Paranormal Activity at HMCS Discovery on Dead Man's Island

Dead Man's Island, here in Vancouver's Coal Harbour, has been the home of HMCS Discovery, a Canadian naval base, since 1943. But it has a much longer, and darker, history.

Back in the 1700s, this island was the site of a massacre. The southern Coast Salish people captured some northern women, children, and elders, holding them hostage here. When the northern men surrendered in exchange for the hostages, they were slaughtered, 200 warriors in total.

Later, it became a Coast Salish burial site, with cedar coffins hung in the tall evergreen trees. Those coffins were taken down and buried in Stanley Park by 1870. Then, from 1870 to 1887, this island was used as a burial site for white settlers. Some of the 21 people killed in Vancouver’s great fire of 1886 were buried here, as were several workers who died building the Canadian Pacific Railway. During a smallpox outbreak in 1888, the city even used the island as a quarantine area, and several victims of that disease were buried here too.

By 1911, squatters had built shacks along the shoreline. Many plans for the island came and went between 1911 and 1939 – a museum, a war memorial, an amusement park, a dance hall – but none of them happened.

Then, in 1942, the federal government gave the island to the Canadian navy, and HMCS Discovery was built the next year. It’s named after one of Captain George Vancouver’s sailing ships. Today, it’s still a base for the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve, and it's linked to Stanley Park by a causeway. Since it's a military base, the public isn't allowed to visit.

Some reservists have reported disembodied voices, footsteps, and unexplained sounds. Apparitions have been seen, and some have even been touched by unseen hands while alone in Building No. 1, where most of the paranormal activity seems to happen.

One time, Leading Seaman A.M. Hamilton was staying overnight in Building No. 1. She was woken by voices and footsteps going up an outside staircase and then heard furniture being moved around in the former radar room above her for over half an hour. The next day, the commissionaire confirmed nobody had entered the base. The following night, she was woken again by furniture moving upstairs. She went to the hallway to investigate but felt uneasy and went back to bed.

Another time, in 1991, Leading Seaman C. Grahn was on security duty in Building No. 1. While in the bathroom, he heard the double-doors connecting the main building to the drill hall open and close. He radioed the commissionaire, who said he was at the front gate. Grahn searched the building but found no one, and all exterior doors were locked.

In 1992, Leading Seaman J. Eldridge was working in an office on the ground floor of Building No. 1. He heard footsteps quickly moving down a nearby staircase. Assuming he was alone, he investigated but found the lights out in the stairwell and no one there. He called the commissionaire, who confirmed Eldridge was the only person on the island. As he hung up, he heard scrapes and furniture moving upstairs. He bravely went to the staircase, and the sounds stopped. He turned on the lights and went up to both the second and third floors, but found nothing disturbed. Unnerved, he returned to his office and quickly finished his work.