Volunteers Wanted! (Dead or Alive)

For the 6th Annual Haunted Atlas Coal Mine

Volunteer Meeting: Oct 13th, 7 pm - Civic Centre AV Room (above the Library)

Big Boo Oct 23rd & 30th
Commitment: 6 - 10 pm

Little Boo Oct 24th & 30th
Commitment: 1:30 - 4:30 pm

Everybody Welcome! & Bring a friend!

For more information please call Kelly at 403.822.2220 or 403.822.2220


Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site
Box 521
East Coulee, AB T0J 1B0
Phone: (403)822-2220 (403)822-2220
Fax: (403)822-2225
E-Mail: info@atlascoalmine.ab.ca
Web: www.atlascoalmine.ab.ca

16 TONS OF FUN!

Chip Coffey Visits The Banff Springs Hotel

Chip Coffey, self-proclaimed psychic, and known from the A&E television series Paranormal State and Psychic Kids was on hand at the Banff World Television Festival taking part in a discussion about paranormal television shows.

The discussion was an absolute bore with no direction or focus. It was primarily a marketing event for current television productions such as Paranormal State. Chip Coffey went on to say that he believes the host-hotel, The Banff Springs Hotel, is haunted. He went on to say that as he entered the hotel he was met by several spirits and within 15 minutes had met them all.

Chip Coffey is a celebrity even with the dead.



Chip went on to say that the ghosts were busy mingling with the movers and shakers of the television world as the Festival was in full swing. He did not, however, explain why a bellhop, a pregnant bride or a child ghost would want from a television producer or a scriptwriter.



In an interview with the Calgary Herald after the discussion panel, Chip explained one ghost was a woman, perhaps the famous bride who died on her wedding day and is said to haunt one of the hotel's many stairwells. Her name, Coffey has determined, was Christina and she was pregnant when she died.

"Not one life but two were lost at that time," said Coffey. "With me being here, she felt very comfortable is saying, 'It's not a stigma anymore, so I will let you know I was pregnant. And the only two people who knew at the time was my mother and my husband-to-be.'"

He also saw a man who he believes may have been Sam McAuley, the devoted bellman whose ghostly figure is said to haunt the hotel on a regular basis since his death in the 1970s.

The third was a little boy named Jack.

"He just wanted to hang," said Coffey. (Again, it must be his celebrity status that is attracting even young, ghostly children to him. Either that, or he had some candy to share.)

"He's been around and pretty active and hanging in my room. I do a show called Psychic Kids and I work with a lot of children. Children in particular feel comfortable, in spirit, to be chatting with me. The boy identified himself as Jack -- he's blond, he's about six to nine years old. He showed up in my room first and came through last night on the ghost walk."

It's not the first time the Banff Springs Hotel has had an inpromtu ghost walk or investigation. It's been rumoured to be haunted for some time and Coffey took guests around the hotel and explained what he felt. No evidence was presented and the tour was quickly wrapped up.

Chip Coffey went on to explain that during his overnight stay his computer rebooted twice and the lights in his room flickered on and off. He attributes these events to the ghosts. He failed to explain, however, why a ghost would reboot his computer of flick on and off the lights to communicate with him, when previously they presented themselves and started chatting about intimate secrets.



Some were absolutely astonished by Chip Coffey's knowledge of the suspected haunted hotel. How did he know about the Bellhop named Sam? How did he know of the bride who is said to haunt the main staircase? And what about the little boy? How did he know about him?

The answer is:

John Robert Colombo.

With several books on his person including two by Colombo, Chip Coffey simply did a quick read-up on the ghost stories of the Banff Springs Hotel to impress the crowd and his fans. Some were not so impressed by the psychic abilities, mainly because he was so vague and did not offer anything new - he simply regurgitated ghost stories that were already known to most participants.

Chip Coffey is either loved or hated by the paranormal community. For A&E and shows like Psychic Kids he earns his keep and those loyal viewers will never see him do any harm. After all, he is a "warrior of god!"

However, there are plenty of people who think his psychic abilities are bollocks and he is an unethical fraud.

Certainly, his whirlwind tour of the Banff Springs Hotel and his "discussion" of paranormal television did not prove he was real, nor did it prove he is a fraud.

It simply proved he is becoming a washed up para-celeb with trinkets to sell and demon-slaying stories to tell.

Haunted La Boheme, Bed & Breakfast in Edmonton, Alberta

Edmonton Sun, November 5, 2009

The tale of a woman who was chopped to bits and burned in the furnace at a northeast Edmonton building doesn’t scare people away.

