Help pick the World Storytelling Day theme for 2015

World Storytelling Day is a global celebration of the art of oral storytelling. It is celebrated every year on the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, the first day of autumn equinox in the southern. On World Storytelling Day, as many people as possible tell and listen to stories in as many languages and at as many places as possible, during the same day and night. Participants tell each other about their events in order to share stories and inspiration, to learn from each other and create international contacts.

Each year, many of the individual storytelling events that take place around the globe are linked by a common theme. Each year, the theme is identified by and agreed upon by storytellers from around the world.

Past themes, and the theme for 2014, are listed here:

2004 - Birds
2005 - Bridges
2006 - The Moon
2007 - The Wanderer
2008 - Dreams
2009 - Neighbours
2010 - Light and Shadow
2011 - Water
2012 - Trees
2013 - Fortune and Fate
2014 - Monsters and Dragons

For the past few years, we've tried to select the theme two years in advance, and there have been a lot of suggestions from all around the world for the theme for 2015.  Now is the time to vote!

Follow the link to vote for your favourite 2015 theme. Spread the word to other storytellers!  Voting closes June 1st, 2013.

Vote here:

http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=51955961e4b0df6bcbc79462

Four favourite haunted spots in Newfoundland

A while back, I was asked by a student working on a heritage fair project to pick my favourite haunted place in Newfoundland. It was not the first time I have been asked it, but it remains a hard question. I’m not certain that I truly do have a favourite, but I do have a couple spots with stories that I love. So here, in no particular order, are four of my top haunted locations.

1. Victoria Street, St. John's

First up is Victoria Street, St. John’s. While one of the shorter streets in downtown St. John’s at a mere three blocks long, Victoria Street has more than its fair share of ghosts and phantoms. It is probably the single street I’ve heard more ghost stories about than another in the province. One older St. Johnsman spoke of how he had been surprised by the ghost of an elderly woman. This phantom woman had appeared before him standing on the landing halfway up the stairs of the house.

Other houses along the sinister street are haunted by mysterious orbs, phantom cigarette smokers, ghostly knockings, and ghosts who open doors and run up stairs. The eeriest haunting involved a screaming ghost who has been known to appear in a bedroom, being dragged by her hair through the room by a second ghost.

2. Mockbeggar, Bonavista

My second pick would be Mockbeggar, in Bonavista. The area known as Mockbegger is the home to a number of strange tales. Several of them revolve around what is known as Bradley House on the Mockbeggar Property. One resident heard phantom visitors walking about, talking, singing and having a party, complete with slamming doors. After a while, the phantom party‑goers had settled down, and the woman had been able to get some sleep. Local folklore maintains they are friendly ghosts, and that if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.

The hauntings of the Bradley house may be somehow linked to another mystery of the Mockbeggar property. In the 1920s, under the direction of William Coaker, a canal was dug in the area. As the canal was being dug a number of coffins were excavated. Then, years later, some more coffins were unearthed during the construction of the new bridge across the canal in 1946. The graves were believed to predate the earliest cemetery in Bonavista, which dated to 1725.

3. Isle of Demons, Quirpon Island

An island once populated by so many devils that French sailors would not go ashore without a crucifix in hand hardly sounds like an ideal tourist destination. But it is certainly enough to make it my third pick.

The "Isle of Demons" is thought to be Quirpon Island, at the top of the Great Northern Peninsula, though a few other places vie with it for the title. It is associated with one of the most dramatic stories of love, loss, and terror ever told in Newfoundland. The saga involves a woman by the name of Marguerite de Roberval, niece of the harsh Sieur de Roberval. While sailing from France to the New World, Marguerite raised the wrath of her uncle by becoming romantically involved with one of the men on the ship. The Sieur de Roberval insisted that the girl be removed from his ship, and left on an island along their route.

Once stranded, Marguerite found she was not alone. Imps and spirits walked over the island, peered out of the mist, whispered in the night, and called and whistled in the gale. Marguerite was marooned for three years, before being rescued and returned to France. Modern visitors not concerned about imps and demons can still land on Quirpon Island, now home to the Quirpon Lighthouse Inn. I’ve stayed there, but no imps made themselves known.

