Overshadows: An Investigation into a Terrifying Modern Canadian Haunting

Joanne Wotypka is a branch library assistant in the Cameron Library at
the University of Alberta.

Al, Katie, and their daughter Hailey end up with more than just a new
place to live. Their home is plagued by sometimes innocuous, sometimes
terrifying supernatural events. After some amateur investigation
involving the use of a tape recorder to reveal ghostly voices, they
invite author/researcher Richard Palmisano to find the source of these
events and give peace to the restless spirits.

Using the ancient art of the pendulum, researchers contact several
spirits and reveal the troubled history of the house and its past
inhabitants. The hauntings, born out of suicide, back-door abortions,
and other grisly activities, were genuine enough to annoy tenants and
neighbours over a considerable time span, leading up to the events of
Overshadows.

Nothing is really resolved in this book. Though some information about
several of the spirits is known, and a considerable amount of paranormal
phenomena is recorded, there is no closure for the spirits, the family,
or indeed for the reader. Enough is revealed to tantalize, but more than
enough is left up to our imagination. We are often taken to the brink of
a ghoulish discovery, only to have the mundane (e.g., a landlord who
decides to forbid digging on the premises) intervene. The fact that
modern and more ancient spirits are interacting with each other brings
up an interesting question: can a ghost be haunted?

The photographs—which reveal nothing that could not have been a trick
of the light—are a major disappointment. Still, Overshadows is a
satisfyingly creepy read, and a reminder that Canada can lay claim to
more than its share of modern, unexplained hauntings.