Episode 17
Three ghost stories from across Canada 🇨🇦
Written, Narrated and Produced by Nadine Bailey
http://www.EdmontonGhostTours.com
http://www.HauntedCanada.com
Music by: Mountain Sound AudioJungle
Music Standard -Mystery Logo Audiojungle
Episode 17
Three ghost stories from across Canada 🇨🇦
Written, Narrated and Produced by Nadine Bailey
http://www.EdmontonGhostTours.com
http://www.HauntedCanada.com
Music by: Mountain Sound AudioJungle
Music Standard -Mystery Logo Audiojungle
Welcome to Haunted Canada. Hi everyone, this is Nadine and welcome to episode 17, where we're going to delve into three more ghost stories from across Canada. First we're going to head to Belle Island, newfoundland and Labrador to hear about the island's fairies and the Belle Island hag. Then we're going to head to Wayne, alberta, to hear the ghost stories of the Haunted Roaster Hotel and the Last Chance Saloon that used to be called the Bucket of Blood. And then we're going to finish in Peggy's Cove, nova Scotia, to hear the story of the Lady in Blue. Just off the coast of Newfoundland, labrador is believed to be the most haunted island in North America, known as Bell Island. Bell Island is located in Conception Bay and was once a location of an iron ore mine that employed thousands of people and was economically vital to the island's existence until, sadly, it closed down in 1966, devastating Belle Island and reducing the population from 15,000 to just 2,200 people at that time. The island has a rich culture and musical history that still exists to this day. One famous musician from Belle Island is Harry Hibbs, who was born in 1942 and, at the height of his career, sold more records than any other Canadian artist. Today, the island, which is 34 square kilometers of windswept rock, is currently home to just over 3,000 residents and is only accessible by ferry, and is filled with legends and lore that have been passed down throughout the generations, with stories of ghosts, hauntings, fairies and the Belle Island, hag.
Speaker 1:Belle Island is known for its mysterious fairies that are believed to dwell in the area of Butler's Marsh. These fairies have been described as men around two feet tall that are always disfigured. These fairies are said to hide in the marshes and call out to anybody walking nearby, trying to lure individuals into the marshes, never to be seen again. The legends and the stories of the fairies have been passed down from generation to generation, with mischievous fairies being blamed for anything and everything, from the fairies trying to abduct children in the night and being blamed for anything that has broken or has mysteriously disappeared. Even when a person has died or become ill, it is always blamed on the fairies. Sometimes, parents would use it as a deterrent against their children from being bad, telling them that if they weren't good, the fairies were going to come and get them. Individuals came up with their own superstitions and ways to ward off the fairies, such as carrying a piece of bread in their pocket or a page from a bible as a way to protect individuals from the mysterious fairies.
Speaker 1:Another spooky and haunting figure that is often seen wandering about the small island is known as the Bell Island Hag. The legend of the Hag dates back to the Second World War, when a German U-boat attacked the small island, with some of the German soldiers venturing onto the island looking for supplies. As the German soldiers snuck throughout the small community in the dead of night, they ran into a woman near Dobbins Garden. Snuck throughout the small community in the dead of night, they ran into a woman near Dobbins Garden. When the woman realized that she had come upon German soldiers, she tried to sound the alarm to warn others by screaming out for help. Yet moments later, the German soldiers muffled her cries by covering her mouth and dragged her into the marsh near Dobbins Garden, murdering her. However, before the woman was murdered, she was crying out desperately for help and while the people who were living on the island could hear the woman's desperate cries for help, they feared that it was the fairies trying to lure people into the marsh and because everyone was so superstitious, nobody dared to venture out into the night to help the woman, who was then murdered in the marshes, where her spirit still lives on To this day. It is believed that the woman's spirit still roams throughout Dobbins Gardens seeking revenge on the people within the community who didn't help her when she cried out so desperately for help.
Speaker 1:Over the years there have been many accounts of men who seem to be lured into the marshes, mesmerized when they see a beautiful woman in a white dress. Yet as soon as the men enter the marshes, they disappear for days. Yet when some of these men return a few days later, they are unaware that the days have passed by losing complete track of time. They can't seem to remember what happened while they were gone, and their last memory is always of seeing a beautiful woman in a white dress approaching them, walking out of the marsh, smelling something foul in the air, and then being dragged into the marsh. Witnesses have recounted that when they're walking near Dobbin's garden around sunset, they'll often catch the sight of a beautiful woman walking towards them, dressed in white, and as she gets closer her hair suddenly turns to steely gray. Her white dress then turns to tattered gray rags and the woman then drops to her knees and begins to crawl on all fours like an animal, chasing everyone nearby, while others say that when they see the Belle Island hag, it appears as if her face is covered in worms and that she always has a foul sulfuric odor. The legend of the Bell Island hag is so historical that it was made into a coin by Canada Mint and also into a postage stamp by Canada Post as part of the Haunted Canada series. While Belle Island is an amazing tourist destination, visited by thousands of people every year, visitors must be aware that when they're walking along the tranquil paths and gazing out at the Atlantic Ocean, that you may hear the distant calls from the ferries or have a run-in with the Belle Island hag trying to lure you into the marshes, as the hag's restless and angry spirit still roams throughout the island to this day.