4. Hampden, White Bay

My final pick is Hampden, White Bay, which wins the award for the most unusual ghost in Newfoundland. Stories of Hampden’s famous phantom have been in circulation at least since the early 1970s, though the legend may even be older. The majority of the ghostly happenings have been reported along a section of road near the site of the old camp called Faulkner’s Flat. More than a few people have witnessed the figure of a woman walking along Faulkner’s Flat, dressed all in white.

What is most intriguing is that the old woman would walk across the road, carrying an old cast iron Waterloo stove on her back! Locals claim that a woman was killed by a Waterloo stove in a car accident on that section of road, and at certain times of the year, you can see her cross the road with the stove on her back. Others say the woman is old Mrs. Faulkner herself, after whom the Flat is named.

If you have a haunted spot you feel should have made the list, email me at dale@dalejarvis.ca



Dale Jarvis is an author, storyteller, and professional folklorist who splits his time between St. John’s and Clarke’s Beach, Newfoundland, Canada. 

Photo Credit: Victoria Street, NL. Wikimedia Commons

Shakespeare Off The Page Workshop with Danielle Irvine

Sweet Line Theatre Company Presents:

Shakespeare Off The Page Workshop

Weekend Workshop

Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, 2013.

12-5 pm

Arts and Culture Centre

St. John’s, NL

“Words, words, words”  Hamlet 2, ii  Sometimes people think that Shakespeare is just a pile of words. This fun and interactive workshop with Shakespeare theatre director Danielle Irvine will give participants the tools to approach any Shakespeare text and mine it for understanding. Beginning with a monologue provided by the instructor and working with written and performance tools, participants will develop a step-by-step process to lift the words off the page and develop an appreciation for the language.   Instruction will be given both individually, and in group exercises.

For:  Actors, theatre and English teachers, directors, and anyone with a love for the Bard. Recommended for ages 18+.  Maximum 12 participants. Participants will be required to bring pencil, eraser and thesaurus and to dress comfortably for movement work. Sensible shoes are a must!

About the Instructor:

Danielle Irvine’s love of Shakespeare inspired her to co-found the Shakespeare By The Sea Festival in 1993.  Her career highlights include teaching at the National Theatre School of Canada for 6 years; two seasons at the Stratford Festival of Canada; a participant in the World Stage Festival 2000’s Master Class for Directors and winning two national awards for her directing.

Cost: $125 ($100 for students)

Payment by cheque or by email money transfer. Receipts provided.

Pre-registration is required.

To register, contact Danielle Irvine at:

irvinedanielle@gmail.com

On the dreamy silence broke the beating of a drum...

Recently, I wrote about a ghostly drummer story, versions of which appear in Turk’s Gut (today’s Marysvale) and Brigus, in Conception Bay. Since that article was printed, I have come across another version of the legend, though without a location.

This “new” version of the legend was included in an article entitled “What About Ghosts?” which was printed in the September-December issue of The Feildian for 1905.

The Feildian was the magazine of Bishop Feild College, a Church of England academy for boys. The magazine ran from 1893 to 1960, and was created to foster school feeling, and to chronicle the College affairs. It was the first publication of its kind on the island, and included news, letters, sports and reports from school alumni.

The author of the piece was identified only as “H.” and in the article, H claimed to have put to rest a story about a ghost. Sadly, the mysterious author did not mention the location of the ghost story, only that it was at the mouth of a bay, “on the bank of a river close to a mountain gorge containing a lagoon.”

“The lagoon was reported to be haunted by a deserter from a French war ship,” writes H, “who had died in a fisherman’s cottage in the bay, after several years spent in the woods, in fear of recapture. He had been a drummer on the ship, and he swore to the woman who had nursed him on his death bed, that he would haunt the lagoon, a weird and lonely spot. For years his drum was heard beating at certain periods, as his spirit marched through the woods, and many a time parties visiting the place fled in terror from its supernatural roll.”

One evening, the author was sitting in the twilight after supper, camped on the reportedly haunted spot.

“My guide was that the brook washing up, and I was placidly smoking, seated on a stone,” writes H, “with my back against a telegraph pole, the line of which ran through this country for many miles. Suddenly on the dreamy silence broke the beating of a drum, and my man came running back with a scared face. I at once recognized the sound, but could see no ghost, so... I kept my head, and began to look for the spectre.”

