Explore Saskatchewan’s scary places

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/10/2018 (2538 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are mysterious locales all over this world that are home to unexplainable happenings, even right here in our own city.

Our closest prairie neighbours have their share of spooky spaces, too, and I’m not talking about Mosaic Stadium at playoff time. Here are a few of Saskatchewan’s scariest public places to visit on your next trip west.

The Western Development Museum (WDM) is considered one of the most haunted sites in Western Canada. Eerie activities have been going on in its various buildings for years, like the former residence of Dr. Joseph Hamelin, one of North Battleford’s first doctors and primary caregiver during the 1918 influenza outbreak. His home was donated and turned into a museum in 1970 and today it’s not uncommon to hear footsteps emanating from the locked-up attic, and spot mysterious faces peering out from windows. At the WDM location in Saskatoon, a ghostly woman in red is seen frequenting the 1910-era Boomtown Café, while the museum’s main lobby is rife with ghostly noises.

No one is certain whose spirits haunt the hallways and lecture theatre at the College Avenue Campus at the University of Regina’s Centre for Continuing Education. But it was here in 1920 that a typhoid epidemic broke out after salmonella was brought into the school, and the entire third floor was converted into a hospital.

Eight students and one teacher lost their lives, and it’s said their bodies were temporarily housed in the basement cold storage before being removed for burial. Two decades later, when the building became a flying school during the Second World War, a pilot trainee is said to have fallen to his death from the tower during a party, never to fly or party again.

Nine kilometres southeast of Kipling is where you’ll find the Bekevar Church. Built in 1911 with Gothic revival-inspired twin spires and pointed-arch windows, it’s the last remaining building from the Hungarian settlement of Bekevar. Today, footsteps can be heard echoing inside the empty wooden interior, while spooky sightings occur of a woman in a white dress. Perhaps she is the young bride searching for the groom who is believed to have taken his own life inside the building just one week after his wedding. Or maybe it’s him turning the lights on and off when no one else is around.

The Senator Hotel, initially named the Flanagan Hotel after its original owner, is a landmark building in downtown Saskatoon. The oldest hotel in the city, its exquisite marble and wood panelling has been lovingly restored to its 1907 glory, with attention given to the ornate architectural details of the day, authentically designed furnishings, and specially selected artwork that lends itself to reviving the stately atmosphere.

Employees over the years have recounted stories such as the bar stereo turning on and off, doors slamming, and furniture moving, chalking it up to ghostly activity of the mustachioed man who can be seen standing behind the bar.

RoseAnna Schick is an avid traveller and music lover who seeks inspiration wherever she goes. Email her at rascreative@yahoo.ca