A look at ‘haunted’ spots in Regina leading to Halloween

Halloween is quickly approaching.

While many of us celebrate by watching horror movies or dressing up in spooky costumes, there are those who would rather try to find real-life horrors.

A poll from Ipsos this year shows that almost half of all Canadians believe in ghosts.

So, are there any spirits wandering the land of the living here in Saskatchewan?

That’s a question 980 CJME set out to try and answer.

We spent a foggy, cloudy night in Wascana Park with Kenton de Jong. He’s a local paranormal enthusiast who has made it one of his life goals to see a ghost.

“My hobby, my passion, is travelling the world and seeing scary places. I’ve never seen a ghost, but I’ve seen some messed-up places. I’m sure, if there were spirits, they were there,” he said.

One of the spookiest he has seen is Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine.

While it may seem like that would make Regina pale in comparison, he’s confident that there are plenty of haunted spots, especially in the city’s biggest park.

Darke Hall, the allegedly haunted building on College Avenue. (Dom Lucyk/980 CJME)

Among them is Darke Hall. It’s a part of the College Avenue campus of the University of Regina.

It seems to be a fitting name for a haunted location, but it was named after Francis Darke, the 11th mayor of the city who served in 1898.

“It is said that Darke Hall is haunted by Francis Darke. It’s said that he’s been seen walking around the hallways, behind the stage, up and down the stairwells, all over the building. He’s also been seen downtown, in some of the hotels he used to own,” de Jong said.

However, de Jong doesn’t think Darke is a malicious ghost, the type who would curse someone.

That could be a different story for some apparent phantoms a bit closer to the lake.

There’s a parking lot, not far from the intersection of Broad Street and Broadway Avenue.

According to de Jong, it’s built where there used to be an insane asylum.

He said criminals were executed there, and their decomposed bodies are still buried underneath the soil.

He shared one story that has led to some paranormal speculation.

Many decades ago, an Italian musician and his friend were travelling through the country. They were both accused of murder.

One was hung in Regina, where that parking lot is now.

“He was executed here, his final words being ‘I am innocent.’ … His friend was sentenced to life in a penitentiary in Manitoba, but he got let out a year later because his charges were revoked,” de Jong said.

He said that would be as good of a reason as any to haunt the place, if the man did indeed become a ghost.

Just a few steps away, there’s a large concrete structure with stairs leading down to a small dock.

“This is one of the spots that is definitely on people’s radar as one of the most haunted spots in the city,” de Jong continued.

While he doesn’t know her name, age, or when it happened, he said that there are tales of a little girl falling off the dock and drowning.

“It’s said she often haunts this dock. You can see her either in the water, looking at you or walking around the stairs,” he said.

Despite checking out these and a few other supposedly haunted spots, not a single ghost showed themselves that night.

De Jong doesn’t want to give a definitive answer on the origin of paranormal sightings and stories. After all, he has never seen a ghost himself.

However, even if there’s not a single spirit stalking the streets of Saskatchewan’s cities, de Jong thinks there’s a lot of value in learning some of these stories.

“All sorts of things happened here over the past century and a half that people just don’t talk about,” he said. “So I think if they learned it, they would realize that Regina has a lot more to offer than just what you would see in the daytime.”