NANAIMO, BC

Names in this story have been changed to protect the identity of the individual(s).

Back in the early-90’s a woman named Candice moved into a rental house on Campbell Street in Nanaimo. The home was an older craftsman style, built in the 1930’s and situated near the train tracks in a historic neighbourhood in the city’s downtown area. 

During the short time they lived there, both Candice and her oldest son, Jamie, experienced strange things in the house—things that would later make sense following an overheard conversation from a neighbour. 

The first thing Candice noticed about the place was an anomaly in one of the bedrooms. 

“There was one bedroom that was always cold, [even in] summertime: beautiful, hot blazing sun—it was always cold.” 

The room, which was located in the front of the house, was used by Candice’s toddler-aged daughter. Her daughter, however, never appeared bothered by the room.  

Most of the strange activity in the house seemed to centre around the basement. It was the kind common in older homes, partly finished, with cement floors. 

“Whenever I went downstairs, I always got this creepy feeling. The washer and dryer were downstairs so that was the only reason I would need to go downstairs.”

For Candice, that particular chore quickly became a test in nerves, for the moment she set foot down there, the feeling of being watched was so intense the hairs on her arms and neck would stand up. Like the front bedroom, the basement was also unnaturally cold. Candice made a point of spending as little time down there as possible. 

“I would just quickly do the laundry and then come back up.”

The feeling got so bad she eventually got her boyfriend, Ron, to accompany her downstairs each time she had to do the wash. Ron laughed her feelings off, but complied nonetheless.

Candice’s oldest son, Jamie, also found the basement very unsettling. 

“It was always cold down there. Even in the hot summer. Like a chilling kind of feeling.” 

One time, Jamie and his sister were playing down there when they ventured into a room off the laundry room. After being in there a while, they went to leave, only to realize the door had somehow locked itself. Jamie is sure they did not lock it. Ron eventually came down and found them. After opening the door, they discovered that a box of laundry soap, which had been sitting on the counter in the adjacent laundry room, had spilled onto the floor by itself.

At night, Jamie described hearing “banging” sounds coming from the basement, even though no one else would be down there.  

It was few months later, when Candice had some friends over for a get together, that she was to learn something very unsettling about their home. 

“A person that lived across the street came over. We were having a barbeque—a get together, or whatever.”

After stepping away for a moment, she was returning to her guests when she overheard her neighbour from across the road speaking in hushed tones about something with the others.

“I was coming down the stairs and she went ‘oh, shh, shh, she’s coming.’ And I’m like “What? You guys are talking about something!’”

After some probing, the neighbour told Candice that, some years earlier, a man had been murdered in the basement of the house. Though she never got any details about what had occurred, to Candice, it served as confirmation to what she had been feeling.

“I just went ‘great.’ I knew it. I felt it. I ended up going and finding somewhere else to live.”

After giving her notice, the owner put the property up for sale. When she eventually met the new buyer, Candice decided to fill him in on the house’s history.

“I said to him, ‘oh by the way, there’s a rumour someone got murdered in this house.’”

The man however seemed unperturbed by the news, telling her they would just “burn some sage.” 

The last Candice heard about the house was that the new owner had plans for converting it into an office of some sort. 

To this day she still remembers the strange things she and her family experienced at the old house on Campbell Street.