Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us

Geoff Cragg is a tenured instructor in the Faculty of General Studies at
the University of Calgary.

Assembled from literary and folk sources, both ancient and modern, the
80 tales in this handsome and entertaining anthology demonstrate the
strength and variety of folk culture in the Maritimes. The author
displays a infectious enthusiasm for the project, and his years of
hosting a television program (also titled Maritime Mysteries) do his
reputation as a researcher and raconteur no harm.

The book is divided into eight chapters with such headings as
“Haunted Homes and Halifax Haunts” and “Love and War.” Many of
the tales are charming, such as the one featuring Lord Nelson’s ghost,
who apparently now resides in Pleasant Point, Nova Scotia. Others, such
as the story of Lucy Clark, who was murdered by her brother and appeared
as a ghost until she found someone to tell her story to, are genuinely
chilling. Several—most notably “The Spook Farm,” which tells of
the possession of a farmhouse in Nova Scotia—seem to suggest the need
for serious psychic research.

Nonetheless, this collection is not without its flaws. Some readers may
find the simple, homespun style of narration a little too conversational
or folksy. Certainly, readers who admire the work of M.R. James or
Robertson Davies may find the tales insufficiently literary, although
that, of course, is part of their charm.

A more serious issue is the lack of detail and development, which would
be so important to the telling of these tales in traditional culture.
The brevity of the tales—many are two pages or less—prevents full
involvement and makes the collection feel fragmented. And while no one
begrudges a storyteller the right to his own tale, the author’s
admission that “[i]ncluded are a few stories from my own disturbed
imagination” detracts from the traditional character of the anthology.