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Vol 33 • No 05
$4.99
October 2020
Beware the Jacky Lantern!
Fishery Inspired Furniture Encounters with Death Tokens Fall Planting for Spring Blooms
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life is better Published monthly in St. John’s by Downhome Publishing Inc. 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 Tel: 709-726-5113 • Fax: 709-726-2135 • Toll Free: 1-888-588-6353 E-mail: mail@downhomelife.com Website: www.downhomelife.com Editorial Editor-in-Chief Janice Stuckless Art and Production Art Director Vince Marsh Graphic and Web Designer Cory Way Illustrator Mel D’Souza Illustrator Snowden Walters Advertising Sales Senior Account Manager Robert Saunders Account Manager Barbara Young Marketing Director Tiffany Brett Finance and Administration Junior Accountant Marlena Grant Accounting Assistant Sandra Gosse Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney
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To subscribe, renew or change address use the contact information above. Subscriptions total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL, NS, NB, PE $45.99; ON $45.19; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $41.99. US and International mailing price for a 1-year term is $49.99.
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Printed in Canada
Official onboard magazine of
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tail end of research
Contents
OCTOBER 2020
34 Warnings Across the Waters Tales of ghostly appearances, premonitions, unsettling dreams and death tokens from old Conception Bay Dennis Flynn
46 Portraits and Portrayals With a recent acquisition, painter Nelson White has been discovered by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Jenn Thornhill Verma
68 Fluke Science The secret to tracking humpback whales is in their flukes. Lester Green
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96 Berry Bonanza A dozen tasty ways to enjoy this year’s berry harvest.
sweet takes
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Contents
OCTOBER 2020
homefront 10 I Dare Say A note from the editor 12 Letters From Our Readers A wedding in a dory, a return to a resettled home, and the discovery of long lost friends
20 Downhome Tours Downhome readers explore Alaska
12 dory I-dos
22 Why is That? Does eating turkey really make us sleepy, and how does food go “down the wrong way”? Linda Browne 24 Life’s Funny Jobs Today Sheila Trask
25 Say What A contest that puts words in someone else’s mouth
26 Lil Charmers Baby Berrypickers
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running a-fowl
28 Pets of the Month Fall Fur 30 Reviewed Denise Flint interviews Antony Berger about editing and compiling his mom’s stories in No Place for a Woman: The life and Newfoundland stories of Ella Manuel.
32 What Odds Paul Warford covers karaoke
features 40 Beware the Jacky Lantern The eerie light beckons, but you dare not follow. Dale Gilbert Jarvis 4
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40 turnip terror 1-888-588-6353
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awaken the senses
52 What’s that Fall Smell? The science behind the changing scents of the seasons and how they help us to interpret our world in some very important ways Linda Browne
58 Don’t Get Taken by the Fairies Be informed and prepared before you next head into the forest or over the hills of NL. Kim Ploughman
62 Sure Shots Featuring photographer Lorraine Winsor
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explore 72 Rockin’ the Rock A travel diary by Kathryn Erskine
76 Fogo Island Day Trip Calvin Perry October 2020
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Contents
OCTOBER 2020
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outdoor spaces
home and cabin 80 Stuff We Love Locally Set Thanksgiving Table Tobias Romaniuk
82 Decked Out The planning and precision paid off on this patio project. Tobias Romaniuk 88 From Stage Head to Table The wharf-inspired hall table of Jerome Canning Tobias Romaniuk
92 Everyday Gourmet Andrea Maunder explains how to make Grilled Squash Tacos 106 Down to Earth Beautiful Fall Bulbs Kim Thistle 6
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a newcomer’s notes
reminiscing 110 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places
112 The Ghosts of Nichols Pond Dennis Flynn
114 A Father’s Journey Elizabeth Batstone
About the cover These mouthwatering cranberry tarts are just one of a dozen delicious berry recipes in this issue. Turn to p. 96, get your apron on, and start sampling some treats!
Cover Index Beware the Jacky Lantern! • 40 What’s that Fall Smell? • 52 Whales by the Tail • 68 Berry Bonanza! • 96 Fishery Inspired Furniture • 88 Encounters with Death Tokens • 34 Fall Planting for Spring Blooms • 106 www.downhomelife.com
118 Best Day Trip Ever A last chance journey on a Newfoundland train Kenneth G. Pieroway 121 Newfoundlandia The Plant Hunter Chad Bennett
126 Marketplace 128 Mail Order 132 Puzzles 144 Photo Finish October 2020
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i dare say Behind this mask is a berry-eating grin.
