Of Ghosts and Myths

This is an article that I recently wrote for the "Heritage Park Post". Since my last two posts seem to have scared the fertilizer out of a few people who are now convinced that I'm totally unstable, here's one that is just FUN!

Of Ghosts and Myths

Fact to myth. This is the road that many tales travel. From time to time, it is necessary to reclaim the facts from the myths. Of course myths will occasionally become quite annoyed at this and decide to fight back.

The Prince House is considered by many to be Heritage Park’s resident haunted house. That stately old brick mansion built by Peter Prince in 1894 and moved to Heritage Park in 1967 has played many roles during its long life. It has been a private home, a rooming house, a museum exhibit, a movie set and a classroom. And yes, it has played host to a few unexplained phenomena. Unfortunately, along the way, some of those factual accounts have become myths.

Yes it is true that Peter Prince married four times. His first wife Marguerite died of diabetes in 1898; only 4 four years after the Queen Anne style home was built. In 1900, within two years of Marguerite’s death, Prince married for the second time. Emma would die of tuberculosis only two years after her marriage. Marrying his third wife Rosa in1903, Prince would lose her to cancer in 1907. Prince’s fourth wife, Emily would outlive her husband by over twenty years. Her daughter Nora by a previous marriage lived in the home until her own death in 1965.

Legend has it that while Emma was suffering from tuberculosis, she was confined alone to the third floor of the house. Her tragic death coupled with her isolation has supposedly produced a restless spirit that resides on the third floor to this day. Unlikely. Even back in 1901, the virulent nature of tuberculosis was well known. To avoid infecting the rest of the household, it is far more likely that Emma ended her days in Calgary’s old contagion hospital in Inglewood.

The Lady in White is probably the Prince House’s most famous ghost. Seen by many people, this lady has been seen in the second floor nursery tending a baby. She is reported to be dressed in a long white dress of flowing fabric with a high lace collar which would seem to be period appropriate. Legend has this White Lady variously cast as any one of the four Mrs. Princes or even Peter’s daughter Rosanna. Unlikely. No babies were ever raised in the Prince House. Prince’s children were grown and on their own when the house was built.

An examination of the myths attempts to reclaim the facts but darn it all...the myths fight back! Just because it is unlikely that Emma died in the home doesn’t mean that no one did. This is still the era when doctors saw patients at home and family members provided the day to day nursing care; Prince did indeed have grandchildren who were babies when the house was built. We have no way of knowing if any specific individual died in or haunts the Prince House (obituaries are unclear) but there are enough documented occurrences of unexplained phenomena in the Prince House to make even the most skeptical person wonder.

In late October 2009, the Prince House was opened for a special evening program. The staff and volunteers who experienced a few interesting phenomena while they were waiting for guests.

“Theresa”, a volunteer during the event described the following experience that occurred on Thursday 29 October 2009.

“I would sit in the 2nd floor nursery and wait until the storytellers were outside. The room was dark but still lit by the gaslights outside. I had placed a small battery lantern on a chaise just below the window…As I sat at a table by the window and waited, something caught my eye. I turned towards the door and jumped. On the wall in a small alcove by the door I saw the shadow of a woman with her hair up, sitting in a chair. I was taken quite aback until I “realized” that it was my own shadow.

Laughing at myself I turned back to the window to watch the group outside. Eventually I stood up, turned off the lantern and made ready to leave. I turned back towards the door and suddenly froze. Even though the lantern was out and I was now standing facing the door, the shadow hadn't moved. I was shocked! When I finally regained my composure, I calmly turned, picked up the lantern and ran out the door! I locked it and ran into the dark creepy attic with great relief!!”

Heritage Park Staff member “Barb” took a writer and paranormal investigator into the Prince House on Thursday 22 October 2009.

“Throughout the visit the writer carried a small digital recording device with him, which he wore on his coat to record everything.

We started talking about a portrait that I remembered seeing in the house of a little girl, so we all got up and started looking for the portrait. It wasn’t there anymore, but through the glass of one of the bedrooms we noticed a picture that seemed to be completely black. We were trying to decipher what the picture was, and soon realized it was a mother bent over a baby. As we stood discussing it, the recorder started flickering and beeping intensely” While on the second floor the tape recorder “beeped, flickered and shut off”, several times but Barb relayed that it worked perfectly well on the first floor when asking the same questions of the house.

Fact becomes myth and even after the facts are distilled and presented, the myth will remain. Many come to the Prince House seeking not history but instead stories and legends. Our interpreters try and communicate both to our visitors. Personally, I take some comfort in the fact that this grand old house still has a few mysteries left to discover.