Out of all the types of books Nova Scotian writer Vernon Oickle has penned, the paranormal ones fascinate him the most.
“It allows you to meet so many people who have these experiences and you get the chance to talk to them,” he said during an August Zoom conversation. “It’s humbling to think they take you into their trust and tell you their stories.”
Readers will hear more uncanny experiences from Nova Scotians this September when his book Even More Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia comes out.
Now, there are a lot of skeptics in the world, Oickle admitted, but those who have experienced the inexplicable often find comfort in someone who will listen without judgment. That openness has provided him with enough material for multiple books, including Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia (2015) and More Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia (2019).
As a journalist, Oickle promised himself when he began writing about the paranormal that he would never judge anyone’s experience.
“I’m not telling you as the writer or storyteller that you have to believe this,” the 64-year-old journalist said. “I’m just telling you that in all sincerity, these are the experiences people have told me about.”
One piece of ghostly lore that captivates Oickle the most is the forerunner. A forerunner is a warning of something about to happen — a harbinger or omen — like the ghost of someone you know, a picture falling off the wall, someone whispering your name or hearing three knocks. It was also a topic of interest for one of Canada’s founding paranormal writers, Helen Creighton.
“There’s such a wealth of material relating to forerunners,” he said. “I was inspired to put them together in their own collection.”
It’s not just Creighton’s work in her 1957 book, Bluenose Ghosts, that sparked his interest — his own experiences led to his 2023 book, Forerunners: Harbingers of Death in Nova Scotia.
“I always chuckle and think it’s interesting that I grew up halfway normal because my mother and grandmother, in particular, were so superstitious,” he said with a laugh. “Between falling in love with Helen Creighton’s work and my own family experience, it seemed to be buried in my genes to do this.”
For those who believe in forerunners, tragedy will befall them within three days of witnessing the omen. But there’s also a strange comfort, Oickle explained.
“You’re always dismayed and shocked when you realize you’ve seen a forerunner because you know what’s about to happen,” the Liverpool resident said. “But then, when you come to after the events happen and you come to terms with it, you begin to digest it all.
“Most people accept it as somewhat gratifying because it’s a confirmation that perhaps there’s more to this universe than we know.”
Many of the stories shared with Oickle while working on Even More Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia are deeply personal. One woman told him she saw the ghost of her son, who died that night while on a fishing trip.
Even More Ghost Stories of Nova Scotia will be available October 1 through MacIntyre Purcell Publishing and at your favourite bookstore.