The Golden Leg

by Dale Jarvis

  THE PREDICTION IN DRAGON ALLEY Singapore

  “The Prediction in Dragon Alley” was inspired by an “absolutely true” ghost story, submitted by a 24-year-old gym instructor to Russell Lee, Singapore’s bestselling author of ghostly tales. His account can be found in True Singapore Ghost Stories Book 2 (Singapore: Angsana Books, 1992). If you wish to explore the sometimes complicated world of Singaporean Chinese and Malay ghostlore further, an excellent introduction is Jonathan Lim’s beautifully produced and illustrated Our Supernatural Skyline: Between Gods and Ghosts (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International, 2005). The Chinatown in my story could be in any city, though the name “Dragon Alley” was inspired by a real alleyway in Chinatown, Victoria, British Columbia. For other fortune-telling ghosts, compare with motif E545.17, “The dead foretell the future.”

  THE COFFIN, THE GIRL, AND THE BROOM Ireland and Newfoundland

  While there are seemingly ghostly elements in this story, the tale is probably more accurately catalogued as a fairy story, although the men bearing the coffin and the forces responsible for the abduction of the girl are never specifically identified as fairies in the narrative. One version of the story can be found in Irish Folktales, edited by Henry Glassie (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985). The ending of the tale presented here is slightly different than the version collected by Glassie, and is perhaps more representative of the tale’s origin in fairy belief. The discovery of the birch broom instead of a body in the coffin is a motif borrowed from a traditional fairy story from Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, which I heard told in 2006 by ballad singer, storyteller, and folklorist Anita Best. The three knocks at the door, followed by some strange event, usually the death of a family member, is also a firm part of Newfoundland folklore, as is the pinning of money into a child’s clothing to prevent abduction by the good people.

  THE LADY AT NUMBER 16 Valletta, Malta

  A classic ghost story, incorporating motif E281, “Ghosts haunt house.” While this story could be told about countless port towns, this particular tale is based on a story from the walled city of Valletta, on the island of Malta. The story is said to be true, and the street in question is St. Ursola Street, in the heart of the old city. An early version of the Maltese tale was written up in Blackwood’s Magazine in the 1800s, and a more recent version can be found in Joseph Attard’s book Ghosts of Malta (Malta: Publishers Enterprises Group, 1997). Another good source for Maltese stories of the supernatural is Vanessa Macdonald’s The Unexplained: Ghost Stories From Malta and Beyond (Valletta: Progress Press, 2001). When I was in Malta in 2006, I had the privilege of meeting Vanessa and her family, and sharing ghostly tales from both sides of the Atlantic. I would certainly recommend her book to anyone with an interest in true hauntings.

  THE BLACK STAG

  St. Bride’s, Cape Shore, Newfoundland

  “The Black Stag” is arguably one of Newfoundland’s most well-known, and oft-repeated, ghost stories. I think you would be hard pressed to find an older person from the Cape Shore who was not familiar with the story in one form or another. I have heard several people tell this tale, most recently storyteller Gary Green, and it is still very much a story that is part of the oral tradition in Newfoundland. The earliest written version I have seen is that by James McGrath, “The Black Stag—A Ghost Story” which appeared in The Newfoundland Quarterly (1910, vol. 10, no. 3). Ghostly stags could be classified under motif E423.2.6, “Revenant as deer.”

  THE DRUMMER OF TURK’S GUT

  Marysvale, Conception Bay, Newfoundland

  I tracked down this story, one of Conception Bay’s most intriguing local legends, with the assistance of Bride Power of the Turk’s Gut Heritage Committee, which has been working hard to preserve the oral history and folklore of the community. The long, flat rock that marked the Drummer’s grave was said to be located about 75 feet from where the Heritage House run by the committee now stands. Interestingly, the nearby town of Brigus also claims a phantom drummer. The Brigus variant of the tale claimed that an English drummer had once made a promise to an old settler that the musician would drum the old man to his grave, and that he would also drum at the funerals of all his direct descendants, a story published by Don Morris as “Drums at the Graveside; Is Brigus Phantom Real?” in the magazine Here In Newfoundland (April 1956: vol. 1, no. 1). Ghost drummers fall under folk literature motif E402.1.13, “Invisible ghost plays musical instrument.”

