I admit, I’m a sucker for a good ghost story. Although I have never experienced any paranormal activity (that I’m aware of) a good chilling tale will put me on alert and make my pulse race.

Best way to take in a story about hauntings and messages from beyond the grave? Take the Ghostly Walks tour in Victoria, the West Coast’s most haunted city. As for Vancouver, well there are haunted trolley tours and a few walking tours but they just don’t have the same effect since I’m fairly familiar with the ’same old stories’… the Lady in Red at the Hotel Vancouver and the mysterious passenger in the trolley car inside the Old Spaghetti Factory… but are there any more tales out there? Something new, something recent?

Blood Alley - Photo credit: kk+ on Flickr - Static Photography

Matt from Metblogs wrote about the Century Restaurant last year and this morning I saw a little write up in the Metro about the Irish Heather in Gastown. They could just be rather timely marketing ploys, but who knows.

Here’s a quick write up I’ve heard before about a place I honestly never plan on visiting:

The Irving House Museum was the former home of the Irving family from 1862 to the 1950s. Staff and visitors have seen the ghost of Captain William Irving, the man who built the house, sleeping in his old bed where he passed away. Sometimes, the imprint of a body can be seen on the bed. Footsteps can be heard for no apparent reason and some staff members have heard a voice calling their name. Several visitors have reported animal heads on display turning their heads. [suite101]

If my aunt read my blog she could probably say a thing or two about working at Woodlands in New West. Just thinking about it makes me shiver.

Since it’s the day before Halloween and I’m all costumed-out, lets share a few stories. Leave your best personal experience with eerie happenings in Vancouver (and surrounding cities) in the comments below, and I’ll be sure to read them all tomorrow night, by candle light, with a baseball bat on standby.

Nobody seems to be into Halloween this year, well except for a few people who came together thanks to Mel. John and I have had some fun putting together our costumes, admittedly he’s been enjoying that wig + sunglasses way too much. (more…)

I promise, no more link roundups for a while as soon as I kick this illness that has taken over half of Vancouver. In my case, it feels eerily familiar to the laryngitis I had in ‘06, topped off with a cold and some hard-to-breathe-ness. I’m heading to the doc to make sure it isn’t something more serious but until then, here’s a little link fest on this gorgeous Friday morning.

Update: It *is* laryngitis. I won’t be able to talk for the next few days. Good times.

(view courtesy of the numinous webcam)

- Apparently the concept of gigantic animatronic Dinosaurs in Stanley Park was a bad idea.

The Vancouver Park Board has shelved a proposal to bring in up to 30 of the animatronic critters in a bid to attract more tourist dollars.

The idea was first announced in September and was met with almost universal ridicule.
[News1130]

- During yesterday afternoon’s commute you could only pay cash for the Skytrain due to vandals disabling validation lines for debit and credit transactions (at every station apparently). Conveniently enough, they also affected the customer service centre so you couldn’t call in if you had an inquiry. [CKNW]. I’m having troubles getting updates this morning from i-move.ca.

- Don’t want to wait until mid-week to celebrate Halloween and run around the city in your costume? BR’s got a modest round up of events slated for tonight and tomorrow. For a more detailed list try ClubVibes.com or head to the website of your favourite watering holes to see when they’re having their costume night or pub crawl.

Proof that “Mean Girls” was right… … at least with regard to Halloween when Cady said “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.” You know what she’s talking about. The Cop becomes the Slutty Cop, the Nurse becomes the Slutty Nurse, and the Sheep becomes the Slutty Sheep. [Metroblogging Atlanta]

- Finally, News1130 reports that a recent poll showed 14 should be the ‘cut off’ for trick or treating, “I was planning on going this year, but I don’t know how much candy you’d get if you have a beard.” 14? Hm I guess that’s about right but I swear people still did it when we were 17.

- On top of being home of the Best Island Life in North America, Vancouver Island has also just received top marks from Conde Nast.

Vancouver Island has been named North America’s best island for the sixth year in a row in a Condé Nast Traveler readers’ choice survey that also awarded sixth-place honours to P.E.I.

Vancouver Island, renowned for its beautiful beaches, has been named the best island in North America for the sixth consecutive year.Vancouver Island, renowned for its beautiful beaches, has been named the best island in North America for the sixth consecutive year.

The November issue of the magazine, which was released to newsstands Thursday, also ranked B.C.’s Gulf Islands the third-best North American Island. [CBC]

John and I don’t get to the island(s) nearly enough but it’s definitely a getaway we cherish. The ladies in my family all head to Victoria once a year and when I was little we’d often camp at Englishman River, on Saltspring Island or visit relatives in Parksville. For more insight into island life, just check out the ‘island girl in the city world‘ blog - with which you’re probably already familiar.

Although I’d rather hear about how to survive this wicked cold, I got a shout out on Digg this morning from Darren regarding the latest video from Common Craft. Lee and Sachi LeFever create these simple and “in plain English” demos (see my write up about Lee in the BarCamp live blog) for anything from wikis and RSS, to client-specific productions.