Speaker 1:The history in Wayne, alberta, is as twisted and haunted as the Rosebud River that winds throughout the historic ghost town, with the ghosts present on the third floor of the Rose Deer Hotel, along with the tales of gunfights at the Last Chance Saloon that used to be called the Bucket of Blood. Driving into Wayne is like stepping back into the wild wild west, when cowboys roamed the town and gunfights often broke out. Wayne, alberta, is so historic that it has been the backdrop for many movies and music videos, including Running Brave, truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Jackie Chan's Shanghai Noon. It was also the backdrop for a music video called the Things I Do for Money by one of my favorite Canadian bands, the Northern Pikes, and if you've never seen or heard this video, definitely Google it.
Speaker 1:The Rose Dare Hotel, located in Wayne, alberta, opened in 1913 and continued for the next hundred plus years, when the small town only had a population of about 2,000 people, when the main employer was the Rose Dare Coal Mine Company. Today, the small community is a quiet and quaint ghost town that is part of Drumheller, just a few miles down the highway To get to the Rose Deer Hotel. However, it's a bit of a jaunt, as you must go off the beaten path down a very dusty and short road and travel over 11, yes, I said 11, very short wooden plank bridges. The people who live in the area often call this 11 Bridges Road and, as per the Guinness Book of World Records, this very short road is listed as having the most bridges for the shortest distance. While the area was an active community back in the early 1900s, when the mine was operating with other local businesses. Sadly, when the mine closed down, many people moved away, houses were torn down, while other buildings burnt down or were destroyed by flooding. Today, wayne Alberta only consists of the Rose Deer Hotel and the attached Last Chance Saloon, and while the hotel has been revitalized by the new owner to include a smokehouse and a three-day musical festival called Wainstock, it is well known to house many of its own ghost stories from the past that continue to attract visitors, ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts to Wayne Alberta.
Speaker 1:The three-story wooden Rosedale Hotel was built in 1913 by the Rosedale Coal Company, mainly to house company employees back in the day, and then the company built the attached saloon as a place for the workers to spend their money after a hard day's work. The hotel and its connected bar, the Last Chance Saloon, is filled with haunted history that echoes back to the early 1900s, when the area was covered with cowboys and many arguments ended up with fighting in the dusty streets or even with a shootout. The connected bar, the Last Chance Saloon, was originally called the Bucket of Blood. The saloon was given this descriptive name back in the early 1900s as there had been so many fights that were breaking out between the local miners and so much blood was being shed inside with these fights. While just a few fights happened inside the saloon, the majority of the coal miners were respectful enough back in the day to take their fighting outside. Most arguments, of course, would begin inside the saloon after a few too many drinks of whiskey. Once the argument became heated, the coal miners were kind enough to take their fighting outside. This fighting continued, with buckets of blood being shed, but it seems that once the coal miners finished fighting that they would often head back into the saloon to have another drink together. One day back in the early 1970s, three men apparently had walked into the last Chance Saloon to have a few drinks, yet when the waitress brought them their bill, they refused to pay. The waitress had dealt with many people like this over the years, so she calmly walked back over towards the bar and under the counter she took out her .45 revolver and shot three bullets into the wall, basically letting those three men know that she wanted her payment for the beer. The men, of course, knew that the waitress meant business and they quickly paid their bill and left the saloon. The bullets that the waitress shot into the wall behind the bar are still there to this day framed, just adding to the unique history and the story that everyone
Speaker 1:tells. While the Rose Dare Hotel is filled with plenty of Wild West stories, it is also a very haunted hotel. The entire hotel is filled with ghosts and strange entities throughout the three-story structure. The top floor of the hotel is believed to be so spooky that it is completely closed off to the public and nobody ever ventures up there, mainly because it is so old and it would of course cost the current owners a lot of money to renovate it. But staff do say that when they do venture to the third floor that they get the strangest feeling, as if there's a dark presence watching them. Back in the early 1900s, when the coal mine was in full swing. The working conditions were horrible, with long days and very unsafe conditions. So some of the workers tried to get a union organized. But when the company found out they brought in some union busters and on one faithful night, during one of the union meetings, a bloody fight broke out, with one of the organizers being beaten to death in one of the rooms on the top floor. As the worker had been beaten to death, it had served as a message and sadly the rest of the workers went back to working in those terrible conditions. It is that room on the third floor of the Rose Dare Hotel that is still haunted to this
