HGB Ep. 554 - Alberta's Crowsnest Pass

Moment in Oddity - Gates of Hell Hacienda Heights (Suggested by: Duey Oxberger)

There is a suburban community in the hills of Los Angeles County, California called Hacienda Heights. Within that populace there is a place that draws the curious and seekers of the strange and creepy. It is called The Gates of Hell Hacienda Heights. Urban legends abound when it comes to this place. It is said that the property used to be the home of a sanatorium that was shut down in the 1940's due to malpractice. The property is sealed off with fencing topped with barbed wire looking ominous to those wanting to explore the area beyond. The gate itself used to be the back entrance to a different building other than the purported hospital. This building actually had an underground tunnel that led to the main building. The structure is said to be covered in cult symbols and there are red stains inside and around the property. Whether rituals were actually performed here is uncertain but just the sound of this place makes ones imagination run a little wild. Although many may wish to explore this decrepit and creepy location, it is advised to do little more than a 'drive by' to see the gate. Security cameras abound and of course there is the challenge of the sharp wire itself. Creepy old buildings draw many of us to them and perhaps there's nothing to this location at all. But some urban legends certainly can be odd.

This Month in History - Great Fire of London

In the month of September, on the 2nd, in 1666, the Great Fire of London started and swept through the city for five days. The fire started at a bakery located on the fittingly named Pudding Lane. Although this pudding name was actually inspired by the offal that the butchers of the area sent down to the river to be loaded on waste barges. Church warden and baker, Thomas Farriner, owned the establishment and he was awakened in the wee hours of the morning by smoke coming in under the door of his bedroom. His bakery downstairs was on fire. He and his daughter escaped from an upstairs window, but their maid refused to jump from the window and she became the first victim of the fire. Indecisiveness on the paty of the Lord Mayor, allowed the fire to become a storm that nearly engulfed the entire city. The fire was stopped by strong easterly winds and the Tower of London using gunpowder to create firebreaks. Most reports claim that only eight people were killed, but historians believe the toll was far higher with bodies being completely consumed and because the destruction left economic and social problems that caused starvation and exposure. Fifteen percent of the city's housing was destroyed. London was rebuilt on its same medieval street plan, which remains the same today. 

Alberta's Crowsnest Pass (Suggested by: Matt Brooks)

Nestled within the Canadian Rockies in southwest Alberta is Crowsnest Pass. The name is a translation of Native American words that meant "the nest of the crow." Crowsnest Pass is an area of stunning scenery, but also a place of tragedy, rum running, coal mining and was the home of the last woman to hang in Alberta. There are many interesting stories about this location and several of them seem to have ghosts connected to them. Join us for the history and hauntings of Alberta's Crowsnest Pass!

Crowsnest Pass is not just a geographic feature, but also the name of a municipality. The municipality of Crowsnest Pass was formed in 1979 by combining five municipalities: the Village of Bellevue, the Town of Blairmore, the Town of Coleman, the Village of Frank, and Improvement District No. 5, which included the Hamlet of Hillcrest. Many residents of Crowsnest Pass worked in coal mining, which had been a main part of the economy and the driving force of the growth of the population here since 1900. The Canadian-American Coal and Coke Company established the first town. Many immigrants from around the world came here to mine. Coal mines on the Alberta side of the pass have all closed at this point, so residents travel to the British Columbia side for work. Rum runners, forest fires, coal mining and natural disasters are all part of the legacy here. One of the main points of interest is the Burmis Tree. Think of this as a tree skeleton. The Burmis Tree is thought to have lived for 700 years and then it died, leaving its twisted branches bare. This death occurred in the 1970s and two decades later, the tree was toppled in a wind storm. Generally this would mean that the tree would be left to decay back into the land or be hauled off for firewood, but the residents didn't want to lose their beloved tree so they secured it with brackets and steel rods. In 2004, some vandals cut off one of its main branches and the residents came back to its rescue and glued the large branch back on and braced it with a prop pole. 