Todd Young photo
Is there anything more amazing in nature than berries? Newfoundland might be “a rock,” but she grows some slew of juicy berries! Blackberries, blueberries, partridgeberries, cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, dogberries, serviceberries and bakeapples. From sweet to tart, from June to November, there’s a treat for everyone just there for the taking. Loves it. Berrypicking, as an event, a tradition, exists in everyone’s lived experience in Newfoundland and Labrador. Even in the capital city, I’ve seen people scouring Signal Hill and the trail to Cuckold’s Cove with their berry pail. I have memories associated with almost every kind of berry. Blackberries (crowberries) make me think of steamed blackberry pudding, and the way the berries would pop! in my mouth with every warm bite. Partridgeberries bring back the taste of Mom’s partridgeberry pie smothered in tin cream. Raspberries transport me to gravel pits and dodging wasps while picking berries off stalks taller than me. Wild strawberries remind me of my first trip to Bell Island and finding a meadow full of them. I always associate dogberries with Nan Stuckless because she liked them more than anyone I knew. And blueberries conjure up more memories than all the berries combined. With all those berries, we’re always looking for new, tasty ways to use them. In this issue, staff and family and friends shared some favourite berry recipes (see p. 96), while writer Kim Ploughman offers some sage advice to berrypickers about minding the mischievous fairies that are “known” to roam the woods and hills (see p. 58). And if that sends a delightful chill up your spine, you’ll be in the shivers with spooky stories by Dale Jarvis (p. 40) and Dennis Flynn (pp. 34 and 112), just in time for Halloween! Thanks for reading,
Janice Stuckless, Editor-in-chief janice@downhomelife.com 10
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WIN A DOWNHOME CARE PACKAGE! We’re looking for readers’ RECIPES to share in the December issue! Send us your cherished Christmastime (or other December holiday) recipe, and tell us how it came to be an annual favourite. We’ll choose the best ones for the December issue and enter them into a draw for a HOLIDAY CARE PACKAGE of goodies from Downhome! Send your recipes by October 20, 2020! Mail:
Email: editorial@downhomelife.com Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3
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homefront lil charmers
Baby Berrypickers Bakeapple Bounty This little one curiously checks out the berries that Poppy picked. Valene Stacey Point May, NL
Berry Bandit
Eleven-month-old Kai Neil is eating more berries than he’s putting in the bucket! Jillian Strickland Port aux Basques, NL
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Finger Food!
Six-month-old Kaleb Cabot of Churchill Falls is enjoying his first taste of bakeapples. Judy Willcott Churchill Falls, NL
Blending In
Bayley’s blue outfit goes well with the berries picked in her great-grandma’s garden. Lori Brooking Hickman’s Harbour, NL www.downhomelife.com
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features
Tales of ghostly appearances, premonitions, unsettling dreams and death tokens from old Conception Bay By Dennis Flynn
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Moving along the beaches
in Colliers, NL, surveying the aftermath of the monstrous January 17, 2020, winter storm, I spot remnants of old wharves and fences, and even debris from a derelict dory that was long submerged far away but returned as detritus of the depths upon the sea strand. My father, Tony Flynn of Colliers, hearing what unusual items had been tossed up with the waves, said, “The ocean is a strange and marvelous place like that. Old men around home were fond of saying, ‘What the sea takes away, it always gives back, but often not in the way you expect.’”
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He continues, “There used to be lots of stories about folks who died at sea, for instance, returning to the land as spirits to let loved ones know they had passed. There was even a very old song around Colliers that I learnt from my mother, who learnt it from her mother, meaning it went back a long ways.” Called “Your Daddy’s Ship” or “Many a Tall and Gallant Ship,” it had 34 or 35 verses, Dad estimates, and told of a sailor’s death token coming to his son in a dream.
