day makes me wonder if this child’s funeral was there or if he/she ever spent time at that address while alive.
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Alberta
Hardisty Helpful Spirit
“At a friends house we were having an outdoor potluck one evening and almost instantly I felt something was watching us. There were about 10 of us there, but this was a different presence. As I sat down in the lawnchair, out of the corner of my eye I noticed an arm reaching down for something right next to me, but when i looked up there was nobody there. I brushed this off. Later I went into the house to use the facilities and had two experiences back to back. First I was waiting in line for the bathroom to find out the feet shadows in the light under the door and the rattling of the door knob was in fact “nobody”. Then as I was leaving the bathroom I saw a shadow shape of a short stature man come zipping down the stairs in the living room to my left and straight through the wall ahead of him and was gone. I ran out of the house, and didn’t want to upset anybody so I asked my friend, the owner of the house later, and she knew all about him, say he follows her around and cleans up after her. Shutting cabinets and doors she leaves ajar. Closing the clothes dryer when she is done with it, etc. My friend and this ghost seem to live in harmony together. The house was built in 1915.”
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Alberta
Lethbridge Private Residence
The witness writes:
“We live in a house built in the early 1900s. Before i had moved in my boyfriend said he could sense things, he saw a can levitate off a table and could hear chains being dragged upstairs. When i moved in we had a room in the basement and many things would happen the light would turn on and off, the door i left open would be closed when i returned. I would be alone and hear someone walking around upstairs. I moved away for work and we are renovating the house and it has stirred up more occurrences. When talking on the phone i could hear another whispered voice in the background talking it would say hi and when we replied he would say leave us. We asked there is more than one of you here and it said yes. If we did not reply to his greetings he would bang the walls. I was getting ready in the bathroom for a wedding and the whispered voice said my name loudly. I have seen pebbles being thrown from the bedroom to the kitchen. While painting at night i saw a bright orb and it wasn’t headlights or another light. The event that stays with me the most is when i was at the house alone and i felt the air was very heavy i decided i didn’t want to be in the house so i sat in the porch. While sitting there my right leg got extremely cold as if someone was sitting beside me. I was scared so i sat there and my whole right side was cold but not like the cold you feel at winter but a deep frozen feeling. I then decided to reside in my car until someone came home. There are many events that happen at this house we have tried to capture the whispered man but have come up with nothing. My boyfriend has taken photos and gotten some orbs. There is a lot of activity in this house. I believe its an intelligent spirit and a woman or girl. My boyfriend heard a female screaming.”
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Alberta
Concordia University College of Alberta
The witness writes:
“First night on the work site as a security officer, at the Concordia university college campus, being given the walking tour by a male veteran cleaning staff member. The oldest part of the main building was having each door checked in an upper level with small offices for instructors/professors. The area was vacant and unlit except for the cleaner and I. No windows or doors were open, so there was no opportunity for wind or sudden shift in air pressure. I reached for a door handle on one office, the cleaner was three doors down, no strings or filament were attached, no one was present in the office on the other side. The door and the handle moved and rattled very loudly and was witnessed by both of us. I was clean, sober, and rested at the time of the event. This event did not occur the same again but the entire section of the oldest part of the building was patrolled with care on the inside, and sometimes doors that were hex-key locked were discovered opened/unlocked after they had been secured. Other buildings on the property were “normal”, and being outside the specific part of the main building brought a sense of great relief. The affected area was patrolled at various hours and remained vacant of campus staff. In defiance, I would go to a music room and play a piano loudly for about an hour just to see what would happen next.
Some research suggested that there was a woman who had died on the premises decades prior in a fire (?) but this has been unconfirmed. Other day-time staff admitted that other persons had met unfortunate ends on the property. In a rational pursuit, other security staff from other sites were invited to participate in the investigation, and a security dog was taken on the rounds to detect anything that would otherwise go unnoticed. In each instance, nothing further was noticeably detected, but other security company staff confirmed unexplained phenomena at all different hours.”
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A Haunting In Drumheller
The witness writes:
“I’m from a small town of Drumheller AB, which was built to facilitate coal mining in the early 1900, with the installation of the CN rail through the area.The town was diverse with international settlers coming to find a better life, and there is thought to be many spirits present through the area due to the dangerous work and subsequent deaths as well as violent deaths in two particular mine sites. (there were a total of 129 mines in area during operative years)
My story is not about the above areas, just wanted to let you know the prospect for paranormal investigations and history of town.
I worked in a drug store for over 11 years through school and while home from university, this drug store was about 1 block from historic main street (interestingly all buildings down main street have interlocking underground tunnels that were used for gambling during prohibition years).
Everyone I worked with was terrified of the basement, and I heard a number of stories upon working there. I am a skeptic but also a firm believer in energies outside the human form. I would hang out in the dark and wait for things to happen, and one day it did without me knowing.
I went to grab some under stock in the furthest corner, and saw a man decked out in cowboy attire. Our bosses office was in the centre of the far back wall in the basement and he was also mayor at the time, so there would be a lot of people coming and going, so i did not find this man in the far corner unusual, just thought he was a new visit that got lost among the stock piles.
I asked if he was looking for Paul, he did not answer but looked and smiled and I rushedly pointed out where it was and grabbed my item to take to the waiting customer. He tipped his hat towards me and carried on.