The Frank Slide Interpretive Centre tells the story of a natural disaster that took just 90 seconds to change the lives of the people that lived in the Village of Frank. The Blackfoot and Kutenai had lived here before European settlers and they referred to the nearby Turtle Mountain as the "Mountain That Moves." They would never camp at the base of the mountain. The village was named for Henry Frank who was a co-owner of the Canadian-American Coal and Coke Company. Frank helped layout the town and by 1903, there were 600 people in the village. None of them knew how dangerous their location was. Turtle Mountain was an anticline, a geographic feature that forms when convergent tectonic plates fold rock layers into an arch. This makes for a very unstable mountain. As did the fault line beneath it. Add to that mining operations with the digging of shafts and pulling material like coal out of the mountain and Turtle Mountain was a ticking time bomb.

There were signs that were ignored. Coal would fall from the ceiling and seams of the tunnel and rather than realize that this meant the mountain was unstable, the miners were glad that their work was made easier. All they had to do was shovel the coal into carts and bins. The mountain would shake on occasion too. A warm winter in 1903 allowed more water into the caverns and then that water froze in the fissures and caused erosion. The night of April 28, 1903 saw temperatures drop to below zero. The following morning, 82 million tons of limestone rock broke off the peak of Turtle Mountain and took just 90 seconds for the slide to reach up the opposing hills. The section of slide was 3,300 feet wide and 1,394 feet high and traveled at 70 mph. There was nothing anyone could do to escape and at least 70 lives were lost, possibly 90. However, several survivors were pulled from the rubble and Charlie the Horse was found alive after being trapped in the mine for 31 days. Although, his rescuers did him wrong by allowing him to gorge on oats and brandy. This was a starved horse and eating that much killed him. Solid train cars were thrown two miles by the force. The village of Frank was buried under 150 feet of rubble. The sound was heard over 124 miles away. This was the most deadly landslide in Canadian history. The path of the slide still has no vegetation or soil to this day.

Such a devastating disaster leaves an opening for legends and ghost stories, especially when most of the dead were left buried under the slide. Many people who have visited the Frank Slide area claim to feel an oppressive feeling and a sense of being watched by something unseen. Disembodied whispers are heard and strange lights are seen floating around the debris field. Could these represent miners headlamps? Those lights bob around as though the spirits holding the lights are stumbling around on the rubble. Mysterious mists sometimes form and visitors claim to see shadow figures and apparitions. Montie Lewis was a painted lady that worked in the Village of Frank and she was murdered one night. She was found hacked up good and she had defensive wounds, so she fought for her life. A newcomer in town was blamed for the murder and he was quickly hanged, but it is thought that they had the wrong man. Montie's lover is said to have confessed later and he said he killed her because he had to repay a gambling debt. Montie liked to spend her money on expensive jewelry and she wore it to bed every night for safe keeping. Apparently, her lover decided to kill her to steal that jewelry, but he actually didn't take the jewelry and only took around $200 Montie had in her room. Montie now haunts the streets of Frank and her favorite thing to do is lure hikers off trails and her screams are heard in the valley. Of course, these could be slide victims as well. In the 1980s, two boys were hiking through the pass and they became lost and then trapped. The boys yelled for help, but their voices seemed to be drowned out by the stone walls of the mountains around them and something else. They claimed to hear the yelling of a woman. The lost hikers were found after their parents reported them missing and a search party found them.

So we've had the deadliest landslide in Canadian history here, which is bad enough. But this location also boasts the deadliest mine tragedy in Canadian history. The Hillcrest Mine Disaster Memorial Park pays tribute to the victims of this mine explosion. Hillcrest started as a company town for Hillcrest Coal and Coke, eventually becoming Hillcrest Collieries in 1909. The name came from Charles Plummer Hill who staked the original coal claim in 1898. Over time, six million tons of coal were pulled from this mine and it was the kind of coal suitable for industrial use. The disaster occurred on the morning of June 19, 1914, right at shift change. There is always a problem with a build up of gas in mines and on this morning, methane gas had built to a dangerous level and it triggered an explosion. Men near the blast were killed immediately, but it would be the afterdamp that proved most dangerous. Afterdamp is a toxic mixture of gases released after an explosion. 

