Unit Ghost's

[kiltedtradesman]

Danjanou  you are right about the Ghost Piper, but it is referred to as the "Phantom Piper'.  I sware I have had that feeling of not being alone late in the mess before.  Same feeling I had when in the Comox building at St. Pauls hospital.  There are 2 currently serving members that have seen the Phantom Piper.  The feeling they described was that the Piper was there to watch over them, not to push them out.

Ciao

 

[Lexi]

It seems Hamilton, too, has it's share of ghosts.
http://www.hauntedhamilton.com/local_armouries.html

I had a strange experience in the John Foote Armouries, as did the rest of my Cadet Corps.
We were writing our Star Level Exams and the door of the room was open. The room we were in was the one upstairs that is your first on the left after you walk up the stairs to where the big moose head is on the wall, it's by some sort of Argyll mess.
Anyway, we were writing the test and it wasn't a windy day, and the fans in the JFA do dink all but waste electricity.
All the sudden the door slammed shut with an unbelievable strength.
Being the newbie, I looked up from my paper to where the door was, and exchanged shocked glances with my Cpl.

There's also, apparently, a piper in the JFA. Although I've just heard stories from Air Cadets, I can't be sure.
The place is old, and can be a tad creepy, even to someone who loves it as much as I.
I also heard about goings on in the tunnels underneath the JFA, but as far as I knew most of them were all caved in.
Can anyone fill me in?

Lex

 

[Fraser.g]

I to have been in the armory doing weapons watch in the late 80s and early 90s when the alarm would go down and I was a young Corporal only to hear the movement on the promenade and especially in the officers mess. If you look on the wall by the officers mess bar you will find a picture that has two folds in it. the intersection of that cross is through the heart of a member who died in an accident on the range in the basement. I was told that it was his ghost that walked the halls.

I will furnish more details and who told me the story if you want but only to old members of the Sqn.

GF

 

[Donut]

RN PRN, Spr Earl, they've redone the messes at the Fell Armouries, I don't know where the picture has gone, but both LCol Larocque and HCol Dow have all the details of the fellows passing.  If I see LCol Larocque around this week I'll ask him for the details again. 

I've definitely heard him a couple of times up on the mezannine, usually about 2-3 am and always when I was alone in the building.  I know I'm not the only one, too.

 

[Spr.Earl]

In 6Fd. there are actually 2 ghosts.
One is C.S.M. Gill the other is of a Sapper who was accidentally shot in the indoor range back in the 30's and both reside in the Officers Mess as at that time(30's) is was the JR.'s.

I also had some weird things happen while down there late at night many years ago.

 

[Fraser.g]

Lets not forget the one that tends the horses in the basement. I was arround when the renos happened and we lost the "stables". Man was he active for about a year. I think that this was about 92-93.

GF

 

[BDTyre]

Back in the dark ages when I was a junior rank in the that same loud mess, a certain newly minted just   back from the Middle East   M/Cpl   sat as newbies down and explained that there was a ghost piper that lived and sometimes played up in the attic. Said M/Cpl also told us he'd seen/heard? the ghost one evening late in the mess when he was wandering around in the stairwells past the far end of the mess where the doors lead to the ladies washroom (memory is a bit fuzzy, we're talking 1977 here) where the stairwell leads down to the Sgt's and Officer's mess. I guess he was orderly Cpl that night, otherwise I can't see any reason to be prowling around in there.

When I was in the Seaforth Armouries attempting to sign up last year, my wife (at that time fiancé) and I went to the washroom.  My wife came out in a panic and refused to talk to me about it.  I asked if anyone (thinking an impolite young private) had said anything to her.  She said no one was in the washroom.

We somehow got on the subject of hauntings (my wife, my mother-in-law, and myself have all felt things at various locations) and my wife told me that in or near the ladies' washroom at the Seaforth Armoury she SAW a woman in 1930s or 1940s dress.  She was just standing, do nothing else -waiting perhaps for her husband?

BTW, my wife hates being right.  She had never heard about hauntings in the Seaforth Armoury, and she tried to dismiss it.  Thanks for ruining her night!    She says she won't dismiss the piper, but she saw a ghost - a woman - near the ladies' washroom.

She has also felt something at the Beatty Street (BC Regiment) Armoury, especially in the old shooting gallery (now locker/storage room) and near that small, narrow passage leading from one side of the armoury to the other.