2013, about what was believed to be a spectral warning from a departed family member that possibly saved a life. “This happened to my grandmother over 50 years ago, and she always maintained it was a true account of what occurred… When I was growing up, I remember that she was noted for taking being truthful very seriously, so as kids we believed that Nanny never lied. I can only relate what she said, since I never witnessed it personally, but she often told me of a particularly sudden
As she walked over to close the door and screen, she almost had reached out to touch it when suddenly a young boy, dripping wet, came walking up the steps and raised his hand to halt her. “I don’t remember it all, but one verse where the child is describing the token visit to his mother and her response went, ‘Oh, I dreamed last night I saw my dad holding his hat in hand. And these words he spoke, “God Bless you both,” as he sailed from Newfoundland. Now your daddy’s ship, my gentle boy, it is sunk beneath the waves, and it’s many a tall and gallant ship sails over your daddy’s grave.’” I’ve collected a number of stories like these over the years. Joseph Conway, a native of Colliers who resides in Ontario, wrote to me in 36
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strong thunder and lightning storm that came up in over the harbour in Colliers. When the winds and rain came heavy, she discovered that the front door was ajar and the metal screen on the old-fashioned storm door was wide open.” His grandmother rushed towards the door to close it, but was stopped in her tracks by something very strange. “As she walked over to close the door and screen, she almost had reached out to touch it when suddenly a young boy, dripping wet, came walking up the steps and raised his hand to halt her. He didn’t speak 1-888-588-6353
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but was shaking his head in a clear warning of a single word. That word was ‘NO!’ Grandmother instantly recognized this young boy as her first grandson, Gary, who was drowned at the age of seven beneath a wharf in nearby Conception Harbour some years before. Shocked at the apparition she hesitated, frozen in fear, and that simple gesture probably changed her life forever. Before she knew what happened, a bolt of lightning suddenly hit the screen door! It flashed and sparked and danced all around the entrance. Grandmother said that if it weren’t for that moment’s hesitation, she would have had her hands on the metal and never would have lived to tell the tale. As for that little boy, she never saw him after. Apparently, he just gave a sad little smile and turned to walk away into the darkness.” Other spirits were not issuing any warnings but, perhaps, merely passing through and visiting familiar haunts one last time. Robert Keating of Conception Harbour, age 84 at the time, shared this WWII-era tale with me in February 2019. “Now I’m not sure how much there really is to it, but back in those times some people believed in a thing called a token (or a death token), which supposedly was a sort of a ghostly copy of a person travelling great distances to visit a loved one or a special location around the moment or shortly after when the actual person passed away. It was
seen as a premonition that news would come shortly of an untimely death. I can’t say if that was actually the case or not, but I often heard my mother tell the story that one time during the Second World War she and my father were walking out from her parents’ house in on Healy’s Pond Road, in an area of Conception Harbour known as The Pinch. When they got to a low rise called Curran’s Hill [near the present day ballfield], they met a sailor walking in the road.
When they got to a low rise called Curran’s Hill, they met a sailor walking in the road. They spoke to him and he didn’t answer…
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They spoke to him and he didn’t answer, which was pretty strange in those times, since everyone was very friendly in a small place like that. My mother said to my father later that night, when they were discussing the odd incident, that she thought for sure it was Bill Costello, who was very well-known to her since his home was just across the road from where they lived. The next day they asked around and nobody else had seen or knew anything about a sailor walking in around The Pinch that night, so they kind of forgot about it. October 2020
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Of course, a few days later shocking word came that made them remember the encounter. It turns out the ship that Bill Costello had been serving on was torpedoed somewhere overseas and he was lost at sea.” The general consensus was that it was his token the young couple saw taking one last visit to The Pinch before heading on his Final Voyage to wherever sailors gone down at sea find their ultimate rest.