I asked Paul the next time I came down if the man found him, he had no idea what I was talking about, I described him and he looked at me like I was crazy. I thought he was messing around with me.
I asked the girl that works in the basement receiving if she had seen him, she hadn’t and said that I had seen the ghost she had seen a number of times, I wanted to believe her so badly, but thought they were all messing with me.
A few years later the girl downstairs had found a old Polaroid in the basement and took a pic of another worker eating soup to see if it worked.
I came down and they were all marveling at the ghost pic, I was in there like a dirty shirt….. there was a white mist that perfectly resembled a face with a cowboy hat and a smoke out of the mouth!!!!!! I couldn’t even process the picture at first. The steam from the soup perfectly made out that image (even at fist glance it was clear), you could hardly even see the girl eating the soup.
Sadly this is the only notable paranormal experience I have had (that I could not disprove in some way), not for lack of trying however!!!!!
Thank you so much hosting your website, It very informational and an objective way of educating on the paranormal :)”
In further correspondence the witness states:
“Regarding the cowboy picture, I asked around to the older employees and they kind of had a little fun with me, being non believers, all I was able to find out was that it was a grocery store when first built (late 50s’ish), not sure who owned by, but could dig a bit more into town docs to figure that out. I asked about a year ago about the picture and the photographer did not know where it was, but said she would not have thrown it out, so is a possibility if it turns up I could scan it to you.”
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Alberta Townhouse Haunting
The following report was received in July 2011, but the events described are not current. Our thanks go out to the witness for sharing these experiences with us. Hopefully others who have experienced or are currently experiencing similar things can take comfort in knowing they are not alone.
“My family and I lived in a townhouse for 13 years in NW Edmonton. When my sister was 13 she got a Ouija board for her birthday. Her and her friends went to the basement where they lit candles, turned the lights off and played with the board. Myself and my younger sister watched. Apparently the board moved by itself but we all thought it was one of my sisters friends. I don’t know when all of this stuff starting happening but from what I can remember this seems to be the reason why it all happened.
My sisters and I hated the basement it was so creepy. It always felt like someone was watching you. We would run up and down the stairs as quickly as we could. We got the same feeling in the upstairs hallway and stairway. One time I was reading a book in my sisters room and I heard clapping coming from the closet. I ran out of there as fast as I could!
After that it was mostly just feeling like someone was always watching you until my sister got pregnant and moved back in with us. We took a picture of her one time and there was a mist figure in the corner. Under closer inspection it looked like a man’s face and a hand reaching out for her, unfortunately at the time we had a crappy computer and thats where we had the picture stored. We never had it developed and the computer ended up crashing a year or so later.
At Christmas time my mom heard one of her bells that was on the mantle ring, she thought that was her aunt who had recently passed away.
The craziest event that happened to me was seeing a shadow figure. One morning as I was getting ready for school, I was sitting on the couch and the tv was turned off. I look up at the tv and in the reflection see a shadow figure walk right behind me towards the kitchen (where the basement door was) At that time I didn’t feel scared just like “wow did I just see that?”
At a different time, in the morning before school again, I peeped open the kitchen blinds to see what the weather was like and I seen a man figure all dressed in black run through our yard. It scared me so bad! I’m not sure if that was a spirit or an actual person but it definitely freaked me out. So all these different events happened over 13 years. No exact time period. We don’t live there anymore and haven’t for about 5 years. I still get the heebee jeebees just thinking about that place and I don’t think I would want to go back.
Oh I should also mention the fact that my sister says her son, (the one she was pregnant with at the time of the mist picture) has had some weird experiences saying he sees “people” sometimes, like people in his bed or his basement. He’s lived in a couple of different houses and he has seen things at each place. Seems like a weird connection!”
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Alberta
The Lancaster is a historic office building in downtown Calgary, and home to many different companies. The following is an account of ghostly activity experienced within the building. The witness writes:
“In the Lancaster Building in downtown Calgary I encountered 3 different spirits while working as a security officer. One seemed to be of a child, not threatening, just very curious, and I encountered it almost every time I was in the building. Another I encountered a few times, and it seemed like a prankster. It enjoyed scaring me. Things like moving chairs, and trash cans. The third one I encountered only once, thankfully. He was very angry, and seemed to be a lot more powerful then the other two. I felt him as soon as I walked onto the floor, and after I did sense him, I have yet to step foot back into the building in close to 9 years.
My experiences in the Lancaster Building were varied and interesting to say the least. These all occurred during the early 2000s as I worked security for the entire complex in down town Calgary. As I stated above, I encountered at least 3 different spirits during my time there. The first was what I felt was a little girl. She was never anything more then curious. She seemed to follow behind me every time I was in the building doing my rounds each night. She was always there, expect the one time I encountered the angry spirit.
The second spirit I think I encountered was a prankster. He liked picking up trash cans, and dropping them to scare the crap out of me. He also moved chairs and rustled papers on desks and the like. I had maybe 6 or 8 dealings with this guy, none evil or terrifying. The little girl didn’t appear to have any issues of this spirit. This spirit only even seemed to show up on the 5th and 8th floors. He might have been other places, but I never realized it.
