5 More Haunted Places We’ve Camped: 2021 Edition | Ep 43

Well, here you have it, folks! Our Annual Spooktacular! Today we (okay, just Melina) are detailing 5 more places we’ve laid our heads which are completely, and totally haunted (alledgedly). Today we’re talking about:

1. Letchworth State Park and the Legend of Mon-a-sha-sha
2. Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort and RV Park
3. Albuquerque New Mexico and the Myth of La Llorona
4. Thunder Bay and the Ghost Ship SS Bannockburn
5. Drumheller and the stories that will have you saying “I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost!”

Here is the link to the Drumheller GPS-guided Ghost Tour

Here are the two Ghostbusters: Afterlife Trailers:

Official Trailer #1
Official Trailer #2

Remember – if you have any spooky stories to send us, give us a shout hello@rvcanucks.com

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Transcript

Melina (5s): Have you ever been camping and experienced something you just couldn’t explain, perhaps your hairs were standing on end unexplainable sounds in the Bush or things that went bump in the night. If you have, then this is the show for you. Hello, fellow campers, and welcome to episode 43 of the RV Canucks podcast and our second annual five, most haunted places. We’ve camped episode, AKA my favorite episodes of the season I’m Molina and Dan doesn’t like scary things. So he’s opting out today. If you’re interested in finding out why Dan doesn’t like scary things, go have a listen to last year’s episode. So that’s episode 12 and we detail a very creepy trip. We spent on Wolf island near Kingston for our fifth anniversary. Melina (48s): And if you listen to that, you’ll have a better understanding of why Dan stays away from the creepy things. If you’re new to the show, welcome, we are the RV connects a Canadian family of four barging our way through the wilderness and a connect. If you were wondering is just a colloquial term for a Canadian, we’re here to share our love of the road and show you how you can travel long distances as a part-time RV or on your vacations from work, follow along. And you just might be surprised at how far you can go. So let’s dive right in with our 2021 most haunted list. Our first go story begins as many do with a story of lost love. And this story takes place within Letchworth state park in New York state. Melina (1m 30s): It is a legend of Mona Shasha or more commonly known as the legend of white deer. Now there isn’t a lot of information on whether this legend originated from the Seneca of day. A Westa a long forgotten village on the edge of the Letchworth Gorge. And now what is the state park? But it has become a tale as beautiful and haunting as the falls themselves. For those that don’t know, Letchworth is considered the grand canyon of the east and is one of the most magnificent areas in the Eastern us waterfalls cliffs, and a deep Gorge are just some of the parks. Stunning features. We camped at Letchworth in 2015, and it was majestic for those looking for a fall getaway. This park is incredible. Once the colors begin to change, Letchworth state park was once the estate of William Pryor, Letchworth who purchased a swath of land to build the estate after visiting the area via train in 1859. Melina (2m 20s): And he would call the valley home for the rest of his life. And upon his death, he left Letchworth estate, which was by then thousands of acres to the state to be used as Parkland let’s work, also work to preserve the native history of the valley. He created the council grounds on a bluff above Glen Iris and moved the ancient Seneca council house and a Gardot cabin to the grounds. He eventually built a museum to houses growing collection of artifacts. And most importantly, he allowed the famous Mary Jemison to be buried on the council grounds and erected a statue in her honor. Mary Jemison of course, was captured during the French and Indian war at her home in Pennsylvania in 1758, becoming fully assimilated into the tribe and marrying both a Delaware. Melina (3m 1s): And after his death, a Seneca man for his work, the Seneca people honored him with the name, HIO ISE tag. He who does the right thing. The version of this legend I’m sharing is from voices of the Glen, which is a selection of works that William Pryor, Letchworth compiled from contributions written by his family and friends written while they visited the Glen Iris estate, which is located within Letchworth state park. As I mentioned in the middle falls, lookout and operates now as an, in this version of the legend was penned by w H C hallmark. And I am reading it as written the Indian legend of Mona Shasha lends an air of tragedy to the beautiful Glen with the famous waterfalls, the hunter, John and Diana brought his wife and child to a temporary home when the hunting was good. Melina (3m 43s): But days of hunting brought no success, Mona, Shasha tried to cheer him and fished and gathered berries while he was away. After a long, hard day, he came home in despair that the evil I was upon him, he failed to respond to the smiles of Mona Shasha feeling that he no longer loved her. She waited until he fell asleep, then strapping her babe, upon her back stole out into the night, far above the middle falls. She found her bark, canoe and slipping gently down the stream was dashed over the waterfall. John and Dana woke to find her gone and hurried outside. Following her trail to the water’s edge. He saw that the canoe was gone, a white dough and fond darted by, and the grief stricken brave said that the spirit had spoken of the dead, plunging his knife into his breast. Melina (4m 24s): He joined his wife and child in death. Now what makes this story unique is that white deer are quite