Staff refuse to be alone in ghostly Vancouver Police Museum

Vancouver -

It is a Vancouver Police Museum tradition that whoever locks-up after closing, must say “good night” to the ghosts.

On the evening an employee forgot, she swore the lock wouldn’t turn. That is, until she remembered the nightly custom, and then, she says, the lock turned by itself.

That’s just one of many ghostly encounters staff at the fascinating facility are at a loss to explain.

“You’d have to pay me a lot of money to make me stay here overnight by myself,” said Catherine Rose of the Vancouver Police Historical Society

Built in the 1930s, the grand building on East Cordova, served as a coroner’s court, crime lab and city morgue.

“Here we’ve had 20,000 dead people, and a few spirits have lingered,” said Greg Mansfield, author of Ghosts of Vancouver.

Many of the deceased are victims of unsolved murders.

Employees reported seeing orbs and shadows, and hearing unexplained sounds and whispers.

“A number of our staff have seen or heard things, and quite honestly some were sufficiently creeped out by it, they didn’t even want to speak about it,” said museum board of directors member, Bill Allman.

Visitors can explore the old morgue and autopsy facilities, including the table where the body of screen legend Errol Flynn was examined.

The museum also hosts many Halloween events, which run into November.