The Ghosts of Banff Springs
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My colleague Lynda Quirino, a veteran ghost researcher, and I, as the psychic sidekick, were invited a few years back for a stay at the world class luxury hotel, The Fairmont Banff Springs, just outside of Calgary, Alberta.
Nestled in the magnificent Canadian Rocky Mountains, this awesome hotel boasts a long history dating back to 1888, and was styled on a Scottish baronial castle. We were to present a workshop on ghost hunting, and even before our arrival, had heard whispers about a ghostly bellhop, and bride's apparition, and a 'missing room' in the castle.
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It was late evening when we arrived, and when we first viewed at our gorgeous, but darkened rooms, we were already a bit spooked by the atmosphere, and our imaginations, which were naturally in high gear already, went up a notch on the spooked-meter. And it wasn't long before the fun began!
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We stopped first at Lynda's room for a brief look, and as we were leaving, Lynda went back to turn off the bedside lamp. After locking the door, she remembered an item she wanted to bring, so she opened the door again, and the light was on. Suspecting that there may have been a sensor or something in the entrance, we walked back and forth and played with closing and opening the door a few times, but nothing happened. Not then. But several times throughout our days at the hotel, this light would mysteriously be on when Lynda came back to her room.
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My room was in on the jig too! It was an L-shaped suite, and one morning I wanted to take photos of the mountains through the windows, as the sun rose, so, as there was no central light switch in the room, I had to manually turn off all the lamps to avoid getting a reflection in the photo. I turned off the standing lamp in the corner and then went to turn off the bedside lamps. When I came back to the window, the standing lamp was on. I turned it off - again. By the time I had turned around, one of the bedside lamps was on again. Needless to say, my photos came out with a bit of a reflection in them!
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The following day we met with the guest relations manager at the hotel, who had over 40 years of experience in his position. He introduced us to the most haunted areas and regaled us with stories of the alleged ghosts and apparitions that had been seen and reported by many guests over the years.
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Legend has it that a long-ago bride, who's gown caught on fire as she walked the candle-bedecked grand staircase leading to the reception ballroom, and caused her untimely death, still roams the staircase trying to reclaim the wedding dance that was stolen from her. As we explored the ballroom, I heard a woman's moan coming from a distance, and also captured some strange faint images in my photographs.
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Then there is the case of "Sam', the bellman, who worked his entire life at the hotel, and is apparently still doing his job. Some years ago, two ladies were guests of the hotel on the top floor, and one night found themselves locked out of their room. They used the house phone in the elegant hallway to phone downstairs for help, and were assured that a key would be brought up, but they may need to wait as the staff were all busy at that moment. A minute or two later, a kindly bellman arrived and let them into their room. When they phoned down to the desk to say thank you for the quick service at that late hour, they were astounded to hear that no-one had yet been found to help them, and that there was no-one on staff matching the description of this elderly and kindly gentleman.
And we can't forget the strange case of the 'missing room'.
Apparently at one of the restoration projects many many years ago, the workers made a mistake and one of the rooms on the 8th floor ended up being built without windows, and much smaller than the plan had called for, so instead of advertising their error, they simply boarded it up. Walking through the corridor where this room is gave us chills - it was definitely colder in this section - maybe perhaps because the hotel's ghosts have claimed it as their own?
A personable young waiter in one of the hotel's grand dining rooms shared another story with us. This room, also near the grand staircase, had been raised a few feet as a result of renovations over the years and the actual floor was now quite a bit higher than the original one. Guests have reported seeing the faint images of beautifully gowned women and coat-tailed me dancing and gliding around the room, but only from waist up!
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Throughout our investigations as well as our presentation, which included giving a tour to some 60 people in our group, we experienced plenty of strange and spooky happenings, much to our delight, but also to our detriment - at least sleep-wise. It's hard to get a good night's rest when you're sleeping with your lights on!
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Those ghosts whom we didn't meet in person nevertheless left other impressions on us, so if you ever visit the Fairmont Banff Springs, you'll be prepared for its 'haunting' beauty.
© Zsuzsana Summer/Arcana New Age Centre. All rights reserved.
www.zsuzsana.com
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Busted!
It's pretty much accepted among paranormal investigators that ghosts are often evasive when one goes in to investigate a 'haunting'. It is very common for photo equipment and recording devices to mysteriously break down or malfunction in the presence of entities, and just when you want them to work the most.
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Just this week when I was visiting a highly 'haunted' home, my SLR camera, which I had just loaded with a fresh roll of film, absolutely refused to work when I was trying to take photos of the area. The battery light started flashing, the flash wouldn't function, the whole camera simply 'balked', allowing me to only snap one picture with great deliberation and difficulty. As soon as I returned home, I took the camera out and tried it, and it was in perfect working order. Hmmmm. Quite possibly, those spirits hadn't had a chance to touch up their make-up for a photo session, or perhaps they were afraid the photograph would steal their souls? *grin*
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The exception to this rule is digital camera photography, which often reveals orbs and such, but which many skeptics tend to discount as real proof of spirit photography. Having had quite a bit of experience with this myself, I disagree, but that's another story.
