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It seems a number of ghosts feel welcome there, too. Not surprisingly, most of the apparitions hanging around this house of worship are friendly and can be seen praying, knitting or walking about — a lady in pink, for example, has been seen walking through walls. One of the strangest ghostly reports came from an organist, who felt her wrist being slapped despite the fact no one was near her.
Hose and Hound
If walls could talk, this building (1030 – 9 Ave. S.E.) could tell dozens of tales.
Before becoming a popular pub, the building was a fire station and it’s reputedly haunted by ghosts of a different kind.
The first is the ghost of a monkey that belonged to the city’s first fire chief, Cappy Smart.
The monkey was put down after attacking a child, but its spirit never left the building. In more recent years, the monkey’s ghost has been blamed for throwing cans off shelves, starting the dishwasher and playing with the pub’s billiard balls.
The other ghostly presence here is linked to one of Cappy Smart’s horses named Lightning, which died in a fire. Pub staff has said you can sometimes hear Lightning’s hoofs hitting the pavement outside the restaurant.
Going back a bit further, Calgary Fire Captain William Ritchie was with the department from 1911 to 1951. He said that firemen at this hall (No. 3) along with firemen at Hall No. 6 could hear the sounds of phantom horses, often just before the alarm would ring for a fire.
Prince House
No list of Calgary haunted houses is complete without mention of the Prince House at Heritage Park.
Peter Anthony Prince built and managed the Eau Claire sawmill in Calgary, but while he was successful in business he experienced much loss when it came to love. His first wife Margaret died of diabetes; second wife Emma died of tuberculosis; and, his third wife Rosa suffered from cancer. His fourth wife Emily did outlive him, but several of the previous wives’ spirits may have remained in the house, even to this day.
