Halloween Badlands style

The Canadian Badlands of southeastern Alberta is sometimes called “The world’s largest graveyard with the biggest bones”. That’s because this massive tourism region is known for its fossil finds at Dinosaur Park and at the Royal Tyrrell, the largest museum in the world devoted to palaeontology. But did you know the Canadian Badlands is also home to some of Canada’s most unique Halloween events?

The kilns at the Medalta Potteries, Medicine Hat, Alberta. Photo courtesy of Friends of Medalta.

Leading the pack is the new Medalta Ghost Hunt at Medalta Potteries, a national historic site that is part of Medicine Hat’s Historic Clay District. Rumours have circulated for years that the old Medalta factory and its huge kilns are haunted. The kilns once fired crocks, water coolers, butter churns and other Medalta ware still found in many Canadian homes. During the Great Depression, the kilns served another need. People riding the rails relied on the warmth of a cooling kiln for an overnight rest as they traveled across Canada looking for work. The Medicine Hat Paranormal Investigation team will lead Medalta’s first-ever ghost hunt on Saturday, October 29, 2011. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. More on Canada’s pottery capital.

Fright Nights at the Haunted Stirling Mansion

The Haunted Stirling Mansion may be Canada’s best haunted house. Owned by a costume/set designer and her husband, the attention to detail in this house is what makes it extraordinary. The 1919 Neo-Classical Georgian-style brick mansion was built for William T. Ogden, an early pioneer who came to Stirling, Alberta (near Lethbridge) in 1899, to help construct irrigation canals and other public works. The mansion later became a temporary school, then a pool hall, dance studio and rooming house before standing empty for many years. That’s when its haunted reputation grew. Fright Nights run Thursday through Saturday on the second, third and fourth weeks of October and on October 30 and 31. B&B accommodation at the Haunted Stirling Mansion (if you dare) is available for those who want to turn a Fright Night into an overnight. Prices range from $100-$150 per person per night, with breakfast and tour included.

The notorious wooden tipple at the Atlas Coal Mine. Photo courtesy of Sue Sabrowski

The Haunted Atlas Coal Mine stands next to the ghost town of East Coulee near Drumheller, an hour and a half east of Calgary. Its grey-timbered tipple is creepy enough in daylight, let alone at night when Halloween guests are invited to explore the tipple, a mine shaft and the bathhouse with only a flashlight. Big hooks attached to ropes and pulleys hang from the bathhouse ceiling. Miners once used these to hang their street clothes on, high above the coal dust. The Drumheller Paranormal Group thinks this national historic site is haunted. You be the judge. Big Boo tours of the haunted mine are $10 each and take place from 7-9pm, October 22 & 29. Little Boo tours designed for children under 9 years will be held from 2-4pm, October 23 and 30 and cost $5 each. Further details are found on the Atlas Coal Mine website.