Cape Breton's Magazine

Val Poirier, Poirierville: Ghost Stories I got one, a dandy. I (go) for a lot of ghost stories like that, every time I get a book of ghost stories. Some, of course, are just imaginary. But after I read the one about Father John Angus Rankin seeing his father (after he had died)--you heard that one, did you? And he said he would have never believed if it hadn't happened to him. But it did, you know. And it's quite a story. (See "When Fr. John Angus Rankin Saw His Father" in CAPE BRETON BOOK OF THE NIGHT.) I hear a lot of them, a lot of them like that. Especially in Glasgow Point, here, where the park is there now in Martinique when the people used to live there. Awful lot of ghost stories there about that place. (Such as what?) Oh, people, you know, somebody drowned skating on the lake there, and then in the wintertime seeing headless skaters, and stuff like that. The only one that I took part in was a fel? low from Glasgow Point going to visit a girl in Poulamon and on the way back there was a man walking alongside of him. He never spoke, never said a word. The fellow got kinda worried and he said, "If you're from this world, speak to me. And if you're from the devil, be gone!" So the fellow disappeared, he went away! But the fellow looked an awful lot like a fellow that worked with him on the ships, and he had what you call a "twisted tongue" be? cause he was an awful man to curse and swear. And this fellow was always after him telling him that if he didn't stop Keltic Lodge, The Spirit of the Highlands Offering two great restaurant choices for breakfasty lunch and dinner. The Purple Thistle Dining Room With spectacular views of the sea and a longstanding repu? tation for dining excellence, the Purple Thistle offers a su? perb variety of menu items appealing to every taste. Seafood is the specialty. For information and reservations caU (902) 285-2880 Keltic Lodge Middiehead Peninsula Ingonish Beach KEjmci'DGp swearing, when he'd die he'd go to hell. So the fellow joked and he said, "If I go to hell. I'll come to see you." So anyway, when he saw this this winter he never thought any more of it. But in the spring when he went back on the ship the fellow was missing. So he asked the captain what happened to this fellow with the twisted tongue. "Oh," he said, "he died." He said, "He died last winter." So the fellow got kinda curious and he said, "I wonder," he said, "any idea what time he died?" So he traced and he traced, and sure enough, just about the time that he saw him was the time that the man had died. But that relates (to) a story here because I remember when my grandmother had a son in Boston, and he had got killed. He fell down a flight of stairs and he got killed the night before. So the next day my mother--it was a fine day, it was the summer? time- -and my mother had clothes on the line. She went to get clothes (off) the line and she opened the door as a bird flew in. He come over and my grandmoth? er was sitting in her rocking chair right by that chair there--she was rocking her? self- -and the The Atlantic Restaurant A casual eatery on the edge of the ocean overlooking North Bay. Serving attractively priced snacks and full meals. 65