Canada is home to many haunted locations. Some are world-famous, like the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, and others are more well known locally. On Vancouver Island, the site where the Cherry Bank Hotel once stood in Victoria, BC is one and Beban House located in Nanaimo, BC is another. For Canada Post, they have chosen to acknowledge many locations nationwide.
Their upcoming stamp set acknowledges mostly Eastern Canada and hopefully the year after, they can honour the West.
With Halloween around the corner, ’tis the season to get the spooks on all letter mail. In honour of this occasion, Otakunoculture presents a catalogue of previous spotlighted locations (complete with links to each scary story):
The Royal Canadian Mint‘s Haunted Canada series of coins is coming to an end. September 8th marked the release of this third and final coin in the series. To own all three will certainly be a delight for paranormal enthusiasts and coin collectors alike! As viewers gaze upon this lenticular image, it will transform from a pretty spirit to a shrieking one! Artist Susanna Blunt crafted this ethereal image.
While the television series Creepy Canada explored close to 100 famously haunted places all around this country, not all of them are all that well-known worldwide. If I was to choose the most famous, I have to say the Ghosts of Fort Henry (Fort Henry, Ontario), the Bell Island spirit (Newfoundland/Labrador) and the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel (Banff, Alberta) are the best known.
From this list, the Mint is recognizing Bell Island this year. Last year had Vancouver’s Headless Horseman (2015) and the year before the Ghost Bride (2014). The single coins are more or less sold out, but sets, which includes a series of stamps from Canada Post shows that both companies love their spooks!
This year’s release is very promising:
On Newfoundland and Labrador’s Bell Island, a restless female spirit is said to haunt the marshes near Dobbin’s Garden. She appears in two forms: one, as a beautiful woman dressed in white; the other, as a frightening old woman. Men who have dared to walk through the area have gone missing for days, only to emerge unaware of any passage of time. But what they do remember is the sudden apparition of a grotesque old woman moving toward them, pushing them to the ground, while the smell of death hangs in the air.
Hopefully Canada Post will continue their run since the list of haunted houses is enough to make into a book. To see this company continue the love for the paranormal, I’m willing to bet these spirits are sure to “stick around.”
It is hard to believe it has been almost 50 years since Gene Roddenberry‘s vision of what mankind could achieve was first broadcast (aired September 8, 1966) on the NBC Television Network. And to commemorate the event Canada Post is releasing an undisclosed number of collector stamps. A promotional video on Canada Post’s official website, features Line Rainville of Quebec, the woman who renovated the basement of her house to look like the interior of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Line reveals in the video the first two collector’s stamps, James T. Kirk (played in the series by Canadian-born William Shatner) and the starship U.S.S. Enterprise. At the end of the video it is indicated there will be a continuation with a second video. Canada Post revealed to Star Trek.com “that more such sightings are planned and that fans should be on the look-out for ‘all-things-Canadian’ with the series.”
Update: In a recent press release, USPS will be dedicating these stamps Sept 2, and will officially launch Star Trek: Mission New York just days before the series began airing Sept 8, 1969. They will be available for pre-order during the first week of August at http://usps.com/shop. Collectors can, in the meantime, pick Canada Post’s version here (now available).
Mail in the United States of America can boldly go to where no man has gone before with postage stamps commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek, the original series. This release is different when compared to past releases where it’s a painting of either the Enterprise or an image of the principal cast. In this iteration, it gets stylish in a design by Heads of State under the art direction of Antonio Alcalá. The USPS.com website does not have them ready for pre-order yet. When they do, first-day covers and framed versions should be available. An estimated release date is sometime in late Spring / Summer. They should be available before the date when the series came to air on September 8, 1966.
Four designs will soon adorn letters far and wide. I do not see them as accruing in value anytime in the next half century. As an art print, the design looks inspired from Swedish poster art and modern Andy Warhol-esque bold use of colours in this pop art. The colours used are yellow and green (for command positions), blue (for the science divisions) and red (security). The images used are symbolic for everything Star Trek. Included in the design is a crewman being transported away, the Starfleet insignia with the Starship Enterprise warping away, the silhouette of the Enterprise with a planet making up the bridge and the Vulcan salute with the ship orbiting a planet. A story exists when used in sequence to tell the world that we are ready to explore new worlds.
With recent news that the European Space Agency wants a moon colony built by 2030, today’s generation may well see a beginning for a true trek into space.
If past collections of these stamps of popular icons are any indication (Charlie Brown and Batman), prices may be as follows:
First Day Covers (Set of 4) $3.75 – $9.95
Digital Colour Postmark First Day Covers (Set of 4) $11.95
Framed Stamps with First Day of Issue Plague. $19.95 – 39.95
Although Britain holds the record for a huge amount of haunted places contained in a small land mass, Haunted Canada probably has the record for the most well-known, namely the Ghost Bride of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. The commemorative cupronickel coin introduces paranormal enthusiasts to this lady in white in a very nicely presented lenticular hologram. The design is certainly appropriate since some people claim that they see ghosts like a piece of transparent celluloid film.
But to give this coin life, when its angled right, the Ghost Bride’s eyes open wide and if it could glow, some collectors may flee at it coming to life! The candles behind her lights up. If some daring folks want to use it during a séance and it permanently spins, well …
By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)
By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
