ghost – Piercing Moon Creations

The Galt, 2016 – original photo by Piercing Moon Creations

The Province of Alberta has a less established written history and because of this, it can be difficult to find any tales of hauntings and ghosts. From the Maritimes to Ontario and in British Columbia there are massive amounts of history, written history that is, that was recorded. Especially when colonization began, there tends to be a lot more stories of hauntings. The colonization of Alberta began a bit later than the East Coast and British Columbia and so we see that ghost stories don’t pop up until a bit later.

This isn’t to say that Alberta lacks in any way. The culture and landscape of this prairie province is phenomenal. It is a beautiful place to visit. It is, however, just a bit more difficult to find well established and told ghost stories. There is one in particular that catches the eye and that is the story of the Galt Museum in Lethbridge.

Lethbridge was a city built on the coal industry. Most people who live there worked for the Alberta Railway and the Coal Company. The Coal Company was founded and owned by the Galt family, who were also considered one of the founding members of the city itself. The Galts had an enormous role to play in the development of Lethbridge.

Galt Museum, June 2016 – original photo by Piercing Moon Creations

Due to the coal industry and the influx of settlers on the land, there was a need for a hospital or a health centre of some kind. People, mainly workers, were being treated privately, which was costly on the individual’s part. So, Sir Alexander Galt invested in making the first public hospital in his city to treat his workers and others. In the 1890s a hospital was built and it was named the Sir Alexander Galt Hospital.

The hospital had around sixty-five beds and it was quite small. In 1908-10 there became a greater need to expand as more and more regular citizens began seeking health care. An addition of a new wing was initiated by Sir Alexander Galt’s son, Elliot Torrance Galt, and it was opened by Sir Wilfrid Laurier on 1 September 1910. At this time the Galt School of Nursing was also opened to educate and supply more nurses. By 1930, another thirty-five beds were added to accommodate the growing population.

However, in 1955 a brand new municipal hospital was opened in Lethbridge. The Galt Hospital became a long-term rehabilitation centre for the next ten years. Afterwards, a part of the building became known as the Galt Museum while the other part became the Lethbridge Health Unit. Now, the building is mostly the Galt Museum.

The Galt Museum was established before it was moved to the old Galt Hospital. It was created in 1964 as the first civic museum of the area. It was curated by George McKillop and held in the former Bowmen Elementary School. Up until 1971 it was run by The Lethbridge and District Historical Society. It grew until it could no longer fit its space and the old hospital needed a new use. So, the museum was moved into the old Galt Hospital and was called the Galt Museum.

A Part of the Old Galt Hospital, 2016 – original photo by Piercing Moon Creations

But, as with many old hospitals, the buildings of the Galt Hospital are considered haunted. As a place where lives often end and sorrow lingers, hospitals are considered hotspots for ghosts and hauntings. The old Galt Hospital is no exception.

The first possible haunting is a ghost named George. It is believed that George was a sixty-year-old farmer from outside of Lethbridge in a town called Magrath. His full name was George Benjamin Bailey. He had come to the hospital to get his appendix removed in the 1930s and when he was wheeled into the elevator he had only gotten in halfway when the doors closed on the bed and the elevator began to rise. The wheels were caught on the outside and the nurse was not able to pull the bed fully into the elevator. George slid headfirst off the bed to the bottom of the elevator shaft. Surprisingly, he didn’t actually die immediately. He was up walking and laughing about what had happened that day. He did, however, die a few days later from head injuries.

The second possible haunting is in the old children’s ward. There are two possible ghosts: Sarah and Alexander, who are also thought to be of native heritage. It is unsure who they are or why they are there but they like to wave at people walking outside from the upstairs window when the museum has long since closed. There are times when people hear the laughter and chatter of children while they are in the building.

People have also reported lights turning off and on, footsteps in the hallways and hearing conversations coming from empty rooms. The most off putting is the reports of shadow people watching workers do their job.

