Ghost Stories of Canada

John I. Jackson was a library technician at the University of Toronto.

Irish immigrant Val Clery could well claim to be among the most prolific Canadian writers. He is a widely published journalist and magazine feature contributor, and he has some 13 books to his credit. For all that, however, he has languished in a certain anonymity. The present volume of stories helps to bring him into a somewhat sharper focus.

That his interest in the supernatural, especially stories about the supernatural, is real cannot be denied; however, it is clearly the people whose lives have been affected by the supernatural who have the greatest appeal for him. He is close to his subjects. Each story is told in the first person, and each concerns the strange cases of friends, or friends of friends. His love for his adopted country is likewise apparent. The settings for these stories sweep across the entire breadth of Canada; and whether Toronto, rural Quebec, Vancouver Island, or the pack ice off Newfoundland, he writes of it convincingly and affectionately.

The supernatural can be a touchy subject; but it is a common human condition to have had an unexplained or unexplainable experience that can be anything from mildly unsettling to powerfully destructive. Haunting seems, therefore, most often to be rather an unsettled state of mind, than the active intrusion of an outside force. It is the behavioural ramifications of these unsettled states of mind that are really interesting to Val Clery, and he communicates this interest readily to his readers. People’s lives change, and these stories are about people, not ghosts.

In a ruined home north of Toronto, a brilliant young doctor confronts the horror of his past. As the truth about his father and family emerges, he succumbs to his destiny.

In a beautifully renovated old building, Nick, a womanizing bachelor architect, is constrained to a strange monogamy by the restless spirit of a wayward girl.

In a Dublin pub, an old-timer recounts how, years before, in Canada, the IRA had put the arm on him to pull a bank heist, in order to fund a gun-running scheme. It would have come off, too, except for… well, the ghost.

Although for some the enjoyment of these stories will require the willing suspension of disbelief, Val Clery has done his job of telling them very well indeed.

The book itself is print-heavy, and one wonders  whether a less severe typeface and dropped heads would have made for a more attractive package. But this is quibbling. The book is nicely organized, and each story makes a satisfying night-cap. Scary? Not really. An enjoyable read? Definitely.