When planning a trip to an unfamiliar city, one of the first things I do is find a local ghost walk. I enjoy listening to "true" ghost stories and legends, especially when I can stand at or near the place where the story originated. Walk in the footsteps of the ghosts (when ghosts are kind enough to leave footprints).
Fortunately, one of my favourite places to hear ghost stories is conveniently close to home. Within the stone walls of an old military fort on a hill that rises up out of the centre of Halifax. Bleak, damp, windowless rooms; narrow, crumbling tunnels; high stone walls; a long and harsh, often cruel, military history. The Citadel is a haven for restless spirits. And a lantern-lit walk inside its walls on a dark and cold October evening has become a Halloween tradition.
One of my favourite stories dates back to the mid-1800's when the Citadel was home to the British regiment, the 78th Highlanders. The story goes that a fire broke out in one of the fort's barracks and soldiers hurried to the wells for water to extinguish it. In the aftermath, a roll-call was conducted and one soldier was discovered to be missing. Not surprising. It was believed that he had used the chaos of the fire to his advantage and deserted. He was probably stowing away aboard a ship in the harbour at that moment. Time passed. Soon there were suggestions that the well, from which the fort obtained its drinking water, should be inspected and perhaps, cleaned. Apparently, the water tasted a little . . . odd. And it was then that the body of the missing soldier was found. What remained of him was pulled from the well, recognizable only by the remnants of his uniform. Did he accidentally fall in during the rush to put out the fire? Or was he deliberately pushed? He wasn't talking. But through the years since, Citadel guards have witnessed the lonely figure of a soldier in the uniform of the 78th Highlanders. He walks quietly back and forth . . . back and forth . . . along the ramparts above Casement 18. The location of the long-abandoned well.
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