Is the Galt Museum haunted by old patients of the hospital? People are positive that George at least haunts it. Old hospitals can hold a lot of heavy energy and tragedy within it, so hospitals are known as prime locations for hauntings. The Galt Museum may hold more than artifacts from the past, it may also contain the people from the past too.

Bibliography

“Galt Hospital Hauntings.” Galt Museum and Archives (October 31, 2009). Accessed April 12, 2019. www.galtmuseum.com/articles/2009/10/galt-hospital-hauntings.html

“Galt Hospital – 100 Years.” Galt Museum and Archives (September 11, 2010). www.galtmuseum.com/exhibit/galt-hospital-100-years

“Galt Museum and Archives.” Wikipedia. Accessed April 12, 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galt_Museum_%26_Archives

Parks Canada. “Sir Alexander Galt Hospital.” Canada’s Historic Places. Accessed April 12, 2019. www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=11623

Richardson, Harriet. “Galt Hospital, Lethbridge, Alberta.” Historic Hospitals (March 3, 2018). Accessed April 12, 2019. historic-hospitals.com/2018/03/03/galt-hospital-lethbridge-alberta/

Sutherland, Joel A. “Ghosts on Display.” In Haunted Canada 7: Chilling True Tales, 600-642. Toronto, Ontario: Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2017. Amazon Kindle ebook version.

Vonkeman, Anine and Growson, Belinda. “The Galt Museum & Archives in Lethbridge – Engaging Events, Archives, Artifacts, and… Ghosts?” Suncruiser Media (April 15, 2014). Accessed April 12, 2019. suncruisermedia.com/Home/rv-travel/the-galt-museum-/

Almost every rural area has a legend involving a Lady in White spirit. A Weeping Lady. A reason not to pick up hitchhikers. A vengeful spirit. These ladies haunt the area and surrounding areas where they died. Sometimes they can be terrifying but sometimes they are nothing more than an urban legend fueled by historic events or the fact that violence against a woman by men closest to her is so prevalent it is not unlikely that she might be murdered by them. In Canada, the most popular and well-known is La Dame Blanche at Montmorency Falls in Québec.

La Dame Blanche’s story starts in 1759 in the town of Côte-de-Beaupré. Tensions between the French and the English were very high. In Europe the two countries were engaged in what would be known after as The Seven-Years-War. This war spilled out of Europe and onto the North American continent, namely in Canada.

Two lovers refused to let the tension and war disturb their romance. The lovers were Mathilde Robin and Louis Tessier. The two of them fell deeply in love. They would always take walks along Montmorency Falls and had planned to have their wedding there. When they finally got engaged, Mathilde sewed herself the most beautiful, white wedding dress. There did not seem to be anything that would ruin their day. But, as most ghost stories begin, what was supposed to be the happiest day became a day of tragedy.

On 31 July 1759 the English attacked, under the command of General James Wolfe, Montmorency Falls. The women and children hid in the forest while the men helped the French soldiers, led by Commander Louis-Joseph de Montcalm. The Battle of Montmorency Falls lasted a few days and the French came out victorious. It was a happy day for everyone but Mathilde.

As the men returned Mathilde searched for Louis but she could not find him. She ran to his farm thinking maybe he had gone home first. He was not there. She asked all the men and the soldiers but no one had seen him. That was until Montcalm came to her and told her the news. Louis had not survived. He had died at the foot of Montmorency Falls.

Devastated, Mathilde ran to her home and put on her wedding dress. She went to the falls where she was supposed to get married, where Louis had died and where just days before they had taken their romantic walks. Crying and heartbroken, she jumped from the top, killing herself.

Her veil was caught by the wind and settled onto a new rock, just left of Montmorency Falls. There, it turned into a new waterfall called The Veil of the Bride, or more commonly known as Chute de la Dame Blanche, after Mathilde. Mathilde is seen wandering the area of Montmorency Falls, crying for her lost love. She is known as La Dame Blanche as she is seen dressed in her white wedding dress in the mist of the falls. She does not interact with the living and it is warned that the living should not interact or touch her or else they will die a gruesome death.