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(Capturing the Paranormal)​
I'd like to share with you a photo which was actually taken with a regular 35mm automatic camera at a recent investigation I was part of. Here is an outside view of the building, and a picture of a ghost which we found in one of the guestrooms.
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Interestingly, a short while after this photo was taken, a full investigative crew went in to this place and set up a complete array of high-tech recording equipment for a thorough test. The video camera malfunctioned wildly at about the same time the investigators tracked some ghostly voices and music on their sound system.
The area had been sealed off by them overnight and although they were in another room at the time, it was quite clear that the sound anomalies occurred at the same time the video recorder malfunctioned.
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The building has since been cleared of the entities, but I delight in this 'candid camera' photo of the elusive ghost who inhabited that room.
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Happy ghost-busting!
© Zsuzsana Summer, ArcanaMatrix. All rights reserved. www.zsuzsana.com
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The Cats Still Roam
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There is something about an abandoned, 'haunted' house, that just beckons.
The most notorious haunted house in York Region, where I used to live, sits broodingly at Warden Ave. and Ravenshoe Road in Keswick, and on a crisp, sunny, autumn afternoon, I finally had the perfect opportunity to go and explore it, with 4 willing and eager friends.
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With 5 of us in the group (I was counting on the fact that there's safety in numbers) and in bright daylight, the house isn't quite as spooky as the previous times I'd seen it - in the rain, in the dusk, and late at night, but as we spilled out of our cars, there was definitely a 'you go first' challenge among us.
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photo (c) Zsuzsana Summer
There is something about an abandoned, 'haunted' house, that just beckons.
The most notorious haunted house in York Region, where I used to live, sits broodingly at Warden Ave. and Ravenshoe Road in Keswick, and on a crisp, sunny, autumn afternoon, I finally had the perfect opportunity to go and explore it, with 4 willing and eager friends.
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With 5 of us in the group (I was counting on the fact that there's safety in numbers) and in bright daylight, the house isn't quite as spooky as the previous times I'd seen it - in the rain, in the dusk, and late at night, but as we spilled out of our cars, there was definitely a 'you go first' challenge among us.
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For a few minutes I hung back, taking long distance photos, not really wanting to follow my friends who had already pushed their way through the overgrown bush and weeds to the entrance. Curiosity got the better of me though and I, too, gathered up my courage to venture inside, only to be greeted by a sad shambles of a once lovely house.
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The first strange thing I noticed is the number 69, with a circle around it, prominent amongst the graffiti on the walls and door frames. The number 69 has always been an important number to me personally, 9 being my birth number, and 6 also resonating well in my life. My curiosity grew.
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While the rest of the gang was trooping upstairs and down, not too concerned about the see-through floor planks and falling down walls, I stood in the entry way and tried to absorb the atmosphere, and visualize what sort of energies were hanging around. My first impression was of a crusty old man, the family's grandfather or great-uncle. Then I saw the cats' spirits, presenting themselves in my mind's eye - in huge. much larger than life images. One was white - still guarding the house, the other was black and white. My girlfriend in the meantime kept hearing cats meowing, and saw a little brown haired girl in an old-fashioned blue dress. The impressions were kind of tying together with another, earlier psychic impression from a ghost researcher, that a family had lived there: a mother, her small children, and perhaps an older male relative.
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It wasn't long before I started to get the creeps, standing around, so I went back outside while my friends finished checking out the place. There was no sign anywhere of cats or kittens, yet the meows continued. Everyone heard them and the guys examined every nook and cranny they could find, including the basement, but no furry critters were to be found.
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We are all standing outside once again when I commented on the cats I had visualized. My girlfriend got goosebumps up and down her arms as she listened, and told me of two large handlettered signs of indeterminate age they had seen in the house, one painted on the walls and one on a large piece of plywood lying on the floor. The sign read "Where are the cats?"
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About a year later, I brought up the subject of ghosts to our landlord, who was a life-long resident of the town. Expecting to be poo-pooed about the whole subject, I was surprised when he launched into his own stories, and then even more surprised when he asked me if I knew this haunted house. He told me of a time when he was still in his teens, and as a lark, he and a friend were going to meet there one dark night. When they arrived at the house, they were shocked and scared to see that there were people inside, in the main living room area, performing what looked like rituals and dark acts. It was when they saw some cats being apparently sacrificed that they fled - and never returned.
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My heart absolutely breaks to hear such sad tales, but based on what we'd seen and heard ourselves - some twenty plus years later - I have no doubt of just who is haunting that place.