On top of that, fires started that also created suffocating smoke. Rescuers got to work immediately bringing bodies to the surface in coal cars. Most on board were either charred or suffocated. Desperate family members gathered outside the mine. One Hundred and eighty-nine men perished that day of the 237 that entered the mine. The first victim found was a man named Charles Ironmonger who worked the hoist cable outside the mine that hauled miners to the surface in cars. The blast was so powerful that, despite being outside, Charles was thrown 60 feet into the air and into the hoist house. The oldest victim was 54 and the youngest was 17. Widows were left devastated and destitute. This would spark changes in Workman's Compensation and safety regulations. The mine reopened and would experience another explosion in 1926 that only killed two men. The mine permanently closed in 1939.

Hillcrest Cemetery is located at 200 4 Avenue on the eastern slope of Turtle Mountain in Crowsnest Pass and is a Provincial Historic Resource that is on nearly two acres of land. Two mass graves were dug at the cemetery to ensure the bodies were buried quickly. One grave was for the Protestants and the other for the Catholics. A beautiful memorial reads, "As they had worked, so they were laid. Shoulder to shoulder in common graves." Every year since the disaster, residents of Crowsnest Pass have honored the dead at the cemetery. The first year was led by the International Order of Oddfellows and 1,000 people attended. Over the years, the community added a picket fence and curbing around the mass graves and several monuments. For the 100th anniversary, a major landscaping project was completed. The cemetery is said to be haunted by the victims of the disaster. People see shadow figures and strange lights here too.

West Canadian Collieries opened the Bellevue Mine in 1905 after coal deposits were found in 1903 . The company founded the town of Bellevue on the flat land above the mine. The young daughter of one of the owners of the coal mining company had exclaimed, “Quelle belle vue!” when she saw the view, which means "what a beautiful view" and the name Bellevue stuck. The WCC opened many mines in the area. They had operations in Lille, which is today a ghost town, and they built the settlement of Maple Leaf next to Bellevue and opened the Mohawk Bituminous Mine there in 1909. Working conditions within the Bellevue Mine weren't great and employees would complain often and hold strikes. Fan systems that would help in mines later with pushing out gases, weren't in use here. Fire bosses also were negligent in checking the gas levels. That is why during a partial shift change on December 9th, 1910 the mine erupted in an explosion. The closest rescue crew was in Hosmer, British Columbia, which was six hours away by rail. Bellevue Mine managers John Powell, Frank Lewis, and Pit Boss John Anderson knew they were the only hope and they ran into the mine without protective gear or breathing apparatuses. The crew from British Columbia brought miners, engineers, fire bosses, pit bosses and a town doctor. One rescuer named Fred Alderson died when he handed his breathing apparatus to another person. Thirty miners had died, but it could have been worse if this had been a day shift. Two hundred men could have died.

Bellevue suffered more tragedy in a fire in 1917. Most of the business district was destroyed. That same year, Bellevue finally incorporated into a village. Surprisingly, they also elected the first female mayor in Alberta at that time. Miners held a six month strike in 1924. The mine had difficulties throughout the 1940s and 1950s and then the mine lost its largest customer. The mine sought to sell on markets overseas, but had no luck. The mine closed for good in January 1961. Today, the mine functions as a museum and the Bellevue Underground Mine Tour maintains and operates 985 feet of restored tunnel that people can tour. 

