If that isn’t enough to make your hair stand on end, the Banff Springs’ concierge can also arrange excursions to area attractions that are more than just hauntingly beautiful. Daring souls can venture out to see the classic western ghost town of Bankhead, Lake Minnewanka (a.k.a “Lake of the Water Spirit”), Devil’s Gap, and a collection of surreal rock formations, dubbed the Hoodoos, that early aboriginals believed were inhabited by malignant forces.
A Room With A Boo.
Thanks to its turreted facade and opulent interiors, the Fort Garry Hotel (doubles from $129) in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the grande dame of city hotels. So it seems appropriate that it is also home to the grande dame of local ghosts. She is an elegantly attired apparition dressed in the fashion of 1913: the year that the hotel first opened with a lavish ball. Yet both her image and her true identity remain shrouded in mystery.
Some maintain that this ethereal lady in white, not content to have danced the night away, regularly returns to take another twirl around the floor after death. But writer Barbara Smith notes in Ghost Stories of Manitoba that she may be “a Cinderella-like spirit—the essence of a woman who wanted desperately to attend the gala and wasn’t able to. Lacking the necessary magic of a fairy godmother during her life, the lady might have chosen to celebrate in eternity.”
In either case, she should have no problem finding dance partners since the hotel supposedly has several other specters. One appears as an inexplicable light hovering in hallways; another casts reflections in mirrors. Room 202 even has a rakish ghost that enjoys crawling into bed with unsuspecting overnighters. Guests are welcome to try a little DIY ghost busting while on the premises; and non-guests can gain access to the hotel on one of Heartland Travel’s themed coach tours ($29), which covers the Fort Garry as well as other favorite haunts scattered throughout the city.
Looking for a dramatic alternative? Try paying a visit to either the historic Walker Theatre or Manitoba Theatre Centre. The former hosts the ghosts of Laurence Irving and Mabel Hackney. Although the acting duo died shortly after appearing at the Walker in 1914, they linger on in spirit to applaud other performers. The latter is haunted by a caretaker’s son who was killed in a tragic fire. Once an aspiring thespian, the young man now acts out by playing with seats, props, and electrical equipment.
