Rocky Mountaineer Magazine RM Magazine 2018 | Page 33

Albert The Ghost Bride KamloopS BanFF Sagebrush Theatre in 1886, albert Mallott was the first man hanged in Kamloops. The 23-year- old bartender, from O’Keefe’s Saloon at eagle Pass near Revelstoke, had killed a man he thought was stealing from his bar. albert has at least one redeeming quality: he likes watching plays at the Sagebrush Theatre, built on the site of an old cemetery. in 1939, when a flood displaced tombstones, albert’s was lost. He now has his own reserved seat on the end of the theatre’s back row. Patrons claim to have seen it lower at the begin- ning of a production and then return upright at the end of the show. actors and crews report mysterious events and v oices: stage lights suddenly being re- programmed, and an employee warned to avoid a falling lamp that could have killed her. Perhaps albert has discov- ered, albeit a little late, that “life is not a dress rehearsal.” Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel This story is so well-known that it was commemorated with a limited-edition coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2014. in the early 1930s, a bride was ascending a flight of limestone stairs to the library at the Banff Springs Hotel, which was being rebuilt after a fire. There she was to join her groom and the wedding guests before the party moved up to the Cascade Ballroom. The stair- case still lacked a banister rail and was lined with tall candles. Maybe a breeze caught her veil; maybe she tripped on it. it caught fire. alarmed, she fell and broke her neck. The young woman is still seen getting ready in a washroom, or waltzing alone in the ballroom. “Till death do us part” came true far too early for this unhappy couple. Tours Walking night tours offer an entertaining way to learn a little local history. VANCOUVER Ghost tours of downtown or Gastown. www.ghostly vancouvertours.com SEATTLE Ghost tours of the Pioneer Square area. www.spookedinseattle .squarespace.com BANFF A daily staff-led historical tour May to Oct. covers the ghost- bride story. www.fair mont.com/banff-springs Rocky Mountaineer Magazine 2018 33