In no particular order, these places have the ability to send shivers down your spine:

1. Archives and Special Collections (1)

Eileen Sykes’ Ouija Board

The Eileen Sykes Fonds includes a well-used Ouija board. Sykes herself experimented at séances, sometimes using an Ouija Board, intermittently from 1946 to 1986, and she kept detailed notes on her experiences. And, as part of the collection of her materials donated to the Archives, her own well-used Ouija Board is squirrelled away for safe keeping.

2. Archives and Special Collections (2)

Also in archives is the T.G. Hamilton Fonds, a large collection of manuscripts, correspondence and photographs of spiritual apparitions. Who knows what other enchanted items may be stored away?

3. The Tunnels

There is that dimly lit tunnel between Elizabeth Dafoe Library and Duff Roblin. Even the bravest student has been frightened in the tunnel between Frank Kennedy and Architecture 2 thanks to the groaning heating and cooling pipes (if you were in a Final Destination movie, something gruesome would surely happen in that tunnel).

4. The Dentistry Museum

Artifacts at the dentistry museum

Most people dread going to the dentist, but imagine what a visit would have been like without the comforts of modern medicine. The College of Dentistry has a collection of frightening tools and equipment used by dentists in days past. After all, what’s scarier than going to the dentist?

5. The Gritty Grotto

It was spooky when it was open. Can you imagine what that abandoned dungeon looks like now?

6. The Art Barn

Some students and staff claim to have seen the ghostly apparition of a former art professor, sitting quietly before a large canvas in an unoccupied room.

7. Delta Marsh Station

On the shores of Lake Manitoba, the ghost at this former research station even has a name: Murray. Many students and staff have claimed to have experienced odd phenomena there, such as hearing chains rattling, windows and doors opening and closing of their own accord, and lights appearing in buildings that are unoccupied. Murray is said to have been a former caretaker of the station, whose ghost still maintains a watch on the premises, though whether Murray has moved on since the station was closed is unknown.

8. ARTlab

On the site where ARTlab now stands, Alumni House, the former “Practices House” of the Faculty of Home Economics, had a reputation of haunting. Staff there claimed to have heard footsteps on old wooden staircases when the building was otherwise empty, and “cold spots” had been reported moving about the upper floors.

9. Ed Leith Cretaceous Menagerie

What’s scarier that gigantic prehistoric creatures? These massive monsters located in the Wallace Building are sure to frighten and fascinate. Stop by and take a look around!

10. More Hauntings

Other buildings where eerie events have been claimed include Human Ecology, Chancellor’s Hall, Taché Hall and the Fitzgerald Building.

A photo posted by Natalie Snyder (@natsnyd) on Oct 10, 2014 at 2:36pm PDT

 

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“We have a very unique collection that chronicles historic scientific research into paranormal phenomena,” says Shelley Sweeney, head, archives & special collections of the University of Manitoba Libraries. She is referring to the Dr. T.G. Hamilton Fonds, a large collection of manuscripts, correspondence and photographs of spiritual apparitions.

In 1915, Hamilton was president of the Manitoba Medical Association and was elected a member of the provincial legislature. In 1918, soon after his young son’s death, he began to experiment with psychic phenomena. His aim was the scientific investigation of paranormal phenomena such as rappings, psychokinesis, ectoplasms, and materializations under scientific conditions that would minimize any possibility of error. Between 1926 and 1935 he presented 86 lectures and wrote numerous articles published in Canada and abroad. Hamilton’s wife Lillian carried on his paranormal experimentations following his death in 1935.

All positive prints taken from the photographic negatives have been retained with the written records of the experiments which they illustrate. Almost all the glass plate negatives were photographed for archival purposes, and the black and white glossy print collection is also available for researchers today. Much of the material has now been made available online at the archives website.

University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections - Hamilton Family fonds (PC 12, A.79-41)

In addition, the archive contains 22 other collections of material related to psychic and other controversial phenomena. The collections and books were chosen for the value of their information about matters of the occult and paranormal, regardless of the “reality” of the phenomena. Some collections have direct and immediately apparent relevance while others are connected peripherally to psychical research and spiritualism. Also included are links to photograph collections in this area of study.

For example, books and other documents collected by noted Canadian architect Bernard Rasch are preserved here as well. A notable donor to The Winnipeg Foundation, Rasch collected books and other materials on UFO sightings, paranormal phenomena and occult societies. He donated his collection to the University of Manitoba in 2004.

Another notable collection is that of Robert Beamish, a noted Manitoba heart surgeon and physician who taught in the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine, established the department of cardiology at the Manitoba Clinic, was the Founding Director of the Manitoba Heart Foundation and the founding editor of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. He was awarded honourary degrees from Brandon University in 1988 and the University of Manitoba in 1989. He received the Order of Canada in 1990 and the Order of Manitoba in 2000. Beyond his medical research, Beamish had a strong interest in psychical phenomena, and his personal papers included almost 30 years of notes on paranormal issues.

Beyond the archives’ documentation of historical studies regarding paranormal research, there are also some “less tangible” aspects of the paranormal on campus. Some buildings at the University of Manitoba, like many throughout the province, have been said to have “reputations,” and people have claimed to have had paranormal experiences in them.

On the site where ArtLab now stands, Alumni House, the former “Practice House” of the Faculty of Home Economics, had a reputation of haunting. Staff there claimed to have heard footsteps on old wooden staircases when the building was otherwise empty, and “cold spots” had been reported moving about the upper floors.

In the Art Barn, some students and staff claim to have seen the ghostly apparition of a former art professor, sitting quietly before a large canvas in an unoccupied room.

Other buildings where eerie events have been claimed include the Faculty of Human Ecology, Chancellor’s Lodge, Taché Residence and the FitzGerald Building.

But perhaps the best-known ghost at the University of Manitoba wasn’t even in Winnipeg, but at the Delta Marsh Field Station on the shore of Lake Manitoba. It even has a name: Murray.

Many students and staff have claimed to have experienced odd phenomena there, such as hearing chains rattling, windows and doors opening and closing of their own accord, and lights appearing in buildings that are unoccupied. Murray is said to have been a former caretaker of the Station, whose ghost still maintains a watch on the premises, though whether Murray has moved on since the Station was closed is unknown.

So, as we approach Hallowe’en, the University of Manitoba continues to demonstrate it is a source for information – and speculation – not only about what is known, but what is unknown.

A prolific poet and writer of prose, her farm childhood is credited as the source of her fantasies of forest animals and the world of nature. Her imagination and literary abilities led her to publish several short but fairly popular books of children’s literature including The Gay Garland (1954) and Fanella and the Forest Folk (1978).

The bulk of the Eileen Sykes Fonds consist of literary manuscripts to her books, poems, tape recordings of her interviews and some scattered correspondence. Of particular note is that she was a secretary and participant in Dr. T. Glendenning Hamilton’s experiments on parapsychology in Winnipeg, involving many séances, production of spirit writing and photographic records of apparitions.

Sykes herself experimented at séances, sometimes using an Ouija Board, intermittently from 1946 to 1986, and she kept detailed notes on her experiences. And, as part of the collection of her materials donated to the Archives, her own well-used Ouija Board is squirrelled away for safe keeping.

Given that a new Hollywood movie about an Ouija Board is number one at the box office this Hallowe’en, it’s perhaps fitting that UM Today was allowed into Archives for a quick viewing of Sykes’ Ouija Board this week.

The Board’s message to UM Today readers: “H – A – P – P – Y – H – A – L – L – O – W – E – E – N!”