N.B. hauntings part of Acadian storytelling tradition
Published Saturday October 31st, 2009
Sylvio Allain tells great tales of spirits and haunted houses
The Halloween season always seems to pique interest in the ghosts and ghouls that may be living in our midst.
Frightened, confused, and thrilled all at once, people will turn to those who are particularly sensitive to the mysterious workings of the paranormal for guidance, and sometimes entertainment.
Sylvio Allain's ability to channel hair-raising ghost stories has earned him a reputation that is somewhat out of this world.
But he is quick to point out that he is no ghostbuster.
"I don't walk around with a gun that shoots marshmallows here," said Allain, with a lively laugh.
Allain is a retired teacher and theatre professional who spends most of his time telling Acadian legends these days at Le Pays de la Sagouine or at private functions around the province.
But it is no coincidence that many of those legends seep into the realm of the paranormal, as Allain maintains that stories of both friendly and malicious ghosts have been a part of the Acadian storytelling tradition for centuries.
The tales are especially popular at this time of year as Halloween rolls around, but are they just stories? Allain, whose storytelling craft has developed a very strong following, is a big believer in the power of words. He is able to convey stories without the special effects that clutter the big screens of Halloween Hollywood blockbusters.
One of the advantages he can boast is that there are very real experiences and emotions behind the stories he tells, many of which are set throughout Kent County and southeastern New Brunswick.
"For most people, it is hard to believe a house can be haunted, and I don't blame them," Allain says. "Even I am like St. Thomas, you have to see to believe.
"I don't want people to think it is black and white, it is grey. There are stories people tell me, and there are stories I have witnessed."
Allain has nurtured his own sensitivity to the spiritual realm, or what is known as a sixth sense, through practices such as meditation.
Today, if he walks into a home that is haunted, he can usually feel a spiritual presence, or sometimes even smell one. Allain says a smell of flowers can indicate the presence of a congenial spirit, while a burnt smell can mean the spirit has some mischief and malice. The smell of sulfur usually indicates that a spirit is flirting with demons, and that means trouble is near.
He says there are people who can walk into the same house and feel nothing.
"The dimensions are so close to each other, the spirit realm and the human realm are so close that's sometimes the spirits land here," he says, adding that one has to be at the right place at the right time with the right mindset to notice these spirits.
"It's like a roller coaster."
Following are a few examples of the stories that Allain has witnessed or heard.
* Memramcook
Ghosts don't only live in rickety old homes, says Allain. A ghost will have died in a fire, for example, and remain on the property until a new home is built in the place of the previous structure, years or even decades later.
"The spirits adapt very well to modern homes," Allain says. "There doesn't need to be old houses."
That is the case in a home in Memramcook, where an elderly woman is said to have died in a fire. When a new home was built on top of the same foundation, something interesting started, says Allain.
"She thought she was still alive, and she lived where the rocks were in her basement," he said, recounting a recent situation that was told to him by the man who lived it.
"She used the mirrors everywhere in the house to see what was happening."
When a young man inherited the home, he became aware that he was not alone, said Allain.
"He was in the shower and she would touch him, and you could see wet footprints leading from the shower," he said.
"He would be watching the TV and she would sit beside him and she would start rocking."
Allain said the spirit was apparently very sensitive to changes in temperature, and would cause all kinds of havoc by trying to regulate the temperature to her own liking.
"I think she just thought she was there and he was bothering her," said Allain, "If he had a party she would cause some trouble, and once she even closed the bathroom door, deciding she wouldn't let anyone into the bathroom."
The man was distraught, and Allain says he gave the homeowner some recommendations on how to help the spirit move on.
While he is uncomfortable revealing specific advice that he offers those who ask him for help because he considers those privileged conversations, he say, "There are things you can do, and often the spirits are just searching for the light," he said, noting that a person's attitude and behaviour can influence a spirit in a home.
Allain says it is usually enough to encourage spirits to move toward the light but, if that doesn't work, residents will usually need some outside help.
The homeowner in Memramcook has not had to deal with the ghost since.
* Rexton
Other experiences aren't so congenial.
One can only imagine the shriek of a young Rexton girl who, decades ago, woke up with a woman's head in her bed.
"The youngest woke up and her hands were caught in something and she didn't know what, and it was the woman's hair," said Allain.
"She woke up and she was smiling at her, and it was just the head."
As the story was told to Allain, the girl's father had been hearing ghost stories from his daughters, but didn't take them seriously until that horrifying encounter.
"They would try telling him that the patio doors were opening on their own, or that the piano was playing itself," he said. "He didn't want to know anything about that.
"But that night it was really a problem, because a hand came out of the wall and caught the father's leg."
Allain said the spirit in that home may have been flirting with demon powers, and its strength allowed it to send pots, pans, and dishes flying through the kitchen.
The father finally determined he had to remove his daughters from the house when -- as the story goes -- a hand reached out of the wall and grabbed his leg with "the strength to choke a young girl."
The house was abandoned and never sold, said Allain, who heard the story many years later from one of the daughters.
* Bouctouche
While some spirits flirt with demonic powers, one legend contends that the Devil actually visited Bouctouche on one occasion.
Alain tells a legend of a little Bouctouche girl's bedroom that developed the smell of sulphur one night.
The story may be too frightening to fully explain, but it began with a woman who allegedly wrote her husband's name in blood on a sheet of paper, an act which invited the Devil into her home, according to legend.
The woman's young daughter was crying wildly when her mother walked into her room to awake her from what she assumed was a nightmare.
"The mother went to get her daughter and started rocking her and told her she was having a nightmare," said Allain.
"And that's when she realized the dish of dried flowers was smoldering."
Before she knew it, the Devil appeared in the window.
"She described him as having a little beard, horns, a mustache, green and black teeth one on top of the other, and he had 6-inch nails."
According to the legend, a priest agreed to bless the house, but he required they burn the piece of paper that had turned her home into hell on earth for a short time.
* Saint-Thomas
Another spirit in Saint-Thomas was easier to deal with.
It was, again as the story is told, the spirit of a vagabond who was known to sleep in a barn that eventually burned.
After the barn burned down, the drifter was never seen again.
But, although he wasn't the property's owner, his spirit nonetheless appeared to be stuck under the new, modern home that was built where the barn once stood.
"He (the spirit) was under the house but nobody knew it," said Allain.
"They would get home and the TV was on, and the paintings were all rearranged."
The owners of the home didn't take the signs seriously until they started to pile up.
"It had been a while since the house had been built, and it was a modern house, very normal, with a paved driveway," said Allain.
He told the owners to do some research about the property and, sure enough, they learned about the man who had perished.
"They followed my instructions and they solved the situation," said Allain.
"Usually, I say they (the spirits) are just searching for the light."
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