Transcript
Speaker: Darkcast Network. Indie pods with a dark side.
Speaker: Hello and welcome to Castles and Cryptids, where the castles are haunted and the cryptids are cryptic as fuck. And I'm your host, Alanna. It's just me here today. Kelsey is not feeling very well and doesn't have the voice to record the moment.
Speaker: So I'm hoping to bring you a little supplemental episode with some ghost stories to Tied you over. Wet your whistle.
Speaker: I have a book called Ghost Stories of Alberta by Barbara Smith. So this is a big showdown. I did not write this, but she is a local writer that lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Speaker: um And this is one of the books my mom bought me. So shout out to her. So to tie that all together,
Speaker: Why don't we start out with a ghostly bookworm story.
Speaker: A good hot bookstore. Edmonton is a city of shopping malls. It is home not only to the gigantic West Edmonton Mall, but also to dozens of cookie cutter same retail groupings. The shops along White Avenue and Old Strathcona area are a pleasant diversion from this routine sameness.
Speaker: In 1986, a former school teacher added to the ambience of the neighborhood and realized a lifelong dream at the same time. Donna Tremblay, pseudonym, opened Griffon Books.
Speaker: The buildings along the popular strip are old by Edmonton standards. Some date back to the 1800s, many to the early 1900s. It was such a building that housed the newly opened bookstore.
Speaker: The owner was aware that the shop had, at various times, been a millinery store, millinery? Not sure I said that right. A clothing store and once even a shooting gallery.
Speaker: As the bookstore was the fruitions of fruition of many years of thought and planning, Donna expected few surprises. The first several months of operation were in fact completely uneventful at Griffon Books.
Speaker: Then, just as the new endeavor began to feel comfortable, strange things began to happen. One morning when she unlocked the store, Donna found books lying on the floor. There were books pod and stacks at various places around the store, the proprietor explained.
Speaker: She was more than a little surprised, but because the show had to go on and the store had to open, Donna quickly filled filed the volumes back where they had been and opened the store for another day of business.
Speaker: That particular occurrence set a precedent for Griffon Books, and over time a pattern developed. Every morning there were books out of place. Whoever or whatever was doing the rearranging clearly had certain places in the store that he or she, or it, preferred.
Speaker: More often, there were books stacked near the cash register or by the staircase leading to the basement, Donna explained, and then added that she became used to these occurrences and merely scheduled sufficient time for tidying up before opening.
Speaker: The fact that an unseen, unfelt and unheard presence seemed to want to have a hand in running her business did not really bother the proprietor. The easygoing and confident lady merely accepted the inconvenience and worked around it.
Speaker: Several months later, concerned about both health and safety, the store owner hung no smoking signs around the store. The next morning, they were on the floor. Presuming they'd only fallen, Donna rehung them and opened the store for the day.
Speaker: All went well for two days. Then the signs were not found merely lying on the floor. One no-smoking sign was found nearly 12 feet from its original place. Another was hidden behind some books on another shelf, and the third was found by the front door.
Speaker: The signs clearly offended the ghosts of Griffon Books. By trial and error, Donna found that if she hung only one sign and only in a particular spot by the front of the store, it would remain in place.
Speaker: The unseen bookworm was not, however, as easily satisfied where the merchandise was concerned. During the entire time Donna Tremblay owned the store, books were sorted through and restacked each and every night. Every morning the owner would reshelf the stacks and then open the store for business.
Speaker: There never seemed to be any malevolence motivating the mischievous spirit, but he or she certainly was long suffering. Like the shoemaker's elves, the spirit worked on, unseen every night, Donna Tremblay owned the business.
Speaker: I actually did use this book once before. i don't know if you guys remember, and I don't remember now. I think it was a regular feed episode, of not a Patreon. um The McKay Museum is was a haunted old hospital, and I told that story and had an excerpt from the book there.
Speaker: There is also one
Speaker: from Calgary.
Speaker: This is called Anniversary Walk. Calgarians ah remember 1988 as the year their city hosted the Winter Olympics. It was a dramatic, colorful, and successful time for Calgary citizens.
Speaker: Jan Hornick, her mother and her daughter, are among those with vivid recollections. And it is a day in August of the same year that the three ladies remember best, August 5th.
