A witch, a warning, and a brush with death on the Southern Cross

Last week I found an intriguing message on my answering machine from Shirley Ryan, of Birchy Cove, Bonavista Bay. In it, she hinted at a mysterious story involving one of Newfoundland’s famous lost ships, the Southern Cross.

I called Ryan back, and she was eager to share her story of two men, Edmund Ryan and Leonard Skiffington.

“Now, Edmund Ryan was my girlfriend’s grandfather who lived just down across the garden, so to us, he was Uncle Ned,” she explains. “Uncle Ned always told the story about how he and Leonard left Birchy Cove, where he lived, to go across to Catalina. They were really lucky, they had gotten a berth on the Southern Cross.”

“They left Birchy Cove and they made their way to Catalina,” she describes. “I think they went over on a dogsled maybe, because there were no cars to bring them at that time, and the road across the country was little better than a path.”

The two men arrived in Catalina and were about to sign on.

“They had their berth already promised,” says Ryan. “They went into what he used to call a tavern. I’ve never known a tavern to be there, but maybe in them days there were. They went into this tavern to get a drink. Water was all they could afford. They had no money. So they asked the woman there for a glass of water each, and she gave them the water.”

When Uncle Ned turned, his arm knocked the glass onto the floor, breaking the woman’s glass.

“You have to pay for that glass,” she said to him.

He said, “Madam, I can’t pay, I have no money.”

“Where are you going?” the woman asked.

“We are going on the Southern Cross, we have a berth on the Southern Cross.”

“If you’re wise, you won’t go on that journey,” the woman said, “because you won’t return.”

“Now he was a man of great superstitions, and he took what she said to heart, and he came home,” describes Ryan. “But his friend Leonard wouldn’t listen to him and he went on that ship.”

The Southern Cross was built in Norway in 1886, and was originally named the Pollux. She was sold to the Newfoundland firm of Baine Johnson and renamed the SS Southern Cross around 1901, and she took part in the seal hunt every year from 1901 to 1914. Returning from the seal hunt in the final days of March, 1914, the Southern Cross fell out of normal communication. She was last heard of off Cape Pine, and then, nothing.

The Southern Cross vanished at sea, along with the 174 sailors and sealers on board her. Eventually, a marine court of enquiry determined that the ship sank in a blizzard on March 31, but the details remain, for the most part, unexplained. No crewmen nor record of the ill-fated voyage survived. Among the list of the dead was one Leonard Skiffington, originally of Newman's Cove, Bonavista Bay.

“Uncle Ned told us that story over and over and over,” says Ryan. “It’s a true story, he told it over and over, about how he took what she said as serious and accused her of being a witch. Well, lots of people were accused of being witches them days! But he said the woman that owned that tavern was a witch, and when she said that, that was enough for him. He didn’t go.”

“But Leonard did go, and well, Leonard never returned,” Ryan states. “Nobody ever returned, eh? That’s my little story.”

A ghost story from Topsham, Devon

Topsham, The River Exe and Exeter Canal, photo by Steve Knight

I started January of 2013 off by giving a talk on the folklore and legends of Wessex to the Wessex Society at the Marine Institute here in St. John’s.

The Society, which was founded by Dr. Otto Tucker, is a cultural organization formed to promote knowledge of and an appreciation for Newfoundland’s English-Wessex ancestry. Wessex (West Saxony) was the name of an old Anglo-Saxon Kingdom in southwestern England, and today it includes the counties of Devon, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset.

According to the Society’s website, immigrants from Wessex began to settle in Newfoundland in the early 17th century. By the early 1800s they had founded numerous fishing villages and towns and comprised approximately 60 percent of the resident population.

When they arrived, the Wessex settlers in Newfoundland brought with them their folklore, their ways of speech, and their stories. It was these stories that intrigued me, as they are similar in many ways to our own legends of ghosts and fairies.

A colleague of mine, Colette, heard that I was giving the talk to the Wessex Society, and was instantly intrigued. She herself had experienced something ghostly in the village of Topsham, near Exeter in Devon.

“I have a very good friend who lives near Exeter in Devon,” she explains. “We were student midwives at the same teaching hospital and were even flat-mates. When we used to work night duty, the rotation (schedule) consisted of 8 nights on, 6 nights off.”

One time her friend invited Colette to her parents’ home in Devon. She had been there before and knew her parents well. Her mother had once been a nurse also and understood how exhausted the girls always were after a week block of night duty.

“She used to spoil us by bringing us tea and toast in bed in the morning, and cooking delicious lunches and suppers,” Colette remembers. “She used to get up early, before the entire household, to bake pies made from fruit that she had picked that morning from her own garden”

Colette was sleeping in a small rectangular bedroom, and had spread her suitcase out on what little floor space there was between the bed and the door.

