Haunted Places in Nanaimo

[tlaqwatsi]

a few years ago, my husband & i stayed at Diplomat Hotel in Nanaimo. In the middle of the night, I opened my eyes to see a white figure of a man walk into the bedroom. he was dressed in some kind of military uniform. he "marched" & once he reached my side of the bed, turned on the spot in military fashion... at which point I covered my face & was frozen with fear... took some time to finally reach over and wake my husband.

[eeyorespal]

Strickland street house

When I was a teenager, we used to hang out at a friends whos foster home was on the same property as the strickland house when you drove up the long driveway there was the abandoned house and then my friends house just up from there, one night we were all at my friends and we noticed lights on in the abandoned house, we all knew there was no electricity going to that house, we had heard stories that it was haunted etc. well we all decided to go and check it out, of course it was raining and blowing like crazy. We got to the porch and saw that there were candles burning in the living room and so when we went up to the living room every one of us ran down from the house and all of a sudden all the candles went out. It was the creepiest feeling ever. there was no one else there but us, and we had alot of guys with us that were pretty big and not afraid of stuff but they sure hauled butt out of there when we all got the same feeling that something bad was there.
I have gone back a few times but have only been able to get about half way up the driveway before backing out with my car, the feeling is sooooo bad, im not sure what is there but it really doesnt want anyone around.

[riverrat]

tlaqwatsi: Not surprised - that's in the oldest part of the city. where lots of working class (and perhaps military?) people lived since the mid-nineteenth century.

eeyorespal: Very creepy. I went to that little corner of town for the first time about a month ago. The place felt alive with former activity (judging by the artifacts), but also seemed like it was starting anew (judging by the vegetative takeover).
(When I have "senses", it is only the result of observable data - I don't claim to be empathic.)

[ninjaking77]

Ooo, this kind of thing has always interested me. I've always heard that Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands (probably the entire gloomy Pacific Northwest) region is a hotbed of paranormal activity.

The only spot I know to be (famously) haunted is Beban House; it's even been on several shows, I think, and it's mentioned in all those tourist books too. Apparently the old place has kids bouncing balls and stuff?

Wouldn't be surprised if some of the mine shafts are haunted, too. Now THAT's creepy.
(...There's something about artifacts from nineteenth century industry; they're always really eerie and sad.)

hey yea the beban house is huanted me and a couple close freinds spent the night sleeping in the basment in there and it truly was something you cant experence anywere else

[difitzy]

I was @ the Strickland St. house with some friends about 20 years ago. We drove up the driveway to the first house - the one with the pillars. I had a creepy feeling from the time we started up the driveway, but no one else seemed to be bothered at all so I just followed along. We went up the front stairs and into the house and started to have a look into some of the rooms on the main floor. There was some tagging on the walls and a couple of empties from previous visitors. Still feeling creeped out, I started up the stairs to the second floor. I only made it to about the second stair and this horrible feeling came over me all of a sudden. I don't remember feeling cold or anything, just a complete feeling of dread and the need to get out of there right away. My friends must have clued in at exactly the same time because we all seemed to fly out the front door at the same tme, jumped in the car and got the hell out of there!

Years later, I happen to live just a few blocks away from the property. I've actually lived near this area my whole life. About 8 years ago, my son and some of his friends went for a bike ride and went down the driveway to the Strickland St house (without my knowledge). When he came home and told me about it, he said that he had a creepy feeling as soon as they started down the driveway. His friends didn't feel anything and told him that he was just being crazy, so he kept going. They made it to the house, which by this time was just the front stairs and the foundation, and he said he could hear singing, like a choir. His friends said they couldn't hear it, but to him, it was loud enough that he couldn't be mistaken. (Shiver...)

My dad grew up in Nanaimo and says that he remembers being told that it was a mine managers house - the Hunt residence. He also remembers something about it being owned by the nuns. Maybe the original owners donated the property to the church when they passed away(?). I've been intrigued by this place since my experience there all those years ago and I'd love to hear what everyone else has to say about it.