Speaker: We had been to a family reunion in Drumheller, the personable Jan explained. We visited in Lethbridge too and then headed home for Calgary. In order to complete what had been a full family weekend, Jan, her mother and daughter decided to go back to go to Queen's Park Cemetery where her father is buried.
Speaker: We felt we wanted to pay our respects and we always like to keep the grave looking nice too, she explained.
Speaker: They drove into the grounds at 5.20 p.m., The normally busy cemetery appeared to have no visitors for the moment. The gravesite they were visiting was up on a knoll and had a clear view of the area around it. There were no other cars or people to be seen.
Speaker: My daughter went to fill a jug we had in the car to water the flowers on dad's grave, Jan continued.
Speaker: Mom and I stayed in the car and were just looking around and enjoying the peace and quiet. There was no one around. Then out of nowhere, there was someone, one a woman in a beige long sleeve flowing dress. She had beautiful hair and was wearing a pearl necklace, but she was empty-handed.
Speaker: She wasn't carrying a purse. As it would most women, the lack of purse struck Jan and her mother as being extremely odd. My daughter saw her too and thought it was very strange that the lady would be walking up by the headstones.
Speaker: Also, the way she was walking was unusual. She was almost waltzing. Not surprisingly, the ladies were fascinated by the unique sight and watched her intently. Despite their curiosity, Jan added, we all got the feeling that this was something we weren't supposed to be watching.
Speaker: The apparition paused as a particular headstone. Jan had already started their car and was driving toward the headstone that the woman with the pearl necklace had stopped at. All I had to do was turn the car around. I've timed it since and this lady was only out of our sight for one minute and 13 seconds.
Speaker: By the time we were facing her direction again, she was gone, vanished, nowhere to be seen. Jan paused in her story. You must remember we were up on a hill and could see all around the cemetery. This lady was just plain no longer there.
Speaker: In case the woman might have been hidden because she was kneeling down behind the headstone, the family drove to the place they'd last seen the mysterious woman. There was no one. The entire cemetery remained as empty as when they'd driven in.
Speaker: Puzzled, the three stared at the headstone in front of them. Below the lady's name to whom the monument had been erected was a record of the date she died, August 5th. Perhaps the lady's spirit was taking an anniversary stroll.
Speaker: All right, I think I have a few more ghost stories from other places around Alberta. It's really great book. Thank you, Barbara Smith. Some Native American stories. So here's a very short one called Leader Rides Again.
Speaker: the Chief White Eagle of the Stony Tribe led his people away from attacks to the safety of what is today the Morley area of Alberta. In his lifetime, he was gratified to see that his choice of location was a wise one.
Speaker: His people prospered in the area he'd led them to. Still, the defeat of his people by their enemies, the Cree and the Blackfoot tribes, was a humiliation White Eagle could never accept.
Speaker: He wanted revenge.
Speaker: Oddly in death, White Eagle found his satisfaction in retaliation. Mortally injured in a further attack, the brave chief ordered his warriors to bury him at the peak of a nearby mountain. As the younger man prepared the grave for their dying leader, they caused an avalanche of stones to cascade down the mountainside and kill the attacking tribes.
Speaker: The revenge was so sweet to White Eagle that even today he revels in his coup. Legend has it that White Eagle, dressed in flowing robes, rides his white stallion, accompanied by his white dog, through the mists of the Ghost Hills Mountains, and then disappears until the next season into the side of Devil's Head Mountain.
Speaker: I guess we know why they call it Ghost Hills Mountain, then.
Speaker: Off to visit there. All right, let's see. Now we have already covered this particular property.
Speaker: Technically once already the Bam Springs Hotel. Don't remember that I read this though.
Speaker: The, okay, Hotel Host, the Famous and the Dead. So many ghost stories surround the Banff Springs Hotel that it's difficult to know where to begin. Perhaps this is why the hotel's public relations department has now decided that, officially, the place is not haunted.
Speaker: a few years ago, the staff spoke openly to the media of many strange and unearthly tales. Fortunately for ghost hunters, there were these were carefully documented at the time.
Speaker: The building was originally constructed in 1888, but even the Canadian Pacific Railway's far-sighted William Van Horn had not been able to predict the enormous popularity of the resort.