  SMILEY

  Trinity, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland

  This is one of my favourite little offbeat Newfoundland stories. It is hard to say exactly what it was that the man saw on the path. The smiling stranger could have been a ghost, or a fairy creature, or some figment of the man’s imagination. The story itself is one that has been handed down through the oral tradition, and the exact date when the strange meeting was said to have happened is not known. It is a story I heard many years ago, and I have not heard another quite like it since. If anyone has any information on the tale, I would love to know more.

  THE DOG IN THE BASEMENT St. John’s, Newfoundland

  A few years ago, I wrote a monthly ghost story column for the Downhome Magazine, published out of St. John’s. Each month I wrote a ghost story from a different section of the province. At one point, one of the editors told me how a man who did some work around their office had told her a story about the skeleton of a dog found in a basement in the downtown area of St. John’s. I have no way of knowing if this is an authentic account of a real haunting, or one of those urban legends that gets passed from one friend to another, to another, and so on. True story or not, it is one of my favourite creepy little tales from downtown St. John’s. Phantom hounds fall under motif E423.1.1, “Revenant as a dog.”

  THE LUMINOUS CHAMBER Taunton, England

  The concept of the luminous chamber is based upon “a faithful report” of a strange room in an abandoned hall in the English village of Taunton. It was originally reported by a Mr. T. Westwood in 1840, and a version of the story was later written up by John H. Ingram in 1886 in his book The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain. The shining room could be described as motif E421.3, “Luminous ghosts.”

  JAMES CURRAN’S GHOST

  Holyrood, Conception Bay, Newfoundland

  The story of James Curran’s ghost is a variant of folk literature motif E419.8, “Ghost returns to enforce its burial wishes or to protest disregard of them.” Like all good ghost stories, there are several different tellings of the tale of James Curran’s ghost, and some debate over which version is the “true” one. I have based my own retelling on “Curran’s Ghost” by Mike Kieley, which was printed in Come Ashore to Holyrood: A Folk History of Holyrood, compiled by Mary G. Veitch and edited by Marie L. Hunt (St. John’s: Creative Publishers, 1989). Additional details were forwarded on to me via email by Joe Moore of Mount Pearl, whose second great-grandfather, John McGrath, donated the land for the Southside cemetery. Joe’s wife, Peg, contributed several stories to my earlier books Wonderful Strange and Haunted Shores.

  THE SPINNING HORROR OF ROOM 14 Newcastle-on-Tyne, England

  I discovered this eyewitness account of the spinning horror in Haunted Britain by Elliott O’Donnell (London: Rider and Company, c. 1948). In some respects, the description of the encounter with the spinning horror is similar to what is known as a hypnagogic hallucination, or what would be described in Newfoundland and Labrador as “The Old Hag.” Apart from the strange laughter and the flick on the ear, many of the symptoms experienced by the unfortunate civil engineer, such as the vision seen when waking from a sleep, the strange humming noises, and the feeling of powerlessness (see also folk motif F471.1, “Nightmare presses person in dream”), are typical in other accounts of the Old Hag and sleep paralysis from around the globe. A good example of an auditory hallucination associated with this type of haunting can be found in my previous book Wonderful Strange: Ghosts, Fairies and Fabulous Beasties (St. John’s: Flanker Press, 2005). A more detailed study of the O
ld Hag is David J. Hufford’s The Terror That Comes in the Night (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982).

  JAKE’S TOKEN

  Proctor’s Cove, Newfoundland

  The story of Jake and his token was inspired by a story by Charles Jamieson entitled “Are There Such Things as ‘Tokens’? Do ‘Spirits’ Walk Abroad?” printed in The Newfoundland Quarterly (1928: vol. 28, no. 3). One of the most common types of hauntings reported in Newfoundland is that of the token or death token. A death token is where a person becomes aware, through some paranormal means, that a person close to them has recently died. The appearance of a token may also be taken to mean that someone’s death is about to occur, which is what happened in the Proctor’s Cove story.