“I soon noticed that angry gusts of wind were coming down through the gorge,” he notes, “and as these passed,the drum rolled out, I observed a tremor in the telegraph pole. This gave me a clue, and immediately afterwards I saw the ghost in the wire. In short, the drum was the wind playing on a mile of telegraph wire, and reverberating in the cliffs as the ‘spouts’ came down the gorge from the North East.”

I suspect that the story, regardless of where it took place in the province geographically, is what folklorists would call a “migratory legend” - story supposedly based in historical fact, but which is which is found repeatedly at different places, having a similar plot but with place names or topographical information changed. Locals might believe their version to be “true,” but very similar versions, equally “true,” pop up a little bit further down the road, or in the next bay, or even in a different country.

The ghostly drummer legend is probably related to other local legends, like the famous story of Piper’s Hole, near Swift Current on the Burin Peninsula. There, a ghostly piper has been playing his instrument for centuries, possibly giving the location its name.

According to some, the phantom musician was a piper in the French army in the eighteenth century. In this version of the legend, the French and English clashed in battle at spot nearby called Garden Cove. Supposedly, the spirit of the French soldier lingers in the river valley, mournfully playing a tune. In other versions from the same area, the musician was a Scottish bagpiper, killed in a hunting accident by an Englishman.

If you know of another ghostly piper or phantom drummer story, email me at dale@dalejarvis.ca.

Wicked new St. John's Haunted Hike art by Rayne Gallows

I spent last weekend at the Sci-Fi On The Rock 7 convention here in St. John's. It was great fun, and smashed its attendance records from previous years, with over 5000 people through the doors. One of the things I loved about it most was that I got to meet and chat with people I might not have otherwise - fans, lovers of ghost stories, and other artists and enthusiasts.

One of the vendors at the event was Rayne Gallows Art and Design, who were selling fan art and doing on-the-spot cartoons of conference goers. I liked their stuff, and at the end of the con, I asked them if they'd be interested in doing up a new piece for the St. John's Haunted Hike.

A day later, here it is! I'll be using it as the new avatar for the St. John's Haunted Hike twitter account and Facebook page, and I'm sure it will pop up in other places too. I'm tremendously pleased with the art, and with the quick turnaround time and pricing of Rayne Gallows. If you need something like this done, definitely check them out!

Reflections on Sci-Fi On The Rock 7 for Saturday

I had a fun day today at Sci-Fi On The Rock 7! The costumes were great, the crowd was impressive, and people seemed to be enjoying themselves tremendously.

I sold bunch of books, and had great feedback from people who have been on the St. John's Haunted Hike, or who've read my books, or my column in the newspaper.  I had several people tell me how much they love the Hike, and had pictures taken with fans! Yay!

I've been letting people know that I'm running a contest this weekend. If you follow @dalejarvis on twitter or like my author facebook page, you will be entered to win a copy of "Haunted Waters".  And if you follow @sjhauntedhike or like the Hike's facebook page, you might win some free passes!  After the convention is over, I'll be taking all the new likes and follows and picking random winners. So start liking and following today!

I'll be back at SFOTR tomorrow, and will hosting the Paranormal Story Swap at 2pm. Hope to see some of you there, and I'll be signing books afterwards.

I've posted a bunch of pics into my "Pros, and Cons" facebook album, but one of the pics I like best is this one of steampunk aficionado Lilly Fisk, below! Great hat!

Gearing up for Sci-Fi On The Rock 7!

Sci-Fi On The Rock is Newfoundland's premiere science fiction & fantasy event. This is the 7th event, and it all takes place on April 26th to 28th of 2013, at The Holiday Inn, 180 Portugal Cove Road, St. John's. You can get more details on their website, Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.

It's been years since I've been able to participate in the convention. I was at the very first event, seven years ago, but for the past few years I've been out of town each year on the dates when it has been held. I had great fun at Atlanti-Con last year in Corner Brook, and I'm pleased to be part of this year's SFOTR. I'll have a writer's table with my books for sale. Stop by, say hello, and enter to win free passes to the St. John's Haunted Hike.

I'll also be hosting a ghost story workshop on Sunday afternoon at 2pm in the Lucas room called The Paranormal Story Swap.

From tales told around the campfire, to stories read by flashlight under the covers at night, everyone loves a good ghost story. And as fun as they are to hear and read, they are equally fun to share. The Paranormal Story Swap is an interactive workshop for storytellers and lovers of terrible tales, of all ages and abilities. I will tell a few of my own stories of true hauntings in Newfoundland and Labrador, and then help you share your own. Bring your stories, your enthusiasm for the unexplained, and your deepest fears!

