In culture after culture, people believe that the soul lives on after death, that rituals can change the physical world and divine the truth, and that illness and misfortune are caused and alleviated by spirits, ghosts, saints ... and gods.

STEVEN PINKER, How the Mind Works


Friday, August 29, 2008

CNT Ghost Tours




October 21 ~ October 31

For the seventh consecutive year, CNT has added new locations and stories to its annual ghost tour. join us on a medical journey through Influenza, Thyphoid Fever and Tuberculosis as we revisit a dark chapter of our medical history. Protective gear included!

October 21 (Family Night)

October 22-23-24-25-28-29-30-31 are for 19 +

$50.00 (including GST) / Adult

$40.00 (including GST) / under 18 (ONLY on family night)

2 Deluxe motor coaches with a capacity of 53 passengers will tour the city to several sites. Participants are invited to step off the coach at a few locations where our ”doctor of the day” will educate them on paranormal activity.

Refreshments will be served at the final location.

Online Booking of this event will commence Sept 2, 2008.

Click here for more information ...

http://www.cntgrp.ca/Tours/CNTGhostTours/tabid/106/language/en-US/Default.aspx



Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Location - Saskatchewan Hospital


Part One

Saskatchewan's first mental hospital was opened in North Battleford in February, 1914. By May the Saskatchewan Hospital, North Battleford, was 'one of the most modern on the American Continent,' and had 325 patients. The Saskatchewan government had originally intended to limit the accommodation to 800 patients, but by 1919 the hospital had become so overcrowded that a decision was made to open a second institution in Weyburn. The Saskatchewan Hospital, Weyburn opened in December, 1921.

By 1929, with approximately 1,000 patients in each institution, the overcrowding became deplorable. Patients were deteriorated and unclean. The only clothing they wore were strong dresses made of canvas. They slept on beds sometimes two to a bed, sometimes the odd one under a bed.


To be continued ...

Monday, August 25, 2008

Location - Weyburn Mental Hospital


Part One

The Weyburn Mental Hospital opened in 1921 and, at the time, it was one of the largest buildings in the entire British Empire. When the facility first opened, mental illness was poorly understood and the primary methods of treatment consisted of 'work and water.' A lot of them worked at the laundry and in the kitchen and in the gardens. They were just glad to have things to do.

One of the favored treatments of the 1860's was the Water Cure, in which a patient would be immersed naked into a tub of icy water and then taken to a tub of scalding water after their body temperature had sufficiently lowered. In addition, female patients, received a cold water douche, administered with a hose and then they were wrapped tightly in wet sheets to squeeze the blood vessels shut. This was followed by vigorous rubbing to restore circulation. The "treatments" were administered several times each week but not surprisingly, such techniques brought little success and most of the patients never got better.

Other treatments used at the hospital were not so benign. In an attempt to control and treat patients, methods such as insulin therapy, electroshock and lobotomies were practiced.

Although invasive, these methods were driven by a desperate need to help patients who were often a danger to themselves and others. Later, other therapies came into practice.

The haunted part of this location is said to be the fourth floor which is sealed off. Voices have been reported and some have even gone as far to report the sighting of a female ghost said to pace up and down the halls, throughout the night. Surrounding the mental institution is a hoard of trees which at nightfall witnesses claim to have encountered unexplainable noises originating from wood.

At present the Mental Hospital is scheduled for demolition, ending an association of more than 80 years with Weyburn.


Part Two


This past week we took a road trip down to the Weyburn Mental Hospital to check out this sprawling complex. Big is definitely a fair description of this building. The property is still some what active as two buildings on the perimeter are still being used by Sask Power and what looks like a health facility of some sort.

Our initial trip was to be during the day and the weather was cool and rainy. The inital impressions I got was the scope of this facility must have been massive. There was a uneasy and anxious feeling to it as well. My wife said the place made her feel weepy, like she wanted to cry but was unsure why.

The main complex's ground and first floor openings are completely sealed and boarded up to prevent the vandalism that still has occured in some areas. Thou the boards on one window had been pulled away we did not go inside. Thou we did take some photos threw this opening.



Is this location haunted or is it just a legend to go along with an unique old building with a depressing past?
As of the legend of a spectral women that moves back and forth on the fourth floor, we did not get any evidence of this nor the mysterious sounds and voices from the surrounding trees.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Paranormal Webcams

The popularity of paranormal web cams has increased dramatically in recent years, with popular ghost hunting television programs using web cams during their live events, the increase in use of the internet and the availability of high bandwidth connections.

Here are some links to some popular cams.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Why Do Ghosts Wear Clothes?


