LUND, BC

Our next stop takes us north of Powell River to Lund, the northern terminus of Highway 101. Featured prominently in this idyllic community on the edge of Desolation Sound is the historic Lund Hotel. Built in 1895, the inn offers comfortable rooms, a great pub, and stunning views of nearby Malaspina Strait. And, of course, a couple spirits. 

Two ghosts are known to haunt the inn. The first is that of hotel and community founder Fred Thulin, whose spectre has been seen in the lobby. Thulin’s ghost is also reputed to linger near employees as they go about their work, as if intent on making sure they’re running his hotel to the same standard he did over a century earlier. The apparition, nattily dressed in a period suit, hangs around the original part of the building—first called the Hotel Malaspina, before a 1918 fire destroyed the structure. 

The other phantom is that of Thulin’s first wife, Vira May Palmer. She’s often seen in the saloon area of the hotel, dancing in a long white dress. Other times, an older looking version of what is also believed to be Palmer’s ghost, has been seen in the banquet hall or roaming the upstairs halls. Apparently, Palmer enjoys leaving dimes for staff and patrons to find. The coins, often left in pairs, are often found on surfaces known to have been previously left clear. 

Other reports from the hotel include phantom footsteps heard in the third floor hall and stairway, even though that level is used by staff only and kept locked. Figures are also glimpsed peeking out from the dormers of that level when supposedly no one is up there—no one living, that is. 

Room 207 is known to be always cold, despite the entire hotel being kept at a constant temperature. A housekeeper, while checking over the room for arriving guests one time, found the TV and fridge in the room had been moved, despite no one occupying it for some time.

These are just a few of several occurrences that have taken place at the historic hotel over the years. Any fans of ghosts, scenery, and great pub food could do much worse when it comes deciding whether to pay the this historic hotel a visit.

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