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The Ghosts of Victoria Festival
is held each year from mid-October to Halloween. Listed below are
some of the attractions, parks and other places that will add to
your appreciation of the spooky and the supernatural in Victoria
at any time of the year.
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Ghosts of Victoria Festival Menu
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Attractions,
Outdoor Settings and Lectures
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mChamber
of Horrorsac
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The Chamber of Horrors at the Royal London Wax Museum is open daily. Its macabre scenes of death masks, the Algerian hook, infamous criminals and Edgar Allen Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum are highlights sure to create terror at any time of the year, but especially near Halloween. Call 388-4461. |
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The Old Burying Ground
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On the edge of downtown (on Quadra Street beside Christ Church Cathedral) lies the Old Burying Ground, used from 1855 to1873 and still containing 1,000 bodies. Now it is a city park called Pioneer Square and you may walk through it to enjoy the ancient tombstones by day or by night. If you go when it is dark, keep an eye out for the ghost of Adelaide Griffin who has haunted the place since her death in 1861 or for the less frequently seen ghost of Robert Johnson who slit his throat in a house across the street in the 1870s and has returned from time to time to reenact his grisly demise. The stories of the Old Burying Ground are featured in the Creepy Canada TV series. |
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Ross Bay Cemetery
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Ross Bay Cemetery has the distinction of being
the most spectacular Victorian cemetery in British Columbia. Its
winding, tree-lined carriageways, magnificent tombstones with their
poignant epitaphs and the distant views to the Olympic Mountains
make it a memorable place to visit. Visitors are welcome during
daylight hours every day of the year. The cemetery is noted for
several resident ghosts, including David Fee (who was murdered on
the steps of St. Andrews Cathedral on Christmas Eve 1890), Isabella
Ross (the first woman in British Columbia to own land, whose farm
stood where the cemetery is now) and a mysterious, elderly couple
who are dressed in fancy Victorian attire and who are seen from
time to time gliding along the western side of the cemetery.
The Old Cemeteries Society conducts walking tours at Ross Bay Cemetery and many other cemeteries in Victoria on Sunday afternoons throughout the year. The society's Annual Ghost Tour at Ross Bay Cemetery on the Sunday afternoon before Halloween has become a major part of the Ghosts of Victoria Festival. |
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Bastion Square and Helmcken
Alley
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| Bastion Square in the heart of Victoria's Old Town is the most haunted part of town. Almost every building around the historic square has a ghost or two. The Maritime Museum of British Columbia is located in the old Supreme Court building is said to be the most haunted of them all due to the fact is was built on the site of the city's first gallows and many of the men who were hanged still lie buried beneath its foundations. Visit the Maritime Museum daily throughout the year. Helmcken Alley leads away from Bastion Square and has the reputation for being just as haunted. The sounds of muffled footsteps with dragging chains is one of the stories from Helmcken Alley that is featured in the Creepy Canada TV series. | ||||
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Ghosts and Legends of Bastion Square To help you find your way to the most haunted landmarks of Bastion Square, be sure to take a copy of Ghosts & Legends of Bastion Square by John Adams, available at the Maritime Museum in Bastion Square and in most Victoria bookstores. |
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Doris Gravlin: The Ghost at
the Victoria Golf Course
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| In September 1936 Doris Gravlin was strangled by her husnabd Victor and dragged across the seventh fareway at the Victoria Golf Course, then hidden under a pile of logs on the beach. The Victoria Golf Course is famous for its beautiful seaside setting, its fine golf and for the ghost of Doris Gravlin who has made frequent appearances since her murder. Often seen beside the seventh fareway or in the vicinity of the beach, she takes on many forms: a gliding figure in white, twinkling lights, or a pulsating globe of light. She sometimes plays havoc with motorists who drive past the golf course by crossing the street and even entering their cars--sometimes by passing right through their windshields. A sudden, cold wind and a general sense of foreboding frequently accompany the appearnce of Doris. The ghost of Doris Gravlin is one of the stories featured in the Creepy Canada TV series. | ||||
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Please
contact the individual hosts and sponsors of the Ghosts of Victoria
Festival events for more information or reservations. |
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