The Ghosts of Smithers Railway Station

The Smithers Railway Station at 3815 Railway Avenue was finished in early 1919 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, just before Canadian National Railways took over the line. For most of the years since, it served as a CNR depot and regional divisional headquarters. In 1989 it was designated a Heritage Railway Station, one of the oldest landmarks in town.

Ask anyone here about the lights. The top floor, where railway workers used to be lodged, sits unused now. People driving down Railway Avenue have reported seeing the lights on in those empty rooms.

Fawn Engen opened Trackside Cantina, the Mexican restaurant on the building's main floor, in 2007, though she'd worked in the building before that. She says buildings hold the energy of what happened in them, and after all these years she's acquainted with several entities inside.

One is Kevin. He used to work at Trackside, endlessly positive, the kind of person who would pull anyone out of a bad mood. He passed away, but Engen says he still works the kitchen and dishwasher area. Paper towels get chucked at people. The kitchen clock used to fall off the wall so often they finally took it down, and the kitchen staff would just call out, "Kevin!"

Another former employee had a harder time of it. Engen says she watched glasses fly off the racks and shelves toward this woman, who would walk in saying, "OK you guys, let's be friends and get along today," and the glasses would come flying out at her.

There were one-offs, too. A clock whose chime hadn't worked in years once went off on its own while Engen was closing up. Another night, taking out the garbage, she glanced into a friend's office window and saw a man in a grey uniform and a little grey hat, an old-school train uniform, in the reflection. She turned to look at the tracks. No one was there.

Engen says the energies all feel friendly, startling sometimes, but not frightening. Staff who didn't believe in ghosts have come running back from the bathroom saying something hugged them while they were on the toilet. Still, she laughed when she said it: she wouldn't stay overnight.