The Haunting of the Lakeland: Bonnyville Legion

This week, Lakeland Connect is featuring the real-life paranormal experiences of local people that defy explanation and will leave you wondering if we are truly alone.

If you are easily scared read at your own risk…

Bonnyville Legion

Did you know the Bonnyville Legion Hall has a haunted history?

According to manager Jamie Beaupre, they’re not sure if the ghost is someone from the Legion or if it came with the church which makes up part of the hall and was moved from Duclos in the 1940s.

“Where the old Legion used to be, I know that they have problems keeping water faucets off. So during the night, ghosts will go in there and turn your water faucets on. They’ll get there in the morning and the water’s running,” said Beaupre.

He said “most of the readings from paranormal stuff is in the basement under the bell tower.” Last year a group of mediums came in to investigate and “all their hairs stood up.”

Shifting objects and weird sounds are common to the building.

“About three weeks ago, we were sitting in the church part, and in the kitchen, something got all smashed up and everything, but we went in the kitchen and not a thing was out of place. And we’re not talking quiet like ‘oh that could have been a noise.’ We’re talking like hammering stuff,” said Beaupre, who has also heard what sounded like chairs flying across the room with nothing visibly different when the lights were turned on.

Lorna has had spooky experiences at the Legion too when she was there preparing steaks for a supper.

“I was sitting at the table. And then there was tapping noise in here. I looked around, my back was to the church. So I don’t know if it was coming from the church, whatever. So I got up, I looked, and I sat back down.”

The tapping continued as soon as she sat back down.

“So then I got nervous. And I kept on doing that. And it was like I was the only person in here, there was no music. There was no nothing. Just tapping. It just kept on doing that,” said Lorna.

Another time when she was thereafter closing down the bar, she went to check the bathrooms before leaving.

“So I check the women’s, nobody in there. I kicked the men’s bathroom door and my cigarettes just went flying out of my pocket. Like just flew out. Like somehow they just like–push. And then they went sliding across the floor. And I’m in a panic, what do I do, and I’m thinking ‘Oh my God, I need my cigarettes,’” said Lorna.

Beaupre said the spirit plays with the door handles and panic bars all the time.

“You’ll sit in here and you’ll hear the panic bars engaging on the doors and then there’s nobody there,” said Beaupre, who has heard the panic bar on a number of occasions but never known what caused it.

“And Buff went ‘oh, there he is.’ And I turned around, and I kind of glimpsed something going into the church and I heard footsteps. But there was nobody around. Then I asked Buff and he goes, ‘yeah, that guy always lives here.’”

According to Beaupre, when he asked Buff who it was, Buff didn’t know, but repeated that the ghost lives in the building.

If you’ve had a spooky experience or know more about the history of the Bonnyville Legion that could help to explain their ghoulish guest, please leave a comment.