Speaker: By the early 1900s, several wings had been added to the hotel to keep up with the demand for accommodation. During construction of one of these wings, an error was made. A room with neither doors nor windows was included in the addition.
Speaker: Hastily, the architect the architects altered the blueprints to cover their error. It was not discovered until a fire in the hotel in 1926. Into main story.
Speaker: The secret room was noted during the cleaning up process after the fire. What was more intriguing than the room itself though, was its location. The hallway outside the boarded up room had been the scene of many reported strange goings on.
Speaker: Security guards had frequently noted a shadowy figure like lurking in the area. Perhaps the architect who had made the mistake was so haunted by his error in life that he returned to haunt the hotel in death.
Speaker: The missing room was removed during the renovations necessary to repair the fire damage, and that particular ghost has not been seen since. The most accepted ghost at the Bamp Springs Hotel is that of Samuel McCauley,
Speaker: Sam was a Scotsman who arrived at the resort in the 1930s to work as a porter.
Speaker: He stayed on for over 40 years, and some say he's there still. Sam himself assured anyone and everyone that in death he would return to haunt the hotel.
Speaker: Guests regularly mention seeing lights shining just outside their windows. The rooms these reports originate from are well above ground level and are located where there are no ledges for anyone to stand on.
Speaker: One couple checked in late in the evening and the next day they inquired as to who the old man was who'd helped them with their bags the night before. The hotel employee assured them that there were no bellhops over the age of 30 at the Banff Springs, but the couple were insistent.
Speaker: They even described the man. They were describing Sam McCauley. He'd been dead for two years by that time.
Speaker: Sam's favorite haunt is the ninth floor of the castle lake structure. Legend has it that Sam hid goodly percentage of his tips up there and that he's come back to protect his money. Whatever his reasons may be, the former employee has certainly kept his word about haunting the hotel.
Speaker: If Sam ever gets lonely at the Banff Springs, he just needs to visit the resort's Rob Roy lounge. Here, numerous ghosts have been sighted over the years. These include the ghost of a bride who died after a fall down the hotel staircase, a headless bagpiper,
Speaker: and a long deceased bartender who takes it upon himself to inform patrons when they've had enough to drink. How very the shining. Those are the apparitions that have been seen in the lounge.
Speaker: Others exist but have only been heard. These include a male voice that is heard singing in the ladies' washroom at the unlikely hour of 3 a.m., and a male chorus that is sometimes heard in the men's washroom.
Speaker: The McKenzie room and and that is another area of the hotel credited with having a ghost. There is a picture of the room's namesake hanging on the wall and it said his spirit comes out of the eyes of the portrait.
Speaker: The ghost is widely believed to be linked to the 1946 fire in the north wing of the hotel.
Speaker: Most of the guests at the Banff Springs Hotel enjoy the ghost stories that come along with their beautiful surroundings. There is one young man though who will probably never return.
Speaker: The Minnesota North Stars hockey team stayed a night at the inn. All the players had heard the ghost stories, but of course, were far too macho to be frightened. All except one rookie, that is.
Speaker: His roommate for the night hid under the rookie's bed, and as the young man dropped off to sleep, reached up and grabbed his leg. The older player got the reaction he wanted and laughed as he listened to his teammates screaming down the hallway.
Speaker: What would the rookie have done if an elderly porter had approached him to ask, what was the matter?
Speaker: also think there's one we might ask Kelsey if we want to save for Patreon. It's all about a castle. Phenomenal castle, it's called. And just another reminder and the plug that you guys can find numerous hours of bonus content on Patreon.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Finally, number 50, two tales from small towns.
Speaker: little Charles Dickens, a tale two cities maybe?
Speaker: Ghost stories are all supposed to have occurred many years ago and in exotic locations. This one, however, took place in April of 1992 in the small town of Lamont, Alberta. A woman drove out to see her mother in Lamont.
Speaker: The two chatted happily for a while and the daughter noted how well her mother seemed. The younger woman had some errands, so she left to get these done before she drove back home. While walking along the street, the daughter saw a man coming toward her.
Speaker: She stood still and stared at the approaching figure in ugly an utter shock. It was her father, and he had died years before.