The third spirit I only ever encountered once, and for that, I am thankful. It was on the 8th floor one night, and as I stepped off the service elevator at the rear of the building, the entire floor was cold, and something felt angry. As I walked down the halfway rattling the door knobs, and making sure the bathrooms were clear and the lights were off, the angry feeling kept getting more pronounced. As I got to the corner of the hallway in front of the elevators, I slowed down, and for some reason I put my arm out in front of me. I walked forward, and a terrible cold came over my hand. When I walked forward, the cold went up my arm slowly, until about my elbow, then my fingers started to warm up. I continued to walk forward as I was almost done my rounds of the building for the night, then when my radio got into the cold area I felt, it crackled and said something, but I couldn’t make it out. It was at this point, I turned around, and ran for the stairs. I bounded down the stairs as fast as I could, and ran out into the street and have yet to step foot back in the building, day or night.
The Lancaster Building has a few strange things happening in it. Things from lights flickering, or turning on and off at random, to an elevator that no matter how many people have looked at it and tried to repair it, but it still opens on the first floor, then goes to the second floor, then to the third floor, then back to the first floor, all night long, even though it has been locked out, and should not be able to be moved at all. The building is over a century old, so the wiring could be the cause for the lights behaving strangely. The elevators are old as well, but as I said, from what I was told, many elevator mechanics have tried to fix it, but it still goes up and down, stopping on those 3 floors, and opening its doors, before it moves off to the next.”
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Alberta
Gateway Entertainment Centre Edmonton
“While working at Gateway Entertainment Center me and at least 5 co-workers picked up on the presence of more than one entity in the building. They weren’t menacing or harmful, just sort of there. Some nights when you closed you would hear your name being called or bowling balls rolling across the floor when the only other person in the building was sitting right in front of you.
I worked in the kitchen there and recall a day when the ghost(s) was really messing with me and my manager. I sat down to eat my dinner and not even a minute later felt as if my chair had been kicked out from underneath me. It flew at least 5 ft! Later, my manager had set her cell phone on a counter and headed into the dish pit, and as she was doing dishes she looked into the water only to see her phone at the bottom of the sink! I watched her set it down and there was no explanation as to how it got there.
That same night a bucket was thrown at my manager, I was grabbed fairly hard on my hip, and we heard footsteps and felt the vibrations as one or two people ran through the kitchen and out the back door. These are just our experiences.
Other staff members have also had thier own experiences with the ghosts including seeing shadows, laughter, cold spots, touching and usually when everyone is sitting in the bar area or comedy factory. Usually when you ask them to stop they do, for at least a few days. They seem to like pranking people or doing things as if to say “I’m still here.”
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Alberta
The home owner writes:
“Our house is haunted. Since moving in there have been so many things happen there would not be enough space to write them all here. Just a few examples are.. one day while cutting the grass, I noticed a man walk through our hedge. The funny thing was there wasn’t a space to walk through there and there shouldn’t have been a man. That year that particular spot in the hedge died. When I talked to someone who used to visit here as a child, he was describing the yard as it used to be, and where the hedge had died, was the direct path to where their barn used to sit. When my God-daughter was 1, she offered one of her cookies to someone on the couch. However there wasn’t anyone on the couch. A few days after we moved in, my sister phoned me crying (she lives in Edmonton) she had a dream that a little girl wanted us to rip up the floor in our upstairs hallway. The really weird thing was I had had the same dream. My son and I actually took out some of the floor boards but realistically couldn’t rip up the entire floor. We didn’t really find anything but a small child’s drawing of 2 stick figures, one with the name Violet. I could go on and on, but you can probably get the picture from this. Most of this is just fairly normal around here, but lately I hear a lot of babies crying. That really bothers me, and a lady who lived here previously, very reluctantly admitted to our neighbor that she often heard babies crying. Before I go to bed at night I say “ok everyone out, no ones allowed in here while I am trying to sleep” I told my daughter in law to do the same thing in the yellow room. This is where a lot of stuff seems to originate from.
I think there is an older gentleman and a little girl hereWe recently found out that people have actually fled this house in terror. I find that rather bizarre. There is no sense of anything harmful here to us at all. I think this may be because we take great pride in our ownership here. We have done a lot of painting and general maintenance and people always comment how much better kept the place is. Our house is close to 90 years old. I think whoever is here had the same pride in ownership.”
Alberta
Ghostly Man In Northern Alberta
We received the following report in May 2010, however both events occurred years before in the Fall.
” It happened to me personally twice. There is an old abandoned camp area north of High Level, Alberta, about 23 km on the east side of the highway. I had been working in the area and after a long day of work in Red Earth and I was driving out. I was starting to fall asleep as i got on the highway and it was late so i looked for a spot where i could pull over to sleep. I found the old camp and pulled in. You could see that it was an old construction or oilfield camp of some sort by the trail type of openings and lanes through the trees. I slept for about 4 hours and then for some reason woke up. when i sat up from the seat and looked out the window, it was dark. Not just dark as you see it, but, it felt dark ( don’t have any other way of describing it).
