Maritime Mysteries (12 page)

Remembering the waitress' comment about a possible connection between the ghost and Moxham Castle, I looked for a possible connection and found one!

At the Holiday Inn, speculation about the ghost is rampant. “Could it be the ghost in question is the lady of Moxham Castle, Mr Jessome?”

“Don't know.”

“Maybe, Mr. Jessome, her spirit is haunting the motel because she missed the castle so much that when she died, her spirit came back and finding the castle gone, she is forever lost in the Holiday Inn?” Who really knows.

I said my goodbyes and checked out. On the drive to the airport I wondered who the ghost really was. The next time you visit my fair city and you need lodgings for the night, the Holiday Inn may offer you something more than a good night's sleep.

The Dueling Ghosts

T
he Royal Bank of Canada in Annapolis Royal was built on the property where an inn once stood. It was a popular inn especially for travellers and the military. The inn was constructed in the early 1800s and before it was torn down, was the domain of not one, but two lively military spirits.

This is what a young army officer who stayed overnight at the inn told his fiancée the following day: No sooner was he comfortably in bed when he heard something strange outside his door. It was as if something or someone was trying to push through the door, which was bolted from the inside—whomever it was would have to smash it down to get in. Even so, he was afraid. Suddenly, the door burst open and two ghost-like figures wearing the uniforms of officers began dueling. The young man sat there transfixed, listening to their heavy breathing and the crashing of steel against steel. The duel went on all night until one of the officers plunged his sword into the chest of the other. The young man watched in horror as the officer severed the hand of the dead soldier—the hand that held the sword. He then lifted the body and hurled it through the open window to the courtyard below.

There is a further connection between the inn and the bank. In 1870, when the foundation was being dug for the bank—known then as the union bank of Halifax—the skeletal remains of an army officer were uncovered. Was it the body of the officer who was thrown out the window of the inn? Some say the right hand of the skeleton was missing! A coincidence?

Nelson's Ghost

T
his Maritime Mystery comes from Pleasant Point, Nova Scotia. It's a peaceful place where the waters of Musquodoboit Harbour wash up on its shore—so pleasant a place that the ghost of Admiral Horatio Nelson decided this was where he'd find companionship and eternal rest.

Ivan and Mildred Kent, who operate a bed and breakfast in Pleasant Point, knew they had a ghost living in their lighthouse, but didn't know for a long time who it was.

Ivan claims there's a family connection between his family and Admiral Nelson. Ivan's great-grandfather, William Thomas Kent, was born in England, and joined Nelson's flagship as a navigator. He was aboard the
Victory
when Nelson was mortally wounded in the battle of Trafalgar, and escorted the admiral's body back to England.

Following a distinguished career in the British navy, Lieutenant Kent immigrated to Canada and was, until his retirement, governor of Melville Island Prison in Halifax. Kent then moved his family to a home he built at Pleasant Point.

In the early 1900s, the old homestead was torn down and a lighthouse was built on the site. End of Nelson's ghost? No, it simply moved into the lighthouse. But Ivan and his wife Mildred didn't know who the ghost was until a psychic visited the area. While exploring the grounds one day, the psychic's visit to the lighthouse was cut short. No sooner was she about to climb the steps to the top, when she quickly left, telling her companion that the place was haunted. Sometime later, the Kents received a letter from the psychic telling them that the ghost was none other than Admiral Horatio Nelson. That letter awakened in Ivan the exploits of his great-grandfather, and his connection with Admiral Nelson.

Ivan, with his back to the famous lighthouse, paused and smiled as he remembered the story that was handed down from one generation of Kents to the next: “When Nelson's spirit returned to Portsmouth, it realized his body was going to be taken up to London for a hero's burial. “What the hell was the point of me going up there with that miserable body of mine? It only had one eye and one arm anyway. Instead, I'll join my navigator friend, William Kent, who's still a young man with a lot of sailing left in him. And that's what the ghost of Nelson did until his shipmate retired and immigrated to Nova Scotia.”