 

[BDTyre]

Danjanou   you are right about the Ghost Piper, but it is referred to as the "Phantom Piper'.   I sware I have had that feeling of not being alone late in the mess before.   Same feeling I had when in the Comox building at St. Pauls hospital.   There are 2 currently serving members that have seen the Phantom Piper.   The feeling they described was that the Piper was there to watch over them, not to push them out.

Ciao

Odd that you should mention this.   My Pulmonary Function Test and Methacholine Challenge were both at St. Paul's.   I'm fairly certain I was not in the Comox building as I was on the other side (Davie St. side) of the building.   Both my wife and I felt something, especially when we got lost and headed closer to the centre building (which we came in through).   Despite this, throughout the whole hospital I felt an overwhelming feeling of...dread...that's the only way I can put it.   The feeling of something wrong; of not being alone.   I hardly every feel anything, and one of the few places I've ever felt anything is St. Paul's.   And that is also the strongest feeling I've ever got.   That whole hospital has freaked me out ever since I saw it.

Hospitals in general creep me out...but not like this...never like this!

 

[infoman206]

Well looks like facts were not checked - if you read the story which ran last year in the Courier http://www.rense.com/general43/spirits.htm you can see the details about the history of the Island - among those said to be under the Jr. Ranks floor is the brother of Gassy Jack (as in Gas Town) - as one of those who has heard things in building 1 which cannot be explained all I can tell you is I finished what I had to do and left fast (99% of all reports are from building 1 which is the red brick main building and not building 3 where the Jr. Ranks mess is)... I still end up working late in the ship's office but have not heard anything in years...  For any military members in the lower mainland, I'll be trying to have another halloween party this year - if you are interested send a list of names to the unit via fax 604-225-2546 and I'll make sure we get invites out.

All the best,

JSE
LS
PMC
Deadman's Pub - the Jr. Ranks Mess onboard HMCS DISCOVERY

Spr Earl: Yeah, it's referred to as "Dead Man's Island" and rumors of it being an old graveyard, but none of that was true. However, I know several sailors who have pulled late shifts out there who all swear they heard/saw something spooky... I'm telling ya, they could make it a big tourist location for the ghost hunters and make enough money to cover their budget deficit!

Danjanou: I've never heard anything about a ghost piper upstairs. Maybe it's because the Junior Ranks are up there and we're too loud. What's the story?

 

[mclipper]

When I was in the Seaforth Armouries attempting to sign up last year, my wife (at that time fiancé) and I went to the washroom.   My wife came out in a panic and refused to talk to me about it.   I asked if anyone (thinking an impolite young private) had said anything to her.   She said no one was in the washroom.

We somehow got on the subject of hauntings (my wife, my mother-in-law, and myself have all felt things at various locations) and my wife told me that in or near the ladies' washroom at the Seaforth Armoury she SAW a woman in 1930s or 1940s dress.   She was just standing, do nothing else -waiting perhaps for her husband?

BTW, my wife hates being right.   She had never heard about hauntings in the Seaforth Armoury, and she tried to dismiss it.   Thanks for ruining her night!     She says she won't dismiss the piper, but she saw a ghost - a woman - near the ladies' washroom.

Well, that's great in theory....except that only turned into a women's washroom very recently.  ;-)

 

[Pieman]

Some of these stories are pretty neat.

There is a TV show called 'Creepy Canada' that features Ghost stories from around the country. They come to where ever and film on location with some cheap special effects, but some of the stories are nice.

http://www.creepycanada.com

Maybe some of you could write your stories in, to these people.  There seems to be enough material here that they would be able to make a show or two on Army ghosts.

 

[BDTyre]

I think she saw the woman as she was in the hall near the washroom.   Any idea what was there before?   I just remember coming out and seeing my wife looking quite upset.

I should add: my wife mentioned she only saw the woman near the washroom, not that the woman was associated with the washroom.

 

[John Nayduk]

The armoury in Windsor is haunted.  There are a couple of stories who they are(were).  One was a CSM from the Essex Scottish who was too old to go overseas and hung himself in the officer's mess tower room.  Another is a live in caretaker who did himself in.  Spoke with  few people who personally experienced spooky happenings.  I, myself, experienced something very weird one night.
I wonder if the ghost(s) will move with us when we officially occupy the new armoury.

If they do, they'll have interesting neighbours.  MacKenzie Hall down the road has a few ghosts in it.  It used to be the place of execution for Sandwich. In the Hall, there is a set of irons that were taken off a skeleton unearthed near the foot of Prince Road.  Seems that the old county sheriff, William Hans, used to secretly bury the executed in unmarked graved outside of town.  As well, many of the old buildings in Old Sandwich Town (around the Sandwich and Mill Street area) are haunted.