Speaker 1:day. Staff say that when they go up to the third floor that they get a sense of a dark presence watching them, while on other occasions staff will hear footsteps walking up on that third floor back and forth and hear loud bangs, as if someone is moving furniture around. This always happens, of course, when the area is completely locked off and not open to the public. Over the years, local visitors to the hotel have taken many photos and captured some of the orbs and ghostly figures in those pictures that at one point were pinned up on the wall behind the bar. One former bartender spoke of an experience in an article that happened to her while she was working there. One evening, while she was cleaning up the bar, she began to hear the sound as if someone was calling her name off in the distance, but when she looked around she was in the bar alone. Even locals who are inside the saloon will often hear the waitress's name being called from the darkest corners of the room, when she's not even in the building. On other occasions, lights in the saloon will turn on and off, with bottles of bourbon falling off the shelf crashing to the floor. Even the new owner has said in articles that strange things have happened to him. When he's in the old billiards room He'll often get the smell of tobacco and catch the glimpse of a woman out of the corner of his eye. Yet when he takes a second glance, there's nobody
Speaker 1:there. While the Rose Deer Hotel and the Last Chance Saloon are an integral part of Wayne, the area is steeped in history and ghost stories. That truly makes everyone feel as if they're stepping back into time, with ghosts, history and hauntings around every corner. Wayne, alberta, is a must-stop for any ghost hunters or paranormal investigators traveling in Alberta. Peggy's Cove, located in beautiful and scenic Nova Scotia, is not only one of the province's most visited and photographed tourist attractions, it is also one of the area's most haunted locations, with the ghost of the Lady in Blue. Peggy's Cove is home to the famous Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, a picturesque community dotted with colorful houses, maritime music and delicious lobster
Speaker 1:dinners. Legend has it that Peggy's Cove got its name from a tragedy that happened in the early 1800s when a schooner ran aground on the jagged rocks and sank, with everyone on board dying except for one woman by the name of Margaret who survived. Margaret, or Peggy as she was called. Peggy from the Cove was pulled from the icy Atlantic waters and was the only person to have survived the shipwreck. Margaret was devastated with the news that her two daughters had died in the icy Atlantic waters, as it was her decision to leave Europe with her two daughters sailing to Canada to start a new life. Once Margaret was pulled safely to shore, she was taken in by a local family, nursed back to health and after several months she began to feel a bit better and eventually fell in love with a local fisherman whose kindness and funny personality brought her back to
Speaker 1:life. As Peggy began to regain her strength, she was at times reminded of the shipwreck and the loss of her two daughters. Over the next coming weeks and months, margaret would walk along the rocks around Peggy's Cove, looking out at the ocean, remembering her beautiful girls and sometimes calling out their names, hoping and praying to see them one more time. Margaret was always careful while walking on the rocks to stay on the dry rocks and never to go near the dark rocks. For anyone who has ever lived next to the ocean, you'll know that the dark rocks can be a sign of danger, as that is how far the waves can reach, and if any person is standing on those dark rocks when a wave crashes on them, they can be dragged out of the ocean to their death within seconds. Eventually, margaret's heart began to heal and she fell in love with that local fisherman from Peggy's Cove, and the two eventually
Speaker 1:married. Peggy loved her new husband, who was kind and gentle with her and would listen to her as she spoke so lovingly about her two daughters that had perished in the shipwreck. One summer evening, as Margaret and her new husband were walking along the rocks at Peggy's Cove, ever so close to the Atlantic Ocean, she was crying as she was thinking about her daughters when her new husband, the fisherman, decided that he wanted to cheer up his new bride, so he began to do a silly dance on the rocks. Yet it seemed that the husband didn't notice that he was dancing dangerously close to the black rocks and that they were wet and slippery. As the husband began to dance and his new bride began to laugh and smile, he suddenly slipped, crashing his head on the jagged rocks, knocking him unconscious. As his body slipped into the Atlantic Ocean. People in the community who were nearby and saw what had happened tried to recover the husband's lifeless body from the freezing Atlantic Ocean. The waves and the undertow were too strong and the man's lifeless body was swept out to sea. Margaret was devastated. She had lost her two daughters to the ocean and now she had lost her new husband. Margaret could not handle any more of the tragedy in her life and, while screaming out the names of her dead children and her husband, she threw herself into the Atlantic Ocean. Margaret's body was never recovered To this
Speaker 1:day. People who live in the community and visitors will often say that they can see a woman in a blue dress walking along the dark rocks at Peggy's Cove. Sometimes people can hear the lady in blue calling out. Everyone believes that it is, of course, the spirit of Margaret still wandering along the rocks of Peggy's Cove, still searching for her two daughters and her husband, still grieving the loss of her entire family. Well, everyone, that is the end of episode 17 and I want to sincerely thank everyone for listening. If you would like to support the continuation of this podcast, please follow the podcast, give us a like and a five-star written review. Also, you can follow us on our different social media platforms, or if you have a true crime story, a ghost story or a haunting that you would like for us to cover on this podcast, please email us through our website hauntedcanadacom. Have a good night, everyone, and stay safe.