In Canada, it’s darker at this time of year. There are fewer waking hours and dusk and darkness are often inhabited by unexplained events and ghostly phenomena. We are not a superstitious people, not susceptable to assumptions of supernatural causation. But facts are facts, and we are a curious bunch. So every year at about this time we venture out, often by candlelight, in search of the truth that awaits us in the cold darkness…

The Haunted Stirling Mansion, home of Fright Night

European settlement in Nova Scotia dates back to the seventeenth century. In Canadian time, that’s a lot of history. @AuthenticCoast  and @travelbyterry have been tweeting me about an interesting Nova Scotia haunt. The DesBarres Manor Inn was built in 1837 in the seaside village of Guysborough on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore for Supreme Court Justice, W.F. DesBarres. Justice Debarres was the grandson of J.W.F. Desbarres, a military man and mapmaker who accompanied Major-General James Wolfe at the great battle on the Plains of Abraham. It is rumoured that Wolfe gave DesBarres his pocket watch at the moment of his death, and that it hung in the Manor for many years. Spooky!

Surrounding the Plains of Abraham is Québec City. As night falls, Ghost Tours of Québec guide visitors through the cobble stone streets and ancient buildings of the old city, regaling them with tales of murders, executions, mysterious sightings, tragedies and hauntings.

Mon Dieu! Tours are in English and French.

In Ontario (known before confederation as Upper Canada), Fort George is regarded by many as the most haunted place in Canada. It was headquarters for the British military in Niagara during the War of 1812, and the scene of much blood, death and suffering. Many soldiers and civilians alike are still buried on the grounds of the fort. Some people say that distant cries can still be heard there.

If you dare to set foot in the fort on a weekend in October, check out the Friends of Fort George Halloween ghost tour. This two-hour guided candlelit walking tour is conducted by Ghost Tours of Niagara.

In the Canadian Badlands of southeastern Alberta, ghost tours and other paranormal events are wafting through the mist. The Haunted Atlas Coal Mine has BIG BOO and LITTLE BOO tours into the darkest corners of the abandoned coal mine. The Medalta Ghost Hunt is a nocturnal tour through a 100 year old pottery factory led by the Medicine Hat Paranormal Investigation team. And in the normally peaceful village of Stirling, Alberta, the Haunted Stirling Mansion is one of the best-produced haunted houses I have seen anywhere in Canada.

On Twitter, the Stanley Park Hallowe’en Ghost Train is known as @Ghost_TrainYVR. This year’s theme is Circus of Disaster. @Ghost_TrainYVR has been tweeting little teasers about this year’s event. Example: “The 1st circus in Ancient Rome was called the ‘Circus Maximus’ & more than 200-thousand people came to watch the show” Here’s a review of this year’s ghost train from the Georgia Straight, a popular Vancouver area media outlet.

If you know of a ghost tour or spooky Canadian factoid, please share it with us in the comments below.

Over the edge at Niagara Falls – photo courtesy of Bobby Mikul

Back in 2000, Niagara Falls Tourism asked us to help them get publicity for a big Valentine’s Day wedding.  Four hundred lovers were tying the knot in a winter garden ceremony across from the American Falls. The event got me thinking how did Niagara Falls become the honeymoon capital of the world anyway? That’s when I caught up with Sherman Zavitz who told me a remarkable story. Zavitz is a Niagara Falls historian and author of It happened at Niagara. His book is full of interesting tales on the Falls including its honeymoon tradition.

Theodosia Burr by John Vanderlyn (1802)

Joseph Brant was a celebrated Mohawk chief, politician and military leader who fought in the American Revolution for the British and who knew George Washington and King George III. On a visit to New York City in the late 1700s, Brant was introduced to Theodosia Burr.  Theodosia was the daughter of the third Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr. The Burrs were part of New York City society and when Theodosia met Brant at a New York social gathering, Brant invited Theodosia to Niagara. In 1801, when Theodosia married Joseph Alston, the couple decided to embark on a “wedding journey” to Niagara Falls. The couple also visited Brant at his home on the Grand River. Pack horses and a team of staff accompanied the Alstons on their journey. It was likely a long and arduous affair. But obviously Niagara Falls must have impressed the newly married Alstons because when they got back home, news spread quickly of their Niagara visit and before long, many well-to-do Americans were embarking on similar wedding journeys. The honeymoon destination was beginning to catch on.

By the 1850s, railway travel was taking North America by storm and thousands of newly married couples began to visit Niagara Falls. My grandparents married in New Brunswick on June 10, 1903 and traveled by train to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon.

So what is it about Niagara Falls that has captured the hearts of so many? Well, Louis Hennepin, the first European to see the falls in 1678, seemed to understand the falls’ allure when he called Niagara “a vast and prodigious Cadence of Water.” Charles Dickens was obviously fascinated by the falls too when he wrote, “I seemed to be lifted from the earth and to be looking into Heaven.”

In the 1950s, Niagara Falls became known as “Baby City” after it was discovered that a record number of honeymooners were conceiving their first child in the world’s honeymoon capital too.

Maid of the Mist – photo courtesy of Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corp.

