B.C. not immune to spooky scenes
It was her love of history and mystery that led Sidney author Barbara Smith to specialize in supernatural folklore. Now, with more than 35 titles under her belt, she launches her newest collection of spooks and spectres, Great Canadian Ghost Stories: Legendary Tales of Haunting from Coast to Coast, which features more than 100 of the country’s best-loved tales and little-known hauntings.
Not all ghost stories involve the spirits of people. Places can also be haunted by the past, and witnesses claim that one of Victoria’s major roads is just such a place. It’s said that in the wee hours of the night during the month of October, modern Shelbourne Street harkens back to its past.
Folks who have seen this spooky transformation are usually driving south and are usually alone in the car. As their familiar surroundings change, they wonder if they’ve taken a wrong turn. But how could that be? They haven’t turned at all. Worse, this is a route they know well. They know that there should be a paved road, lined with buildings and well-lit by streetlights. Instead, they’re looking at a rural scene: a country road with unkempt ditches at the sides and not a building in sight.
Taken aback by this strange sight, the lone driver inevitably wants to get his or her car turned around as quickly as possible, but the road is so narrow that it’s impossible to make a U-turn without ending up in the ditch.
Just then, the scene shifts again and reverts to the modern, well-lit, paved road and contemporary buildings. The relief must be palpable, but there’s still that nagging question: What just happened? Did the person see the ghost of what Shelbourne Street once was, or momentarily travel back to that time? If that is the case, then the bizarre circumstances are an excellent example of a phenomenon known as retrocognition.
Another example was reported on a residential street in Metchosin, where people have watched in awe as a large red wagon filled with oak barrels is pulled along by two handsome draft horses. Some who have witnessed the supernatural event say that, after the anomaly passes, it morphs into a red delivery truck.
Yet another incidence of retrocognition took place in B.C. during the early 1930s at a party in a recently renovated house in Vancouver’s West End. What makes this case even more intriguing is that a room full of people shared the encounter.
The story really starts in the early days of the last century, when a couple purchased a small parcel of land in what is now the West End. They built a home there and settled in. Neighbours later reported that the newcomers were rather an odd pair; the woman was extremely outgoing, but the man was a virtual recluse. No one in the area had a chance to learn much more than that because the woman died just six months later. The bereaved husband hastily sold the place and moved away.
No more is known about the house between that time and 1931, when a young couple purchased the place. Initially the two were delighted with their real estate investment and did not plan to make any changes to the interior layout. The master bedroom was on the main floor, which they felt was convenient.
But they felt uneasy right from their first night in that room. When that uncomfortable feeling didn’t fade, the pair decided that some renovations would be necessary after all. They decided to sleep in another bedroom and to enlarge the living room to include most of what had been the original master bedroom.
It was not long before the changes were completed. The couple was so pleased with the way their home looked that they decided to invite their friends over for a housewarming party. The celebration started off wonderfully well. The guests seemed to be enjoying themselves in the newly enlarged living room. Then, according to a woman who had been a guest that evening, at “precisely 11 o’clock, the room became unaccountably cold.” What happened next was far more concerning: “A whirlwind of nothingness” suddenly manifested in the part of the room that had been the master bedroom.
“Then, out of the whirlwind slowly emerged a massive fourposter bed on which a woman was lying, clearly at the point of departure from this life. Her eyes were fixed in fear and horror. Beside her was the indistinct figure of a man sitting in a Victorian chair at her bedside,” the anonymous witness attested.
One of the other guests, a neighbour who had lived in the area a long time, shouted out that he recognized the apparitions. He identified them as the couple who had built the place.
The images didn’t stay long, but they did succeed in bringing the party to an abrupt and early end. Agreeing not to tell anyone of the supernatural event they had just witnessed, the guests quickly dispersed.
Despite all the effort the new owners had put into the house, they realized they could never be comfortable staying there, and immediately listed their home for sale. The couple was relieved the place sold quickly and, as they wanted to be clear of anything associated with the place, they arranged to sell all their newly purchased furniture, draperies and even rugs.
The woman who provided the account of the party, including the manifestation of the bed and the apparitions, went to the auction of her friends’ belongings. Perhaps she was interested in purchasing some of the items herself, for she inspected the articles carefully. The living room rug was especially attractive to her. Her interest quickly turned to horror, however, when she discovered that on one end of the carpet there was a rectangular arrangement of “four well-worn indentations.” It looked “exactly as though some heavy piece of furniture,” perhaps a large four-poster rosewood bed, “had rested there for a matter of months.”
Most of the people who attended that housewarming party have presumably gone to their own final reward without ever having publicly identified themselves as participants in this bizarre incident of retrocognition.
And what of the haunted house itself? The building was demolished, and a large apartment building now stands in its place. It would be interesting to know if any of the tenants have ever seen anything unexplainable in any of the suites.