October 10, 2024
It’s spooky season! Are you ready for a ghost story?
Even in our new museum, staff have reported spooky occurrences from time to time. Loud banging after hours, mysterious voices when no one else is in the building, and lights that turn on and off by themselves. Could it be the ghost of a former bush pilot? You be the judge.
The following story about our Fairchild 71C was recounted by volunteer George Kemp in 1987 for the WCAM* Aviation Review.
“As I stepped into the hall the only lights on were the red exit lights and I reached over to switch on the hall lights. They cast just enough light through the door into the display area to outline the aircraft we had on display. The Fairchild 71C, CF-AKT, was closest to the door. Once through the door, I turned left to go up on the display platform to turn on the display area lights.
A tall man stepped back from the Fairchild. All I could see was his outline. He looked like he was wearing a fur-type hat with ear flaps tied on top, some sort of parka, pants, and fairly high boots.
Thinking it was a maintenance man checking the steam meters for the heating system, I said, “Good evening, why didn’t you turn the lights on? You would have been able to see the aircraft better.”
He didn’t answer, and I made my way up to the switch. As the lights came on, I turned to speak to him, but he was gone.
I searched the display area to no avail. I searched the shop downstairs but could see no one.
There were only two doors he could have gone out of: the one I was standing beside and the Lily Street door I came through. To go out that one you had to press down on a horizontal bar to release the latch and it made a heck of a racket.
When Don arrived I told him the story and he told me when he was alone downstairs one night when he heard someone walking down the stairs. He waited for them to come through the shop door, but nobody showed. When he checked, there wasn’t anyone in the building.”
What do you think? A mysterious midnight visitor or the spirit of a former bush pilot?
Read more paranormal aviation stories in this article.
*WCAM – Western Canada Aviation Museum, now the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada
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