ANTIGONISH

ST FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY

MOUNT ST BERNARD COLLEGE

2340 Notre Dame Avenue

(902) 867-5106

Status: Former Catholic College; University Residence

Website

Directions

History

St Francis Xavier College was founded in 1853 by the Roman Catholic Church at Arichat, Nova Scotia. In 1866 it was granted University status and moved to its present location at Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

Mount St Bernard College, as a lady’s institution, was founded in 1883. In 1897 the institution became the first in North America to offer university degrees to women. As of 1990 Mount St Bernard College became a residence.

Paranormal Activity

Objects moving around the room on their own, a man who watches people climb a spiral staircase, an elevator that moves from floor to floor on its own.

Sounds of people walking the halls at night when they are deserted, disembodied voices in the bathrooms and hallways, toilets flushing on their own, shadows without bodies.

In the games room screams have been heard and apparitions of nuns have been seen. Gilmora hall is said to be haunted by a girl who fell to her death from a balcony.

Testimonials

From BFG

I saw your post on the hauntings at Saint Francis Xavier University and would like to update you on some recent things.

There is a different story to the girl and the balcony. I was told of a different story.

A long time ago the place was a convent and there was a nun who had an affair going on with one of the priests. She apparently found out she was pregnant and committed suicide on the balcony of the building. Now the balcony is closed due to fear of people re-enacting the same thing. Not only that but the priest hung himself in the same building in the stairwell.

I was told of a story where a girl had pictures on her cork board in her room, the next day when she woke up, all the tacks were placed in a neat pile on her desk and

Just recently as a student of the campus I was able to tour the place with some of the other girls of my residence. When we were walking down the hall a payphone rings just as we reach it, one of the girls answers and the line went dead.

It’s definitely a place to check out if you’re into that stuff.

From Desiree

I lived there for a year.

I caught the attached photo (photo no longer available due to website crash), you can clearly see a priest with the white neck thing on, on the staircase that is supposed to be haunted, and twice my chair was moved in the middle of the night to face my bed (when I first arrived as a frosh people there warned me to keep my chair tucked tightly into my desk in my room because that could happen.. and it did! it’s supposed to be the blue nun watching over you), I’ve heard the voices and the elevator (that NEVER worked while I was there, except for the janitors and moving in and out) and even saw… something scary downstairs where out mail boxes are… a room is just off the side that seems to hold a pool table and various storage things, there’s a window there but when I looked in the light for no reason at all was not reaching into a corner it should have been reaching and I could plainly see the dark light in that corner shift, before I ran up the 5 flights of stairs up to my room!

broughton

Broughton Ghost Town

Broughton Road

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Status: Former Mining Town; Former Military Training Area; Ghost Town

Directions

History

The town of Broughton was founded at the end of the 19th century by the British Company Cape Breton Coal, Iron and Railway.

The intention was to mine the coal vein at Loon Lake and create a prosperous town.

Millions of dollars were raised and the town was laid out including constructing 3 huge buildings – 2 for the company offices and one grand hotel – as well a street plan for as many as 10,000 residents.

The Hotel – the Broughton Arms & Crown – is thought to have had the first revolving door in North America.

In 1905 – 06 the Sydney & Louisburg laid down track down from the interior to a harbour. Unfortunately, the railway was owned by a competitor.

By 1907 the company was completely bankrupt. They didn’t have any money to build their own railway to move the coal from the mine to the harbour. They had spent all their money in creating the town.

The owners fled and the town was left on it’s own. One of the owner’s son was left in charge but he committed suicide shortly afterwards by cutting his throat with a straight razor.

The Federal Government kept the town alive for another decade by housing soldiers training to go to the battlefields of Europe in World War I.

In 1916 the Arms & Crown Hotel burnt to the ground and was not rebuilt.

When the war ended in 1918 the soldiers left and with them any way of making money in Broughton.

Canada’s first planned town quickly became a ghost town. The hoped for population of 10,000 crested at 1,000.

A few other coal mines were opened in the area over time but the last one closed in 1969.

There are still a few people living along Broughton Road but the town itself is a cemetery with a collection of ruins.

Paranormal Activity

The apparitions of both soldiers and miners have been seen wandering amid what was once the town.

Soldiers from the past have answered questions in EVP sessions in the ruins of the hotel.