days, that Mike had been killed on the job.” John Dawson of Kippens, on Newfoundland’s west coast, shares a most unusual premonition tale that has a familial connection for him, but was also famously included in Cassie Brown’s book of the 1914 sealing disaster, Death on the Ice. I spoke with him about it over the phone in 2015. “I was born and raised in Bay Roberts in Conception Bay North,
Tom hung on and in a dream he was visited out there on the ice by the vision of a young girl… she pleaded with Tom to hang on as her father was on his way on the vessel Bellaventure to save him. Robert has another similar story about a construction worker who died sometime in the 1940s in New York. “Well there’s another one that Lil Wade, who lived down the harbour in Conception Harbour, often told me. The district nurse was boarding with Lil, and she was doing Lil’s hair this day when a knock came on the door. They went out to answer and there was nobody there, but there was a man jumping over the fence up by the barn. It looked just like Lil’s husband, Mike. Now as it happened, Mike was working away in New York. The next day Lil got a message, I guess a telegram in those 38
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and my father was John M. Dawson as well, but most people would have known him as Jack Dawson or Farmer Jack,” he began. “One of the stores Father told quite often was about his cousin, Thomas Dawson, who had served as one of the Masters of the Watch on the ship the SS Newfoundland during the great sealing disaster of 1914, where 78 men perished.” His father heard this story firsthand from Thomas himself. While stranded on the ice floe, Thomas would encourage his crewmates to keep moving by beating a path through the snow and ice for others to follow. He did this for hours 1-888-588-6353
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on end in a blinding snowstorm. “This would have been very difficult work, as the person out front gets the full blast of the weather and expends a lot of effort. He’d also fallen through the ice into the water a number of times, so his feet and legs were soaked and eventually froze. Over time it all took a heavy toll, and he had to lay down on the ice to take a rest.” Fearing that he might die there of exposure, his crewmates stacked dead bodies around him, to help shield him from the weather. “Whatever the reason, Tom hung on and always maintained that in a dream he was visited out there on the ice by the vision of a young girl. He recognized her as the daughter of his good friend, Abram Parsons of Bay Roberts, and she pleaded with Tom to hang on as her father was on his
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way on the vessel Bellaventure to save him.” Robert continued, “While Tom suffered frostbite and would eventually have his legs amputated, he lived on to be rescued. In a strange coincidence, or perhaps in a striking conclusion, it was indeed by the vessel Bellaventure, and it was actually carrying his good friend Abram Parsons, who was one of the ship’s officers. It was exactly as the girl who came to him in a dream claimed it would happen.” Do you have any stories of ghostly apparitions or visits from death tokens? Share your story at Downhomelife.com/submit; or email it to editorial@downhomelife.com; or write to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.
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Shane Howard photo
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Shane Howard photo
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE THE AROMA of a wild rose in bloom after a summer’s rain and the sweet scent of pine trees during a crisp autumn stroll through the woods. Scents colour our world and they’re all around us. Smell is an important part of how we interpret and understand our world, and it’s inextricably linked to our memories and emotions. During this time of year, for instance, many of us associate that fall scent of musky leaf piles with back to school, which can bring up either positive or negative emotions, depending on the person and their experiences. Just as we can see and feel the change in the seasons, we can smell them, too. But what we smell and when we smell it also depends on our culture and geographic location (snow is as much a spring scent to those who live in Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, as the cherry blossoms that bloom in www.downhomelife.com
British Columbia the same time of year). All around us at any given time, organisms are releasing molecules that stimulate the olfactory nerves in our nose, which then send information to our brain so we can identify exactly what it is that we’re smelling. The molecules in the air that give rise to aroma change throughout the seasons and the temperature affects the way they move. During warm and humid conditions, for instance, aromatic molecules move through the atmosphere more quickly than when it’s cooler, at which time they are slower moving and so there are fewer of them in our breathing space. October 2020
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SPRING & SUMMER SMELLS During springtime, we’re bombarded with smells that include flowers in bloom, which release a bouquet of aromatic molecules. But you might also associate this season with an earthy smell that comes from a variety of chemical compounds. One of these is geosmin (which comes from the Greek words for earth and smell), which is produced by streptomyces bacteria. “These bacteria are abundant in the soil. And as soon as the humidity level starts to go up, these bacteria go into overdrive... and they start to release these molecules that have a really earthy scent to them. And in fact, these geosmins, they give rise to the earthy taste of beetroots and a lot of root vegetables,” explains Dr. Chris Kozak, a professor in the department of chemistry at Memorial University. Geosmin, Kozak says, also contributes to petrichor, which is the scent that arises just before or during a rain shower. The term, coined in 1964 by Australian scientists Isabel Bear and Richard Thomas, comes from the Greek petra meaning “stone” and ichor, which, in Greek mythology, is the blood that flows through the veins of the gods. The oils from plants seep into the rocks and soil, and when the humidity rises and the rain hits the dry ground, the odour molecules get displaced and the oil gets released into the air, imbuing it with a distinctive scent. Sometimes, that rain might be accompanied by a thunder and lightning storm, which brings its own unique scent. When lightning strikes, 54
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The familiar smells of summer including rain and lightning, flowers and cut grass are each caused by their own unique chemical mechanisms.
