Why Sask. might be the 'most haunted' place in Canada

Saskatchewan is the "most haunted province in the country," according to a new report.

Online gaming site Bonus Finder gave the province the title based on the number of cemeteries and memorials, ghost towns, species of spiders and unoccupied homes.

It found Saskatchewan had the highest number of cemeteries per 10,000 people and 41 “haunted” places.

One of those haunted places is near the village of Saint Louis.

When you hear ‘Oh you’re from Saint Louis, do you know about the ghost light?’, that’s the question we get,” Marc Caron, mayor of Saint Louis, told CTV News.

Some people have reported seeing a mysterious light where the old railway track was. Caron said the legend behind the “ghost light” is that a railroad worker was looking for his lamp, and got decapitated by the train.

“Ever since then they say his spirit has been on that line,” he said.

Jo-Anne Christensen, author of Ghost Stories of Saskatchewan, said it’s the first Saskatchewan ghost story she ever heard.

“It is said that you should never park your car on the railway tracks …or where the track used to run because engines will die,” Christensen told CTV News.

One story she’s heard stems from a crack in the floor at the Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon.

“It is said that a bellman fell to his death down this huge stairwell and that’s where he landed and died, and that occasionally his ghost is seen on that spot,” she said.

Christensen has heard multiple accounts of people seeing the ghost of a businessman at the hotel.

“There’s often one repeated story of a man in a dark suit and a fedora, who is on the convention level of the hotel, and he just rushes across the room and then vanishes,” she said.

She’s also heard stories of a ghost named “Howie” at the Government House in Regina.

“It’s a catch-all name for all the ghostly activity,” she said.

She said “Howie” is based off of a cook who used to work there.

“He was the only person on record to have died in residence there. He died of pneumonia,” she said.

The house was built in 1891. Today it serves as the lieutenant governor’s office and a public museum. Some say Howie still makes his presence known.

“People will hear toilets flush when there is no one in the washroom, there are footsteps on the stairs, there’s a heavy chair that will move on its own,” she said.

She notes that with these stories the fun is in the mystery.

“Nobody knows anything. That’s one of the fun things about ghost stories, is trying to figure it out,” Christensen said.