I got out to relieve myself and felt like i was being watched. I was uneasy to say the least because there are some very big bears up there. I had done my morning thing and was about to get back in the truck when this guy came out of nowhere yelling at me. He was about 5’10” blond and in his 40’s. he was wearing a jean jacket and blue jeans carrying a black briefcase. This guy was right up in my face immediately asking what i was doing there and began a search of what was in the back of the pick up.
He kept asking questions over and over for about two or three minutes while he was trying to go through my truck. At first i felt scared but as this little pipsqueak of a guy got under my skin i got mad, turned to close the truck door and as it slammed i turned back and faced an open clearing. I mean real open, there was no one there. I completely circled the truck in case he was hiding on the other side looked underneath and in the box. I was alone. what i did notice was that the tall grass all around was still dew coated. None of the grass around the truck had any of the dew knocked off by someone walking through it. I looked, for a few minutes, shrugged it off and got in and drove away.
About seven years later i was with my brother in law and his little brother going hunting. It was late and we had driven from Calgary (16 hours south) so we pulled in and slept the night. Same thing. I don’t know what wakes me up, so, I get up to relieve myself. I am feeling uneasy as i unzip the tent there is this guy standing just outside, the same guy. I am completely freaked out as he starts yelling and asking what i am doing and making a commotion. It wakes my in laws and they get up to see what’s going on while I’m trying to keep the guy from searching the truck. I really have to go, and my brother in law is dealing with him and the guy is now hassling his little brother. I was watching from the other side of the pick up and as the guy starts to lift the tarps in the back of the truck. My brother in law got mad and turned to go get his gun in the tent to scare this guy off. His little brother was following him and i looked down from the guy for a second to zip up and when i looked back he was gone.
All of us were freaked that the guy just disappeared.
I told my brother in laws about my prior experience and they laughed when i said I think, he is a ghost. I have always told this story as my one and only ghost story. It has impacted myself enough to remember things like how the guy was dressed and how both times when he starts to search and gets up on you he doesn’t bend to put down his briefcase it just is not in his hands. The way he disappears is the same too, as soon as someone got mad he is gone and there is no indication of where he came from and which way he left. It happened both times, just before sunrise, when the sky is still dark and you kind of just notice that the sky is light right after he disappears. It’s a noticeable feeling from before you see him it feels heavy and scary and then after he is gone it feels different like something happened, but you don’t know what.”
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Alberta
Red Deer Poltergeist Phenomena
We received the following report of what may be described as a combination of old hag syndrome, and poltergeist-like activity in February 2010. The exact town name has been removed for privacy sake, but it is very near to Red Deer.
“I was living in a basement suite near Red Deer. Over a series of weeks a number of strange things happened in my apartment. I was settling in to bed one night and thought I saw something move past my door. I didn’t think much of it and went to sleep. Later that night I woke up and could feel something moving on top of my covers. I lived alone and had no pets so I tried to write it off as lucid dreaming. Then suddenly there was a large weight on my chest and I couldn’t breathe or move, after a brief panic I said loudly “leave me alone” and the feeling went away. Over the next few weeks there were unexplained power outages or lights turning on and off, the phone would ring and only static was on the other end. I tried to ignore these events and chalked it up to living in an old house. One morning I woke up and all of the food had been removed from my fridge and placed on the counter. After that a series of dead birds appeared on my front step ranging in size from sparrow to grouse. All of which the wild animals in the neighbourhood were totally disinterested in. Some of the indoor events I think could be chalked up to sleep walking or night terrors, I don’t have a history of those though.”
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Alberta
Lethbridge Disembodied Voices and Other Strange Events
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We received the following eerie report in January 2010. It has been slightly edited for grammar, and clarity. At the time of this entry these events are current, and ongoing.
“We live in an old house that was built in 1912. There was a woman who died in it, but that’s all we know about its history. Since moving in I have heard whispering, calling my name (mimicking my husbands voice) when there is no one in the house other than me and my three year old. Mimicking my voice when I have not been home, and no we are not just hearing voices.
Our baby wakes up crying in the night in the house. There is very cold air in the bathroom where there are no windows and no draft. There is a feeling of being watched when this cold air is apparent.
There is thumping on the stairs..like a suitcase being hauled up or down. An adult figure has been seen walking past the bedroom door when my husband can hear me clearly talking downsatirs. My dog will growl at nothing …then I would feel cold air on my face when I would ask the ask my dog to stop growling.
Magnets and all the papers they are holding will fall off of the fridge door all at once for no reason. On two separate occasions there has been banging in the basement. It sounded like a small explosion. When we went down to investigate, but found nothing. It wasn’t the pipes. We try to forget this is happening until something else happens and then we are unnerved for a few days.”
Updated March 2010
Our affiliate group in Alberta, Other Side Investigations paid an in person visit and did some extensive historical background research on the home. While they did not experience any apparitions or personally see anything else that was out of the ordinary they did capture some interesting video and audio. A full write-up including the clips can be accessed via this link to the Other Side Investigations website.
Our thanks go out to the witnesses, and Doug and Melissa who will continue to follow-up with this family.