Top paranormal researchers answer an age-old question

By Stephen Wagner, About.com

A QUESTION THAT ghost researchers often are confronted with concerns the fact that ghosts are most often seen wearing clothes. It is also a question that skeptics raise to support their argument that ghosts are figments of the imagination. But it’s a perfectly legitimate question. If ghosts are human spirit energy, why do their manifestations include the manufactured convention of clothing? After all, clothes are not part of our bodies, our spirits or our “souls”.

Or are they? I posed this question to a number of respected paranormal researchers.


TROY TAYLOR
American Ghost Society

Why do ghosts need clothes? No one really seems to know, but it’s possible that in most cases, ghosts seen wearing clothing are simply “residual” images – imprints or memories that linger on the atmosphere of a place like a recording. A ghost of this sort would have no “personality” and is simply like an old movie that just keeps playing.

But what about ghosts that are not merely imprints? What about those which are true, traditional spirits who died and stayed behind? Many researchers feel that ghosts are made up of electromagnetic energy. This energy, inside of the body, forms what we call our spirit, soul or personality. Now, science cannot prove this energy or personality actually exists, yet we know it does. If it can exist inside of our bodies, then why can’t it exist outside of the body, once the body itself stops functioning? It’s possible that it does and that this electromagnetic energy contains our personality and is what we think of as our spirit.

It has been shown through scientific experiments that exposure to high levels of electromagnetic energy can cause people to have vivid dreams, nightmares and even hallucinations. In other words, people are seeing things as a result of exposure to this energy. If spirits have any sort of control over the energy they are now comprised of (or even if their personalities are somehow manifested in the energy), then I would think it possible for the witness to see the spirit as the spirit sees itself. If the personality really does remain, the spirit would visualize itself as it was when alive, appearing as a living person and wearing clothing.

This could be a totally unconscious effect of the energy on the living person, or it could be a manipulation on the part of the spirit itself, perhaps causing the person to see what it wants them to. To understand this, I suggest that you close your eyes for a moment and then visualize yourself in your mind. How do you appear to yourself? Most likely, you were wearing clothing in your imagination. With the idea that a ghost appears looking in the same way that he sees himself, this might explain why so many ghosts that are seen are not only wearing clothing.

RICHARD AND DEBBIE SENATE
www.ghost-stalker.com

Ghosts and the clothes they wear have long been a snickering question. It’s a sort of “gotcha” question debunkers use, and it tells more about the way ghosts are interpreted than anything about them. Ghosts appear as wearing cloths because that's how they appear to us. In our era, clothes are part of what we are. They are part of how we see ourselves and this mental image is the one projected and picked up. In fact, clothes can many times give us information about who the ghosts are and what lives they had. There are some reports of nude ghosts, but they are few and far between. Ghosts tend to be seen in the garments they are buried wearing. In many ways the clothing helps us to indentify who they are.

JEFF BELANGER
Founder of Ghostvillage.com and author of The Ghost Files

In many cases, a ghost is a projection of a person. Whether that projection is coming from our own heads, some intelligent energy swarming all around us, or imprinted on the location itself, I don't know. Consider this: If you were to picture yourself somewhere, it's likely you would envision yourself wearing clothes, looking comfortable, yet presentable, and maybe you'd even drop a few pounds in your "projection" (hey, it's cheaper than liposuction, so have at it).

Very few people would picture themselves naked (though there's usually one exhibitionist in every crowd). If you could project any image of yourself that you like, maybe you'd project yourself bleeding from the gunshot would you sustained in your last moments of life in order to make a point to whoever receives that projection. The apparition is always a representation of something/someone else. It's not an entity unto itself; otherwise it wouldn't be so fleeting.

STACEY JONES
Central New York Ghost Hunters

I believe that ghosts can show themselves in whatever form they want. If a spirit were more comfortable at a certain age, they may show themselves at that time. I'm not too familiar with any person who is comfortable showing themselves in the nude, therefore they wouldn't want to show themselves au natural in ghost from.

* * *

These are all very good points. If ghosts are manifestations of the energy of human consciousness, then that consciousness would include clothing since, as stated by others above, that is how we think of ourselves. Or as esoteric author Richelle Hawks put it, considering that humans are far more than just their bodies: Why wouldn’t they be wearing clothes?

10 Real Paranormal Investigation or Ghost Hunting Myths


1. Ghosts will haunt anyone that enters their haunted location.

Not true A ghost will haunt who it wants to when it wants to. Just because your out hunting them does not mean they will show them selves or let their presence be known unless they deem you as being the person they really want to haunt.

Many ghosts have very human traits that still hold after death, Shyness, introverted . Or still wrestling with a drug or left over life addictions or emotional problems. These many factors help a ghost to stay earthbound. And if you are not what a ghosts sees as a good mark or person that they want to haunt you will not be haunted by them.

2. Ghosts don't know what and how we think.

Ghosts watch us and analyze us, whether they are smart or stupid or crazy or drunk. They have a better advantage by being what they are. Because of this they can calculate our thoughts.

