The SS Princess Mary
The SS Princess Mary was a passenger vessel that was in service from 1910 to 1954, servicing between Vancouver and Vancouver Island, Alaska and also between the Gulf Islands. She was a steamship built for the Canadian Pacific Railway in Scotland. In 1915 she set sail from Victoria to the war in Europe taking young men to war and returning with those who survived. Around 1952 they turned the Princess Mary into a barge and reconfigured the lower part of the vessel. In 1954 the Princess Mary was removed from the fleet and reconfigured and became a restaurant in West Victoria until around 2006 when it was deconstructed and a smaller restaurant was built in the same place housing many of the Princess Mary artifacts. The first experiences where I really started to pay attention to the supposed supernatural was at the Princess Mary Restaurant. We often went there as a family outing and I always enjoyed going there and in fact it was my favorite place to go, but it also emitted a lot of energy and feelings from what I can remember. I do remember there was heaviness to the air, not always in a bad way though. I also remember feeling alone and solitude in certain places of the restaurant including where the washrooms and surrounding area was.
I remember on two occasions specifically and part of a third, a reoccurring event that happened there. On one occasion I remember very clearly of when I was in one of the washroom stalls, it seemed like someone was in the washroom (and there wasn’t) and I thought it was weird because I didn’t hear the loud door open or close, but was so very sure someone else was in there. No one was in the washroom when I entered it either. After a few seconds the taps starting turning on and off. I came out of the stall to look over to see the faucet start pouring out water and the taps move on their own. I stood there looking around again feeling like someone was in the washroom with me. It was a very uneasy feeling as I didn’t know what was going on, but I was more curious than scared. I went back to the table and said nothing to my family. I was around 8-9 years old at the time.
The second time, probably a year or two later (I was probably 10-11 at the time) I was again in the same washroom, alone, and I heard the taps turning on and off. I came out of the stall looking around and again no one was there, then suddenly I got a glimpse of a women dressed in turn of the century clothes. She disappeared quickly and the taps did not turn on again. I was a little startled, but I wasn’t really sure what I saw or what happened. I washed my hands seeing how easily they could move, but it wasn’t that easy to turn them. I walked back to the table and this time told my family what happened and wanted an explanation. My Grandfather looked at me and just said “well it’s haunted here, you probably saw a ghost”. It made me wonder if I had. The third time I only partially remember was pretty much the same, I was in a stall and another lady came in about the same time, also in a stall and the taps started turning on and off. We both came out of the stalls at the same time and she asked me if I heard that, and as she did the taps turned on and off again, and I said “yes I heard them, but this happens a lot when I come in here”. She said she heard some stories about that happening here and then we both left the washroom.
Even though the actual vessel is no longer there, I recently spoke with the owner who mentioned they still experience a lot of paranormal activity there and regularly. This is a common claim throughout the history of the ship being a restaurant. I have heard of many stories such as staff piling up dirty dishes to coming back into the kitchen to perfectly cleaned and stacked dished to things quite obviously moving in the dining room, but the one that I hear of most often is the story of one of one the Captain’s wife who committed suicide by hanging herself in the ship. I sometimes wonder if this is the lady who was turning the taps on and off. I never got the impression she was someone to be concerned about, I think she just wanted someone to know she was there.
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