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Alberta
Phantom Hitchhiker Millet Alberta
The witness indicates the following occurred outside of Millet on highway 2a before Pipestone creek southbound in December around 12:30 am
“It was snowing late at night, three of us in a truck traveling on Highway 2a going to Hobbema from Edmonton. Hardly any traffic, before Pipestone creek we saw a hitchhiker on the right. As he came closer we could see him clearly, He had on a buckskin jacket with fringes, a white t-shirt and blue jeans.He had shoulder length light-brown hair, possibly Metis,with straight white teeth. As he got closer he was see-thru…still with his thumb out. As we passed him he Jumped out in front of the truck. Mouth open an screaming.We swerved to avoid hitting him an stopped. We exited the truck to investigate. We saw no one. With fresh snow falling we only saw our tire tracks our own footprints an no other tracks or footprints as if there had been no hitchhiker.”
Our thanks to the witness for sharing this experience with us. Our affiliate group in Alberta is currently looking into this report. Have you experienced something that you think might be paranormal in Alberta? Can you add any further information to this report? If so please do contact us at admin@psican.org Your privacy will be protected, and confidentiality is assured.
Update November 2013:
“I experienced a very similar situation north of millet on hwy 625 east of Beaumont at 4:30am on my way home from work in the spring of this year 2013 . I was going east on hwy 625 approx 3kms east of beaumount when I saw someone walking west hitchhiking when I got close he just leapt at my truck screaming I swerved to miss him then stopped to say something to him but there was no one there . I got a little freaked out and call the beaumount rcmp to tell them what had happened . I’ve travelled this hiway everyday back and fourth work and have never seen him again since. the description in the phantom hitchhiker millet Alberta story is almost a match to a tee but the guy I saw had a brown hooded jacket on.”
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Alberta
Calgary’s Suitor House dates back to 1907, and is another great example of turn of the 20th century architecture that has been preserved. The house originally belonged to a city alderman by the name of Robert Suitor (hence the name of the house) Apparently as the story goes the house has seen tragedy, particularly when a railroad employee who lived in the house was killed accidentally. His wife mourned his death terribly, and died herself shortly afterwards.
It could be the widow who still haunts this location? Witnesses have reported seeing the apparition of a woman in a long white dress and long black hair. Electrical disturbances are also associated with this haunting.
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The Cross House
The Cross House also known as The Rouge Restaurant (located in Calgary) is a completely restored Victorian era home that is a designated heritage site. The house was originally built by A.E. Cross a very well known figure in Alberta history (he assisted in establishing the Calgary Stampede). It is not Mr Cross however that is said to be haunting his old house, but the spirit of his wife Helen. Apparently she has been sighted sitting by a bay window. There has also been mild poltergeist activity reported at the house.
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Deane House of Calgary has a reputation for being very haunted. Located at Fort Calgary the building is a designated historic site. R. Burton Deane, superintendent of the North West Mounted Police, commissioned the house to be built in 1906 but his wife died before they were able to move in. The building was used as a boarding house, and now houses a restaurant. The site has seen several tragedies particularly during its time as a boarding house in the 1920s, and the hauntings have been tied to that era in the buildings history. Apparitions, ghostly laughter and moving objects have been reported by staff and visitors to Deane House.
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The Macdonald Hotel is located in Edmonton. It was built in 1915 in the tradition of the
grand railway hotels and in the “Canadian chateau” style. The hotel is named after after Sir John A. MacDonald, and is nicknamed by locals as the “Mac.” The reported hauntings here are rather unusual in that they involve what is described as the the sounds of a phantom horse and carriage. What makes this really odd is that these sounds are heard in the hallway of the top floor!
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Alberta
The maternity ward of Grace Hospital in Calgary is rumored to be haunted by the spirit of Maudine Riley (Maude Keen Riley). As the story goes Maudine’s family owned the land that the hospital was eventually built on. Tragically Maudine died while giving birth. Her baby did not survive the birth either. The sad figure of her spirit is said to appear in the maternity ward, and when seen she is reportedly holding her baby.
Hospitals are the scene of a wide array of human emotions from great joy to great anguish, which is why many people believe they are often reportedly haunted. However, is it really Maudine or Maud (Keen) Riley who haunts?
Here is a brief biography, the research has kindly been provided by John Savoie:
“Maude (Keen) Riley grew up in Perth County, Ontario and became a teacher through the Ontario Normal School. Upon gaining her certification, she accepted a position to teach at Nose Creek School in Calgary in 1903. In 1907, she married Harold Riley and they had three children. One of the births was so close to mortality for both mother and child that it is said Maude made a promise that she would always look after the wellbeing of children and their families. (Is this the reason for the myth?)
Maude’s first community involvement was with the Local Council of Women along with human rights activists such as Emily Murphy and Henrietta Muir Edwards, This group successfully lobbied for many important changes including dower rights for women and in 1916 the right for women to vote. Maude gained valuable experience related to activism with this group, and then went on to be involved with over 30 organizations within Alberta including the Alberta Federation of Women, Calgary Playground Association, Canadian Council on Child Welfare, and Foothills Provincial General Hospital Board.
Her work around women’s rights and particularly children’s rights was unwavering and holistic, investigating everything from proper nutrition to moral decency. As Maude was fond of saying, “Children should be well born, well treated, well housed, well fed, and well taught”. She showed great determination as she consistently lobbied politicians until they gave concessions for her causes, from milk pasteurization, to free hospitalization for maternity, to family courts and family allowances so children would be well cared for.
