Geocaching and the Adventure Lab

Good morning everyone.  This week's fun fact is all about that ghostly geocaching icon; the Virtual.  There are 272 Virtual caches in Canada, with Ontario leading the way with 65.  Across the border, there are 4,355 Virtual caches.  California has the most with 579.

Geocaching HQ has issued a special cache to select people in the geocaching community.  The Adventure Lab.  Just like two years ago when HQ brought back the Virtual cache and awarded it to select geocachers, the Adventure Lab is a lab cache.  Prior to this, lab caches were only available during larger scale events such as Megas and Gigas.  With the Adventure Lab caches, they are available to everyone, all the time.  One of these Adventure Lab type caches was awarded to the Manitoba Geocaching Association.  The MBGA put their heads together and came up with a ten stage cache that takes you to historic, but believed to be haunted places around Winnipeg.  "Paranormal Capital of Canada"  I teamed up with Auntie Mo and we tackled this ghostly Adventure Lab on Easter Sunday.

We started off at a traditional cache which is also the starting point for the adventure.  You need a QR reader to scan the code to get a password that is needed for the ten stages.  Each stage has a question you need to answer along with the password we acquired at the traditional cache.  Our first stage was the Vaughn Street Jail.  It is believed to be haunted by the men who were executed by means of hanging.  When the jail was in operation, the public could pay money to tour and see the "lunatics".  You can read more about this old jail in this blog that I found that has plenty of pictures from the inside --> http://www.brittanymthiessen.com/2016/05/touring-vaughan-street-jail-winnipeg/

(the outside of the old jail)

On to our second stop.  This is within walking distance from the jailhouse.  The Manitoba Legislature.  A ghostly woman has been reported visiting and working in the library.  Children's voices and laughter is common in the basement, while three spirits continue to meet in the common room.  What spirits haunt the halls under the famed Golden Boy statue?  

(home of the provincial government and many ghosts)

Stop number three is a very familiar spot for myself and for those who have been following my blog.  Dalnavert House.  Staff have reported hearing footsteps when no one was around, or doors slamming.  Visitors have commented that they smell bread baking or a strong smell of tobacco smoke, even though no baking has occured in the house and no one has smoked in the building for decades.  Staff have also reported finding toys scattered out into the hall, as if a child had been playing and forgot to clean up.  The toys are suppose to be on display in one of the rooms.

(Dalnavert house in the Spring)

Stop number four is probably the most famous of the haunted places.  Fort Garry Hotel.  Specifically, room #202.  The story to this spooky location is believed to have begun when a couple on their honeymoon booked the room.  The new bride became ill so her new husband left to get medicine, never to return as he died in a car accident on the way to get the medicine.  Shock and grief sent the bride over the edge and she committed suicide by hanging herself in the hotel room closet.

(a view of the hotel from across the street on Broadway)

A quick hop over the Red River brings us to Saint Boniface Museum.  Built in 1845, it was home to the Grey Nuns until 1956.  Many reports of children running and playing, monks chanting, and a women's choir singing by workers who also have said they felt someone tap them on the shoulder or grab their clothes; but the chapel is empty.  

(Saint Boniface museum from the front entrance off Tache)

Back to the downtown area for the next four stops of this haunting tour.  Marlborough Hotel is home to possibly a couple of ghostly apparitions.  Guests have reported hearing a piano being played on the eighth floor.  There hasn't been a piano in the building for years.  It is believed to be that of a woman who lived on the top floor for years and would play her piano daily for guests and staff.  There is also the hauntings on the fifth floor.  The apparition is that of a young woman, warning other young people, mostly women of potential harm.  It is believed to be that of a sixteen year old girl who was strangled in room #503.  

(the Marlborough Hotel, tucked away among newer, taller office buildings)

Our next stop is just steps away from the Marlborough Hotel.  The Burton Cummings Theatre.  That's what the building is called today.  Back in the day, it was the Walker Theatre, home to vaudeville acts and plays.  The ghostly happenings here are attributed to English acting couple Laurence Irving and Mabel Hackney.  After a well-received tour at the Walker, Irving and Hackney were scheduled to sail back home to England.  The boat they were on was struck by a coal ship on the St. Lawrence River, claiming 1,012 lives.  Irving was found, still clutching Hackney's nightdress.  Hackney was never found.  

(the Burton Cummings theatre, named after the lead singer of Winnipeg band, The Guess Who.  Older Winnipegers will remember this as the Odeon theatre, home to first-run movies)

Just a few blocks North is the next stop.  What is now known as Old Market Square, was once home to one of the first jailhouses, before the construction of the Vaughn Street jailhouse.  Today, you can sit on the grass and take in a concert in the park, but back in 1870, it was a jailhouse where local hangings took place.  

(standing across the street from Old Market Square, and my car)

Our ninth stop is at The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre.  It is believed that this ghost followed the RMTC from it's first home at the Dominion Theatre.  The son of a caretaker was known for playing pranks.  The caretaker's son was in poor health and required the use of a wheelchair.  The son perished in a fire at the theatre, or so we are to believe.  The Dominion Theatre never had a fire and wasn't wheelchair-accessible.  

(the current home of The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre)

On to our last destination.  This takes us out of the downtown area and to one of the older cemeteries in Winnipeg.  Only fitting that the paranormal adventure lab would conclude in a cemetery.  If you show up on the right night, you might experience a fog phenomena often photographed at this site.  Swirls or concentrated figures of fog are thought to be the manifestations of spirits.  

(we completed this Adventure Lab)

A great big thank you goes out to the Manitoba Geocaching executive board for this well planned Adventure Lab.  If a favorite point could be given, this one certainly deserves one.  I highly recommend doing this cache if you haven't done it yet, or plan on visiting Winnipeg soon.

As mentioned last week, I completed my April challenge to reach my 5,300th find.  What can I do for May?  Most of my bigger, yearly goals will occur in the month of June, so I'll be gearing up for that.  Along with attending at least three events in North Dakota, doubling my North Dakota county count from nine to eighteen, and finding at least 75 caches in North Dakota, I also want to get my 600th mystery find in June and my 5,500th find at the kick-off event of the North Dakota Camping and Caching weekend.  Last year, the kick-off event was my 4,500th find.  One year, one thousand caches found.  A very busy June for me.  What about May?  I do have three dates with only four finds.  May 4th, 10th, and 19th.  I also have four days with five finds.  May 6th, 9th, 12th and 21st.  My goal for May will be find two caches on the days with four finds and at least one cache on the days with five.

That's it for this week.  Until next time, be happy, be safe, enjoy, and most of all, have fun.  Peace out.