In fact, it attracts them.

On Halloween, the 1912-era former luxury apartment building turned bed and breakfast was fully booked with guests curious to see the slain woman’s ghost.

“People just love it,” said Mike Comeau, co-owner and caretaker of La Boheme, 6427 112 Ave.

According to legend, Comeau says, the building’s original caretaker murdered his wife and dragged her down three flights of stairs.

“The word is he cut her up in pieces and burned her body in the furnace.”

The original coal-fired boiler where the gruesome crime is said to have taken place is still in use, though it’s been converted to gas.

Although the truth of the horrific murder is uncertain and there are no records of it at the city archives, many overnight guests say there’s a spirit haunting the creaky floored antique-style rooms.

Last winter, a regular customer was sleeping in suite 7, said to be the most haunted room when he says his bed lifted right off the ground.

“I was screaming, ‘Stop!’ and I was slapping myself to make sure I was awake,” said Larry Finnson, an advertising businessman from Winnipeg.

Another time a female employee was doing laundry in the dimly lit basement near the furnace room when she felt someone touch her.

She was so startled she ran up the stairs screaming and never came back, said Comeau.

Author Barbara Smith wrote about the bed and breakfast in her 1996 book More Ghost Stories of Alberta.

She doesn’t know the murder tale, but witnessed the unexplained while having coffee at La Boheme in the spring of 1995.

As she asked the former owner of the building if it was haunted, Smith said the lid of the sugar bowl lifted off the dish and onto the table.

“There’s a ghost there,” said Finnson, who described himself as a skeptic turned believer.

“The ghost ain’t gonna hurt you but it will freak you out if (it) wants to.”

Out of the Dark: The Photo Album

Here is a direct link to the photo album. It will be updated for each investigation we do.

http://www.solarismarketing.ca/outofthedark/gallery1/Out%20of%20the%20Dark%20Photos/index.htm

Episode Three: The Apartment

The Out of the Dark team investigates one of the team's private residences. J.J. Brewster, investigator takes the team to his house to find out what is keeping him up at night. The team utilizes a Ouija Board and witnesses objects move by their own accord.

J.J. Brewster has since moved to a new residence, as with the other many previous occupants. Find out who is haunting and what they want.

Director’s Notes:

Out of the Dark investigator J.J. Brewster has expressed that he perhaps is experiencing something in his downtown Calgary residence. He invited the rest of the team to perform a Quija Board session to speak directly to the spirits who have been causing him sleepless nights.

The team witnesses an object move on its own accord and uses the Ouija Board to speak to the spirits of J.J.’s home.

J.J. has since moved out of the residence, as several previous tenants have done. According to a neighbor, “No one really stays for very long.”

Episode Two: The Atlas Coal Mine

The Out of the Dark team investigates Canada's most complete historic coal mines in Drumheller Valley, Alberta, Canada. The Atlas Coal Mine has been long suspected of being a popular haunt. Find out what the Out of the Dark team finds during their investigation.

Director’s Notes:

The Atlas Coal Mine in Drumheller, Alberta has been calling me for some time. On several visits to the Drumheller Valley I would drive down the length of the driveway, park in the visitor parking and walk the public grounds and feel them.

And they are here, waiting.

The second investigation of the Out of the Dark team brought us to the National Historical Site of The Atlas Coal Mine – Canada’s best preserved and complete coal mine. An impressive structure with a huge wooden tipple, several authentic mine buildings and many, many ghosts.

The exhaustive investigation proved to be proof positive for some of the team and left us yearning for a second investigation. Perhaps, in the near future we will return to follow up on this impressive location.

Buffalo Jump Station, Alberta, Canada

Buffalo Jump Station was once a thriving stop for rail travelers and motorists driving the Trans Canada Highway.

In 1883 the CPR had laid tracks and developed a railway station to accommodate travelers heading to and from the booming town of Gleichen and the new Siksika Nation lands.

The communities thrived through the 1920s and 1930s but after WWII the town of Gleichen saw its population drop from over 1000 to just 300.

Buffalo Jump Station remained in business servicing automobiles and selling native arts and crafts. But motorists with more fuel efficient cars drove past the station and in the early 1970s it was abandoned.

The CPR railway station was moved west of Cochrane, Alberta. The large garage fell in the 1990s and was completely destroyed.

The prairie lands are still, save for the sound of the wind and the passing transport. The land also echoes history and longing.