 

[Highland Laddie]

Minto Armouries in Winnipeg supposedly has a ghost. Rumour / legend has it that a troop shot himself in the head prior to being sent overseas for one fo the World Wars (WWI / WWII, I can't remember which), and his ghost walks the halls.

I thought I was a load of BS until I was Duty O one night about 1 1/2 years ago. Minto is one of the larger armouries in Canada, and the subterranean level is quite large. After I dismissed the Duty NCO & Cpl I thought I heard a noise in the basement before arming the alarm system. I wandered down stairs, turned on the lights, and wandered down the hallway to the rear ramp door to take a look. I turned off one set of lights, and went around the corner to check the doors on the old indoor range rooms. When I came back around the corner, all the lights were back on again. Now, normally this wouldn't phase me, but the light switches are about 200 feet apart, and you definitely can hear people when they are moving around in the corridor during work hours. I know I was the only person in the building, heard no sounds, and both sets of lights were on when I came back around the corner. I mentioned this to one of the older members of the armouries a few weeks later, and they mentioned the legend of the ghost. Walking down there late at night still gives me the creeps.

There is also another legend that one of the last public hangings in the west happened outside of the armouries around 1913 / 1914, but I think that is pure BS. Never been able to find a record of that.

 

[shaboing]

Some of these stories are pretty neat.

There is a TV show called 'Creepy Canada' that features Ghost stories from around the country. They come to where ever and film on location with some cheap special effects, but some of the stories are nice.

http://www.creepycanada.com

Maybe some of you could write your stories in, to these people.   There seems to be enough material here that they would be able to make a show or two on Army ghosts.

i watch this show all the time, there has been some army ghost stories but they have all been like war of 1812 back in the day of the red coats. it would be nice to see some closer to modern day ghost stories on there.

 

[Danjanou]

CM There has been a ladies room there since the 1970's.

Mind I always wondered what that rabbits warren of small rooms was used before for. There's not a lot of room there IIRC betweentthe back door to the Jr Ranks and the staircase that goes down to the floor below and the Sgts Mess (why can I remember the layout of a building that I haven't been in in almost a quarter of a century btw).

I'm not sure but I think I remember some past uses were Sigs Pl rooms and or barracks for those staying over on weekends. Storage seems to be most likely, but one never knows what they were originally used for back in the 1930-40s.

A woman in period costume eh BDtyre. I wonder if perhaps she was visiting the local Seaforth ghosts. The Jr Ranks was always a welcoming place IIRC especially for young ladies. ;D

 

[kiltedtradesman]

Danjanou

The creepiest thing about the stair between the Sgts and Jr Mess are the silhouettes painted on the walls.  A retired Jack painted those before he left back in the 90's and if you walk up the stairs in the dark, they follow you up the stairs.  However, when you are stumbling out of the mess at night, it looks like they are giving you the "Present Arms" on your way out.

:warstory: :warstory: :warstory: :warstory: :warstory: :warstory:

 

[Danjanou]

Sorry never saw them. Remember I left the unit in 1980.

 

[sheikyerbouti]

I would like to clarify the matter of the "Seaforth" ghost a little. It is definitely a piper as 'it' seemed to present itself quite regularly to bandsmen during my time around the armouries (91-95). As a Band cadet, I encountered several experiences particularily on the stairs to the top floor leading from the officers mess. The most prominent sensation encountered by myself was that of footsteps, although no one else would be around.

I would also like to note that I was present as a server for the expiration of the fellow in the Sergeant's mess.  As a regular to the mess, He was afforded much privacy and his condition wasn't noticed until Dinner seating began. His passing was very peaceful as it was estimated that he had been gone for quite some time prior to our discovery. He looked comfortable, seated in the stuffed armchair that overlooked the windows. It was quite the scene when word started to spread about his accident. We had to shut the mess and started Dinner seating earlier than anticipated in order to bring in the ambulance without undue notice. An announcement was subsequently made of his passing by the mess officer and a toast was made in his honour.

My understanding at the time, was that the Gentleman was in seniors housing and as such many felt that he had passed in his true home.

 

[beach_bum]

What is now the ladies washroom used to be the shower and locker room for the men.  You couldn't access the showers through the mens washroom, you had to go through what is now the ladies washroom.  They walled it up, and opened up the wall on the other side.  The only ladies washroom that used to exist in the building was the washroom on the catwalk overlooking the lower gym.