Everyone loves a good ghost story.聽 C鈥檓on now, even you.聽 You can鈥檛 tell me you don鈥檛 like the idea of curling up on the couch late at night, while the wind whistles outside in the unknowing darkness, and reading a great scary story 鈥� or even watching a classic horror movie?
No?聽 Seriously?
Man, who sucked the fun out of you at an early age?
I love a good ghost story; the kind that leave the hairs on your arm standing on end and your mind leaning more towards the 鈥淚 Believe鈥� pile from the 鈥淣ot Real鈥� bin.聽 A good ghost story will thrill you and entertain you; a great one will still coerce you 鈥� a fully-functioning, bill-paying adult 鈥� to leave more than one light on than you need.
We鈥檝e all heard ghost stories, whether it鈥檚 in books, movies or even the fables and legends passed down over many a bonfire that have been twisted, retold, and repackaged from generation to generation.
So the question remains, do you believe in ghosts?
Personally, I wouldn鈥檛 say I believe in *ghosts*, but I DO believe in unexplained phenomena.聽 In other words, I happen to think there are incidents that are simply unexplainable and consist of undiscovered terrain by our society鈥檚 best and brightest.
Take this one particularly intriguing story for example.聽 One of my favourite shows growing up was 鈥楿nsolved Mysteries鈥�, which was hosted by the late Robert Stack, who in my book had the greatest narrative voice, especially for the spooky and macabre material that the show dealt with.聽 One of the best stories that the show dealt with was the eerie happenings inside a ranch house out in Central Texas that was purchased by three cowboys in the mid 1990鈥檚.聽 The story goes that as soon as the men started staying at the house, incidents involving everything from sharp temperature drops to loud crashing and banging began happening.聽 Sometimes the supernatural entity would target just one of the men at night, and on other nights, all three of them would hear the same noises and experience the same activity, including voices that would call the men by their names.
Dr. William Roll, a parapsychologist, believed that the "Peltier effect" was the cause of the strange, loud sounds. 聽This effect occurs when water seeps between underground slabs of limestone. 聽The resulting reaction causes real noises, along with an electromagnetic field that can affect human minds. 聽It was said in the episode that this could make the cowboys believe that they鈥檙e hearing something that isn't really there.
So in essence, this isn鈥檛 really a ghost story, more a story featuring spooky phenomena that is based on real science.聽 But hey, I鈥檓 here to talk about ghost stories, and dammit, that鈥檚 what I鈥檓 going to do.
Some of my favourite ghost stories that I鈥檝e read over the years are ones that allegedly took place in our very own backyard here in Saskatchewan, and they also include legends that may or may not be true to this day, which once again depends on one鈥檚 beliefs in this sort of thing.
These include鈥�
- 聽The story of a mysterious coffee shop that once existed at the bottom of the hill in Flaxcombe, a tiny community west of Kindersley.聽 The story goes that a traveling salesman passed through the area back in the 1940鈥檚 and stopped there for a cup of coffee, but wasn鈥檛 able to order any food because the waitress seemed to disappear before his very eyes.聽 Talking to another fellow in the next town he came across, he was told that the coffee shop had burned down in Flaxcombe years before.聽 G-g-g-ghost diner!
- 聽The legend of the supposed spectre that haunts the parking lot of Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon to this day.聽 From what I鈥檝e been told, if you were to find yourself alone at night on the property, the legend goes that you hear a voice calling your name, asking for help.
- 聽The Delta Bessborough hotel in Saskatoon is supposedly home to the ghost of a man who had fallen to his death.聽 Reports state that guests have seen a well-dressed man 鈥渘ot from this time鈥� roam the hallways at all hours of the night.
- 聽The mysterious light located at St. Louis that doesn鈥檛 appear to be a train coming down the track.
Ghost stories such as these are told down through generations, and they give us a healthy scare.
Only question that remains is鈥�.care to find out with me which ones are the real deal?
For this week, that鈥檚 been the Ruttle Report.
