Ghost tour tells tales of hospital spirits and campus hauntings

This Halloween season, people can immerse themselves in the sinister and spooky legends about the University of Saskatchewan’s campus that date back more than 100 years.

Cat Woloschuk, the heritage technician intern at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, said the facility’s guided tours have been around for the past 10 years.

“We just have a really good spooky time. We get people in the Halloween spirit by telling some of the legends and myths that have happened around the University of Saskatchewan,” she said.

These are tales that have been going around the university’s campus for many generations and are engrained in the campus lore, Woloschuk explained. Whether or not some of them are true … well, that has yet to be determined.

It’s rumoured that the spirit of a nurse roams the halls of Royal University Hospital, and doesn’t stop working.

“She moves very, very fast, almost at an inhumane pace,” Woloschuk said.

The legend says the only time the nurse’s ghost is seen standing still is when she’s outside the room of a recently deceased patient.

Mysterious and supernatural stories are also told about the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, where Woloschuk has experienced the creepy happenings herself — especially when she’s the last person in the gallery closing up for the evening.

Cat Woloschuk, heritage technician intern at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, said sometimes the hat on the coat rack moves, and nobody knows why. (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

Sometimes knocking can be heard on the walls, and footsteps can be heard around the gallery after the lights have been turned off, she explained. Woloschuk said she always carries a flashlight with her.

“(It’s) pretty eerie, because whenever you go to look, there’s no one there,” she said.

Woloschuk said workers at the gallery have also noticed the hat hanging on the coat rack in the former prime minister’s office sometimes changes to other hats in the collection.

She said she’s not sure how that happens since the galleries are alarmed areas, and staff members are a little startled every time it’s noticed.

The ghost walk has up to 15 stories and is becoming more popular, she said, adding that around 200 people signed up for it.

Woloschuk said the tour also sprinkles in some historical facts about the university like its agriculture and grotesques. History about the the museums of antiquities and natural sciences are included in the tour.

The 90-minute tours run until Tuesday and cost $15.

Cat Woloschuk, heritage technician intern at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre, said sometimes footsteps and knocking can be heard by staff that close the gallery. (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)