Here we go again... Now that it's officially autumn, (aka spooky season), we find it appropriate to inform the public of how haunted Vancouver really is. Citizens need to stay on high alert for old buildings and creepy roads.
Hycroft Manor
Once owned and built by businessman Alexander Duncan McRae, this 1911 mansion is located in exclusive Shaughnessy. In 1942 McRae donated Hycroft, and it was turned into a veteran hospice. During its heyday, legendary parties were held at Hycroft for the social elite of Vancouver. Many a spirit still roam the house and grounds, including a nurse and men dressed in military uniforms. It is also rumoured that the mansion was possibly the site of the 1924 murder of nanny Janet Smith during one of its wild parties, and that her bloodied apparition appears on the staircase. Today it is the site of the University Women’s Club of Vancouver.
Roedde House Museum
This Queen Anne Revival home was built in 1893 for the Roedde family, Vancouver's first bookbinders. Infamous architect Francis Rattenbury is said to have designed it. After the family moved out in 1924, it became a rooming house for the next 50 years, and was eventually restored into a heritage house museum. During a public paranormal event in 2022, psychic mediums detected over 40 curious ghosts dropping in. Ask its staff or long-term volunteers about hauntings, and many will have stories of full-bodied apparitions and shadows moving around the house.
Vancouver Police Museum
Originally the city's coroner's office and morgue, this 1932 building opened as a museum in 1986. Over 20,000 bodies passed through this two-story building, including Hollywood actor Errol Flynn. Today, it houses thousands of crime-related artifacts, evidence and documents. Staff and volunteers have heard disembodied footsteps and whispers, as well as doors slamming inexplicably. The morgue area and autopsy room seem to be the centre of ghostly activity. Various paranormal groups have captured audio evidence including the sound of bare feet running and direct answers to questions asked by investigators.
University Boulevard (UBC)
Local urban legend says there is a hitchhiking ghost who roams one of the desolate roads of the UBC endowment lands, looking for a ride home. Sounds like a lot of hitchhiking ghost legends. But we've learned this one is based in truth! One tragic night in the 1960's, a UBC student died in a car crash on University Boulevard. For many years after, her ghost was said to climb into the cars of those who pulled over for this sad looking young woman. She would even give the driver an address, which led them to her parents' nearby home. But alas, she would disappear before they arrived. Is she still on the boulevard or has she become another urban legend?