Robert C. Belyk - Ghosts: True Tales Of Eerie Encounters

The ghosts that have been described in the preceding chapters have been otherworldly creatures as far as is known, but the final tale of this collection is about an apparition that doesnt quite measure up. This story takes place in Victorias old Ross Bay Cemetery a location that looks as if it should be haunted but which, strangely, has very few ghost stories connected with it.

One Christmas Eve, some time in the 1920s, two girls were cutting through the Ross Bay Cemetery grounds on their way home. It wasnt late, only about seven oclock, but even in the daytime, the cemetery grounds always seemed rather scary. However, as this was Christmas Eve and there was so much excitement going on at home, the girls had more to talk about than ghosts. They chatted on without noticing where they were.

Suddenly both girls jumped back in fear. From one of the grave plots, they witnessed what seemed to be an apparition rise up. The spectre was white and appeared to glow with its own light. Abruptly, it rose in the air and floated away. The girls, needless to say, were terrified, and they ran screaming toward the streetcar stop in front of the cemetery, where a crowd of passengers had just alighted from a trolley. Their story caused considerable commotion, particularly when the streetcar conductor also admitted to seeing something white floating through the graveyard.

The occurrence caused a stir in Victoria. Some city residents now refused to go anywhere near the cemetery, while members of the local psychic society maintained a lonely night-time vigil at the spot of the supposed haunting, just in case the spirit decided to pay a return visit. After a while, when nothing further happened, the group tired of the activity and gave it up, and other people forgot their fear of the old cemetery, passing by again without even a sideways glance.

The incident, however, was not entirely forgotten. Some time later, a group of people, standing in a long queue in front of one of Victorias major theatres, began to chat amongst themselves. Eventually the discussion turned to ghosts, and one man brought up the story of the Ross Bay incident. Many in the line frankly stated their disbelief in ghosts, and made light of the girls story. Others were less sure. Finally an elderly man stepped forward and said that the girls had been perfectly correct in their description of what they saw. He knew this for a fact because he was the Ross Bay ghost! He went on to explain what had happened.

At the time of the incident Victoria was suffering through one of the periodic recessions that marked the 1920s. With Christmas coming, and the chance of work remote, the man and his friend had hit on an idea to earn money for the holidays. One day when he had passed through the Ross Bay Cemetery, he had noted that many of the tombstones were looking shabby. As many Victoria residents were in the habit of visiting the graves of loved ones during the Christmas season, he came up with the plan of touching up the faded lettering on the graves with gold paint. All that would be necessary then would be to contact the families of the deceased and, for services rendered, touch them up for some cash. (The scheme, incidentally, was a huge success; the pair earned a total of more than $250.)

The pair got a list of stones to retouch, bought some expensive gold-leaf paint and went to work. The only trouble was that the work took longer than they imagined, and of course, everything had to be finished by Christmas. On Christmas Eve, armed with a flashlight, paint and brushes, as well as a couple of sheets to prevent the wind from blowing away their expensive gold paint, the men were toiling away. All was proceeding satisfactorily, when suddenly a great gust of wind picked up one of the sheets they were using as a windbreak. One man, still tangled in the other sheet, reached up to grab the first sheet, while his friend turned the light in that direction. As it escaped his grasp, he took off after it, still partially tangled in the second sheet.

The two girls happened to walk by at that moment and saw the sheets illuminated in the beam of the flashlight. The scene must have looked like something straight out of a horror film. For his part, the conductor had looked in the direction of the cemetery just in time to see the sheets blow by.

BOOKS

Akrigg, G. P. V. and Helen B. Akrigg. British Columbia Chronicle, 1847-1871. Vancouver: Discovery Press, 1977.

Auerbach, Loyd. ESP, Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Parapsychology Handbook. New York: Warner Books, 1986.

Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings. New York: Norton, 1981.

Columbo, John Robert. Mysterious Canada: Strange Sights, Extraordinary Events, and Peculiar Places. Toronto: Doubleday, 1988.

Favourite Ghost Stories from the Tours of the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria. Victoria: Old Cemeteries Society, 1997.

Favourite Stories from Lantern Tours in the Old Burying Ground. Victoria: Old Cemeteries Society, 1998.

Finucane, R. C. Apparitions of the Dead: A Cultural History of Ghosts. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus, 1984.

Forman, Joan. Haunted East Anglia. London: Robert Hale, 1974.

Green, Celia and Charles McCreery. Apparitions. London: Hamish, 1975.

Harris Lorraine. Barkerville: The Town that Gold Built. Surrey, British Columbia: Hancock House, 1984.

Hervey, Sheila. Some Canadian Ghosts. Toronto: Simon and Schuster (Pocket Books), 1973.

Higgins, D. W. The Mystic Spring: and other Tales of Western Life. Toronto: William Briggs, 1904.

______. The Passing of a Race: and more Tales of Western Life. Toronto: William Briggs, 1905.

Leeds, Morton and Gardner Murphy. The Paranormal and the Normal: A Historical, Philosophical, and Theoretical Perspective. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1980.

Lindley, Charles. Lord Halifaxs Ghost Book. 1936; rpt. London: FontanaCollins, 1968.

MacKenzie, Andrew. A Gallery of Ghosts. New York: Taplinger, 1973.

______. Apparitions and Ghosts. London: Arthur Baker, 1971.

______. Hauntings and Apparitions. London: Heinemann, 1982.

Newell, Gordon R. SOS North Pacific: Tales of Shipwrecks Off the Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska Coasts. Portland, Oregon: Binfords and Morton, 1955.

Ormsby, Margaret. British Columbia: A History. Toronto: Macmillan, 1958.

Paterson, T. W. British Columbia Shipwrecks. Langley, British Columbia: Stagecoach Publishing, 1976.

Rogo, D. Scott. An Experience of Phantoms. Toronto: Burns and MacEachern, 1974.

______. The Poltergeist Experience. Markham, Ontario: Penguin Books, 1979.

Scott, Bruce. Breakers Ahead!: On the Graveyard of the Pacific. Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1982.

Skelton, Robin and Jean Kozocari. A Gathering of Ghosts: Hauntings and Exorcisms from the Personal Casebook of Robin Skelton and Jean Kozocari. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1989.

Sonin, Eileen. More Canadian Ghosts. Toronto: Simon and Schuster (Pocket Books), 1974.

Wilson, Colin. Poltergeist: A Study in Destructive Haunting. London: New English Library, 1981.

Wolman, Benjamin B., ed. Handbook of Parapsychology. Toronto: Van Nostrand and Reinhold, 1977.

NEWSPAPERS

Chilliwack Progress

Vancouver Sun

New Westminster Columbian

Victoria Daily British Colonist

Vancouver News-Herald

Victoria Daily Times

Vancouver Province

Victoria Times Colonist

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

John Adams

Devon Andrew

Jack Bernard

Alice Bishop (pseudonym)

Linda Bishop

Angela Bremner (pseudonym)

Ron Candy

C. J. Clark

Denny Conrad

Jim Dodds

Barbara Filby

M. Guibord

Lloyd Gorgerson