© Zsuzsana Summer, ArcanaMatrix. All rights reserved. www.zsuzsana.com
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Sax's Friendly Ghost
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Sax's Fish and Chips Restaurant is a landmark in Keswick, Ontario, having been in the Saxton family since the 1950's. The original building, which is part of the present day dining room, was built in 1906.
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These days, the restaurant is a popular, cozy pub, but when the place isn't bursting with customers, talk, the clatter of dishes and music, you can easily sense the energies of a bygone era.
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The most recognizable and communicative spirit is Uncle Eddie. He was the brother-in-law of the present owner Carolynne's late mother and lived in the building for the last ten years of his life, until his death in 1969.
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In his declining years, Eddie was battling a condition like Alzheimer's, and was quite a concern for the Saxton family. He spent much of his time sitting at a small table in the restaurant, smoking his cigarettes, and he helped out by doing dishes, and the like. Eddie looked out for little Carolynne, who was six years old when he died. The night of his death, Carolynne woke up in the middle of the night and went into her uncle's bedroom. Although it was the dead of night, his room was bathed in daylight. Uncle Eddie was sitting in his chair, and he told Carolynne to go back to bed, saying "Don't worry honey, everything will be ok".
The next morning he was dead.
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Eddie made his first appearance in spirit to a cleaning lady after Carolynne took over the restaurant as an adult. As the cleaner was doing her chores one day in the deserted restaurant, she noticed Eddie sitting at his usual table, and did a double-take. She later described him to Carolynne - a chubby, short, round faced man, slouched in his chair, smoking. Carolynne recognized him immediately, and has been feeling his presence ever since.
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Eddie has a sense of humour. He often flushes the downstairs toilets and slams doors when no- one but the owners and staff are around. Many times, dancing, shuffling steps have been heard from the basement, as well as the sounds of tinkling glass. (There is no glass of any kind down there). He turns on the oven and the burners in the kitchen - fortunately, this has only happened when Carolynne or the cook are around, and they've been able to turn it off before anything was damaged.
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One day I dropped in for a chat with Carolynne and we were discussing Uncle Eddie across the bar counter. I was only there a few minutes, and as I was leaving, I fished in my pocket for my car keys. I panicked when I couldn't find them, as I always drop them into my right pocket. Well, they turned up eventually - in my other pocket - a highly unlikely place for me to have put them as I am totally clumsy with my left hand.
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Not long afterwards, I was sitting in the same seat with my husband beside me, talking to Carolynne again. Now, my husband is 6'6", a no-nonsense, very practical person. During another conversation about Uncle Eddie, he got up to use the washroom just behind the bar. He had already been in there a short while when we heard a loud crash from the washroom, which startled both of us. My husband came out a minute later, white-faced, and told us that a roll of toilet paper had flown across the rather large room from nowhere, and bounced off the wall in front of him. Uncle Eddie's tricks again? Most certainly.
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Eddie's a spirit with character - a practical joker - and much appreciated around Sax's to this day. Just mention his name the next time you're there.
© Zsuzsana Summer, ArcanaMatrix. All rights reserved. www.zsuzsana.com
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3:13
Strange things were going on in my house that day.There was no-one there but me and the fur kids:>) That morning, I was startled by a huge crash on the main floor and when I went to investigate, I found that a tall, painted container which sat on top of the toilet in the powder room had crashed to the floor, spilling its contents. I was rather surprised and called out right away to the cats.
One of them occasionally climbs up on things, and he meowed from somewhere nearby when I called but I couldn't ascertain if he was the culprit or not. Then I put the matter down to the fact that the window was open and maybe somehow the wind had made the curtain catch into the container.Then a few minutes later, there was a huge crash from downstairs. I ran down, thinking again that maybe one of the cats had knocked something over. The dog was just as startled as I was and stayed close to my heels as I went to investigate.I found that a large chime I'd had for many years, made out of sea shells strung together, had crashed from where it hung above my kitchen window right into the sink. I picked it up immediately, checking for damage.
It was only a little chipped here and there. I checked the hook it hung on, which was still firmly screwed into the bulkhead above the sink. Then I checked the chime's hanger - tripled looped fishing wire, and that was also intact. In fact, everything was intact but the few chipped seashells. When I realized this, I immediately said 'OK, who's there?' - no answer. So it occurred to me to check the time on the phone display and it read 3:13. This was maybe a minute or two after the event happened.
I rearranged the chime and then on a whim, went back into the powder room to look at the container that had fallen over earlier, and I realized that the curtain clears it by an inch or two so there is no way the wind knocked it over. So unless it was my cat,.......All this done, I grabbed a glass of water and headed back up to my computer. As I sat down to type this, I realized that now my computer clock was showing 3:13. I know the clocks aren't synchronized, but I just found it funny that I looked at each clock when it was showing the same time.
Strange, isn't it?
blessings
Zsuzsana