A lady in white is said to haunt Loon Lake and can be seen either floating over the water or walking along the shore. She may be a woman who took poison and then drowned herself during the town’s heydays.

Other Reported Activity: shadow figures; disembodied voices; empathic feelings of loss and depression; people suddenly feeling lethargic and only wanting to go home; light anomalies and feelings of not being alone.

PEGGY'S COVE

THE BLUE LADY

Peggy’s Point

Peggy’s Point Road

Status: Natural Wonder; Location of Several Fatal Accidents

Directions

All Photos Coutresy of Stuart W

History

Peggy’s Point Lighthouse is one of the most famous – and photographed - lighthouses in the world. It is operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.

Peggy’s Point itself is a massive granite outcropping on which the lighthouse is built. Despite numerous signs – including one on the lighthouse itself – that the area is prone to violent and unpredictable surf numerous visitors are swept off the rocks every year; many are drowned.

Legends and Paranormal Activity

There is, of course, a very mundane explanation for naming of Peggy’s Cove: it was originally named Margaret’s Cove – due to the location of it’s entrance being on Margaret’s Bay – and the name was shortened to Peggy at some point.

The second version is far more romantic; and not completely unbelievable: a schooner wrecked in the early 19th century on Halibut Rock, just offshore of what is now called Peggy’s Point, with a loss of all hands except a young woman named Margaret. Margaret stayed in the area, marrying a local man, and eventually the locals began calling the town and cove after her. Margaret would eventually move to North Dakota.

Neither of these legends, however, explain the ghost of the “Lady in Blue”.

A woman moved from Europe to Canada, in the early 19th century, but did not have enough money to bring her 2 children with her. She settled in Peggy’s Cove and married a local man – seeing the similarities yet? – and settled down to earn the money to bring her children over the pond.

Her husband was very much in love with her and one day found her sitting on the point obviously sad due to missing her children. He decided to cheer her up by dancing a jig on the rocks but, unfortunately, slipped and fell killing him instantly. The townspeople found his body but there was no sign of her; legend says she – feeling responsible for his death – walked into the waves never to be seen again.

To this day the apparition of the “Lady in Blue” is seen most often standing on the edge of the rocks poised over the violent sea. Often, she will jump into the sea disappearing before she hits the water’s surface. She is also seen in the waves being washed out to sea and in the waves themselves (where she has been photographed).

The “Lady in Blue” may be the most famous ghost at Peggy’s Point but she not the only one. Countless people have washed off the rocks to their deaths as well as a plane that crashed nearby – SwissAir Flight 911.

Reported Activity: apparitions of people in the sea seemingly desperately trying to get back to shore; phantom screams coming from the water as well as disembodied voices and people often describe not feeling alone on the rocks and as if the sea itself is watching them.

LOUISBURG

LOUISBURG NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

259 Park Service Road

Status: Former French Fort, Heritage Property

Directions

Ghost Tours and Overnight Investigations are Offered Occasionally

By <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/22490717@N02">Dennis Jarvis</a> from Halifax, Canada - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/archer10/8176151324/">DSC02268 - Land Side of the King's Bastion and Walls</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

History

The French came to Louisburg in 1713 after ceding what is now Newfoundland to the British at the end of the War of Spanish Succession. They began building a fortified town in 1719 and completed it just in time for another war with Britain in 1745.

The fortress was in poor shape at the time and the troops on the edge of mutiny so it was taken in 46 days. After regaining the site by treaty, the French were once again besieged by the British in 1758.

Again, the British took the fort as France had no navy to protect it – this time it took them 7 weeks. The British promptly dismantled the site so it would no longer be a threat.

The site has now been reconstructed by Canada and is a national historic site where visitors can experience life as it was in the 18th century.

Paranormal Activity

The apparition of a sea captain who has greeted visitors and helped people about to fall on the stairs. The apparition of a nurse who wanders the halls of the old hospital – sometimes the sound of crying follows her. The apparition of a small boy crying who is searching for his mother.

Poltergeist activity has been reported in the bakery including moving and breaking objects and the moving of a 300 pound bread maker.

The apparition of an 18th century French soldier walks the grounds and has been seen in the chapel.

Phantom sounds of cannon fire and men screaming, disembodied voices and footsteps and light anomalies.