In 1918 Maude helped found the Calgary Child Welfare Society, which became the Alberta Council on Child and Family Welfare in 1923. This would be her crowning achievement, resulting in significant improvements to the standard of care available to Alberta children and families. She ran unchallenged as its president from 1923 to 1962. One of her later successes was campaigning for family courts, so youth could be tried separately from adults. Many of the social services now taken for granted in Alberta were first instituted through Maude Riley’s perseverance.
Maude Riley passed away in 1962, months before she was to receive an honorary doctorate degree of laws from the University of Alberta. She is seen as one of the pioneers of social work in Alberta.”
While there is no doubt that the hospital has a good fair share of haunting reports (some far more compelling than others) It is doubtful as evidenced above that its is Maude/Maudine who haunts.
Our thanks to John Savoie and Glenbow archives for providing research and adding to this article.
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Alberta
Cold Lake Ghosts
The following was sent in by one of our readers:
“I’m not sure if “he” is gone yet, we live on a military base and he comes back every Spring and Fall. These PMQs were built in the 50’s, and he seems very young. I’m not afraid, but I do want him to move on.
He spoke to me in my bedroom, last spring, I was almost asleep and he said “excuse me miss”, it scared me at first, but it was only because we also had another ghost which I hope doesnt return, because he was mean and scared me.
I think that one was more drawn to the basement though, and I went down and just talked to him and said he had to leave and I wasn’t going anywhere. I haven’t felt scared since so I think he is gone. I’m not sure if my young “gentleman” is gone though.
I went to go let the dog in at the back door and when I lifted my hand to open the screen door, the outside light turned off by itself. Two weeks prior, my bf and his friend saw a person go to the bathroom and then upstairs, I was the only person in the house and I hadnt moved off the couch!”
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Alberta
Private Residence Calgary
“A few years ago I was sleeping in a friends basement and I woke up in the middle of the night, very cold. I saw that the window was wide open and snow was blowing inside the room. I started to get up to close it when a big black figure came into the room and around to my bedside. It was standing over me and I was pinching and slapping myself, thinking I had to be sleeping, even though I felt totally awake. When I tried to stand up it grabbed my arm and I became totally paralyzed. I tried to scream and move but I couldn’t.
Then the name “Mary Magdalene” popped into my head and started repeating constantly, until I relaxed and fell back asleep. (prior to this, I’d never heard that name before, as I had very little religious knowledge). The next morning I had scratches on my stomach and what looked like rug burn on my arm.
Last month I was sleeping at home (my husband, dog and cat in the room) when my dog started to back in the middle of the night. I sat up to quiet her when the same black figure came into the room, around to my side of the bed and as I tried to scream it pushed on my chest and I fell back to the bed. Like the first time, I was paralyzed, couldn’t move or scream and could barely breath. I could hear my dog barking and my husband quieting her, but I couldn’t call to him.
I remember thinking I was going to die and within a second I was standing in a field and my dog (who passed almost a year to the date)ran at me and I scooped her in my arms. Right away I felt safe and as she licked my chin I could hear her telling me I was okay now. We’ve had numerous crazy things happen around here, but this is the most frightening.”
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Alberta
Private Residence Calgary
“A few years ago I was sleeping in a friends basement and I woke up in the middle of the night, very cold. I saw that the window was wide open and snow was blowing inside the room. I started to get up to close it when a big black figure came into the room and around to my bedside. It was standing over me and I was pinching and slapping myself, thinking I had to be sleeping, even though I felt totally awake. When I tried to stand up it grabbed my arm and I became totally paralyzed. I tried to scream and move but I couldn’t.
Then the name “Mary Magdalene” popped into my head and started repeating constantly, until I relaxed and fell back asleep. (prior to this, I’d never heard that name before, as I had very little religious knowledge). The next morning I had scratches on my stomach and what looked like rug burn on my arm.
Last month I was sleeping at home (my husband, dog and cat in the room) when my dog started to back in the middle of the night. I sat up to quiet her when the same black figure came into the room, around to my side of the bed and as I tried to scream it pushed on my chest and I fell back to the bed.
Like the first time, I was paralyzed, couldn’t move or scream and could barely breath. I could hear my dog barking and my husband quieting her, but I couldn’t call to him. I remember thinking I was going to die and within a second I was standing in a field and my dog (who passed almost a year to the date)ran at me and I scooped her in my arms. Right away I felt safe and as she licked my chin I could hear her telling me I was okay now. We’ve had numerous crazy things happen around here, but this is the most frightening.”
Our thanks to the witness for sharing these experiences with us, and our readers. We appreciate it. If you have experienced something similar please contact us here in my blog Your privacy will be protected, and confidentiality is assured.
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Alberta
The Stampede Grandstand in Calgary
The Stampede Grandstand in Calgary is best known throughout Canada for hosting the world famous rodeo, the chuckwagon races, and the evening Grandstand Show portions of the Calgary Stampede. Perhaps less well known are the rumor’s that it is haunted. The reports include sightings of an apparition, strange noises, including disembodied footsteps, and other assorted poltergeist-like happenings. These strange goings on have been blamed on a construction worker that died accidentally during the Grandstand’s construction. We have been unable to verify this accident having occurred at this time.
