Fernie & Elk Valley Culture Guide Fall 2019 Edition | Page 12

TALES FROM THE PAST...
GHOST STORIES OF FERNIE
Benson’s life ended near these tracks.
Would you walk here, late at night?
Fall comes fast in Fernie. Darkness seeps up out of the ground and the trees
rustle in the chill wind as though they are trying to share secrets of the past.
Listen closely, and you will learn of the ghosts that haunt this hidden corner of the
Kootenays…
A frontier atmosphere pervaded in
the early days of Fernie’s existence.
High tempers often got the better of
the hardworking people who struggled
against the odds. In the nearby town
of Coal Creek, a miner named Benson
went to his superintendent to complain
that his fireboss had moved him from
his place in the mine out of spite. The
superintendent said that he would
speak to the fireboss, named Joyce, but
didn’t think there was much he could
do. In a sullen rage Benson collected his
revolver and set out for the mine offices
where he found and shot wildly at
Joyce. In terror at his actions, Benson
fled to the railway tracks and took his
own life with the revolver.
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As it happened, the superintendent
had ordered Joyce to reinstate
Benson, and Joyce had only sustained
a minor wound in the attack. Had
Benson waited just a moment, his life
would have been saved. For decades
afterward, the inhabitants of Coal
Creek swore that Benson haunted that
section of the track. A young couple
reported feeling cold hands pulling
them backward and an elderly Mr.
Carmichael, on attempting to greet
a young man at the side of the tracks
found the dark figure to have only
shadows below his cap. Coal Creek is
now little more than a few crumbling
walls but it appears that Benson’s ghost
has chosen to make it home.