“Before we went to sleep, my friend's mum said she would get us up in the morning, so we wouldn't sleep the day away,” Colette says. “Early on the first morning I heard my friend's mum enter the bedroom. She started approaching the bed where I was lying, in an unusual side-step fashion, as if she was stepping over obstacles in her way.”

The woman was bent forward, leaning over as if she was hunchbacked.

“As I knew I had spread my things over the floor, I did not want her to trip on anything, so to avoid her having to come into the room further to wake me up, I called out to her that I was already awake,” describes Colette. What happened next made Colette realize immediately that the figure was definitely not the mother of her friend.

“She was not carrying any tea or toast, and as soon as I spoke those words, she receded backwards and faded into the wall, the same wall that had the door on it, only to the other side of that wall, as she disappeared,” says Colette.

“That is my story!” she adds. “I was completely awake when I said out loud that I was awake. I was very scared, but my friend and her parents laughed it off. I have no idea if I was dreaming or in a light dream-state which made me think I was awake, but this is exactly what I experienced.”

Zondag: List, Lier en Mechelen - met wafels!

Well, my Belgian adventures continued today, starting with breakfast with Veva, Dieter, Lander and Jasper, and Veva serenading me on the harp. Then, a leisurely walk along the old city walls of Lier, which turned into a stroll through the Lier Begijnhof, a UNESCO world heritage site.

Near the centre of Lier is the Zimmer Tower, an amazing central clock tower, with an elaborate working clock, and adjacent museum with an even more fantastical clock, which keeps track of just about everything celestial you could possibly conceive - 92 clocks in one timepiece! A bit big for my mantel piece, perhaps?

All that walking and horological learning had us hungry, so off we went for waffles. Amazing waffles. Waffles with icing sugar, black cherries, cream, ice-cream, and bananas. Then, Veva took me to Mechelen, where I have intangible cultural heritage meetings tomorrow, and where I had a fabulous Moroccan tajine at RONDA, and where I also later had a good chat with the wonderful Joanne Orr from Museums Galleries Scotland (whom I once made polka with me in Quebec City - a story for another time). And now, I shall tumble into bed, and dream of waffles. I love Belgium.

Bells announce my arrival in Belgium (and a side trip to Holland)

After an very long bit of travel (including 15 hours in the lovely but not exactly exciting Halifax airport) I finally arrived in Brussels, and was met at the airport by storyteller Veva Gerard, who said she had something special arranged for me.

We drove to the town of Lier, parked the car, and went for a little walk. We got to a courtyard by the fabulous 14th century St. Gummarus Church, and Veva said that she had arranged for a musician to play for me to welcome me to Belgium. She made a quick call on her cellphone, and high above us, the carillon in the bell tower above us began to ring out.

Her son (12 years old, below) is learning to play the carillon, and after he had played a few tunes, his teacher met us at the base of the tower, and up we went the 300 or so steps up to the top, past the giant human-powered winch the workers would have used to raise the heavy materials used in the construction of the tower, one of the few remaining such mediaeval instruments in Europe.

Along the way, and continuing at the top of the tower, I got a history lesson in the carillon and got to try my hand at ringing the bells myself.

It was a fabulous welcome, and completely unexpected.

Today, it was on to Veva's plan B, and after a breakfast with her family, we drove to Efteling in the Netherlands, one of the largest and oldest theme parks in Europe, based mainly on folktales and legends!

We spent the day wandering through the park, visiting Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, the Goat Grandmother and the 7 Kids, the Little Match Girl. We even visited the grave of Cinderella's mother:

Then, as if that wasn't enough, we ate sausage, visited two haunted houses, and saw a live equestrian show which featured damsels in distress, falconry, and (steampunks eat your heart out) a giant multi-headed, fire-breathing clockwork dragon.

Then, to finish off the visit to the park, an incredible water ballet with lights, music and underwater fire cannons.

Then, cold and with tired feet, a drive back to Lier, dinner of guinea fowl at a fabulous restaurant, much discussion of storytelling, and a walk through the cobblestone streets of Lier.

Now, back with Veva's family in Lint, and a well-deserved rest! Goodnight!

Gogmagog and Francis Drake: Folktales and Legends of Wessex

Storyteller and folklorist Dale Jarvis will share some of the folktales and local legends of Dorset and Devon, with tales of giants, pixies, witches, and ghosts. Introduction by Dr. Martin Lovelace, of Memorial University's Department of Folklore.

