Sask Hauntings

Bienfait Saskatchewan is a small town located in southeast Saskatchewan. Now I know I have posted an article on the Estevan Mines being haunted and you may be thinking since Estevan and Bienfait are beside each other that they are the same. They are not the same, they were many many companies in the are that ran many types of mines - after the years the mines began to merge and all the smaller mines began to disappear being consumed by a large one. The haunted mines around Bienfait take place in the various underground coal mines in the area. There are many legends and stories that relate to workers of the mines and accidents that happened. Many people died in these mines from collapses, gases and sometimes even fights. It is no surprise that these mines are haunted - unfortunately since all the mines are now filled in or mowed over by the new mine it is hard to find these. If you know where to look you may be able to find an old entrance to one of the mines.. and who knows mayb...

Recently in the news they have been talking about Nutana, an area of Saskatoon and how the ground has been shifting. This is one of the oldest areas in Saskatoon which in turn means it has the oldest cemetery. A heritage cemetery that was started in 1903.   The reason I find this cemetery interesting is its history. This cemetery is located on the edge of the river. Of course being on the edge of the river means that the ground shifts and the riverbank can collapse because of water erosion. Not only has this river bank collapsed 3 times but the coffins were floating down the river. Yes, it's true. I have spoken to people that remember the most recent collapse in 1984. The bank collapsed and the graves closest to the river fell into the river. Coffins floated down the river that day. With all this ground shifting again, could this happen again? When something like this happens where there is so much disturbance to the graves, it makes me think that this would upset the spiri...

Weyburn Mental Hospital, Saskatchewan Hospital, Souris Valley Extended Care - whatever name you call it this hospital was a large mental institution. Built in the kirkbride architecture style this building was one of the largest in the commonwealth when it was built in 1920. The hospital officially opened in 1921 and had room for 900 patients and 120 staff. The hospital was self sufficient with houses for nurses, power plant, main building, farming, water tower, etc. This building is rich in history both good and bad. The use of LSD testing and treatments like lobotomy, electroshock and hydrotherapy were controversial.  People admitted here were of any age that had mental illnesses but at one point they started accepting people that maybe did not want to deal with their relatives of any age, maybe because they had a stroke or something else not related to mental illness - this lead to overcrowding at the hospital. With this much history and hundreds of people living in ...

Nokomis is a town in this province that when it comes to the paranormal has been attached to the haunting of an old hospital. I had always been curious about this location as there is the same story posted all over the net. They say that there is this old hospital called "100 doors" that is haunted. The building is said to be in the middle of a field, have a spiral staircase and a trap door to get into the basement. It is said that there was a young girl tortured here and you can hear her scream at night. I have been out to Nokomis many times and have looked for this building and come up with nothing. After doing some research on the town I found out there was a hospital many years ago outside of the town with one doctor. The "hospital" would have looked like a house because it was not meant to have very many patients. If there is indeed a trap door it would have just been an entrance in the floor into the basement, probably used a storage. As for the spiral stair...

There is a stone house located just off the Trans Canada highway about 3 miles east of Indian Head known as "the screaming house". This house can easily be identified because it's two windows facing the tracks have been closed off. This home was built by a family in the 1800's. According to the legend they say that one of the families children wandered onto the tracks and as the mother looked out the window she watched her child get killed by a passing train. The mother was so upset by this tragedy that her husband blocked  up the window's facing the tracks hoping to help cope with the event. It is said that the mother still relives this terrible tragedy and if stand in the downstairs room in the late evening when a train is going by on the tracks you can hear her screams. Of course this is just a local legend and no one knows what really happened for sure. But people continue to visit the home and some claim to feel the presence of a woman and children.

Before I tell you some of the tails at this old Sanitarium let me clear up some common misconceptions about Fort San... Fort San is an old hospital for tuberculosis patients, not a mental hospital. It was home to many patients with Tuberculosis, people ranged from children to elderly people.  Many people died at Fort San as with most sanitariums but there was no crematorium.  The building at the back of fort san with the giant brick stack is part of the power plant, as is common with institutions this age - It is not part of crematorium. If anyone has seen a crematorium the stacks are quite tiny and much wider. The site does have an old morgue which was turned into the kitchen for the conference center. The bodies from fort san were removed through the back door by the morgue.  Fort San was opened in 1917 when tuberculosis infections were increasing in the province and there was no cure. It was a self sufficient facility including a power house, gardens, livest...