Haunted Saskatchewan: Government House, Regina – Part 2: The Paranormal Activity

Welcome, my ghouls, to the next location in the Haunted Saskatchewan series. This time, we are heading into a location near downtown Regina – the Government House. This time, I have split up the posts into three sections, allowing you to choose where you want to start:

1. The history of the Government House building; 
2. The paranormal activity that staff members have experienced; and
3. The potential ghost(s) haunting the location.

If you like learning about the history of locations, particularly in the time of the Canadian Pacific Railway expansion across Saskatchewan, check out Section 1. 

If you want to read about the paranormal experiences, feel free to jump to Section 2.

If you want to hear about who we think haunts the Government House, jump to Section 3.

Section 2: The Paranormal Experiences

As you enter the Government House, one of the first things you will notice is the change in the hardwood floor. The direction and age of the wood changes as you cross the threshold into the building. The building itself, although old, is warm and inviting, so you don’t fear a paranormal experience is waiting for you around the corner.

Surprisingly, there were no ghost stories linked to the ballroom. Although the ballroom would typically hold happy events, during the years of the convalescent home, it may have held hospital beds with blank white walls. The idea of large chandeliers hanging over hospital beds would be a little creepy.

Instead, the first room that we saw where a paranormal event had occurred was in the library. The library was used as a study by the Lieutenant Governor. There is a large replica painting of Queen Victoria on the wall. The story goes that some guests had not heard the tour guide explaining the painting on the wall. When they whispered to the people in front of them, asking who was sitting in the painting, a stack of pamphlets with some information on the Queen fell onto the floor near them. Perhaps a ghost was trying to help guide the tour?

As we walked through the main hall of the house, we were told about an old chair that sits under the hall clock. One morning, the commissionaire came into the building to find the chair had been moved into the middle of the hall. After searching the rooms for other staff to ask why it had been moved, the commissionaire returned to find the chair had turned around to face the opposite direction, even though there was no one in the building.

Also in the main hall is a table that holds the ceremonial sword. This sword had belonged to Lieutenant Governor Hugh Munroe from 1931 to 1936. In 1936, Lieutenant Governor Archie McNab borrowed the sword instead of having a new one created. To learn more about the history of the sword and how it finally ended up in the museum, you can visit it on the Government House website. The paranormal experience associated with the sword has to do, instead, with the table. Originally, a lace tablecloth had been placed under the sword to decorate the table. However, after many mornings of finding the tablecloth pulled off the table and left on the floor, the Government House staff decided to move the tablecloth to a different table. Since being moved, the tablecloth is no longer ripped from its table, so they leave the table under the sword empty to show respect to whomever is watching over it.

The billiard room was an area for the men in the early 1900’s to go have a cigar and talk. Women were not allowed in the room, unless they were staff cleaning it. Apparently, one night, there was a commotion from the room. The commissionaire had walked in to see who had made the noise, but the room was empty. The billiard balls had been moved from their usual placement and the cues were on the ground. But who moved them?

On the stairs, there is a statue that isn’t original to the house. However, on more than one occasion, it has been found to be turned or moved.

Upstairs, when the plumbing was still hooked up in the house, there were a few stories that have been passed down through the staff. One is that the toilets would flush in the middle of the night when no one was in the bathrooms. Another is that, supposedly, the copper tub was found in the morning to be full of water, even though it had no working pipes hooked up to it.

The Government House also has claims of children that still haunt the halls. A music box in the day nursery has been known to start playing by itself. Commissionaires have also heard children crying late in the night, but they have never been able to find who was making the noise. Given the many antique toys and dolls, it isn’t surprising to hear there may be children haunting the nursery section of the house.

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References

Government House Saskatchewan website, https://governmenthousesk.ca

Parks Canada website, https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_eng.aspx?id=755

Plaques within the Government House Museum

Tour guide, Government House, 2022