January 9th, 2013, Hampton Hall, Marine Institute, Ridge Road at 8 PM

Audience comments on the opening night of Brothers Grimm

Well, it has all been a bit of a whirlwind, but we opened "Brothers Grimm: 200 Years and Counting" tonight at Petro Canada Hall.  We got some great comments in person after the show, and some people left comment cards at the ticket desk.  A selection of those comments follows:

I liked it very much indeed. Well done! I have my childhood copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Great! I really enjoyed the weave of music and storytelling and history.

Greatly enjoyed myself. Only wish there was more of the same, looking forward to more.

Really love it! the songs were great, the musical sound effects and the sound of the birds just added to an overall atmosphere of magic and AWESOMENESS.

Fabulous - learned a few things about the Brothers Grimm that I didn’t know. Very well put together! Bravo

Excellent show! Really enjoyed how the songs were planned into the format, along with the stories.

Very entertaining and informative. Thank you for a wonderful evening out.

Great show! I appreciate the cultural background!

Awesome performance! Love the music with the tales.

Excellent, I really enjoyed everything about it. I love Folklore and German. It combined my two favourite things!

Loved the show, will spread the word for the show tomorrow.

Thoroughly enjoyable evening. Great stories and music.

Wonderful! Completely unexpected and absolutely enjoyable. Thank you!

and

Loved the show, will spread the word for the show tomorrow.

(please do!)

On that note, we have one night left, Thursday, Dec 6, 2012. The show is at 8pm, at Petro Canada Hall, at Memorial University's School of Music. Tickets are $20 and available at the door. See you there!

I'll be picking a winner from each night, from those people who filled out a comment form. They will each receive two tickets to my next show, "Thor vs. Loki" - coming to a stage near you in Spring 2013.

The Brothers Grimm opens tonight! Petro Canada Hall 8pm

Well, it has been a long time coming, but our two-man show "The Brothers Grimm: 200 Years and Counting" opens tonight in St. John's. We've performed the show in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, but this is the first time we've performed it at home.  I'm thrilled to be able to perform it this December, as this month is the 200th anniversary of the Grimm's now famous fairy tale collection, Kinder- und Hausmärchen.

The show follows the lives of the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and their incredible true life story is interwoven with their stories, legends, and music of the period.

We are running for two nights only, December 5th-6th, at 8pm at the Petro Canada Hall at Memorial's School of Music. Tickets are $20 and available at the door.

Delf and I truly hope to see you there!

Photo by Chris Hibbs.

Coming soon! Brothers Grimm: 200 Years and Counting

Remember Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, or Hänsel and Gretel?

If you do, thank the Brothers Grimm, who collected these stories and hundreds of others. This December marks the 200th anniversary of their first fairytale publication. Storyteller Dale Jarvis and musician Delf Maria Hohmann are celebrating, and want you to join them December 5th-6th at Petro Canada Hall, Memorial University, at 8pm.

In 1812, the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first of what would become a two volume book of tales, gathered from the German people. Unbeknownst to the Grimms, this was destined to become the best known, most widely translated, and most influential book ever created in the German language.

This December marks 200 hundred years since that first publication, yet these stories still continue to catch us unawares. Fierce, funny, and ancient, yet contemporary in their ability to reflect our strengths and weaknesses, these are stories handed down through the ages because they are essential to humankind.

“The Brothers Grimm: 200 Years and Counting” is a 2-hour theatre show, written and performed by Dale Jarvis with music by Delf Maria Hohmann. For the past decade, Jarvis and Hohmann have been retelling the most famous, as well as some of less well-known, Grimm’s tales. Their new show tells the life story of Jacob and Wilhelm, interwoven with classic stories and the music of the period. It will run December 5th and 6th at the Petro Canada Hall, in cooperation with Memorial University’s Department of German and Russian, in celebration of December’s 200th anniversary of the publication of the Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen.

Jarvis and Hohmann go back to the source. That means their stories are not for the faint
of heart.

"These are the real deal,” says Jarvis. “These stories are full of loss, longing, violence, blood, wicked men and women; they contain the best and the worst of humanity, always alongside themes of hope, and rebirth. But these stories are definitely not for children!”

A portion of the show’s proceeds will support the H.H. Jackson Travel Scholarship in German. This scholarship was established upon the retirement of Dr. Herbert H. Jackson, Professor Emeritus and first Head of the Department of German and Russian. The scholarship is awarded annually to a candidate who is planning to undertake a program of studies and/or work assignment in a German-speaking country.

