Extra research for Season 3 – Episode 11 – The Music Box

Any hospital has its fair share of death, and the Galt Hospital in Lethbridge, Alberta was no exception. But not all old hospitals are still home to the people who died in their wards.

Now home to the Galt Museum, the building that was once the Galt Hospital is one of the most haunted places in Alberta.

Not much is known about the people who died at the Galt Hospital, but as one story goes, in 1933 a patient named George Bailey met his death in a devastating accident there. At the hospital to have his appendix removed, he was being moved through the hospital on a gurney when there was a mechanical failure in an elevator and he fell 15 feet through the elevator shaft and into the basement. The impact didn’t kill him immediately, but he died of head trauma the next day. Rumour has it George can still be heard wandering around in the basement and opening and closing the elevator doors when nobody is around.

Michaella also came across the story of Florence, a 6-year-old girl who was poisoned by her mother. She may be one several child spirits who still wander through the Galt Museum singing, talking, and turning lights on and off. Two others named Sarah and Alexander still haunt the children’s ward, too. In fact, The Other Side’s investigation focused on the spirits of children, which is no easy thing to do.

According to some paranormal experts, communicating with the spirits of children can be challenging because these young spirits don’t have the concentration or proper understanding of talking through mediums or intuitives. Jeff tried using a music box as a trigger object to attract them; other paranormal investigators find that toys like balls work well with young spirits.

The ghosts of children are also less common than those of adults; children are less likely to experience trauma that might keep them from crossing over to the other side. But those who still walk among us may be there searching for their parents or are simply lost.

Child spirits may even evoke feelings of sympathy or a desire to help them in some way. In the case of the Galt Museum, the knowledge that many children died of medical mishaps, diseases, and even murder might make these feelings even stronger. So, too, did the did the presence of the dark spirit Lucy or Lucky who may be bothering George and the children who still linger in the hospital. Hopefully following The Other Side’s investigation and Tom’s protection ceremonies, Sarah, Alexander and the other children in Galt Hospital have found peace.

– Sarah MacDonald