Halloween is Saturday, and Calgary has no shortage of ghost stories. Many of them cling to the city's oldest buildings, and you can still visit most of them.
Here are the places Calgarians have long called haunted and the accounts that give them their merit.
The Deane House: a man with a pipe
Supt. Richard Burton Deane's house being moved to the east side of the Elbow River in August 1929. Photo: W. J. Oliver (CU193485). Courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives, Glenbow Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
The Deane House was built in 1906 for Richard Burton Deane, the Mounted Police superintendent at Fort Calgary. It was moved across the Elbow River in 1929 and later became a rooming house. In 1971, it’s said to be the scene of a murder-suicide.
People have reported seeing the ghost of a man with a tobacco pipe. There are also accounts of phones ringing that are disconnected, fire alarms going off when there's no fire, and other stories describe a closet that won't stay shut.
The house still stands on the east bank of the Elbow River, near the Confluence Historic Site, formerly Fort Calgary, and is the site of the Deane House restaurant.
Fire Hall No. 3: the monkey in the kitchen
Left: Fire chief James "Cappy" Smart in about 1930. Photo: photographer unknown (CU1198711). Right: Firefighters outside Calgary's Fire Hall No. 3 in about 1911. Photo: photographer unknown (CU1173309). Both courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives, Glenbow Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
Before it was the Hose & Hound pub in Inglewood, this building was Calgary's Fire Station No. 3, from 1906 to 1952.
Fire chief James "Cappy" Smart kept exotic pets, including a monkey that was put down after it bit a child. Staff blame the ghost of this primate for the dishwasher running on its own and pots shaking in the kitchen.
Some staff have also heard hooves and neighing. One theory: Smart's horse, Lightning, which died in a fire.
Alexandra School: the caretaker still making his rounds
Alexandra School at 922 9th Ave. S.E. in about 1912. Photo: Alberta Photograph Company (CU1150322). Courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives, Glenbow Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
Alexandra School in Inglewood taught students from 1902 to 1963. The building is now the Alexandra Centre.
The story goes that a caretaker named Joe died in the stairwell. People have reported hearing footsteps, along with shadows, noises, things being moved around.
The Heritage Park Collection
Left: The Prince house at 238 4th Ave. S.W. in about 1896, with John E. Prince driving and Margaret Prince beside him. Photo: photographer unknown (CU181025). Right: The parlour of the Prince house in about February 1898, the month Margaret Prince died. Photo: photographer unknown (CU181125). Both courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives, Glenbow Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
Prince House. Lumber baron Peter Prince built this house on Fourth Avenue S.W. in 1894. It's the house pictured at the top of this story, and it now stands at Heritage Park. His wife, Margaret, died there in 1898. It’s said that technology often fails on the second floor, and that staff once found "a little smiley face" drawn in the Windex on an upstairs window they had just sprayed.
Airdrie House. Visitors to this 1906 house describe feeling like someone is trying to push you down and out. The spirits haunting this house also seem to be particular about their thermostat as it’s said that it's always 10 C inside, whatever the weather. Some believe it's the artifacts, brought from B.C. ghost towns, that are haunted rather than the house.
Left: The Canmore Opera House on Aug. 29, 1964. Photo: Rosettis Studio (CU1131044). Right: Inside the opera house the same day. Photo: Rosettis Studio (CU1131079). Both courtesy of Glenbow Library and Archives, Glenbow Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.
Canmore Opera House. It was built in 1910 as a concert hall for the coal-mining town of Canmore and moved to Heritage Park after it closed in 1960. Visitors have reported a woman singing, piano music with no one at the keys and an older man in old-fashioned clothes.
Gledhill's Drug Store. The ghost of a long-dead cat is said to wander the pharmacy, meowing for its owner.
Before you go ghost hunting
Most of these places are restaurants, pubs, offices or museum buildings. Visit during opening hours, and stay off private property.
