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Guest Appearance: Inside Alberta’s Most Haunted Places with Ghost Hunt Alberta – ParaGhoul Paranormal: Discoveries from the Dark
Original air date: December 4, 2025
In this episode of ParaGhoul Paranormal, I sit down with Bonnie Milner from Ghost Hunt Alberta to talk about what three decades in the paranormal really look like. Bonnie runs a paranormal tourism company that takes people into haunted locations across Alberta, with some events in BC and the United States.
We got into how her grandmother’s ability to see spirits started it all, why she leans so heavily on the scientific method, and how returning to the same locations year after year builds real relationships with the spirits there. She also shared the realities of running ghost hunts as a small business, what COVID did to paranormal activity, and why some of the most powerful experiences still happen in quiet, small towns.
If you want to explore more of Bonnie’s work, you can visit her website at Ghost Hunt Alberta and watch investigations on the Ghost Hunt Alberta YouTube channel.
Interview Highlights
How did you first get into the paranormal?
“My grandmother could see spirits. A lot of the family did not believe her, so I went to the library to prove that grandma was not crazy.”
“Long story short, grandma was a little crazy, but she could see spirits. By then I was hooked.”
Bonnie grew up in a house with a residual haunting, so strange activity was already part of her normal. Add in a grandmother constantly talking about spirits, and it created this mix of curiosity and determination. She did what a lot of us do when we are trying to understand the weird: she researched everything she could find.
What shaped the way you investigate and how Ghost Hunt Alberta works?
“I am a bit of a science nerd. The crossover between the spiritual and the science of paranormal investigation, I just fell in love with it.”
“When I finally started my own group, I wanted one voice and one method. We all agreed on one scientific approach and one format of investigation.”
Before Ghost Hunt Alberta, Bonnie was in and out of several paranormal teams and even worked on a task force dealing with occult-related crimes and vandalism. The problem she kept seeing was too many competing personalities and no unified method. When she founded Ghost Hunt Alberta, she wanted a clear structure, a shared way of working, and a focus on evidence over drama. Today, the team has about a dozen members who all follow the same investigation format.
How do you bring science into something people call a pseudoscience?
“We use the usual scientific method. You form a hypothesis, you test, and you eliminate every natural cause you can before you call it paranormal.”
“Orbs are a good example. Six minutes on Google will teach you what digital cameras do. Those orb photos did not exist before digital photography.”
Bonnie talked about how often people show up with photos of orbs, convinced they have caught spirits. She gently walks them through basic camera science, light, lenses, and digital artifacts. For her team, the goal is always to explain as much as possible, not to label every bump in the night as a ghost. Because they focus so much on ruling things out, the moments they cannot explain feel that much more exciting for guests and skeptics.
What can people expect when they come on a Ghost Hunt Alberta event?
“I always say it is just like you see on TV, but it is not. It is how the shows should be.”
“Nothing is rigged or staged. You get to join a real investigation, use our gear, and our experience, in places where we already know there is activity.”
Guests are not just watching from the sidelines. Bonnie puts people to work and really encourages them to ask questions, try equipment, and suggest ideas. She actually prefers using tools that were not built for ghost hunting, like electrician-grade EMF meters and regular toys with built-in sensors, because she knows what is inside them. A big part of her role now is educating people on which tools are reliable and which ones are just entertainment dressed up as evidence.
Do you have favourite locations or spirits you keep going back to?
“East Coulee School Museum will always be my favourite. They were the first to say yes, and we have been there for 15 years, sometimes ten times a year.”
“The Twin Cities Hotel in Longview is a close second. We caught an EVP there and the staff recognized the voice as Bruce, a man who died in the building.”
Because Ghost Hunt Alberta returns to certain locations over and over, the team has built what Bonnie calls relationships, not just with the staff and communities, but with the spirits themselves. East Coulee feels like coming home for her. At the Twin Cities Hotel, they have repeatedly captured the voice of Bruce, a former regular who died there. That ongoing body of evidence lets them confidently connect specific activity to a known person, which is rare in this field.
Have you ever had truly scary experiences, or is it mostly just intense?
“Honestly, I am more afraid of riding the C train or going to Walmart than I am of haunted locations.”
“The few times I have been scared were usually in private homes, where someone invited something in and it learned how to drain and influence people.”
Bonnie shared a few moments that rattled even her, including being grabbed at fourteen in a root cellar under a convent and an abandoned bar where a nasty spirit tried to choke her when she was alone. She admitted she broke her own rule about never investigating abandoned places solo. Even then, she framed it less as horror and more as a serious situation that needed boundaries, protection, and clear thinking.
Conclusion
My conversation with Bonnie was a reminder that real paranormal work is slower, quieter, and more methodical than TV usually shows. It is about forming hypotheses, ruling out the obvious, going back to the same places for years, and paying attention to what changes over time.
It is also about people and place. Bonnie lights up when she talks about helping small towns by bringing in visitors, supporting museums and historical sites, and giving a voice to the spirits who share those spaces. If you want to see more of what she and her team do, you can visit Ghost Hunt Alberta and explore their investigations on YouTube.
If you could join a proper overnight investigation at a historic location, what kind of building would you choose: a school, a hotel, a hospital, or something else entirely?
Explore More Local Hauntings
If stories like this make you curious about the ghosts in your own backyard, make sure to grab your free YQR Haunts: Guide to Regina Ghosts. It includes some of the top haunted locations in the city and a few stories you might not have heard yet.
👉 Download your free guide here