rare. In fact, especially in this part of Western New York, however, every once in a while a deer can be spotted within the park, is this the spirit of Mona Shasha? Once again, morning long, the banks of the Genesee river. We’ll leave that up to you to decide this next one on the list may just surprise as it deals with two different spirits in the most unlikely of places. But I guess in the most magical place on earth, anything can happen if you picked up on the clue in the last section, you’ll know that I’m talking about Walt Disney world resort in lake one of us to Florida, or more specifically Disney’s Fort wilderness RV park on the shores of bay lake, as you might guess, or may have heard the haunted mansion in the magic kingdom is home to 999. Melina (5m 13s): Happy haunts with room for one more. But if the stories are true, there may already be a few extra eternal souls on the premises. The haunted mansion is even said to be outfitted with a special HEPA filter, to deal with people attempting to spread their loved one’s ashes. While on the ride, I’ve heard enough about this to know it’s likely true and will likely result in a lifetime ban from Disney parks. So perhaps not the best choice for a Disney file looking to honor a loved one. One of the other eternal haunts is said to be a man who walks with a cane and who can be seen riding a dune buggy, which are the ride vehicles that take you through the mansion. When approached by cast members, he disappears, but frequently returns sitting silently and not interacting with anyone. Melina (5m 53s): What is remarkable is that the man on the ride is said to be that of a pilot who crashed his aircraft into bay lake in the 1940s and forever roams the parks, I for one would think he’d instead take up shop on the Fort wilderness dock on bay lake, or maybe the defunct discovery island or the skeletal remains of Disney’s river country, which was its first water park located at Fort wilderness, which at this time of recording has been dismantled to make way for reflections, a new Disney vacation club resort property overlooking the lake, all of which would lend themselves a little more to the story in my opinion, but I digress. Another spectral haunt of Fort wilderness is the floating specter of a woman who inhabits a loop 2,400 of the campground, which is a cabin loop. Melina (6m 38s): This woman can be seen as a white apparition floating in the loop, waking campers up with strange noises and even moving items in the cabin kitchens. However, given the fact that Disney world is basically built in a swamp on the side of a lake with many creeks and ditches that running through the property, perhaps the specter is that of LA Yorona the weeping woman who is the subject of our next haunt. So with that, we moved to Albuquerque New Mexico in a place that I led declared the most beautiful place she had ever seen. It’s no doubt that New Mexico is a stunning place and Albuquerque is no exception. It’s also really old having been founded in 1706 and carries with it, many stories of spooky lore, which would stand your hairs on end. Melina (7m 19s): One of those is LA Yorona the weeping woman in Spanish who was an integral part of Latin American folklore. Typically the whipping woman is the specter of a woman who wanders the banks of waterways searching for her dead children. And by some accounts steals, children dragging them into the water and drowning them. This particular version takes place near the Royals, the ditches and waterways that run in and around Albuquerque. One of which is quite close to the enchanted trails RV park on old route 66 and our favorite place to stay well in the area. It revolves around a beautiful young woman named Maria, who was the literal Belle of the ball, spent her nights dancing much to the delight of all the available men who would gaze upon her beauty. One of the young men caught her favor and she married and was happy until she bore two sons and her husband drew distant from her. Melina (8m 4s): All of his focus went to his sons and his wife was cast aside, neither acknowledged or desired rumors began to reach Maria of multiple affairs. As the story goes, Maria and her sons were walking near an outer oil. When her husband drove by in a wagon with another woman at his side, he slowed down and spoke to his sons entirely ignoring Maria’s existence, distraught, despondent, and wanting to hurt him. As he had hurt her. Maria dragged her sons to the water and threw them into the Rio Grande, sending them downstream, immediately realizing what she had done. She rushed into the water to save them, but they were gone in her despair. Maria wandered the banks of the river each night, searching for her sons, refusing even to eat. Melina (8m 47s): She became skeletal and scary looking. What beauty she had was stolen from her body and soul. And she eventually killed herself on the banks of the river. It said she roams the rivers and waterways eternally searching for her sons. And when children get too close, she’s enraged with jealousy that these children have life while hers don’t and grab any child within reach and drags them to a watery grave. While this story takes many forms and is used widely by mothers everywhere to warn children away from dangerous situations. It’s actually quite amusing to me that there is an annual fund run in Albuquerque called the LA Yorona ditch, which 5k, which actually runs along the outer oils. What’s truly disconcerting actually though, is the number of stories I have read about <inaudible> and how she doesn’t just appear on riverbanks, but anywhere water is found from Creek beds, two bathrooms, sinks, and seeing her is often a bad omen. Melina (9m 40s): Seeing her as meant to indicate one has been marked to search