The Brothers Grimm: 200 Years and Counting
Written and performed by Dale Jarvis. Music by Delf Maria Hohmann.
8pm, December 5-6, 2012
Petro Canada Hall, School of Music, Memorial University

Tickets $20, cash sale only, available at the door, and in advance from:
Department of German and Russian, Science Building, SN3061C
or Britannia Teas and Gifts, 199 Water Street

(photos by Chris Hibbs)

A phantom Viking longship in Fortune Bay, Newfoundland

A little before Hallowe’en, I sat down at a local coffee shop with Colin, who had a treasure trove of ghost stories from Harbour Mille and Grand Bank. His family was one of the founding families of Harbour Mille, and he was full of stories about various members coming back from the dead to say hello or show displeasure about the actions of the living.

Today, Harbour Mille is a small fishing village of around 200 people, sitting in the well protected harbour of Fortune Bay, about 26 km off the Burin Peninsula Highway. The town sits on an isthmus, and hills rise, saddle-like, to the west and the east. It has both a sheltered harbour at the north, and a beach to the south.

Across the bay to the northwest is the now abandoned community of Bay de L’Eau. Though separated by five or six km of open water, the two communities are linked by a rather intriguing ghost story.

Colin learned the Bay de L’Eau half of the ghost story from a friend, David, who also has roots in the Harbour Mille area.

As the legend goes, there was a group of fishermen in a schooner, sailing in to Bay de L’Eau. As they came close to land, they saw what they later described was a Viking ship that was coming out of the bay.

“The description that the sailors gave afterwards was very much like a Viking longship or a drakkar,” says Colin. “The men were wearing fur pelts, and of course speaking a language which they didn’t understand.”

The two companies parted ways, and the longship vanished from sight.

“When David heard the story, he thought ‘they’re describing a Viking ship, with Vikings on it,’” says Colin. “This is rather interesting, because this ties into a story from Harbour Mille with dear Aunt Sarah.”

Aunt Sarah was Colin’s great-grandfather’s sister-in-law, who lived in Harbour Mille in the late 1800s. Aunt Sarah was the source of the second half of the ghost story, a story passed down to Colin from his father and grandfather.

“She heard this ruckus and she thought there was some kind of a social or whatever going on in the Orange Lodge,” recalls Colin. “This was at night. She looked out through her bedroom window, the second storey, and she said these men came in on a barge, into the harbour, got to the shore, lifted the barge up on their shoulders and then walked out over the hills with the barge. So I’m wondering if this barge isn’t the same ship.”

“In the mid to late 1800s that would have happened,” he adds. “She is buried in the old cemetery, and died in the very early 1900s.”

There is a relatively famous Viking ship story from the area around L’Anse aux Meadows, but the Harbour Mille - Bay de L’Eau tale is the first version I have heard from Fortune Bay.

“Barge is not a word which we would have ever really used,” says Colin, “so I don’t know where they got the word barge.”

His interpretation is that Aunt Sarah used the word barge to describe a long flat boat of a type she was unfamiliar with.

The story of the men picking up the “barge” and carrying it across the hills is equally intriguing. Viking longships were constructed to be both light and strong; the crew of a small one could quite easily take down the mast, overturn the craft, and portage it over land to the next fjord or bay if needed. It has been argued that this capability added to the legendary suddenness and speed of Norse raiders.

It is an interesting story, and I would love to know if anyone out there has heard anything similar, either from Fortune Bay or anywhere else in Newfoundland and Labrador. If it sounds familiar, send me a note at dale@dalejarvis.ca

Two-day workshop with ALEXIS ROY storyteller

Saturday, November 17th from 1-5 pm and Sunday, November 18th from 10 am -2 pm.
Gower Street United Church, St. John’s
$40. Only 20 spaces available

THE STORYTELLER’S BODY

In this workshop, the participants will learn about the notion of stage presence. Alexis Roy will talk about the 5 fundamental laws of presence, achieved through proven techniques from various theatrical styles (Eugenio Barbas, Oleg Kissiliëv), which will allow storytellers to free themselves from their old reflexes and stereotypes. Telling without showing or mimic, but with a free body.

This is a workshop for storytellers who have some experience.

RHYTHM AND VOICE PROJECTION

• 5 laws of presence – paying attention to the here and now.

• 5 laws of timing – listening to the audience.

• 5 voice exercises.

Presence also translates in rhythm. We’re talking not only about physical rhythm, but also rhythm in the voice and the way the story is delivered. In this workshop, you will learn rhythm techniques from the clowning arts. As far as stage presence goes, fixed points are similar to silence in a musical piece: an essential break, governed by a set of rules.

Storyteller and actor, Alexis also works in hospitals as a therapeutic clown. Lover of grandiose and magic territories, he is artistic director of the Festival de contes et légendes de l’Innucadie, a story-telling festival held during the summer in Natashquan. He coined the name Innucadie to illustrate this reunion of First Nations Innu and Québec North-Shore Acadians.

To register, contact Mary Fearon maryefearon@gmail.com