Get in the Halloween spirit with a spooky cemetery tour
Visit the graves of murderers, join a clairvoyant or hunt for ghosts at one of several tours of Ross Bay Cemetery leading up to Halloween. The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria, a non-profit dedicated to the research, preservation and appreciation of heritage cemeteries in the city, offers guided tours year-round, but interest picks up leading up to Halloween.
“We’ve been offering cemetery tours since 1985 and it still draws a good crowd,” said Gerry Buydens, president of the society. “We regularly get people from Washington state, Oregon, California — and even overseas, interested in our cemeteries.” Programs this month include: • Oct. 8: Murder Most Foul — Michael Halleran visits the graves of murderers and their victims and tells the grisly details gleaned from coroners’ files, old newspapers and interviews with family members. • Oct. 15: Women on the Home Front — As October is Women’s History Month, this tour will focus on women’s activities on the home front during the First World War. Yvonne Van Ruskenveld, Sylvia Van Kirk and Diana Pedersen will reveal how the women of Victoria supported the troops overseas. • Oct. 22: Psychic Tour — Clairvoyant medium Dawn Kirkham and members of Beyond Belief Paranormal Events, a paranormal investigating team, will lead a walk through the cemetery and share information they receive from the spirits they encounter. They will also explain what clairvoyance is and demonstrate some basic techniques. • Oct. 21 to 29: Ghost Bus-tours — a bus excursion past some of Victoria’s most haunted sites. Reserve your seat early. • Oct. 29: Annual Ghost Tour — This is one of the society’s most popular tours, with ghost stories linked to people buried at Ross Bay Cemetery. At some of the graves, the occupants might even seem to come to life and tell their tales. Extra guides will be on hand for the event, part of the Ghosts of Victoria Festival.
Of the tours, the Psychic tour is the most popular, said Buydens. “We get up to 400 people some years.”
Admission is $5 for non-members, $2 for members. No reservations needed. The tours start at 2 p.m. from the front of Oregano’s, in the Fairfield Plaza, 1516 Fairfield Rd. For information on the Ghost Bus-tour, visit discoverthepast.com. For more information on the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria, go to oldcem.bc.ca or 250-598-8870. • If one tour a week isn’t enough, you can join the daily Ghostly Walks offered by family-run Discover the Past throughout the year.
The 90-minute tours are led by historian John Adams and his team of storyteller guides. For the last 40 years, they have led visitors and locals along Victoria’s haunted alleyways, telling frightening stories of the past.
Tours include the legislature buildings, St. Andrew’s Cathedral, James Bay, Trounce Alley, Chinatown, Bastion Square, St. Ann’s Academy, Church Hill and the Old Burying Ground. A Halloween tour is offered Oct. 13 to 31.
The tours cost $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and students, $8 for children 6 to 11 years old and $35 for families (parents with children under 16).
For a schedule of start times and where to meet, go to discoverthepast.com.