with her upon death for her children for all eternity. And it kind of reminds me of that specter, which shall not be named that we would go into bathrooms as kids. And you say her name, which is also the name of a delicious drink. Three times. She would appear in the mirror and steal your soul. It’s kind of very reminiscent, but when I was doing some research about <inaudible>, I read a bunch of firsthand accounts and some of them are truly terrifying. So I’m a woman I’m about to give this one a pass as an absolute, and I’ll let you be the final judge. Next, we go to the former city of Fort William Ontario located on the shores of lake superior. Melina (10m 24s): It amalgamated with port Arthur and the townships of kneading and MacIntyre to form the city of thunder bay in January of 1970. As you may remember, we talk about thunder bay and Fort William proper in episode 38 of the podcast, the RV years guide to navigating through Northern Ontario. As you stand and view the port of thunder bay from any angle, you can’t help, but Marvel at the sheer breadth of lake superior and its place in maritime history. According to the great lake shipwreck museum located in paradise, Michigan, there are over 6,000 shipwrecks in the great lakes. Having caused an estimated loss of 30,000 Mariners lives. It’s estimated that there are about 550 wrecks in lake superior alone. Most of which are undiscovered. One of these is the ill-fated SS Bannockburn, widely regarded as the flying Dutchman of the great lakes. Melina (11m 10s): The SS Banick burn is a ghost chip curse to roam the lake without ever making port. However, the SS Bannockburn is held to be a saver of souls rather than the Portant of doom that accompanies many of the flying Dutchman legends. The Bennett from was a unique Fessel on the great lakes for its time. It was among the very first steel hulled ships to sail the great lakes and had a distinct profile compared to other vessels sailing. At that time, it first launched in 1893 and carried a crew of 20 and was primarily used in the grain trade. The Bannockburn was supposed to depart Fort William Ontario on November 20th, 1902, with a cargo of 85,000 bushels of grain headed for Sue Saint Marie. Melina (11m 50s): However, a grounding of the ship, which was its second within months, delayed the trip by another day and the ship didn’t depart port until November 21st, a delay which may have sealed the fate of the ship and her crew on November 21st, the SS Bannockburn was spotted three times by other ships on the great lakes. The last of which came from the passenger steamer, the Huron chick who reported spotting the lights of the Bannockburn that evening. However, the night of November 21st brought with it a terrible storm, the journal of Fred Landon, a waiter aboard the Huron IX states November 21st at night, we had the worst storm of the season and noted his own ships engine had been damaged by the storm when the Bannockburn failed to appear at the Soo locks on schedule, no one thought twice about it. Melina (12m 33s): As everyone figured that the ship had docked in safe Harbor to ride out the storm and would appear late, but otherwise intact a week later on November 27th, several reports started to come in with reports of various sightings of the ship in different areas in and around lake superior, shipwreck coast, each one stating the ship had run a ground. However, further investigation of each site turned up, no evidence of the Bannockburn or her crew by December. The Bannockburn was given up for lost the final report of the British wig newspaper states. It is generally conceded that the missing steamer is not with an earthly hailing distance that she has founded everlasting birth in the unexplored depths of lake superior. And the facts of her foundering will never be known to this day. Melina (13m 14s): The final resting place of the Bannockburn and her crew is a point of conjecture as is the circumstances surrounding her sinking. Many claim that the two previous instances of the ship running her ground may have weakened the hall to a point where it could not withstand the November. Gail as the ship was only nine years old at the time of sinking. And although the wreck of the Bannockburn has never been found, it has most certainly been seen in the century since its disappearance on stormy nights. Several sailors have claimed to see the Bannockburn lamps blinking in the night, searching in vain for safe Harbor. One of the most poignant comes from Joe Combs who writes in SS Spanic burn the flying detriment of lake superior. The steamer Walter, a Hutchinson shortly after world war II, headed to the Soo locks in a storm. Melina (13m 55s): The vessel was 11 hours away from thunder bay. The crew knew they were close to shore, but didn’t know how close because they had apparently lost electronics due to ice. The wind was blowing out of the Northwest and would have been pushing the Walter Hutchinson closer to shore. They could steer a course more to the north, but this would put the seas on the side of the ship and would cause the cargo to shift and capsize the ship. So the captain continued OnCourse preferring to risk running a ground. They had apparently cited the Bannockburn on a parallel course, but lost sight of her. Suddenly a rocket exploded. The crew, saw the Bannockburn again, a hundred years off coming straight at them. The captain ordered the rudder brought over hard to the Northeast, the Walter Ray Hutchinson wallowed in high waves, trying to put distance between itself and the Bannockburn after what seemed like an eternity. Melina (14m 41s): The Bannockburn passed safely, a stern of the Walter, a Hutchinson. The crew continued to watch as the Bannockburn ran aground and then began to rip apart at