A sociology professor doing research on “apparitional experiences” says connections with the spirit world are “more common than people think.”
David Aveline, a sociology professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary,
is looking to connect with Islanders for a book he is writing on these experiences.
“Some people have told me that they live with spirits, the spirits come up and intervene at times and it’s troublesome, they don’t know what to do,” said Aveline in a phone interview with The Guardian.
He says while full-on visual sightings are unusual, people often feel the presence of a ghost or feel negative energy or catch something out of the corner of their eye.
Aveline is doing research on “apparitional experiences” and is collecting stories from people across the country that have seen or otherwise encountered what they believe to be ghosts.
“I’m not setting out to prove the existence of ghosts or non-existence of ghosts,” said Aveline. “What I’m doing is looking at people’s experiences as they have them.”
Aveline so far has conducted 40 in-depth interviews and says some of the stories he’s heard are chilling and defy imagination.
Island author, Julie V. Watson, is also looking for Islanders to get in touch with tales of the paranormal.
Would you like to share your paranormal experiences with Julie V. Watson or David Aveline?
To reach Watson, email [email protected]
To reach Aveline, email [email protected]
The St. Patricks woman says one of the more spooky stories she heard during research for her 1987 book, “Ghost Stories and Legends of Prince Edward Island”, was about some Islanders who go to a cemetery and find a fork in the grave of the person they were just talking about.
“I’m a believer, to a degree,” said Watson. “I don’t believe in hauntings as much, but I do think sometimes people leave some of themselves behind.”
Her book contains more than 50 ghost and folklore stories, the most famous one being about the Phantom Ship in the Northumberland Strait. Over the years, people have reported seeing a burning ship where people are running on the deck and jumping overboard.
“It’s been recorded so many times, and the most recent sighting in this book is in 1947,” said Watson. “Ferry captains have reported seeing it, I have three personal friends who all swear to God they saw it.”
She also has several stories about the West Point Lighthouse, including ones about the ghost of the lighthouse keeper, and about fairies who live in the woods.
Watson describes the stories in her book as chilly and spooky rather than bloody and gory.
“I don’t want to get into that, that is not my thing at all,” explained Watson. “When I wrote it, I wanted a book that a 12-year-old could read.”
Thirty years later, Watson is looking to add new content to her best-selling book after she was approached by Dundurn Press to update and expand the original version.
Watson says she has heard from several Islanders in recent weeks and hopes to hear some more stories including old tales passed down through generations as well as recent experiences about ghosts or unexplained phenomena.
In Alberta, Aveline says people still believe in ghosts in this modern age because the stories speak to a lot of people’s imaginations as well as offer comfort for those who fear death.
“A lot of us are afraid of dying, or we don’t know what is going to happen to us when we die,” he said. “So to have a strong belief in ghosts is, almost by definition, a strong belief in the afterlife.”