I don't think a ghost can read your mind unless it inhabits your mind through possessing you directly. And you would not know it if it really happens to you.

A real ghost can possess someone and it cannot be documented or known until sometimes weeks or even years go by.

3. A paranormal Investigation should take a day or two only.

It should take as long as it needs to, Weeks Months or years. To many people follow the rule that if a ghost does not show up in a few minutes to an hour or two then a location is not haunted. this is the misconception that television has brought us.

4. Ghosts will haunt you if you ask them to.

Real Ghosts will choose to haunt who they want when they want. If your out collecting EVP's and you ask or even demand that ghosts makes it's presence know most ghosts will tend to let you be. Psychics have told me that only ghosts with problems tend to speak up only because they want someone to hear them.

But in truth most ghosts do not do command performances. And no matter how much you ask. Demand or threaten them they will only haunt you if they want to.

5. Hard Evidence is all a Paranormal Investigator should gather.

Anything can prove to an individual that they are haunted and if you need to prove it to someone else then hard evidence is what you need. But subtle evidence will make a skeptic into a a true believer if they experience it.

In truth personally being touched by a ghost is still not documented evidence neither is a scratch or being slapped in the face or raped by an unseen phantom. It is your word alone.

6. Every haunting is the same and all ghosts can only do certain things.

Not to ghost are the same ghost. just as no to living human beings are exactly alike. Phenomena might be similar but the hauntings are all different learn to see the differences. Many ghosts have abilities that evidence just can be collected on or tested until it happens to you.

Ghosts can get into a persons head. Change them without them knowing it. Ghosts can bring upon you physical health problems are make you believe you have one. Ghosts can do many things that will play tricks on your mind, psyche, and ego. Beware not all ghosts are like you see on television.

If a real ghost can't hurt you tell me why some paranormal investigators go crazy. Or pushed down three flights of stairs. Yes a ghost can physically and mentally hurt you for life. Don't be a fool and believe what you can't see can't hurt you !

A recent Ghost Hunter has claimed to me that they were strangled by unseen hands at a location in California while investigating the Haunts of a dead serial killer. To Often a real ghost can and will follow you home. The ghosts will which you for days before it strikes out and harms you. So don't be a fool and think once you leave a location the ghost is stuck to only haunt that place in question.

A real ghost can possess someone and it cannot be documented or known until sometimes weeks or even years go by.

8. You can Learn to Ghost hunt From watching televison.

Unless yo pay real attention to the show and mentally know and understand all that they say or do then you can. But most who watch the show and go out an try what they see on TV are just fooling themselves and their haunted clients.

9. Paranormal Groups know and have dealt with every kind of haunting.

Not true at all. Books will tell you what others have encountered from ghosts and paranormal activity. Not all groups have had the same experiences or have been effected in the same way. Everyone has their own feeling and encounters not all are exactly the same.

Ghost groups need to become more accommodating to calling in other local paranormal groups to go over their findings and solid evidence.

10. Real Ghosts can be made to leave or stop haunting an individual because Ghost Hunters really know how to get rid of them.

Once you have met a real ghost that will not leave an individual or a location no matter what you do you will realize some people cannot be helped by you or someone in your group. Sometimes you might call in for a house blessing and just anger the ghost. Or it goes dormant for a few months only to come back and haunt the individual or even a member of your group. Ghosts leave when they want to leave. And we as mortals have no power over getting them to move on.( above taken from the Haunted America Tours website )

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Location - Fort Qu’Appelle Sanatorium













Part One


"Fort San was a medical purgatory where hundreds died and thousands suffered. Isolation, loneliness and pain were a way of life for its citizens; some of whom lost years of their lives, if not life itself.”
Consumption, The White Plague, TB, Tuberculosis - known by many names, was feared by all. This communicable disease can be traced back through the ages and affected many communities in epidemic proportions.
At the turn of the century, Tuberculosis was a concern in Saskatchewan as the number of cases were gradually increasing. To address this problem, the Province of Saskatchewan created the Saskatchewan Anti-Tuberculosis League in 1911. The Anti-Tuberculosis League proceeded with plans to build Saskatchewan’s first Sanatorium to isolate and treat patients. The location was nestled in the Valley near Fort Qu’Appelle and was purchased for a sum of $8,250. Below are a few facts about the History of Fort San.
With the outbreak of war, construction was halted in 1914. As ex-servicemen returned to the prairies, many were affected with TB, the government provided the needed funds to complete the facility. The Fort Qu’Appelle Sanatorium (known as The San or Fort San) opened its doors October 10, 1917. The facility consisted of a 60 bed unit (Main Lodge) on 230 sprawling acres.
With a high demand for beds, the facility expanded to 260 beds in 1918. Construction continued at the facility.
In 1918, World War I Veterans created an extensive library at the facility. Books on TB were purchased so patients could educate themselves. This literary enlightenment led to the creation of The Sanatorium Journal composed of poems and musings that eventually turned into The Valley Echo.