Speaker: When he came within a few feet of her, he spoke. I have come to take your mother home, he explained. That night, the woman's mother fell and was taken to the hospital. After examining the woman, the doctor said she was fine and could go home the next day.
Speaker: The following morning, she died from complications fall caused by the fall. Due south of Lamont lies Toefield, Alberta. It is one of a string of small towns along Highway 14 and the railway tracks that run parallel to it.
Speaker: South and east of Edmonton, Tofield is not too far from Viking, hometown of the National Hockey League's Sutter Brothers. Yes, it is a town called Viking. also have a town called Tangent and a town called Kelsey.
Speaker: Not even lying.
Speaker: I wish there was an Atlanta or a town called Popcast.
Speaker: ah The author says this story, like some others, was frustrating to try to nail down. The people involved were no longer willing to talk about their strange experiences by the time they were contacted. The message was relayed to me this way.
Speaker: i have a hard enough time talking about this to my friends. I'm certainly not going to discuss it with a stranger. The following story, though, had already been told to me by a young woman I've known for years.
Speaker: She knows the Tofield family and never imagined they'd be unwilling to share their experiences.
Speaker: The family in question consists of a husband, wife, and two children who had settled into their newly purchased Field home easily. Nothing seemed amiss until the day the husband was sitting in his living room watching television.
Speaker: A movement in the periphery of his vision distracted him from the show he'd been enjoying.
Speaker: Looking toward the movement, the man was most startled to see someone in his living room. Worse, this man was not the clean cut sort who might have been welcome. The uninvited visitor was, judging by his clothes and rather unkempt appearance, a motorcycle gang member.
Speaker: The startled homeowner had a few seconds to assess the half-Wellington boots, blue jeans, helmet, and requisite black leather jacket. Then the image was gone. It had walked through a wall and out of sight.
Speaker: The man jumped up from where he'd been sitting and hurried via the doorway to the adjacent room, and then another, and then another, until he'd checked the whole house thoroughly. The biker was nowhere to be found.
Speaker: The man was as alone in his house and as he presumed he was. Despite this, his composure was understandably shaken.
Speaker: Since that first incident many years ago, the biker has used the family's home as a route to wherever he had to get on several occasions. Even in life, a motorcycle gang member can prove an intimidating sight.
Speaker: The ghost of one would be an even more startling a vision. For this family though, that's no longer the case. They're used to his forays through the home. Now the way is the ghost not menacing, he seems oblivious to the family's existence.
Speaker: Who says life in small town, Alberta, is boring. Nice.
Speaker: like that cute ending.
Speaker: Let's see, there's somewhere like half a page long. Let's see if I had one more that was very small maybe? There's a very short one. Let's end on 42.
Speaker: Of course that story's number 42. It's the answer to the life, meaning of the universe and everything.
Speaker: checker's guide.
Speaker: Arsonist brazenly stares from photograph. Cold reading this one. Chateau Lake Louise is a sister hotel to the Banff Springs Hotel. Okay, well that kind of bookends it then, we'll say.
Speaker: simpler Sibling rivalry dictates that this beautiful building should also hold bragging rights to a ghost. On one wall of the Chateau Lake Louise there hangs a rare photograph.
Speaker: Rare because it includes the image of ghost. It was taken during the fire of 1924 that all but destroyed destroyed the hotel. It was the second time the hotel had been threatened by fire.
Speaker: Super shining vibes again. Ornate giant old hotel bar photograph. The photo shows the fire raging in the background and onlookers in the foreground.
Speaker: Clearly depicted on the back of one of the onlookers' heads is a face. The hotel staff at that time maintained it was an image of a ghost they knew to be resident in the hotel. It was generally accepted that it was that ghost who had started the fire, and that he'd brazenly stayed to watch it burn, and even included himself in the photographs being taken of the catastrophe he'd caused.
Speaker: The face... the back of one the onlookers heads. How very Voldemort of him. And on that note, it's a very cool book with some still very cool ghost stories that I could also continue.
Speaker: over off the main beat um for the rest of the uh elite cryptic crew but we love you all and hope to talk to you shortly when uh you know my lovely co-host is feeling better and so send all our love and healing thoughts to kelsey and we will catch you next time so keep it cryptic