Ivan Kent respects what comes over from the spirit world; he wants to keep them happy. He reminds tourists that the picnic table he placed near the lighthouse is reserved for his two permanent guests from 10
P.M.
until 4
A.M
: a place where they can reminisce about the glory days at sea.

Should you not heed the warning and sit down at the picnic table, you may feel something or someone pushing you off…

Mehetible's Ghost

S
t. Andrews-by-the-Sea has an old world charm and warmth about it, but is full of ghosts of the past. Walk any of its streets when day slips into darkness and the night brings long-forgotten sounds: the rustling of a woman's skirt, the sounds of horse and carriage rolling over cobblestones. As you make your way down Water Street, you can feel a strong presence of those who first settled this New Brunswick town more than two hundred years ago.

Natives fished the Passamaquoddy long before anyone else, then the Irish came, followed by the Empire loyalists. Among the Loyalist families that fled the American Revolution were the Mowatts and the Caleffs. Young Captain David Mowatt would eventually marry Doctor Caleff 's daughter, Mehetible. Very little has changed in this quaint seaside town since Mehetible's time.

Old landmarks are still visible and most of the homes and businesses along Water Street still stand, as does Windsor House, the home Captain Mowatt built for Mehetible In 1798.

Today Windsor house, now an inn, has a new lease on life, brought back to its glory days by Jay Remer and Greg Cohane.

Those who were involved in the restoration of Windsor House were aware of a strong presence and everyone agreed that it was the ghost of Mehetible Califf Mowatt. Mehetible outlived her husband, who died at sea. She continued living in the home well into her 90s and was, in the end, the last Empire Loyalist living in St. Andrews. Her spirit is felt most often late at night and early in the morning—that's when footsteps are heard and things get re-arranged.

If you visit or stay overnight in Windsor House, you'll notice a marvellous collection of water colours by New Brunswick artist Anthony Flowers, who lived during Mehetible's time. There is a wall that leads upstairs where Flower's paintings hang, and every morning they have to be straightened.

While visiting Windsor House, I asked which bedroom had been Mehetible's. I was directed to the one at the top of the stairs; the one they have to unlock every morning. Spend time alone in that room and you'll feel an energy, and the sensation you're been watched.

Next time you visit New Brunswick, and you're close to St. Andrews, visit Windsor House Inn. And, if you stay overnight, remember Mehetible's bedroom is at the top of the stairs—the one on the left. Pleasant dreams.

The Strathgartney Ghost

“
S
he was a mysterious and unfortunate young woman, Gracie Grey was.” That's how the old folk put it when they talked about poor, frozen, Gracie Grey.

Gracie grew up in Bonshaw, Prince Edward Island, in the 1850s. She lived in the grand country estate of Robert Bruce Stewart. Stewart was born in England in 1813 and in 1846, he, his wife, and their five children set sail for Prince Edward Island. They arrived in Charlottetown in the fall of the same year. In time, Robert Bruce Stewart would become one of the Island's most notorious land barons.

He settled in Bonshaw, some twenty miles outside of Charlottetown. This home was built on one of the highest hills on the Island and had an excellent view of the Northumberland Strait. Proud of his Scottish heritage, Stewart named his estate Strathgartney, after the place where his father had been born. Today, Strathgartney is a popular inn. Robert Bruce Stewart's clan eventually included nine children and perhaps, unofficially, one other; Gracie Grey.

Some Islanders will tell you that the spirit of Gracie Grey still haunts the hollows and hills of Bonshaw. No one of such a tender age as Gracie is expected to die, and least of all become a ghost, but that's exactly what happened to Gracie.

It was a cold winter's afternoon in 1888 when death claimed Gracie. She had set off for the village to buy some needed staples for the Stewart's table. On her return, she was caught in a sudden and violent snow storm, so bad, it would be known as the great blizzard of 1888. No one in the Stewart household was concerned when she didn't return to Strathgartney. The Stewarts knew Gracie would find shelter in a neighbour's home. But that was not to be. Just yards from the warmth and safety of Strathgartney, Gracie, struggling against the punishing storm, collapsed. Her cries for help were lost in the howling wind.