A mile to the west is a cliff over which the Natives used to drive buffalo, and to this day buffalo bones may be found there. Twelve miles to the southeast, the great Chief Crowfoot is buried, and nearby is a cairn commemorating the signing of Treaty No. 7.

But passing motorist and rail travelers will never know. They will never hear of the tales of the early pioneers nor will they hear of the tales of buffalo hunts and bloody Native battles.

And they will never know that the Station is said to be haunted by two Native spirits.

I approached the Station building and the door suddenly swung open. An invitation or simply a gust of wind?



The Station sits on a cinderblock foundation that has fallen inward causing a great deal of damage to the structure. The first floor held a craft room, a kitchen and washrooms. I felt nothing in the first room, but as I approached the kitchen I noticed a hole in the floor leading to the basement.



The kitchen offered no more than silence. The washrooms were completely destroyed and again, this area felt lonely, but not haunted. The second floor and stairs were so rotten I could not proceed.



I made my way to the back of the house and peered into the basement. It was filled with liter and so much damage that it was dangerous to go further. Three of the four cinderblock walls had given way.

But here I could sense something. But I could not pick up anything more. I knew something was here and then I turned and went into the backyard where the feeling was more prominant.

It was a spirit. Not connected to the Station, nor the CPR, nor the pioneers. This felt old, very old. I got the words "I wander" as the wind whiped by my ears. A storm was coming. The spirit was gone.

I made my way to where the garage and CPR station were and found nothing but scraps on the floor. I proceeded to walk the grounds, but found nothing else of interest. The wandering spirit was no where, yet, as I looked out at the vast, empty prairie I knew it was everywhere.

Alberta's Most Haunted: Real Ghost Investigations

Here is the cover to my new book Alberta's Most Haunted: Real Ghost Investigations published by Ingrams and available Summer 2009 across Alberta bookstores and online. More info coming soon.

The Wheatland House

By John Savoie

On a lonely road, overtaken by nature and the unforgiving prairie landscape, a house appears to have weathered over a 100 years of life only to be left abandoned and empty.

The farmhouse in Wheatland County has attracted the attention of myself and a few sensitive individuals over the course of the last two years.

On one impromptu scouting trip we arrived close to 11pm as the sun made its way over the rocky mountains and darkness covered the land. The house reflected the last rays of the warm rays and cast eerie shadows across its yard.

We peaked inside the windows and we listened. A friend noticed a wispy smoke-like movement from one side of the front bedroom to the hallway. He immediately backed off and went around the other side of the house and with a frantic voice said, "I'm not going in there."

I felt an energy also. One that pulled me in to investigate and also one that warned me to stay away. I chose my gut instincts and followed my friend around the side of the house and took a few pictures and decided to come back for a full investigation another day.

On June 29, 2009 I made my way back to the property and brought along with me a psychic and also my investigating equipment. I arrived during daylight hours to take full advantage of my surroundings.

I made my way through a tangle of shrubs, bushes and trees as a falcon screetched above in the cloudless sky. I found the front door and opened it slowly, cautiously, in preparation to meet any animal or circumstance. The main living area was in terrible shape with a red sofa against one wall.

The front bedroom door was closed and did not feel inviting. I turned and walked into the living space and snapped a few pictures of this room and the window which overlooked the western sky. This room felt lonely, but did not feel threatening or haunted.

I quickly turned and once again looked to the closed door. Something was in that room...I could feel it. But I didn't open that door, not yet. Something was warning me deep inside and I could sense it. Someone was keeping that door shut for a reason. It held a secret.

I made my way to the back of the house where I found a second bedroom, a kitchen and a mudroom. The mudroom held a feeling of hard work, loneliness and longing.



I returned once again to the front of the house and concentrated on the door and what lay beyond. There was something behind it. A spirit. I could sense him. I snapped a picture of the door and then proceeded to open the door.



I opened the door feeling a rush of a spirit wash over me and then dissipate as if it did not want to be sensed nor disturbed. The room was small and had one board covered window. It also contained the stairs leading to the crawlspace under the house. I waited in this room, recorder, camera, video tape and EMF detector all activated, but the spirit who was guarding this room was gone.




In this room with no view, in the crawlspace on the left side ledge was a single, silver key dating back to the turn of the century. What was it for? Was this the guarded object?

My companion psychic never entered the house. Instead she remained outside and said she was not welcome inside.

I made my way around the property and we walked the acreage noting an old site for a vegtable garden. Dark clouds covered the sun and night was fast approaching. In the back yard I found the skull of a young cow - perhaps the dinner of a coyote or perhaps a warning.

Below are additional photos of the house: