Ghosts: True Tales of Eerie Encounters

by Robert C. Belyk

Encounters with entities from a different reality do occur in the rational, modern world; the experiences collected here range from the colonial days to the year 2000. Most BC ghosts are not frightening, but seem to want to say, "Notice me -- I'm still around". However much a person might wish to ignore eggs thrown against a wall, an invisible but noisy cat, the long-gone woman who doesn't want anyone sitting at her table in a hotel dining room or a bed that shakes, such things do happen, and they defy explanation. Although many ghosts haunt private houses, some are associated with public places and buildings, such as Beacon Hill Park in Victoria, the Vancouver General Hospital, the James Cowan Theatre in Burnaby and the Qualicum Heritage Inn on Vancouver Island.

Genres: Nonfiction

173 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Anne Patkau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Combing British Columbia archives and newspaper records, some recent interviews, yielded fairly factual recounting of 32 locations such as Beacon Hill Park, 7 typical manifestations such as poltergeist, and 5 pre-WW1 folk tales such as skeletons from a lifeboat of wrecked Valencia. Noises, lights, shadows, electrical glitches, objects moving, sleepwalking, nightmares about dying friends or relations, practical jokes, gullible wackos losing money to connning psychics. A glimpse in the corner of your eye, a cold draft raises skin hair, pets act scared, a sensation of being touched, hearing a voice, fear of the dark.

When brain electrodes said I was asleep, I heard everything said in conversation nearby. I have woken from seemingly deep sleep to answer a dream voice, to the feel of a dreamed touch. I believe the states overlap.

The last afterword episode is a man who worked late one night painting gravestones when his sheet blew away; nearby children ran screaming from a ghost. That is I think the correct conclusion for all the supposed spirits. If every location where someone died became haunted, the whole world would have no room for the living, despite aborigine claims. Chinese-American authors, like Grace Lin and Amy Tan, depict the centuries old culture of ancestral worship in terms understandable by round-eyes. A fellow reporter who interned at a tabloid as fact-checker explained all those absurd stories about alien abduction or possession are true because "the victim claims". TV "Fact or Faked" experts test paranormal evidence (website may say "content currently unavailable"). http://www.syfy.com/factorfaked/

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 4 out of 5]

While on vacation in Victoria, I hunted down a couple books on ghosts of British Columbia and this one was specifically for Vancouver Island where I was staying. I didn't like that he started the introduction with the disclaimer of he didn't believe in ghosts. That just makes it sound like he's doing this not out of interest or love of the subject but rather because he knows they're popular. That aside, he did not poo-pooh anything and you would never have known that fact.

What I really really liked was it was done very scientifically. The stories are done in depth with footnotes to personal interviews, newspapers, etc. I loved that aspect. Knowing that at least the historical bits did happen, makes me happy.

It covered Haunted Hotels and restaurants, Haunted heritage, Stately old haunts, haunted houses, haunted people (poltergeists), haunted places and early British Columbia stories. It was well done and very enjoyable.

[Bill Allman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, without peer, the BEST work on genuine paranormal encounters in British Columbia available today. The historical research is in-depth and the author has used the information to great effect in framing the eyewitness accounts that make up the tales in this book. Mr. Belyk seems to have a knack for the interview that puts witnesses at ease and encourages them to divulge ALL of their stories in a way that most authors in this field miss out on. Each tale is gripping in and of itself and the detail gives each account a distinct character and paints vivid and often unsettling pictures for the reader. Can't wait to read the sequel!