Melynda Jarratt first met renowned ufologist Stanton Friedman 25 years ago while working on a Vision Television documentary. Back then she was putting together films for journalist Rita Deverell called “Sense of Place” instead of installations as executive director for the Fredericton Region Museum. Jarratt recalled, in a February phone […]
Author: Brian Baker
The challenges of being a journalist who digs in the paranormal dirt
I could probably defend the reason why I started the Superstitious Times until my vocal cords seize up, but some people will still see the endeavour as a Fox Mulder-esque pursuit. I prefer Dr. John Montague of Shirley Jackson’s universe because much like him, my fascination with what people believe […]
Etchings: Former ‘Most Haunted’ medium, Derek Acorah, dies at 69
Controversial medium, Derek Acorah, dies at 69 British TV personality and ‘Most Haunted’ medium Derek Acorah died Jan. 3 after a short battle with pneumonia and sepsis. He was 69. Not without controversy, Acorah allegedly made up the spirits he would channel while on ‘Most Haunted’. The show’s parapsychologist Ciaran […]
Haunted Hamilton to host Victorian funeral tour at Dundurn
Hamiltonians and visitors to the Golden Horseshoe may get their very own Moberly-Jourdain experience thanks to a Haunted Dundurn Castle tour in February. Unlike the infamous French event, visitors will be plunged into a Victorian funeral at the 19th-century manor thanks to Stephanie Dumbreck, owner and founder of Haunted Hamilton. […]
Review: Ghosts of Niagara-on-the-Lake digs up history; brings it to life
Ghosts of Niagara-on-the-Lake (Second Edition) by Maria da Silva and Andrew Hind Dundurn Press, Canada, 2018 4.5/5 The only way some people can swallow the pill called history is by wrapping it up in the proverbial bacon, a la filet mignon, and serving it on a platter. My own mother-in-law […]
Canadian ufologist Chris Rutkowski donates research to U of Manitoba archives
The University of Manitoba Archives has received an out-of-this-world donation for their Psychical Research and Spiritualism collection. Respected Canadian ufologist, Chris Rutkowski, author of the Canadian UFO Survey, was asked by head archivist Shelley Sweeney what he planned on doing with his work after he retired. “I have a little […]
Not all the guests have checked out of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Prince of Wales Hotel
Niagara-on-the-Lake is a chunk of Ontario land that has possibly seen the most bloodshed in the province. It’s no wonder it has plenty of ghostly tales from when the Americans pushed British troops back and lit a match to the town, sending all its inhabitants into the cold of a […]
John Robert Colombo reflects on writing and the origins of his paranormal interests
John Robert Colombo fears that we may lose First Nations’ tales of the supernatural. Canada’s “Master Gatherer” of quotes, aphorisms and folklore has been writing about myths and Canadian ghost stories for six decades, and the group of storytellers that seem to be glossed over is that of the First […]
Sioux Lookout man who recorded strange howls surprised people still believe in Sasquatch
Gino Meekis said he is surprised by how many people still believe in the Sasquatch. The 39-year-old Sioux Lookout resident is still trying to process what he recorded in the woods 45 kilometres outside the Northern Ontario community. On Oct. 3 he was grouse hunting with his wife Joanne and […]
Being in the right headspace helps to process paranormal
A few years ago, I was having a conversation with an old university friend about the paranormal, and how as a neuroscientist he had induced ghostly sounds and associated symptoms of a haunting in a laboratory. I was hoping that he would share his thoughts in a column for the […]