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Grand Prairie Private Business
In June 2009 we received the following report from an employee at a private business in Grand Prairie, Alberta:
“ON THE NIGHT SHIFT AT WHERE I WORK, THERE HAS BEEN TALK ABOUT HEARING NOISES FROM A LOUD BANG TO SOFT KNOCKING. THE GUYS SAY THAT THEY SEE SOMETHING OUT OF THE CORNER OF THEIR EYE, BUT WHEN THEY LOOK THERE IS NOTHING THERE. ON WEEKENDS USUALLY WHEN SOMEONE IS WORKING ALONE THEY TEND TO HEAR MORE.
I STARTED ON NIGHT SHIFT LAST NOVEMBER. I USUALLY WORK ALONE FROM 7PM TO 4AM SOME NIGHTS I DO HAVE SOMEONE ELSE THERE, BUT, ONE NIGHT I WENT TO CLOCK OUT WHEN OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE I SEEN SOMEHTHING, I LOOKED TOWARDS THE DOOR WAY AND SEEN WHAT LOOKED LIKE SOMEONE WALKING BY, I SEEN ONLY THE LEG OF SOMEONE WALKING PAST THE DOOR.
THE NEXT NIGHT I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD TRY MY RECORDER AS I WAS LOCKING UP, AROUND 1AM I TURNED OFF ALL THE RADIOS THEN TURNED ON THE RECORDER AND DID MY ROUNDS AND LEFT. ON MY WAY HOME I LISTENED TO IT AND I COULD HEAR A FAINT KNOCKING, ALMOST MUFFLED THEN WHILE IM WALKING, YOU CAN HEAR ME WALKING, I COULD HEAR A CLICKING NOISE. WHILE I WAS DOING MY ROUNDS, IT WAS COMPLETELY QUIET, WHAT I HEAR ON THE RECORDER, YOU COULD NOT HEAR WHILE I WAS WALKING. ITS A WIERD FEELING BUT SINCE I STARTED ON NIGHTS, I FEEL THAT SOMEONE IS THERE WITH ME, JUST NOT IN HUMAN FORM.”
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The Heritage Park and Historical Village
The Heritage Park and Historical Village in Calgary is reportedly haunted by the apparition of a young woman, and a baby. The woman who is seen holding the baby is described as beautiful, and serene looking. She is also described as smiling. There are also reports of strange mystery lights, but it is not known whether these lights are associated with the beautiful lady ghost. Who might this woman have been? And why would she be haunting this location?
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Brooks Community Cultural Centre
Brooks is a small city in the south east. The area was originally used as a buffalo hunting ground for the Blackfoot and Crow tribes. Settlement of the area began in 1877, and was officially named Brooks in 1904.
The Community Cultural Centre has been rumoured to be haunted over the years by several different ghosts. These include numerous reports of a spectral janitor who is seemingly carrying on his duties. A ghostly child has also been reported, along with the disembodied voice of an elderly woman. While the older woman is heard telling stories she has so far not been seen.
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Alberta
Hauntings At The Banff Springs Hotel Banff Alberta
Written by John Robert Colombo
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Banff Springs Hotel, which overlooks the stunning, picturesque beauty of the Bow Valley, was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1888. The story goes that in the early 1900s, when the new wings were being added, the architects made a serious error, leaving space for a room with no doors or windows. They revised the blueprints to disguise their error and instructed the builders and workers to seal off the area and keep quiet about it. When the new wings were burnt in the fire of 1926, the lost room was eventually found.
It was empty, of course, but attention was drawn to its location along one of the corridors which had long been the focus of eerie disturbances. Night watchmen complained that a shadowy figure flitted down this hall. There were rumors of service being supplied by an elderly bellhop when all the bellhops in the employ of the hotel were young.
The hotel’s Rob Roy Lounge is said to have numerous ghostly guests. Besides the apparition of a bride who fell down a stairway and broke her neck, guests and staff have reported a headless bagpiper, disembodied carollers in the men’s room, and a deceased barkeeper who informs imbibers when they have had enough to drink.
Some of these details appear in Linda Curtis’s article in the Calgary Herald, 28 April 1983.
Have you had an encounter with the ghosts of the Banff Springs Hotel? Can you add further information? If so we would like to hear from you. Your privacy will be protected. Confidentiality is assured. Please contact us at admin@psican.org or through our blog
Originally entitled Banff/ The Lost Room, Mysterious Canada (c) 1998 John Robert Colombo Reprinted here with the kind permission of our friend J. R . Columbo For information on ordering Mysterious Canada or other John Robert Colombo books, and publications please see his website.
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Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Ghosts & Hauntings
Written by Chris Laursen
Historian Chris Laursen takes a light-hearted look at the first haunted buildings he visited when he lived in Edmonton in his home province of Alberta, Canada in 1992.
The Alberta Legislature that former Premier Ralph Klein will no doubt continue to haunt. (Photo: Legislative Assembly of Alberta)
There must be more to ghosts than this……………….
Fifteen years ago, I wrote my first ever article about the paranormal. At the time, I was a journalism student in Edmonton and was freelancing for the now-defunct arts and entertainment magazine the Edmonton Bullet. It wasn’t the beginning of my interest in ghosts by any means, but it was the first time I had consciously stepped foot in places where ghostly things had allegedly occurred.