  THE WEEPING WOMAN

  Davis Cove, Placentia Bay, Newfoundland

  The story of the weeping woman is a traditional ghost story from Davis Cove, a fishing settlement located in a small, sheltered cove on the west side of Placentia Bay. In the census of 1845, the cove boasted a population of 35. Twelve of these residents were small-boat inshore fishermen. Davis Cove was probably named for an early settler, and by 1928, the Davis family had been joined by Brewers, Cauls, Connors, Emberlys, Greenes, Hickeys, and Palfreys. Today, the community has been resettled, but stories still circulate about one of its more vocal ghosts. The story was one of several collected by elementary school students as part of a Heritage Fair project, and which was passed along to me by Robert Parsons of Grand Bank, a noted author and story collector in his own right. Crying ghosts have their own motif, E402.1.1.6, “Ghost sobs.”

  A STRANGER AT THE DOOR

  New Perlican, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland

  Inspired by an old story recorded in Edie’s Book: Thoughts, Memories & Folklore from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland by Edith Burrage (A Bailey Book, Stockholm, 2003). The idea that ghosts may return if their final resting place is disturbed is a recurring theme in ghost stories and local legends, but I have not come across another case where the ghost was quite as polite as the spirit from New Perlican. The ghost in the story bears some similarity to motif E235.2, “Ghost returns to demand proper burial.”

  THE THING IN THE WELL Happisburgh, North Norfolk, UK

  Folk literature motif E413, “Murdered person cannot rest in grave.” Adapted from the story “Hasbro’s Pump Hill Ghost” in History and Legends of the Broad District; With a Glance at its Folk Lore, Ghosts, Churches, etc. by Ernest R. Suffling (London: Jarrold & Sons, 1891). Happisburgh (pronounced Hasbro) is a coastal village in Norfolk. It is known for its red-and-white striped lighthouse, built in 1790, and this most remarkable ghost story. There seems to be something of a tradition of haunted well stories. My favourite literary tale in this genre is the short story “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas” by the master of the English ghost story, M. R. James. It is well worth a read for its description of a many-tentacled horror guarding a well in a quiet churchyard.

  THE GHOSTS OF HARNAGE FORD Hughley, Shropshire, UK

  This story combines two well-travelled motifs, E275, “Ghost haunts place of great accident or misfortune,” with motif E421.1.12, “Ghost visible to horses alone.” The story is based on a series of events which were written up in the article “Ghostly Goings-on At Bridge” which appeared in the Shropshire Star, Tuesday, November 12, 2002. The idea that horses can see ghosts which humans cannot is a recurring motif in many ghost stories, on both sides of the Atlantic. Newfoundland musician and storyteller Emile Benoit told a story about a horse which saw a ghost, and his tale was included by folklorist Gerald Thomas in his book The Two Traditions (St. John’s: Breakwater, 1993). Along the Southern Shore of Newfoundland, there are a number of large rocks alongside roadways said to be possessed by the Devil. Horses would run away once they approached these sites, and many people were injured as a result.

  THE MAN IN THE NET

  Lawn, Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland

  Like the story “The Weeping Woman,” this story was one of several collected by elementary school students as part of a Heritage Fair project, and which was passed along to me by Robert Parsons of Grand Bank. The story existed only in a very short fragmentary form, and has been elaborated upon here. No collection of ghost stories would be complete without a headless ghost! The idea of a ghost doomed to wander forever in search of a missing head is folk literature motif E419.7, “Person with missing bodily member cannot rest in grave.”

  THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN United States of America

  This story is based upon an incident described in Haunted Waters by Elliott O’Donnell (Tiptree, Essex: Anchor Press, 1957). O’Donnell based his story upon what he called a presumably true tale, which had been printed in an early edition of The Boys of England. The haunting was said to have taken place in the late 1860s outside of an American town identified only as “Bayswater,” most likely a false name, though there is a Bayswater in New York, as well as one in New Brunswick, Canada, and one in London, England. While presented as true, the tale is related to a contemporary legend known as “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” (motif E332.3.3.1), one of the world’s most enduring and well-known tales. Jan Harold Brunvand made a study of the story in its various forms in The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings (New York: WW Norton, 1981). The section of the story where the girl vanishes is similar to motif E581.4.1, “Ghost rides on bus, disappears before it crosses bridge,” and may be related to older stories where spirits cannot cross running water.