[veggieslinger]

ive heard a few tidbits about the place on strickland recently. my sister told me that she remembers someone telling her that whoever lived on that property may have opened up a "portal" and it let out some sort of demonic presence. ive also heard that at one point in time a family lived on the property and for whatever reason they just up and left leaving all their belongings behind. i herd that they left everything, car in the carport, mail on the table, funiture etc. a friend of mine who grew up in the 80s in town apparently has a few stories to tell about the strickland property. im hoping to kinda interview her and see what kind of neato stories she has to tell.

[johc]

I stayed at the Nanaimo Cambie hostel in 2003(?) and heard the tap in the bathroom sink turn itself on and off for the whole night (or at least the whole time that I was awake and terrified). It was my first night there and I was alone in the room, so I dared not go investigate by myself. I tried to convince myself that it was from the people in the adjacent room who were using their bathroom sink, but alas, the sound was obviously coming from my side of the wall.
Two other people shared my room the following night, and the bathroom tap stayed quiet. I sometimes still wonder how a tap can do that on its own?

[AllieG]

I stayed at the Nanaimo Cambie hostel in 2003(?) and heard the tap in the bathroom sink turn itself on and off for the whole night (or at least the whole time that I was awake and terrified). It was my first night there and I was alone in the room, so I dared not go investigate by myself. I tried to convince myself that it was from the people in the adjacent room who were using their bathroom sink, but alas, the sound was obviously coming from my side of the wall.
Two other people shared my room the following night, and the bathroom tap stayed quiet. I sometimes still wonder how a tap can do that on its own?

I used to have an apartment where that happened - I'd wake up in the middle of the night to find the kitchen tap full on. Don't know if it ever turned itself off though. At first I thought it just must be me leaving the water running by mistake but it happened more than once. Gave me the creeps!

[Kameron]

Sorry for kicking a dead horse here. :/ (Necro-bump)

I have heard rumors about the Nanaimo's own Bastion building being haunted. Not quite sure if those rumors are true or not. Also, I must ask. Are there any popular stories of ghosts in the Dover/Wellington areas of town? (North - Central)

[shilah]

I searched all night to try and find the web pages I once had stumbled upon, but with no avail.

It involved a war between first nations of the North and the Salish Cowichan people.

From that my memory tell me.....The Cowichan people had returned from the south to find their Villiage destroyed, many killed, the women taken into slavery. They heard from their couzins in New West that the raiding party had planned to return and they planned an ambush for them in Mill Bay. According to one source, a warrior dressed in drag (a woman fishing) was in a war canoe pretending to fish while 20 warriors lay on the bottom of the boat. She lured some of the raiding party into the straight thus dividing the force. The Cowichan slaughtered them until the bay (Maple bay I think) was red with blood.. they even chased them back up the coast as far as Comox and killed every one of them. The continued North to recapture their women.

The vision I had, I believe was one of the first attack on the Cowichan Villiage. This unbelievalbe sorrow overcame me like smoke..... then a rage ... and smell of copper and visions of red waves. It was intense.. I was moved to tears.... didn't know why I thought of such things.... didn't make a whole hellofalotta sense till I read the articles which i can no longer find. If there is anybody from any on the Cowichan bands or related Salish on the forums ... they might be a better source to talk to about this battle.


okay... I found one of the pages.... http://saltspringarchives.com/multic...ons/index.html

this page you found I started to read and the minute i read deer and elk flourished I stopped. I live on vancouver island and grew up here My grandmother lives in cowichan and I grew up in the comox valley and now reside in Sayward. Not to start anything but reading on some links of the battles were just crazy. And ELK were brought to the island in the 60's.....so that part is a straight up lie . now we have a huge amount of them here I wake up to them everymorning in my yard and just found bull sheds the other day. I think if you really want to know true facts about this beautiful island go to the reserve and ask them of the legends. and a haunted place is Cumberland !!!! lots of history my husbands great grandfather actually built the road from cumberland to royston and they were one of the first 2 settle there. The old china town is very haunted you can feel it the minute you walk past old jumbo's cabin on lake road.