Linda Browne photos
Kozak explains, the oxygen in the air (O2 or dioxygen) can get split into individual oxygen atoms, which can then combine with the dioxygen to form ozone (O3), “which everyone knows from the ozone layer, and that protects the planet from UV radiation,” he says. “Ozone has a very distinct smell… 1-888-588-6353
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so, for example, before a thunderstorm, if there’s thunder and lightning coming in the distance, we can smell that ozone in the air, which eventually rises up and enters the upper atmosphere.” Another smell that we commonly associate with the warmer months is the strong, sweet scent of a freshly cut lawn. Grass, Kozak explains, is made up of cellulose, oils and fats. “When the grass is cut, bits of the interior of the blade of grass are now exposed to oxygen, and that again triggers enzymes to start digesting the fats to try to heal the cut surface, to prevent any disease from entering the grass. So it’s the same thing as if we get a cut on our skin. We bleed, it turns into a clot, our body is trying to protect the laceration from getting [infected],” he says. Fatty acids, including linolenic and linoleic acids, Kozak adds, are broken down by enzymes, turning them into smaller molecules which can more easily evaporate from the surface of the grass. “And these molecules then start to oxidize a little bit and they get turned into what are called aldehydes. And aldehydes are very, very fragrant. So most of the smell that comes from fruits, a lot of the smells that come from flowers, they come from aldehydes… so they have that green grass smell.”
Fall & Winter Aromas When the air turns cooler, the leaves begin to transform into a brilliant display of red, orange, gold and brown before eventually cascading down to the earth. As they start to decay, bacteria tries to break down their components – including sugars, www.downhomelife.com
cellulose and lignins – into smaller molecules. “What they’re doing is they’re releasing these things called terpenes and terpenoids, which are very, very fragrant... turpentine comes from the word terpene, and it’s got that classic sort of resiny smell. Some of these terpenes are called pinenes because
Fall leaves release a variety of odours as they rest on the ground. They are also fun to play in. Dora-Leigh Eddy photo it smells [like] pine. Others are called limonene because they’ve got a bit of a citrusy smell to them,” Kozak says, adding that fungus also feeds on the decaying matter, which contributes to the familiar fall aroma. During the winter, a quiet calm descends upon the earth and the scent of woodsmoke fills the frosty air. But really, Kozak says, what we’re noticing at this time of year is the absence of smell. There are less October 2020
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The smell a person experiences when they say ‘smells like snow’ can change from location to location. If you live near an ocean, you may smell seaweed and sulphur. Nola Snyder photo aromatic molecules in the air because of the colder temperatures, and less things to smell in general (especially when compared to a season like spring). However, there is one interesting aroma to note. “Just like with ahead of an impending rainstorm, if you’ve got snowfall, we get this increase in humidity in the air, [which] allows more of these same scent molecules to travel to our nose. So therefore, we get a heightened sensation, which is what we associate with the feeling of ‘smelling like snow,’” Kozak says. What snow smells like to an individual, he adds, depends upon their location. For example, if a person lives in a big city and there’s pollution in the air, their nose will pick it up since the snow allows some of the pollutant molecules in the upper atmosphere to come down. If you live near the coast, the snow will contain hints of seaweed and sulphur. “So to say ‘smells like snow’ really 56
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depends on where you live,” Kozak says, “because the snow sort of amplifies any small amounts of aromatic molecules in the atmosphere that are present.”
Scents & Sensibility The act of smelling is a chemical, biological and psychological process. When we sniff in odour molecules, even before our brain can label the particular scent, there’s a quick, hedonic response (which tells us whether something is pleasant or unpleasant). “Smell really is designed as a danger sense. It’s a sense that can alert us to danger from a distance, because odour molecules can travel thousands of feet from a source and can tell us that there’s something in our vicinity that we should stay away from, or perhaps something that we should approach,” says Dr. Pamela Dalton, a cognitive psychologist and member of the Monell Chemical 1-888-588-6353
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SMELL impacts our emotions and mood at any
given time. Which odours bring about positive or negative feelings depends upon an individual’s personal experiences and their reactions to them.
