News1130 hunts the haunted (Part 4)
Posted October 31, 2012 12:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BURNABY (NEWS1130) – It has a reputation as one of the most intensely haunted locations in the Lower Mainland.
Today, News1130 wraps up a series on some of Vancouver’s most haunted locations with paranormal investigator Rick Pedersen.
The Burnaby Art Gallery (Ceperley House)
The mansion, built in 1910 by the Ceperley Family has a dark past, from disingenuous husbands to a cult accused of preying on orphans.
“That place, I have to say, was very, very haunted. There was a lot of activity there,” says Pedersen, lead investigator and founder of Society of Paranormal Incident Research Investigation Team, or SPIRIT.
“We had all kinds of phenomena happening — lights would mysteriously go on and off, doors slamming with no breeze or anybody standing by it. Basically, there’s a lot of history to that location,” he adds.
That history includes four wealthy families, a congregation of monks, a controversial religious cult and a university fraternity before it was turned into the Burnaby Art Gallery in the late 1960s.
“The Ceperleys were the original builders of the house and there’s some really interesting history about how when Mrs. Ceperley passed, the property was supposed to be donated. Mr. Ceperley did not do that, he eventually sold the place and pocketed the money,” explains Pedersen. “There are a lot of rumours that some of the entity around there is Mrs. Ceperley.”
“Then there’s also a cult group that was there in the 50s and into the 60s, lots of allegations of child abuse happening there as well. We experienced all kinds of phenomena, we went in there and saw some pretty wild stuff,” describes Pedersen, who won’t divulge everything because it appears in a trailer for a show being shopped around by production company.
There have been reports from other people of paintings leaping off walls and falling to the ground, mysterious screams and laughter, strange flashes and shadowy figures. Others tell of padlocks violently rattling as staff pass by, electrical interference with audio and video equipment and apparitions including a skipping girl, an elderly woman, a monk and a well-dressed man.
“One of the things we use during our work is a ‘ghost box’ or ‘spirit box’ and we had very clear communications through that that we were able to capture on film. You’ll see some of that on our website where we work with a ghost box and how we get dialogue happening with spirits on the other side coming through. It essentially acts as a white noise generator,” Pedersen explains.
During a previous investigation of the building, Pedersen says he felt a strong force. “I was standing at the top of the stairs and I got shoved, I had witnesses eight feet away from me who saw me all of a sudden lurch forward as if I got shoved from behind.”
Many have described an oppressive, negative feeling in the mansion.
