Last month I attended a ghost walk. My first ever. I am a huge fan of the supernatural. Both in writing and movies. I have read tons of ghost stories, though the specific genre that I like is gothic Victorian era stories. I also watch horror movies on a regular basis including watching older classics like Suspiria (1976) or the black and white The Innocents (1961). Here are some posts talking about my favorite horror movies and stories.
When I randomly spotted an event about a walking tour near downtown Vancouver I knew I had to attend it. So on a Friday evening I made my way over to the Waterfront Railway station, from where the tour starts, in downtown Vancouver which is a full 1.5 hours away from Langley. This tour is organized by the group Ghostly Vancouver Tours. They offer two tours, one in downtown and another in the neighboring Gastown. I signed up for the Gastown one. One of the other reasons I usually get interested in these kind of walking tours is that there is always a possibility of the organizers taking us to places where normally you wouldn’t have access to.
Gastown is considered one of the first neighborhoods of Vancouver which later became the core of the city. It is a national historic site now. The area’s first saloon was opened in 1867 by Jack Deighton who had a penchant for talking at length or ‘gassing’. This habit gave him the nickname gassy Jack. Soon the area around Gassy Jack’s saloon came to be known as Gassy’s town which evolved into Gastown. As you can imagine a neighborhood this old is bound to have some stories. Supernatural ones. This tour offers to take you out on a tour to some of the most haunted places in Vancouver and tell you their stories.
We started off from the most haunted place in Vancouver, the waterfront station at 7 pm. It was a bit cold as winter was slowly creeping in. Everyone had their jackets on. There were around 10 to 15 people in the tour. Mostly couples, families or group of friends. I was the only one who was by myself. Our guide Vanesa started off with a brief intro of Vancouver’s history and then we walked inside the station where she regaled us with some stories of ghostly sightings. My fav one was of a girl in a flapper dress who appears some times. From here we moved on to many other places throughout Gastown. At each place Vanesa told us all the stories of ghostly sightings that have seen over the years. She carries a book with some pictures of sightings and other related information which shows us from time to time.
Gastown still has cobbled streets in some places and many old buildings. There is also a steam clock at an intersection which gives off steam from the top. On cold winter evenings, lit in the backdrop of old fashioned street lamps it gives off a quaint vibe. Another location I really liked was Hotel Europe. It has such a old world look to it. In fact it still retains a part of its original floor tiling.
The tour was of 1.5 hours and ended where we began, at the Waterfront station. I got to see a historic locality and in the process learnt some history lessons and as an added bonus heard some spooky stories. Overall I had a great time!