The Red Cross Lodge, a guest lodge, was built in 1919 near the entrance to the facility. The guest book for the Lodge contains over 37,200 names of people who have stayed in the 14 room lodge.
The Recreation Hall was built in 1919. The upper level consisted of an auditorium, stage and movie picture box. The lower level had a barber shop, canteen, card room, reading room, pool room and library.
The Children’s Pavilion was constructed in 1919. It was torn down in 1944 and replaced with a new Children’s Pavilion in 1945. This pavilion better accommodated the patients.
The facility had a school on the grounds for the patients from 1921 to 1967.
A Nurses Residence was built on the grounds of The San in 1922. The facility had expanded to accommodate 300 patients, and almost 2,000 people had been admitted to the facility since its opening a mere 5 years previous.
A Post Office was constructed at the facility in 1926 to manage the large volumes of mail.
At its peak, Fort San could accommodate 358 patients and a vibrant community emerged through activities such as the drama club, jazz band, and internal radio programs.
The numbers of TB patients were dropping greatly. With the end to the battle against TB in sight, a small Medical Research Lab was constructed in 1952. The lab remained open until 1967.
By 1960, only 126 of the 300 beds were being utilized at the facility. The Prince Albert Sanatorium closed in 1961, sending the patients to Fort San.
In 1967, with a small portion of the facility in use for patients, an unused portion of The San housed the Qu’Appelle School of the Arts.
As Tuberculosis had been beaten, the need for a Sanatorium ceased. The Fort Qu’Appelle Sanitarium closed its doors April 1, 1971, and the facility was handed over to the Department of Public Works.
In the 80’s, the facility housed a summer school for the arts and the occasional convention. Fort San was beginning to fall in disrepair and remained a financial burden. The Government began looking for a solution.
The name of the facility was changed to the Echo Valley Conference Centre and in 1992 an agreement was made with Saskatchewan Property Management Corporation (SPMC) and the Department of National Defense (DND) to utilize the facility. SPMC closed the facility September 30, 2004. It is to be leveled to make way for new condos.

On average, since 1917, forty people died here of tuberculosis every year the place was open. Lots of times people died here, and they had no family. If nobody claimed the body, they’d get buried back there in the hills, with no marker.

Part Two

From the doctor’s house on the hill, to the morgue in Pasqua Lodge, spirits have made their presence known. Be it sightings of Nurse Jane or some nameless apparition, lights flickering, furniture moving, or sounds coming from the children’s ward, these sightings and stories are legendary.

One of the first stories came from a man who had attended a summer music camp. On this day, the band members had gathered outside for practice. The young man forgot his music in his room and returned to retrieve it. As he was going through his baggage, he heard the sound of a woman singing.

The woman's voice was loud and clear and surprising, since this lodge was assigned to the men. The singing was accompanied with the sounds of running water. The young man walked over to the doorway and saw a woman, young and pretty in a conservative dark dress that fell past her knees. The taps were running, and as she washed, she was looking at her reflection in the mirror. The young man called out to her.

"Excuse me? Lady? I think you are in the wrong lodge." She gave no indication she had heard him. Instead of turning towards him, the woman backed away from the sink and out of his range of vision. He then entered the bathroom and she had vanished.

The young man was not frightened at first. He had been trying to figure out how she could have left the room without him noticing. Walking to the sinks he checked them for wetness, they were dry. Now he became frightened!

He ran out and rejoined his band mates and refused to go back to the lodge until later when it was filled with people.



One very common apparition is known as "Nurse Jane," or "Jane, the folding ghost". She had been called the folding ghost as she was often seen folding linens. On other occasions, she seems content to push a wheelchair around the premises. According to folklore, Jane was a distraught nurse who committed suicide while working at the sanatorium. On a doorway at the end of a long hallway, a shadow of a wheelchair can be seen. The ghostly shadow is so distinct that it always draws someone down to investigate. By the time they reach the end of the hallway, the shadow would disappear.

“In the middle of the night, we heard what sounded like a bed being dragged down the hallway above us. The loud noise continued down the stairwell towards the Main Lodge.”

“Late in the night, we heard little girls laughing and playing down the hallway. We went out in the hallway and looked around to see who was out there, but there was no one there.”

"They were all awakened at three o'clock in the morning by a noise. It was as if someone was dragging heavy chains and slamming heavy doors while walking up and down the hallways."

Site Background & History care of the Memories of Fort San website. http://www.freewebs.com/fortsan/ Thanks Linda! :)