So, weeks and weeks ago I asked you if you believed in ghosts and then never told you why I asked. Silly me.
Last month, my mom and her husband, Bob, came up to Victoria to visit and meet Wil. We took them for brunch at my favorite brunch place, John’s place. And we took them on a Historical Ghost Walk of Victoria. Victoria, it seems, is one of the most haunted places in the Pacific Northwest. One reason? The Hudson Bay Company did not follow the cardinal rule of Poltergeist. They may, or may not, have moved the gravestones, but they DID NOT MOVE THE BODIES, when they kicked the native dwellers off their lands and started building. Man, you ALWAYS move the bodies. Always. Also, I don’t think ghosts like the water, so they are pretty much island bound. I might be making that up, tho, I’m not sure.
Wil does not believe in ghosts. I like the idea of ghosts. It appeals to me. But I’ve never had a ghostly experience. And I didn’t that night. Well, maybe I did, I don’t know. One of the symptoms of a ghostly experience is a sudden drop in temperature surrounding you. But it was night and outside and we were already cold. I could have been frosted in ghosts and not known it. Several times we were led through alleys and hallways that were supposed to be ripe with spirits. Nothing. Nada. And I had an open mind. Wil did not. When asked if he was at all sensitive, his response was “I’m the most insensitive guy you’ll ever meet.”
But, it was interesting. A slightly more gruesome way of delivering some history, so it’s fun. During the summer, they have five different routes. Victoria is that haunted. And I would definitely take visitors on one, if they liked. Good times. Spooky fun. Two spectral thumbs up.
On a trip to Europe a few years ago, I spent a week in an old English manor house which had been converted into a small hotel. It was a couple of centuries old and was supposedly haunted. Though I was sort of jokingly keeping an eye out for anything supernatural, I never saw anything out of the ordinary.
On the eve of my departure, though, I was walking down the hall and struck up a conversation with a member of the hotel staff whom I encountered. I said, “They say this place is haunted, but I haven’t seen the first sign of any ghosts.”
He chuckled and said, “That’s just an old rumor. I haven’t seen anything unusual in the entire time I’ve worked here.”
“Really?” I replied, “How long have you worked here?”
“About three hundred years,” he said.
really? not moving the bodies with the grave stones means you get ghosts?
hmm.
Thanks for following up on the ghost thing. Now I can clear my brain cache of the jodi ghost story to make room for more market price of silver reminders.
Apparently when I was wee, I’d talk to the wall as though there was something there. So my family was convinced that I was seeing ghosts. But as we all know, I am just kinda “off”.
How’ve you been, Jodi? I miss all of you!