As the 2000 Valentine’s Day wedding suggests, honeymooners still visit Niagara Falls. You’ll see them on the Maid of the Mist which has been taking honeymooners to the base of the Horseshoe Falls since the mid 1800s or on the  Spanish Aerocar which has been operating since 1916. Today’s honeymooners also visit  Niagara wineries and many choose to stay at a Niagara inn or spa. Honeymooners also attend the wonderful Shaw Festival, an annual summer theatre festival devoted to the works of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries.

In the light of day the Atlas Coal Mine doesn't look so creepy, but at night...

Two of the creepiest places to spend Hallowe’en in Canada are Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and the Atlas Coal Mine near Drumheller in the Canadian Badlands of Alberta.

Bath house at the Atlas Coal Mine – creepy!

Niagara-on-the-Lake is said to be the most haunted town in Canada and the creepiest place in town is Fort George. Its Hallowe’en ghost tours are so popular tickets go on sale every July so, if you miss this year’s Hallowe’en ghost tours, consider a summer tour. They’re held then too. Fort George was originally built in 1796 as the headquarters for the British Army in Ontario. During the War of 1812, General Isaac Brock and his Aide-de-camp, John Macdonell were buried here following their deaths at the Battle of Queenston Heights. Later, their bodies were removed and buried at Brock’s Monument on Queenston Heights, a famous Niagara landmark that can be seen for miles.

The blacksmith shop at Fort George – photo by Joel Benard

Fort George was the scene of death and suffering. The US Army occupied it for seven months during the War of 1812 and hundreds of young American soldiers died during the occupation due to poor sanitation. Many are still buried on the fort grounds in unmarked graves. Fort George staff talk of unexplained ghostly phenomena on candlelight “ghost” tours. Is Fort George haunted or is it the power of suggestion? That’s for visitors to decide but many who take a Fort George ghost tour report seeing, feeling or hearing strange things. Fort George Hallowe’en tours run in 2009 on October 16-18, October 23-25, October 30-31 and November 1st.

Tunnel tour at the Atlas Coal Mine

From the early 1900s to 1960, Drumheller was the Fort McMurray of coal mining. One hundred and thirty-nine mines once operated in this part of Alberta known as the Canadian Badlands. The Atlas Coal Mine, now a national historic site, is the only one left. Its creepy wooden tipple is the last one still standing in Canada. It’s a favourite Hallowe’en haunt and so is the mine’s former bath house which is just as creepy. Massive meat hooks attached to ropes on pulleys are strung from its ceiling. Miners once used these to hang their street clothes on, high above the coal dust. Every year, the Atlas Coal Mine hosts special Hallowe’en tours where a visitor can explore the tipple and the bathhouse armed with only a flashlight. Tours run October 24th, 30th and 31st. Evening tours are for adults only. Participants beware. We’re told you may encounter the tortured souls of the Headless.

This is a bit of a different type of road story today but one I think is worth telling…

is this a Brant heritage grape vine?

A couple of years ago I paid five bucks for this amazing heritage grape vine at Parkdale Horticultural Society‘s annual Plant Fair. People line up for it every year. Our vine is growing like a weed along our fence and this year, there must be a bushel’s worth of grapes on it. I am pretty sure the guy I bought it from told me it was a Brant heritage vine first cultivated in the Niagara region of Ontario circa 1860. I thought this would be easy to research but have had difficulty finding any information on the vine so, if you read this and can enlighten me, please do. I am also wondering if the grape is connected to the family of Joseph Brant.

Joseph Brant played an important role in Canadian history. Originally from what is now northeastern Ohio, the celebrated Mohawk chief fought in the American Revolution for the British. Following the war, he and his Mohawk followers were awarded land along the Grand River in the Niagara region of Ontario for their war service (although wouldn’t it have been Mohawk land to begin with?). After the war, Brant continued to be an influential force with politicians, including President George Washington. What many don’t know is the role that Joseph Brant played in Niagara Falls becoming a honeymoon destination. Niagara historian Sherman Zavitz, in his book, It happened at Niagara, wrote that the first honeymooners to visit Niagara Falls were invited by Brant.  Theodosia Burr, the daughter of United States Vice President, Aaron Burr, and her new husband, Joseph Alston traveled to Niagara Falls following their wedding in 1801. They later visited Brant who lived on the Grand River.

But the real reason I am writing about our Brant heritage grape vine is to tell you about the effect it has had on our neighbours. Toronto can be reserved at the best of times so our neighbours’ reaction to the vine has been a pleasant surprise. Katarina is an elderly Hungarian woman who passes our yard every morning on her way to her daughter’s place. One day I found her pinching new sprouts. “Do this every week and you’ll get more grapes”, she told me. And we have. Then there’s the old Portuguese guy who gently scolded us for not tying our vine to the fence to give it better support. The next day I noticed he had done it for us. Last fall, when our grapes were at their sweetest, our Vietnamese neighbour who lives down the alley from us stopped every morning on his way to work to grab a handful. Now when I walk to the corner store and he’s out in his garage, he stops whatever he’s doing to say hi. And just this week, I met another neighbour, a Portuguese grandmother who has taken to walking her dog by our place and stopping to search for the ripest grapes. I told her today to keep coming back.