On the seedy side of things, Bellevue was another big rum running town. Emilio Picariello was the kingpin of the Crowsnest rum runners. People called him Emperor Pic. He didn't live in Bellevue, but three local miners set their sites on robbing him when he came through on the Canadian Pacific Railway’s train No. 63. These miners were George Arkoff, Ausby Auloff and Tom Bassoff. They robbed the train at gunpoint, but Emperor Pic wasn't aboard. The men ran off and split up. Auloff headed for the United States, but Bassoff and Arkoff remained in the Pass area. They were so brazen, they stopped at the Bellevue Cafe for food one day. They were reported and three constables entered the café through the front and back doors and a shootout ensued. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Ernest Usher and APP Constable F.W.E. Bailey were killed. Arkoff was killed and Bassoff was wounded and he escaped into the rubble of the Frank Slide. He was pursued and eventually apprehended, but Special Constable Nicolas Kyslik was shot and killed by friendly fire. Bassoff was found guilty of murder and hanged in Lethbridge, Alberta on December 22, 1920. Auloff was captured in 1924 near Butte, Montana and returned to Alberta where he stood trial and was sentenced to seven years for the robbery. He died in 1926.

The mine has many ghost stories connected to it. Bellevue miners reportedly saw a ghostly white horse walking through the mine shafts, sometimes accompanied by other ghosts. One of those spirits was a little boy and the other was our traditional woman in white. Many of the spirits are seen maily by school children visiting the mines and historic area. They will ask, "who is that man?" and the teachers or tour guides will look where the child is pointing and see nothing. The Bellevue Mine runs a haunted mine attraction every Halloween. Two staff members were in their stations awaiting their opportunity to scare guests when they felt a presence float above the top of them and then press down on them. This is weird enough, but it gets weirder because those scare stations weren't near each other. The cast had all gathered together at the end of the night and the two staff members shared their experiences and realized they had both had the same thing happen to them.

A tour guide was leading a group one day and she asked all the tour attendees to turn off their lights in the mine to show them how dark it could be. Suddenly, she felt as though she were kicked by a horse, so she turned on her light thinking she would find that a bratty kid had kicked her. After turning the light on, she saw that her tour group was too far away so it couldn't have been any of them. On another tour, a different guide got to this same area where they do the "turn off your lights" thing and she felt a pair of hands grab her and lift her up and then drop her a few inches. She quickly turned on her light and saw that her tour group was too far away for any of them to have grabbed her. Other tour guides have felt taps on their shoulders when no one is behind them. A father and his young son were on a tour and they claimed to be tickled by something they couldn't see. They claimed that a voice whispered "Fred." There was a rescuer who died when he was overcome by gas. Ghost hunters visited the mine and also had an experience with Fred. 

In 2016, Executive Director of the mine Elaine Hruby and Vice Chairman Ron Hruby shared an experience they had in 2013. The museum at the mine had just acquired a mine whistle. Later on a tour, Elaine and another woman heard a whistle and Elaine told the woman that Ron had probably set up the whistle and was testing it. She later told Ron that the whistle sounded great and he looked at her funny. He told her that the whistle was still on his desk.

Blairmore is the oldest permanent settlement in Crowsnest Pass. It first was used as a Canadian Pacific Railway stop that was called The Springs for a nearby cold sulphur spring. The name was changed to Blairmore in 1898 and the town was incorporated in 1911. Coal mining started here in 1907 and its economic prowess grew after the Frank Slide. An eight-month miners strike took place in 1933. Emperor Pic that we mentioned earlier, owned the Alberta Hotel in Blairmore and he ran it as his front. In 1922, he and an accomplice named Florence Losandro shot and killed Constable Steven Lawson. The men were caught, convicted and hanged for the murder.

Lost Lemon Campground is in Blairmore at 11001 19th Avenue. The camp is named for the Lost Lemon Mine and there is a legend about this mine that dates back to 1870. A party of prospectors left Montana, heading for Canada and two of the men, Frank Lemon and Blackjack, broke off from the group. They found gold ore along their way and decided to take samples back to Montana to find someone to bankroll a mining operation. The two men set up camp, but after a bit of drinking, the two fought with each other and by morning, Blackjack had been killed by Frank Lemon. Lemon returned to Montana and confessed his crime to a priest, not from guilt, but because he felt Blackjack was haunting him. He had heard ghostly moans the night after he killed Blackjack and even saw disembodied glowing eyes. The priest sent a man to find the body of Blackjack and bury him properly, which was done, but it mattered not. Blackjack tormented Lemon until the man had gone insane. He was sent off to his brother's ranch where he died. The legend continued though with people seeking the Lost Lemon Mine and the treasure of gold there. Any search has been cursed with forest fires, bouts of illness and even insanity and people claim to see Blackjack's ghost guarding the area.