I ended up interviewing Ron Hlady, a preservation technician at the historic and haunted downtown McKay Avenue School. The school is now a museum and archives run by the Edmonton Public School Board. The building was actually the site of Alberta’s first two legislative sessions in 1906 and 1907. The government rented the third-floor assembly hall from the Protestant School Board for $400 per session, and it was in that room that politicians made the decision to make Edmonton Alberta’s capital. After that, the young provincial government moved its sessions to cheaper digs until the current domed Legislature was built for it in 1911.
At its peak, McKay Avenue School had 456 students in 1916, but that number declined steadily over time, leading to its closure in 1983 with only 53 students enrolled. Its Romanesque design, pillared entrance, and brick façade – all unique to Alberta architecture – prompted the school to be designated a Provincial Historic Resource in 1976, thus ensuring the building’s survival in a rapidly expanding provincial capital where many of the old original buildings were torn down to make way for new development.
Hlady told me about how objects mysteriously moved around and strange noises were heard at the school. In the late 1980s, Hlady and a co-worker were setting up chairs on the top floor of the building. They both left the room for a few minutes and returned to find the chairs scattered about, although no one else was in the building at the time. Hlady also recalled how lights had been turned on and off mysteriously, water taps have been found running when they should have been turned off, and the alarms in the building have been triggered without a reasonable explanation.
I recollect Hlady pulling an ouija board off a shelf in his office, and telling me that he had been experimenting with it, and communicating with a spirit who claimed to be a worker who had accidentally fallen off the roof of the building during its construction or a renovation. It is a well-known legend that this maintenance man is said to be one of the ghostly residents in the building, and I find it interesting that the legend may be rooted in Hlady’s own Ouija board sessions. I didn’t mention this in the published article. Maybe it was just a figment of my imagination? Barbara Smith, the author of Ghost Stories of Alberta, counted over a dozen spirits that are reputed to haunt the building. To this day, the McKay Avenue School is a prime destination for a local ghost walk.
The McKay Avenue School in Edmonton, Canada in 1912. (Photo: Edmonton Public Schools Archives and Museum)
One of the buildings I looked into never made it into my published article. I cannot recall why I decided that it shouldn’t be, but I remember very well visiting this rather unusual haunted location. I won’t mention the name of this place, although I will say it was one of the last drive-in fast food restaurants in Edmonton, a small, somewhat cheesy but historical site all the same. (May the record show that I have fond memories of visiting this fast-food chain as a kid, and having a tray of frosty glass mug of root beer, a freshly grilled hamburger with greasy but delicious onion rings attached to the window of my parents’ car for me to enjoy. Oh how the times have changed. Mind you, I’m not so old to remember servers on roller-skates!) This particular restaurant no longer stands, a victim to Edmonton’s development and a changing fast food industry. Trendy downtown condos now stand in its place.
The employees had been reporting strange things. One day a fry cook was almost injured when the open lid of the fryer he was using slammed down. On several occasions, the combination safe in the office was found to have opened with no plausible explanation as to why. Everyone was talking about a ghost. They were a bit freaked out by this, but also fascinated. I can’t remember getting much more detail beyond that, and maybe that’s why it didn’t make it into my published article.
After my first foray into allegedly haunted buildings, I remember feeling rather disappointed. By that time, I had read several books on ghosts and marveled at the famous photographs of the Brown Lady or Tulip Staircase monks, was astonished by the spontaneous appearances of the faces of Belmez, the Enfield poltergeist, and the many adventures had by professional ghost hunter Peter Underwood in his books. I guess I had expected to hear reports of half-body apparitions floating through the halls and disappearing through closed doors, of eerie messages being scratched into walls, or at least get to hear some ghostly footsteps.
Someone had told me around that time that ghosts preferred wet and damp environments, which seemed to explain to me why rainy England was so haunted and arid Alberta was not.
Edmonton, I concluded at the time, barely had any ghosts, and the ghosts it did seem to have – well, I very much questioned whether they were ghosts at all. The maintenance man falling from the roof and then haunting the building sounded too fanciful to me, like an urban legend. And I thought there were just too many possible natural explanations for why these reported things happened.
In hindsight after reading a great deal about a ghostly phenomenon, my view has shifted. I can say that the McKay Avenue School’s domineering atmosphere made a definite impression on me. Now, when people tell me about a haunted school or institution, I think of its spacious rooms and tall windows that seem perfect for ghosts. And Ron Hlady was a very effective and kind guide who honestly felt there were probably spirits walking through the former school’s halls.
With further investigation, no doubt natural causes could resolve some the mysteries that have been experienced in these haunted buildings I visited. But reading updated remarks of those of have since visited McKay Avenue School, I can definitely respect that there is something odd there – a sense of something unseen yet present. The fast-food restaurant may no longer stand (my Dad suggested perhaps the new condos are haunted in its absence), but McKay Avenue School sits waiting at the corner of 99th Avenue and 105th Street, waiting for open yet skeptical minds to explore its space.
STEVE RAMSEY- Calgary – Alberta
drsteveramsey@gmail.com
paranormal researcher, expert and investigator.