See you this weekend!

Ghost Guy & Iron Man, Atlanti-Con 2012

Ghostly Drummer of Turk's Gut

I tracked down this week’s story, one of Conception Bay’s most intriguing local legends, with the assistance of Bride Power of the Turk’s Gut Heritage Committee, which has been working hard to preserve the oral history and folklore of the community.

You will not find the community of Turk’s Gut on any modern map, so you will just to believe me when I tell you that it exists. If you do manage to find it, drive down the old road towards the water and pull over when you get to the very the last house. It is the only house there, a bright red one, so I am sure you will not miss it.

Beside the house there are a few trees, and under their branches, hidden amongst the tall grass, there is long, flat stone. Stop there, and listen. For that flat stone marks the grave of the drummer of Turk’s Gut. And though he has been dead and buried for longer than anyone alive can remember, there are those who say his drumming has never ceased.

Exactly where the Drummer came from is something of a mystery. Some believe that the Drummer was a prisoner of war, while others hold that he arrived as a stowaway on a sailing ship. All that is known for certain is that one day in the early part of the 1800s, the Drummer simply appeared. He was dripping wet, as if the ocean had tried to swallow him down, found him inedible, and had spat him out onto dry land.

None of the good people of Turk’s Gut knew where the man had come from, nor did they know his true name. The man himself could offer little assistance, for he seemed to know just as little about his own identity as they did. It was clear that the man was suffering from some sort of amnesia. There was no doctor to provide assistance, and it was thought by the local people that he had suffered some sort of memory loss, perhaps due to a war injury.

While the stranger could not remember his name, or where he was born, or how he had arrived in Turk’s Gut, he did retain one impressive skill. He remembered how to play the drum. When one was placed in his hands, he played it with a skill that astonished all who heard him. Because he seemed to have no name of his own, the stranger was nicknamed “The Drummer” by the local residents.

The Drummer was taken in and shown great courtesy by a local family, the Simms. Over time, the Drummer was accepted as one of the community, and the sound of his drum became a part of the rhythm of local life. After living in Turk’s Gut for many years, the Drummer passed away. The Simms family buried the man on their property, and laid a long, flat stone over his grave to mark his final resting spot.

Eternal rest, however, seemed to elude the Drummer. After his death, ghostly hands could be heard beating on an invisible drum. Before long, stories began to spread along the coast that when people in the Drummer’s adopted home passed away, the Drummer could be heard for miles around.

The noise of the Drummer was heard only during the night, when all was quiet. It was as if he wanted no competition, so that there could be no mistaking his playing for what it was. It was also rumoured that on the eve of a local person's death the Drummer could be heard playing the drums under the windowsill of the person who was fated to die.

The long, flat rock that marked the Drummer’s grave was said to be located about seventy-five feet from where the Heritage House run by the committee now stands. So if you can find it, do pause for a moment beside that long, flat stone and listen, preferably in the evening, when all is quiet. Listen very carefully. If you hear the sound of a rhythm being tapped out on an invisible drum, it could be the Drummer, playing the music he loved so much in life. Or it could be a warning, a sign that someone you love, or even yourself, will be the next soul to join the Drummer beyond Death’s shadowy veil.

Interestingly, the nearby town of Brigus also claims a phantom drummer. The Brigus variant of the tale claimed that an English drummer had once made a promise to an old settler that the musician would drum the old man to his grave, and that he would also drum at the funerals of all his direct descendants.

Photo credit:  Splitting table on end of wharf, Turk's Gut.

Courtesy The Rooms Provincial Archives, VA 130-24.1

Photo by Charles C. Cousens,

July 1973, Charles C. Cousens fonds.

The ghosts of "Chicago: The Musical"

For the past few weeks, I have been spending a fair bit of time at the Arts and Culture Centre in St. John’s, in rehearsals for the upcoming TaDa! Events production of “Chicago: The Musical.”

Appropriately enough for a musical about murder, revenge, and adultery, there is a ghost story loosely associated with the show. The original Broadway production opened in 1975, running for several years. The show went through a couple incarnations, before being revived on Broadway in 1996, and a year later in the West End, London.

