The Haunting of the Newfoundland

Newfoundland is the most eastern province of Canada.  Officially named Newfoundland and Labrador, the province is comprised of two parts: Newfoundland, the large island located right off the coast, and Labrador, the mainland to the northwest of the island.  However, most of the province’s residents simply refer to the area as Newfoundland.  

The Newfoundland is also the namesake of an old ship that dates back to the early 20th century believed to be haunted and cursed.  In 1914, the Newfoundland took a crew of 250 men out to sea and to the Ice, where they could hunt seals.  A powerful, harsh storm rolled in while the men were out hunting and they were unable to make it back to the ship.  Once the storm passed, other ships in the area came and helped the remaining crew of the Newfoundland search for their missing men; 72 bodies were recovered while five men remained missing, presumed to be dead. 

Considered to be unlucky and cursed, the Newfoundland did not sail or return to the Ice the next year.  In order to rid the ship of the curse, she was entirely rebuilt and her name changed was changed from the Newfoundland to the San Blanford.  Two years after that fateful storm, the San Blanford set sail towards the Ice.

The ship met up with another ship near the Ice, the Terra Nova, and on one particular evening, the Terra Nova blew her whistle to signal there were still men on the ice.  The crew of San Blanford blew her whistle in response and heard shouting coming from the Ice.  They assumed they were coming from the sailors from the Terra Nova.  At ten o’clock that evening, the whistles and the voices stopped and all were presumed to be safely aboard their respective ship.

The next morning, when a sailor from the San Blanford boarded the Terra Nova for business, the captain asked what time the sailors from the San Blanford had boarded their ship the previous night; the captain and several of his men had seen a handful of sailors board the San Blanford.  Perplexed, the sailor informed the captain that the San Blanford didn’t have any men on the Ice the night before.  When the sailor returned to the San Blanford, he told his captain what the other captain had said.  Much to his surprise, the captain said what he had been told was indeed true.  Just before ten o’clock the night before, members of the night crew had seen five men climb aboard the San Blanford.  They were wearing tattered and torn clothing and the crew could actually see right through their translucent bodies.  One of the crew members had been on the Newfoundland the night she lost those 77 men and recognized the faces of the five who had been missing; they had finally returned to their ship and could rest in peace.