  THE ISLE OF SKYE’S GHOSTLY RETURN Holyrood, Newfoundland

  The legend of the lost schooner the Isle of Skye is a fairly well-known ghost ship (motif E535.5, “Ghost ship”) story from Conception Bay, Newfoundland. The core of the story was taken from “Superstitions and Legends” by P. J. Wakeham, which appeared in New-Land Magazine (Spring 1968: vol. 13). Pius Joseph “P. J.” Wakeham, born in 1910 in Petite Forte, son of Thomas and Mary Ellen Wakeham, began publishing New-Land Magazine in 1962. Wakeham was a noted storyteller, with many of his stories having a ghostly theme. According to the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, Wakeham wrote 11 novels, 250 short stories, at least 15 plays, an estimated 150 ballads, and numerous newspaper articles.

  THE SKATING SPIRIT

  Potter Heigham, Norfolk Broads, England

  While the idea of a ghost on skates might seem to be a very Canadian invention, this story is actually based on an English local legend. An early printed version of the legend, called “The Hickling Skater,” can be found in History and Legends of the Broad District; With a Glance at its Folk Lore, Ghosts, Churches, etc. by Ernest R. Suffling (London: Jarrold & Sons, 1891). It is related to motif E310, “Dead lover’s friendly return.”

  A CARD GAME INTERRUPTED Trinity, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland

  “I have an excellent ghost story from an old house in Trinity,” said the letter from Sandra Hallett. With an opening like that, how could someone like yours truly resist? I asked Hallett for more details, and she shared with me a strange story which took place in the early 1960s. While the young couple, Eli and Edith Toope, were from the community of Ireland’s Eye, the action in the story took place in Trinity.

  “I heard it from my uncle Eli Toope, my mother’s brother, and his wife, my Aunt Edith,” explains Hallett. “I also heard it from my great-uncle Eli Toope and his wife, my Aunt Beatrice, whose house in Trinity was where the story took place. They were all present, as well as others. My great-uncle Eli and Aunt Beatrice Toope are now deceased, but Aunt Edith and Uncle Eli Toope live in Trinity East.” While the story is told in the region and by relatives as a true story, it is very similar to folk motif E443.5, “Ghost laid by adjuring it to leave in the name of God.”

  CRUSTY HARRY

  Various locations, Newfoundland

  The story of Crusty Harry is one of my own invention, but it includes portions of a number of ghost stories which were believed to be true. “Crusty Harry” was a real person, a man who lived and saw a phantom schooner (motif E535.3, “Ghost ship”
) in Trinity, Trinity Bay, and who was immortalized by William White in an article entitled “Ghosts and Phantom Lights” published in The Trinitarian Christmas Number in December 1925. White also recorded the story of the black bear (motif E423.2.1, “Revenant as a bear”), which was said to haunt the community of Trinity. And there was truly a man with no fear of ghosts, and who hit one over the head with his walking stick, as remembered in 1993 by George Scott of Little Harbour East, and written up in a report called “History, Folklore & Tall Tales” prepared by Lisa Young for the Town of St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula.

  Dale Gilbert Jarvis is a researcher, writer, and storyteller living and working in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He holds a B. Sc. (Honours) in Anthropology from Trent University and an MA in Folklore from Memorial University of Newfoundland. He currently is the Provincial Registrar for the Historic Places Initiative with the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, and sits on the board of the Newfoundland Historic Trust. Dale’s fortnightly exploration of all things paranormal in the province, “Newfoundland Unexplained,” is a regular column in The Telegram.

  As a storyteller, Dale has performed at festivals and concerts across Canada. Locally, he is best known as the host and guide of the St. John’s Haunted Hike, a walking ghost tour through the haunted streets of old St. John’s. Under his supervision, locals and tourists have been introduced to the vengeful lovers, murdered soldiers, and mysterious fires which await those brave enough to explore the secrets that lie in wait in St. John’s darkest corners. Mixing history, humour, and traditional storytelling, Dale has been winning over audiences and throwing in the odd scare here and there, and has been covered by a wide variety of local, national, and international media.