Ghost Tours of Regina Provide Haunted History: Bill’s Right On Blog

A number of years ago I attended The Ghost Tours of Regina and I must say I really enjoyed the night! The bus tour participants met at Bushwhacker’s Pub on Dewdney Avenue at 7pm, where we met our tour guide for the night, Josh Straight (who played Josh the Cook on the CTV show ‘Corner Gas’).

After a short introduction and an explanation of the buses safety features we started the tour! The first stop was the Regina cemetery where we had to don glow sticks to light our way and were asked to put on face masks we were given (the kind doctors wear). The reason we were told was to create a connection between the generation that died from the Spanish influenza and how they may have felt from seeing only the doctors and nurses coming in wearing these during what may have been their final days.

Our guide also talked about the history of Regina and how it interacted with the cemetery from the tornado of 1904 to the Spanish influenza and the Chinese immigrants. He didn’t say anything much that haunted the cemetery but just wanted to point out that all of the history of Regina can be told like a story from the tomb stones that populate the yard.

THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE GHOSTS

The Government House interior is known to be quite the haunted place

After this brief stop we continued to The Government House where Josh spoke of Chung Lee, a Chinese immigrant, who was a cook that lived and worked there. His routine was the same thing each day and every day with pretty good consistency. After he died many people could swear that they still hear the flip flops he used to wear walking up and down the stairs and halls. Josh also spoke of a purple cloth that was used to cover an honorary sword in a glass case, this cloth was always found flung across the room every morning for eight weeks. It wasn’t until after they moved the cloth somewhere else did it stop being flung around. Some people have guessed that Chung lee wanted the sword uncovered.

The second story they mentioned in The Government House was a small ivory statue that would always get turned around, either after some piece of furniture was mysteriously moved around or in one case after a lady fell down the stairs. This small statue would for some reason and somehow be turned around to face the wall even though no one had touched it. The interesting thing about the lady falling down the stairs is she swears that the statue was facing its normal direction as she came down the stairs but when she looked back up at it – it had turned its back to her.

Also at the government house there were a few stories of new employees coming in and hearing kids playing or boots chasing the kids but no one being around at all. A final interesting note is that the water is cut off to the museum part, but people have heard the toilet flush and the bathtub being full of water. On a personal note I must say that I felt anger there after I took a picture of the small statue, it was like something suddenly wanted to hurt me.

THE COLLEGE BUILDING – STORIES OF SUICIDES AND BAD MILK

The College Building has a scary history known to haunt the present

From there we went on to the College Building on College Avenue where we were told of how the building was divinely protected three times. The first time when there was a great Regina fire coming towards it but it suddenly veered off to the right of the building leaving it unscathed, secondly during the tornado two weeks before its official opening, again the tornado also veered away at the last moment, and finally during the Spanish influenza outbreak – not one case of influenza was reported on campus. Amazing stories but it was not to last.

After that in the 1920’s the divine protection seemed to end. A farmer sold a vat of milk that his worker infected with typhoid fever (the worker didn’t tell his boss he was sick and handled the milking process spreading the germs) and many of the students got sick. During this time it was a lady or student that passed on but they didn’t leave. This lady could be seen from time to time just walking the halls trying to be alone, she is mostly seen near the ‘Dark Hall’. Anyway, if you approach her she moves away and if she turns to look at you her eyes glow red and you are overcome with fear we were told.

The second story of College Campus involves a soldier who died there during WWII, just a couple of months before the war ended – he decided to commit suicide by jumping out a window of the top floor. One lady student seen him in the library as she was studying, when she chased him down he simply turned and said thank you then disappeared. It is thought that maybe he just wanted some sort of acknowledgement of being there. The Creepiest thing that happened to us at the College was how the front tower window was suddenly opened. Creepy, because we were told no one is allowed in that area. Creepy, because only the Dean of the College has Keys. Creepy, because this Dean was already gone home for the night…Creepy!

THE COMPUTER CLINIC’S STONE HOUSE – A DEAD WIVES TALE?

The Computer Clinic has long been known to be haunted (photo: http://myreginacity.net/)

The current store, now called The Computer Clinic, located in the stone house on College Avenue and Broad Steet used to be a coffee house called “Mulligan’s” and before that, housed a few other businesses – all of which had trouble staying open because of ghost hauntings. I guess the house itself was built by a German man who wanted his wife to come to live in Regina with him, but only she didn’t want to come here. So he promised to build her a beautiful stone dream home so they could settle down and have a normal life. Well, they got married and lived briefly in the house before he had to go do some work in a northern part of the province but as it turned out she died before he could return and now her spirit simply haunts the place.

HOTEL SASKATCHEWAN OR HAUNTED HOTEL SASKATCHEWAN?

Hotel Saskatchewan looked much scarier back in the day

After that we drove past the Hotel Saskatchewan where we heard stories of how employees refuse to work on the 5th and the 8th floor because of the apparitions that appear on those floors and high number of suicides that have happened there. There were stories also of service carts being turned over, and of while washing mirrors and suddenly seeing a woman is behind you in the reflection, a creepy cold touch on your shoulder or back. Truly a haunted hotel…

BART’S ON BROAD – BULLET HOLES OF BUTCH CASSIDY

The last place we drove by was the former Bart’s on Broad Bar; this bar has an arch in the door were shipped here from somewhere in the states and somewhere on it there is a bullet hole in it from when Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid shot someone. Now that spirit (his name is Buddy) sits around the bar and around the arch and is waiting to get revenge on the two gunslingers. You would think that after being moved and set up somewhere else would be enough to convince the spirit it’s in the totally wrong place?

Overall, I think the weirdest thing for me was in the Government House I was using my cell phone camera light to look in some of the darker rooms when suddenly the light turned off. The way I have my camera phone set up, the light should always be on and should never shut off unless I turn off the camera – but even then if I turn on the camera again the light automatically comes back on. In order to turn off the light there is a three step three button process that is almost impossible to accidentally happen. Now, when I noticed the light was turned off I closed the phone, opened it again and reset the camera thinking it would just light right up again. It didn’t. I had to go through all the steps to turn it back on manually, weird.

I totally look forward to going again next year and seeing any new places they may add and hearing many of the stories over as there were many told. If you want to know more log on to Eco Party Tours and click on Ghost Tours Regina and find out the next spooky tour date! (Book Early, They Fill Fast!)

Scare You Soon!

– Bill Stevenson, Bill’s Right On Blog