Senses Center in Philadelphia (an independent, non-profit, scientific institute that conducts and publishes research on taste and smell). “But then you match that with past experience and this is where your own idiosyncratic smell memory comes in. And if you are living in the same place that you’ve lived in since you were a child, there are going to be repeated smell experiences that reinforce those smell memories.” Smell, Dalton adds, impacts our emotions and mood at any given time. Which odours bring about positive or negative feelings depends upon an individual’s personal experiences and their reactions to them. “So the person who likes the smell of roses, for another person, whether they’re allergic or they first experienced them in a negative context, that won’t be a pleasant smell. I have certain scents of summer in my garden that are very positive for me – some of them are my vegetable garden: the smell of tomato leaves or the smell of basil and herbs that I grow. But for someone else, they may have no association with that,” she says. While we may not appreciate the aroma of everything that we come www.downhomelife.com
across in our lifetimes, our sense of smell is one that we should never take for granted. Regardless of how busy you may be or frustrated you feel, you should always take time to stop and literally smell the roses (or whatever you find pleasant). “When somebody loses their smell on a more permanent basis, one of the things they report is a sadness about not being able to experience the world that they didn’t even realize they were picking up on. They may not have realized that when they hug their daughter or son or their husband or wife or a friend... the smell of that person is another piece of who they are, another piece of that connection. Or that walking into grandmother’s house, it always smells the same way when you go over there for dinner; it’s something that is very rewarding to you. And when you lose that ability, you can get very depressed about it. So it’s not trivial,” Dalton says. “Most people would think that of all the senses you would want to lose if you had to pick one, it would be smell... but the reality is you would miss more than you think you would if you lost your sense of smell forever.” October 2020
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reminiscing
By Dennis Flynn
Chats with my father, Tony Flynn of Colliers, often lead to interesting stories. This one day it led to a chilling ghost story about his own father, Jack (John) Flynn, when he was working in what was once known as the lumbering woods of Nichols Pond. It happened sometime between 1900 and 1920, when my grandfather was still a teenager. “He was working in a remote woods camp that he said had to do with the Reid Newfoundland Railway,” Dad begins. “He was travelling from Colliers well ahead of the main gang this particular trip. They usually all went up together or met at what they called Mahers Siding [near Brigus Junction]. Father was a day early, so rather than wait he proceeded on foot by himself up towards the tiny camp that was 112
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at the far end of Nichols Pond, where the crew would be doing the actual harvesting of timber. It was a long spell to travel and a very lonely place to go, but Father was the type, like most rural men and women of that era, that walked everywhere and he always had a good nerve. Folks needed a strong constitution and a bit of courage since jobs were very hard to come by in those days.”. 1-888-588-6353
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He added, “Anything unusual or frightening that crossed their path, well, I guess they just had to find a way to come to terms with it and keep going. I am sure my father was probably afraid at times, but he had no choice, in his mind at least, except to keep working as hard as he could. He figured if you encountered any spirits and left them alone and in peace, they might not necessarily help you, but they might not go out of their way to hurt you either. That was good enough for him.” Jack made his way to the tiny camp at Nichols Pond and settled in to wait for the others. “Now during the night he heard sounds of men on the water rowing up the pond, and then the splashes of feet scuffling through the shallows as a small boat was being dragged ashore. He figured it was his buddies after coming up the pond, so he got dressed and went down to the water’s edge to meet them. As he approached, he said he could hear them talking and almost singing something, probably a little shanty to help with hauling the boat up, though he couldn’t quite pick out what they were saying,” my father continued. “Suddenly though, when he rounded the last little bend to where his friends should have been, there was nobody there at all. He looked everywhere up and down the pond as far as he could see, but not a soul was to be found and not a mark on the spot of beach despite what he heard. Father gave up on the search eventually and went back to bed. The next morning when his companions eventually arrived, Father asked them why they had turned back the night before. They had no idea what he was 1-888-588-6353
talking about. They told him it was too late when they got to Mahers Siding, so nobody had left the main camp or travelled Nichols Pond until dawn that morning. Whatever he heard it wasn’t them.” So what was it?
“Suddenly though, when he rounded the last little bend to where his friends should have been, there was nobody there at all.” “One of the senior members of the lumbering crew, who was quite familiar with the history of the area, said that Nichols Pond was a mysterious place and the site of a number of tragedies over the years – including a group of men in a small boat who were lost and all hands drowned. The phenomenon was apparently well-known to older locals as being harmless enough and merely a harbinger of bad weather on the horizon. Woodsmen and hunters often reported hearing the ghostly oarsmen rowing, talking, singing and even hauling their craft up out of the water. It was a token that a storm was on the way in the next few days and a warning to be mindful on or around the water.” You may choose to believe Jack Flynn’s tale or not, but if you find yourself alone in the Nichols Pond area, keep a sharp ear towards the water. The ghostly boatmen of Nichols Pond might still be up there rowing their boat ashore. October 2020
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