Since ’tis the season, they’ve just posted “Zombies in Plain English“. It’s rather amusing, especially if you’re familiar with their other work, and since I pretty much feel like a zombie today, it just fits. Enjoy!

Due ot the civic strike in Vancouver, Stanley Park is canceling their annual Ghost Train that usually operates during the fall. I would highly recommend one of my “Best of 604” picks as an alternative: The Bear Creek Park Train. Sure it’s located all the way out there in Surrey, but let’s just add that to the frighteningly good scare you’ll get riding their Halloween ghost train.

During the Day (suggested for the younger kiddies)

What: The Bear Creek Park Halloween Festival which includes “Pumpkin Express” train ride, mask making, crafts, games and everyone gets to take a pumpkin home
When: 10am to 5pm starting October 6 until October 31

After hours (suggested for those who want to be spooked)

What: The Bear Creek Park Ghost Train
When: 6:30pm to 10pm starting October 24 until October 31

From BC Trains

The 2007 Halloween Night Train ride will be our best production ever! This is a SCARY ride designed to have you screaming, jumping, laughing and having a great time with friends!

Popular characters from previous years’ performances will be back. Chainsaw Charlie will be in fine form. Look for many new surprises and old favorites. You will have scary sounds and experiences even before you go on your train ride! Great fun! [Spooky Details]

Here’s a map, it’s super easy to get to and all admissions are under $8, kids 2 and younger are free.

Update: ‘Man without socks’ is a costume worn by Phil Hartman on News Radio [wiki]…. kinda - his co-workers were talking about how unoriginal he is, and how little effort he puts into Halloween costumes. I miss Phil Hartman [wiki].

Halloween is over, it happened Saturday night. Well, at least according to everyone who dressed up and went out on the town and who lit off firecrackers in the alleys. Tomorrow night is the 31st, although all the activities are over and done with until next year. It’s funny how we can just default something like that to a day on a weekend and just re-create/usurp the ‘holiday’ to suit our schedules.

We’re not dressing up this year, nor are we handing out candy, that’s a first for me. I still have to get used to this whole apartment living thing. No pumpkin either. I asked John if we could get one but he brought up the point, “What do we do with it later?” He didn’t like my idea of tossing it off the side of the balcony and enjoying the splat. I was just kidding… kinda.

Scouring the weebernet this afternoon you can find tons of pics from parties this past weekend (like 2BitStudios). I’m never very original when it comes to dressing up. The last time I did, I was Alice in Wonderland, had a lil white bunny by my side all night, I suppose that one was okay.

We spent a little too much time at home and on the couch this weekend - no 2 hour treks through the park like last Sunday because I was on call for work. NOT fun (although the paycheck with all the overtime will be). I’m chuckling while looking up at the title of this post. If you can guess which TV show that was from, and which character - I’ll totally think you’re SUPER cool

I think we’re staying in tomorrow, watching the Canucks game (hope it’s not a scary one). We saw The Great Pumpkin on Saturday (John also blogged about it). I’m still looking for Garfield’s Halloween… now that’s scary!

Finally, a commercial from Sonic. The fact that I’m posting this, tells you a lot about my geekyness.

Becky has been demanding a post about pumpkin patches, and apparently because I have 3 little ones I am an authority on the matter. I thought I’d enlist their help but when asked which places they preferred I got a few shoulder shrugs and an ‘I unno’. After some prodding they offered that they didn’t like the muddy one because their boots got stuck.

When Alexis was a preschooler we visited a place in Tsawassen, its easy to spot, on the way to the ferry terminal and has pumpkins lining the long fence. All the kids got to plant a flower bulb and go into the field to get a pumpkin and were also given a cookie. It was a bit overcrowded and the pumpkins were pretty slim pickings. The following year we went to Aldor Acres. For those of you that remember Big Bob (r.i.p) from the barn at the PNE, that was his home.

Aldor Acres is located in a lovely country setting (just past Fort Langley), they have apple orchards, Christmas trees, barns full of animals, a big haystack and are very organized (even with the parking in the big field). Everyone gets a hayride into the patch where they hop off and pick their pumpkin, which the kids just love. The pumpkins however are pre-picked and lined up so I found it took away from the whole experience a bit.

The last 2 years the kids went to Richmond Country Farms. Located just after the tunnel (for those of us coming from Surrey/Delta) on Steveston Hwy. This is my personal favourite. You get the whole farm-countryfair-feeling. There was a place to jump in the hay, a live band playing some themed tunes, free apples and a longer hayride out to one of the many pumpkin patches. When you are let off at the pumpkin patch you have small hike to the fields where the pumpkins are there to be actually picked and there are tons to choose from. The kids really enjoyed it and I even treated them to a pony ride on the way out.

One of the best parts of being a parent is getting to experience all the ‘kidstuff’ again (man I love chuck e cheese). Oh, and sidenote to Becky’s post about the holiday trains on metblogs… I mentioned the Halloween train to Alexis and she said ‘nooooooo… but can we go at Christmas AND Easter’ !

(Photo Property of superNova K on Flickr)

Posted by: Jenny (Sis604 [at] miss604.com)