Three days later, searchers came upon the basket Gracie had hung on a tree branch. Buried deep in the snow below was the frozen body of young Gracie Grey. The searchers carried her frozen body inside Strathgartney to her bedroom on the third floor.

It was not long after her death that strange things began happening. Her ghost first appeared roaming the grounds, or standing down by the gate where she had died. Other times people reported seeing her ghost walking along the road. The former premier of the province, Walter Shaw, wrote in his book,
Tell me the Tales
, that his father's and Gracie Grey's paths crossed on St. Catherine's Road near a place known as Gloomy Blues Hollow. When he told his friend this, he was warned to watch out for the ghost of Gracie Grey.

Most of the time, though, her spirit remained on the third floor of Strathgartney wandering in and out of her bedroom. A weaver's loom that Gracie operated would often start weaving by itself; a sure sign that Gracie was in the room.

The most frightening incident, however, occurred when Gracie's brother was riding home over the same road that Gracie had travelled the day she died. Her brother felt something pulling on the right stirrup of his saddle. When he looked down, there was his sister, or the ghost of his sister, walking alongside the horse.

When he arrived at Strathgartney, he collapsed and was under doctor's care for many weeks.

Today, those who know their Bonshaw history, will tell you that when you're inside Strathgartney Inn, or walking down by Gloomy Blues Hollow, you are not alone!

The Ghost of Jenkins House

N
ew Brunswick has a rich, diverse history full of bountiful folklore. A mere mention of the Miramichi, for example, and up pop tales of the ghosts of the headless nun, and of the Dungarven Whooper.

For this gem of the paranormal, we return to the year 1810 in the village of Gagetown, where a Scotsman by the name of Hugh Johnson built a two-and-a-half storey mansion. It became, with its four chimneys, quite a head-turner. In later years, this stately mansion became the residence of the world-renowned weaver and tartan designer, the late Patricia Jenkins. The home is still in the Jenkins family and it is now known by that name. The mansion stands as a reminder that if there was joy in the home, it was also a place of tragedy. The eldest daughter of Hugh Johnson died there in childbirth. And one of his sons and his fiancée were killed when their carriage overturned.

During the last century, several people who lived in Jenkins' house have reported seeing the ghost of a woman moving from room to room. She is, according to those who have lived under that roof, not a mean spirit; she's more benevolent than anything else. There have been times, however, when she has sent a certain picture crashing to the floor. Why? No one knows. Some theorize it was an attention-getter or that she simply didn't like it!

While visiting relatives who owned the home at the time, a young girl retiring for the night sat straight up in bed when a woman came out of the closet and walked past her to the window. The girl described the woman as wearing a white dress and having shoulder-length hair. Thinking it was her aunt, she asked, “What's wrong?” The woman neither turned around or spoke. She simply vanished!

Years later, while attending a family member's wake, that same girl, now an adult, listened to her uncle tell the story of a young woman from Saint John who, along with her younger sister, travelled to Gagetown, where the woman's engagement to Hugh Johnson's son was to be officially announced. But the young man took one look at his fiancée's younger sister and fell deeply in love with her instead. Needless to say, the marriage was off.

Sometime after that, and feeling sorry or guilty, the couple invited the jilted sister-in-law to come live with them. Unable to accept, or bear seeing her younger sister in the arms of the man she still loved, the woman got a rope went upstairs and hanged herself in the closet of her bedroom. The young woman listening to her uncle's story remembered her own experience as a young child and even before she asked her uncle which bedroom, she knew what the answer would be. But the elderly uncle wasn't through telling about that old house and what he had seen there. One night, he told his frightened and captive audience, while in bed in that very same room, he saw a woman in white walk into the closet. Thinking it was one of the women looking for some clothes, he waited, but she never came out.