Eerie Whispers is a nonfiction title from last year with the subtitle: Exploring Canada’s Reluctant Relationship with Its Ghostly Lore. Despite my scientific profession and general skepticism, I’ve always been fascinated by and enjoyed ghost stories or any other paranormal or strange tale under the folklore umbrella. And people with that kind of interest are included among those for whom journalist Brian Baker (founder of The Supersitious Times) specifically wrote this book: “those who have an honest interest in Canadian ghost stories and feel at home with the spooky: historians, folkorists, archivists, anthropologists, investigators, mediums, parapsychologists, journalists, and enthusiasts.”
The Canadian focus of Eerie Whispers drew my interest from among all the other similar books that get published each year, especially because of that word ‘reluctant’ in the subtitle. Canadians are reluctant to talk about their local ghost stories and experiences? The major focus of the start of Eerie Whispers is about this question, and the related question of why. Being in Buffalo, which at times feels like South Canada (and at times we might really wish it were), I hadn’t heard about or experienced this sentiment of paranormal discomfort from our Northern friends and neighbors.
In fact, the only ghost tour I’ve ever gone on in my life was just across the border in Ontario. Now, the reluctance is of course a generality with certain exceptions, but apparently there is more of tight-lipped hesitance to delve into and dwell upon spooky ghostly claims with any remote suggestion that they may reflect a reality. Eerie Whispers is interesting to the ghost or general folklore enthusiast just in that regard alone.
The majority of the book then divides into chapters that focus on specific stories that Baker has collected from sources available for each of the Canadian Provinces/Territories or regions, starting from British Columbia on the west coast through Atlantic Canada on the east. It often surprised me how there wasn’t necessarily a correlation between size of the area or density of its population and the numbers of tales that could be shared for them. This probably reflects the aforementioned variations in ