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Nicole Kilburn in front of the Young Building Lansdowne

Haunted Camosun: Symbols of Halloween

Strange noises, unexplained phenomena and eerie feelings that there is someone there who isn鈥檛鈥攁ll these things and more have been reported by staff and students working late into the night in the historic Young Building at Camosun Lansdowne.

Young Building Normal School-archive

Camosun anthropology instructor Nicole Kilburn stands in front of Camosun's historic Young building - the site of many reports of ghosts and eerie happenings over the decades

鈥淭he Young building has a storied history,鈥 explains Camosun Anthropology instructor Nicole Kilburn, who has on office on the second floor of the Young building. 鈥淚鈥檝e worked there for 19 years and I can certainly feel the presence of previous generations.鈥

Former security guards, employees, students and visitors have reported the alarms would go off in the middle of the night for no reason, that a ghostly hand once reached out and saved them from a potentially disastrous fall, and that a creepy apparition had approached, only to melt into nothingness at the very last moment.

"The building's physical location provides a clue about why so much paranormal activity takes place there,鈥 explains John Adams, local historian and proprietor of . 鈥淚t's proximity to Mount Tolmie and several well-known energy vortexes surrounding it make the Camosun campus prone to ghostly manifestations. We have gathered many stories from students, staff and neighbours that show us it is a place of intense haunted activity.鈥

The historic and stately Young building anchors Camosun鈥檚 Lansdowne campus. With its distinctive four-faced clock tower, tree-lined entrance way and red brick and sandstone exterior, it looks and feels like the place where ghosts might roam freely on dark wintry nights, wandering through drafty hallways and into deeply buried underground tunnels.

Built in 1914, the Young Building originally served as a teachers鈥 college, called the Provincial Normal School. Named in honour of Dr. Henry Eason Young and his wife Rosalind, the building has long been associated with an educational purpose. In 1942, it became a military hospital and continued with this function throughout the Second World War. Today鈥檚 gymnasium was the wartime morgue. Throughout its storied history, the Young building has been an iconic and often photographed feature of Camosun鈥檚 Lansdowne campus, beloved by generations of staff, students and faculty alikedespite the occasional 鈥榖ump in the night鈥︹

Further information

Nicole Kilburn鈥檚 videos on the origins of Hallowe鈥檈n听and on the history of cats and witches:

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