A Spooky Time at the Station

“Is the museum haunted?”

We are often asked that question, but even more so around Halloween.
The answer to that is up to interpretation but can be found through personal experiences, legendary stories and good old factual history.

There are stories told by those who have worked or volunteered at the museum about the unusual things they’ve heard or encountered over the years. There are also strange coincidences that happen so often that they have become normal. Today we will be sticking to the general vibe of the building that has the tendency to connect the spirits of the dead and the living.

That tingly feeling as if you are on alert suddenly in an otherwise peaceful situation is a common occurrence at the museum - especially after hours. The creaky original flooring and clanky furnace system could be to blame but knowing the building’s history it would be a shame not to explore other possibilities.

A well-known fact is that the museum is housed in High River’s former CPR train station. This was one of two buildings of the sandstone station that was built in 1893 in downtown Calgary. They were dismantled and moved south on flatbed railway cars in 1911. One part was rebuilt in High River and the other in Claresholm. High River’s station opened in February of 1912 and operated until November of 1965.

That was 53 years of passengers coming and going. There were young families arriving to build a life for themselves, soldiers heading off to the war - some to never return, young people going off in pursuit of new opportunities. No matter what the occasion, for just over half a century thousands of people came through this building, many who experienced some of the strongest emotions of their lives. There were so many stories where the High River CPR station was the setting and emotional greetings, whether joyous or tragic, were the theme.

They say that the vibrational energy of human emotion lingers in a place far longer than the physical entity. An outburst of anguish can leave a room feeling heavy for some time after, or an exuberant moment of joy can leave the air feeling bright and welcoming. Now imagine this place, where every day emotions from all ends of the spectrum are sprouting from a wide range of situations, with the train coming and going taking with it the physical entities while the emotions are left to linger within the sandstone walls long after they are gone.

There have been many instances where an employee has claimed to have felt a sudden change in the air while working in the museum. One room can feel light and humorous while another can feel quite heavy. And it never stays the same. A common thought on this subject is that quite often what we are experiencing is a lingering vibe of the emotions of spirits who have long since left the world of the living. And while these spirits tend to make their physical appearance known from time to time (objects falling from shelves, doors suddenly opening, unexplained lights being turned off and on or fleeting glimpses of someone passing by) it is their emotions that are letting their presence be known. For what is a stronger human entity than emotion?

After the High River CPR station was closed in 1965, the building remained empty until 1971 when the Museum of the Highwood moved in. It was a perfect match. The museum finally had a permanent home and was able to continue it’s vital role in the community in the historically iconic train station. The station would remain a place for the public to visit, telling their stories and entrusting the organization with precious family treasures to be preserved and shared with care. These objects, and there have been many acquired over the years, tend to have their own stories of emotional vibrations. But more on that another day.

All of us here at the museum are proud to take utmost care of anything or anyone that walks through those old, creaky doors. We treat every item and every story with the respect that it deserves… so it only makes sense that we treat the vibrational spirits that inhabit this extraordinary building with the same passion. They are after all, our hosts.