the seams. The Bannockburn then vanished. If the Hutchinson hadn’t changed, course she would’ve been impaled on the rocks. Did the Bannockburn appear in order to warn Hutchinson of the rocks ahead, forcing the captain to change course for anyone who has never ventured to the great lakes, it’s hard to fully grasp the breadth, depth and temperament, which rivals the sea in nearly every regard. In fact, James Oliver Kirkwood in a book titled the great lakes and the vessels that plow them rights. And now by certain superstitious sailors, the Bannockburn is supposed to be the flying Dutchman of the inland seas. Melina (15m 22s): And there are those who will tell you in all earnestness that on icy nights, when the heaven above and the sea below are joined in one black Paul, they have described the missing Bannockburn, a ghostly apparition of ice skating through the gloom. And this is about one more illustration of the fact that of all the romance of men who go down to the sea and ships is not confined to the big oceans. What’s actually particularly tragic about the SS bannock burn is that when those random reports were coming through about the ship being found or being seen run a ground, unfortunately, a report came from the ships insurer, which was based in Chicago, I believe. And they had sent a wire that the SS banic burn had been seen at a certain point on lake superior. Melina (16m 5s): It had run aground and added the message that all of the crew were safe and accounted for. Unfortunately, this message received all of the family and friends of the sailors on the Bannockburn. And it was weeks later when that turned out, not to be the case that these poor people’s hopes were absolutely dashed, that their sailors were safe. And that to me is probably the saddest part of this story. Finally, we are going to move west to drum Heller, Alberta, and you all know how much we love Drumheller. And if you don’t know, take a trip back in time to episodes 40 and 41. And that’s where we talk about it. So we have two items to talk about today, which aren’t specific ghost stories, but they are ghost adjacent. Melina (16m 47s): And one of them, I am super duper excited about. So first, if you want to go ghost hunting and drum pillar, who are you going to call? You might think ghost busters, but no, there’s actually a super awesome GPS guided walking tour. You can purchase for only $5 and 49 cents. That takes you through drum. Heller’s haunts on a two and a half kilometer route that is guaranteed to give you chills. This tour is easy. It takes you to 12 spooky locations where you can discover drum. Heller’s lost souls and haunted buildings simply purchase the tour on your device and head to the starting location. As you follow the map and arrive at each story spot, you’ll be prompted to play the accompanying story. As you view the building from the street in these days of COVID and social distancing, I actually can’t think of a more perfect way to search for spooky sites. Melina (17m 32s): Simply go to trip via.tours/drum Heller, audio walking tour, and I’ll post a link in the show notes to that. So it’s actually pretty reminiscent of one of the driving tours, the girls and I did last Halloween, where we drove around on a GPS guided tour. And it was the same sort of thing where you arrived a site, the GPS alerted your device, that you were at the location you were supposed to be at, and it would prompt you to play the story for the spot that you were at. And I am like super fuming mad that I did not discover this until after we got home from Drumheller, but I have already purchased it and downloaded it for the next time we go back. Okay. So I am going to move on to the second Drumheller ghost adjacent news. Melina (18m 13s): And this is one I am bursting with. If you caught my earlier Ghostbusters reference good for you. It was strategically placed. As I discovered to my delight that a large portion of the new Ghostbusters afterlife movie was filmed in Drumheller and surrounding areas. If you haven’t seen the trailers, there are two official ones now head over to YouTube and check them out. I am so, so, so, so, so excited for the movie. It’s Ghostbusters, meet stranger things. And there’s enough nostalgia that fans of the originals will probably come away satisfied. It’s officially hits theaters in December. I believe. However, if you watch the trailers, you will definitely see by the Alberta Badlands and drum Heller, which was transformed into the fictional town of Somerville, Oklahoma in an interview with the CBC Jason Nolan, who is a location scout said of drum Heller. Melina (19m 1s): It has a small town America field. It’s kind of stuck in time. He said there aren’t many small towns like this left and we agree, Jason. So this movie was originally due to hit theaters in June of 2020, but we all know why that didn’t happen. So strap in view the trailers and get ready for a great movie and a, if you’ve seen the trailers or go watch them, reach out and let us know what you think. I am like, I literally cannot wait. I haven’t been back to the movies and like over two years, and this will be the movie that probably gets me back to the theaters. Okay. That’s it. That’s the second edition of the most haunted places we’ve been have a ghost story you want to share, reach out and let us know on social media. We’re at RV connects or hello@rvconnects.com. Melina (19m 43s): And if you’re loving the show, recommend us to a friend or better yet leave a review on apple podcasts or Facebook. We really appreciate any feedback we can get and your messages allow others to find us as well. Join us in two weeks. As we had further west and detailed camping in Banff national park, stay spooky. Everybody. We’ll talk to you in a few weeks.