Location of Chute de la Dame Blanche and Chute Montmorency from Google Maps, 2019

While the Battle of Montmorency Falls in 1759 was a real battle and happened just before the Battle of The Plains of Abraham, there is no evidence of Mathilde or Louis being real people during this time. This suggests that it is just a legend from a pivotal point in Canadian history. A legend of a heartbroken woman and the effects of war on loved ones. It is the creation of Québec’s, and possibly all of Canada’s, most popular White Lady story.

What is a White Lady, a Weeping Woman or a Woman in White exactly?

White Ladies are common legends in rural areas and are most often linked to a local tragedy. In the case of Mathilde, the tragedy was the French loss at the Plains of Abraham and the Seven-Years-War to the English and the effect of war on women.

White Ladies are called this because they dress all in white and are either semi-transparent or fully transparent. White is both symbolic of death and purity in Western culture. White is the colour of bones and ash. White is also what brides dress in when they get married. It is thought that White Ladies are only seen in white not just because they have died but also because they are innocent. The events surrounding them are what led them to die, but they are often pure being who was gone before their time.

There are two common types of White Ladies. The first are the most common, especially in the media. These ones are the ones who are betrayed by a lover or a male close to them. They are either killed by the male or commit suicide because they were betrayed. The second are ones who have died of broken hearts and are seen weeping at the scene of their death. While the first usually seeks revenge, the latter is often just trying to find her lost love. It is due to the first one that White Ladies can be seen as harbingers of death but usually only to the people who are similar to those who killed her. An example, if a man cheated on his wife and she killed herself, she would exact revenge only on unfaithful men. Only men who bear some resemblance to the person who had initially hurt her.

White Ladies are very active spirits and are often seen haunting their grave sites or trying to find their loves. Commonly they are found on the side of the road or in hotels. Generally, they do not like scaring or harming the living but of course there are vindictive ones who will scare and harm and like it. They can be exorcised from their place of haunting but sometimes they just pretend to be exorcised and will resurface when the coast is clear. They are very attached to their hauntings.

Mathilde Robin is considered to be one of these spirits. She died of a broken heart and is considered a local legend seen dressed solely in white. She is never harmful but is just seen weeping at Montmorency Falls. She may not have been a real person but her story has come from a time when tragedy was striking and crucially changing New France. Thus, she has become an important figure of what war can do, not just to soldiers but to those left alive.

Bibliography

Duranti, Krista. “The Legend of the Woman in White.” Exemplore (November 26, 2018). Accessed April 7, 2019. exemplore.com/paranormal/The-Woman-in-White-A-Legend

Evans, David. “Chute Montmorency.” The Canadian Encyclopedia (February 7, 2006). Edited March 4, 2015. Accessed April 7, 2019. thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chute-montmorency

Fédération des Québécois de souche. “Légende de la Dame Blanche.” Fédération des Québécois d’origine (March 27, 2013). Accessed April 7, 2019. quebecoisdesouche.info/legende-de-la-dame-blanche

Grand Québec. “Legende la Dame Blanche.” GrandQuebec: Le Québéc dévoile ses mystères (July 2, 2017). Accessed April 7, 2019. grandquebec.com/legends-du-quebec/legende-dame-blanche/

Iles, Judika. “White Lady (1).” In Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods and Goddess, 1006-1007. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 2009.

Sutherland, Joel A. “La Dame Blanche.” In Haunted Canada 5: Terrifying True Stories, 699-737. Toronto, Ontario: Scholastic Canada Ltd., 2015. Amazon Kindle Edition.

Tison, Marie. “The White Lady of the Montmorency Falls.” La Presse (March 10, 2014). Accessed April 7, 2019. https://www.lapresse.ca/voyage/destinations/quebec/201403/10/01-4746265-la-dame-blanche-de-la-chute-montmorency.php

“White Lady (Ghost).” Wikipedia. Accessed April 7, 2019. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Lady_(ghost)