Greenhill Mine was started by the West Canadian Collieries in 1913 in Blairmore. The mine was on the side of Bluff Mountain and hit peak production in 1946 and was closed in 1957. Wolf Paranormal Investigations investigated the Greenhill Mine in 2013. They reported, "Inside [one of the machine buildings], hanging from a rafter, was a large object comprised of what looked like small branches tangled together into the shape of a kind of mobile. Bolted onto the concrete floor were various pieces of smaller equipment, one of which may have been a crusher. Robyn asked for a sign of any spirit presence, and almost immediately, she reported hearing what she described as a growl. She asked Trevor if his stomach had just rumbled, and Trevor said he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think it was him. When Robyn made a second request for a sign of spirit presence, both she and Trevor heard what they described as machinery grinding. Since there is no power to any of the buildings in the complex, Robyn and Trevor went outside the building to see if they could find a possible source for the distinctive sound. They were unsuccessful. When they returned to the inside of the building and Robyn asked a third time for a sign of spirit presence, both she and Trevor heard a pebble being tossed. Trevor noted that it came from behind Robyn’s back. Robyn asked for the event to be repeated, just to be sure it was not a fluke, and no sooner had she made the request than both she and Trevor heard the sound of many pebbles being dropped on the roof of the building. The wind had come up, so they immediately went outside to see if trees were responsible for the sound. There were no coniferous (cone-bearing) trees near the building; there were only slender aspens whose limbs reached well above the roof. Robyn and Trevor checked everything near the outside of the building, but they could not find the source of the sounds they heard. At the same time Robyn and Trevor were experiencing unusual events, Holly and Michele were experiencing similar events at the compressor building, where a large boiler outside used to power the compressors that powered the air hoses and other tools. A request was made for a sign of spirit presence, and suddenly, from somewhere near the boiler, both Holly and Michele heard the sound of pebbles being scattered across the concrete slab into which the boiler is bolted. Trying to ensure that this was not just a fluke or a small animal, a request for confirmation of spirit presence was made. Both Holly and Michele reported hearing pebbles being thrown on the roof almost immediately, as well as loud banging against the sides of the compressor building itself. Holly and Michele investigated the exterior of the building, searching for possible causes for the odd sounds. They noted that the wind had come up, and that there were several slender aspens swaying back and forth, but none were hitting the building, and there were no coniferous trees near the roof that could explain the sound of many pebbles being thrown down on it. Concerned that perhaps a nesting animal had been disturbed, or that there was larger wildlife in the woods that could pose a potential threat, Holly and Michele decided to leave the area and meet with Robyn and Trevor to find a different area of the site to investigate. After reporting the events to Robyn and Trevor, Holly and Michele returned to the vehicle and sat inside to wait for Robyn and Trevor to finish their investigation of the machine building, which they were still in when Michele and Holly reported their experiences. Interestingly, Robyn and Trevor later reported hearing footsteps and a disembodied voice, both of which they attributed to Holly. However, they realized that Holly could not be the source of either sound: She and Michele were in the car, which was parked approximately 100 feet away from the building Robyn and Trevor were still investigating, and Holly’s gait was slow and awkward due to a broken toe, whereas the footsteps Robyn and Trevor heard were quicker and more even."

Crowsnest Pass is beautiful and provided an opportunity for a new life to many immigrants. Coal mining brought work and wealth, but also tragedy for countless families. The mountains could be unforgiving. And now they seem to be unable to give up their ghosts. Is Alberta's Crowsnest Pass haunted? That is for you to decide!