The 1997 London revival of “Chicago” took place at the the Adelphi Theatre. The theatre was rumoured to be haunted by the shade of the noted actor-manager William Terriss, owner of the Adelphi Theatre, and great friend of Henry Irving. Terris was murdered at the stage door in 1897 by a fellow actor and jealous rival, Richard Prince, who stabbed him three times with a dagger. Terris lived long enough to perish in the arms of his mistress, actress Jessie Milward.

“I’ll be back” were said to have been his final words.

True to his word, Terriss returned to haunt the backstage areas of the Adelphi Theatre. His ghost was first reported in 1928, when a stranger to the theatre saw a male figure in the laneway, a figure later identified as Terris from a photograph. Later, poltergeist activity was reported in the dressing room once used by Milward.

There are a few interesting bits of folklore surrounding the murder. One story relates that on the day previous to the killing, the actor’s understudy woke from a disturbing dream in which he had seen Terriss lying on the steps to the dressing room with a bloody, gaping chest wound. Another tale states that the murderer, Prince, was declared insane and spent the remainder of his life in the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he spent his remaining days producing plays featuring himself as the leading character, with the other inmates in supporting roles.

I don’t know of any murdered actors hanging around the Arts and Culture Centre, waiting to spook the cast and crew of the St. John’s production of “Chicago.” However, the Centre may have a ghost with a fondness for musical numbers.

A few years ago, I got an email from a woman by the name of Jaimie, who had been working in the basement of the building. At the time, Jaimie had been working in the archives on a project which involved a lot of trips back and forth through the collection.

“I've always found the basement to be a little creepy,” she described. “I can hear voices and whispering and little snatches of song and such sometimes, but always assumed that it was just activity carrying through the ductwork from the children's library, which is directly over my head, or the theatre.”

One day she heard the noises again, on a day when the theatre was empty and the children's library had closed.

“I was moving a truck of books from one area towards another area,” she said, “and I ended up passing by a whole bunch of shelving units (those neat rolling ones), when passing by one of the aisles between the units, I saw someone standing there.”

Jaimie turned her head, expecting to find a lost library patron; “as we occasionally do,” she explained. Instead of another person, she found herself looking at nothing but an empty aisle and a pale grey concrete wall.

“The person that I'd seen was wearing dark colours,” she described. “I had the impression of something resembling a nun's habit.”

The site of the current Arts and Culture Centre was formerly the site of the Shannon Munn Memorial Orphanage. In 1918, Sir Edgar Rennie Bowering and Mrs Mary Munn presented the property, to be known as the Shannon Munn Memorial, to the Church of England Orphanage.

Is the basement of the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre home to the ghost of a singing nun? If you’ve had a strange experience in the building, let me know. In the meantime, I’ll be busy polishing my lines, and keeping my eyes open for ghosts, and for jealous rivals.

Dale Jarvis can be reached at info@hauntedhike.com

Tickets for "Chicago: The Musical" now on sale at the Arts and Culture Centre, St. John's

"Chicago: The Musical" Facebook event listing

The fairy folk at the Arts and Culture Centre, March 28

This Thursday, Kittiwake Dance Theatre is inviting audiences to explore the world of traditional Newfoundland fairylore with their production "Reflections: Fairie Fey." The show how starts at 8pm and runs 70 mins, with no intermission, on the Arts and Culture Centre mainstage. It is inspired by local fairy folklore and features narration by the late, great Margaret Hitchens.

Here is what the company promises for the night:

Kittiwake Dance Theatre’s "Reflections: Fairie Fey" continues the exploration of the folklore surrounding fairies in nature, song and dance. The magic of the forest comes alive with the haunting voices of the trees, the movement of the fairies and the unexpected human element creating the mystery and the folktales. The lure of Fairie Fey is so enticing that the audience will be totally captivated as the story unfolds. Your presence is necessary to ensure that the magic manifests at its greatest. This show fuses dance of various forms (contemporary/modern, ballet, hip-hop, and aerial circus work), with storytelling and song. 

Featuring the talents of: choreographers Martin Vallee and Erika Wilansky; storyteller Margaret Hitchens; musical director Justin Goulding; and, the Kittiwake dancers.

I'll see you there! Put some bread in your pockets, just in case.

Thursday March 28th
8pm
Arts and Culture Centre
St. John's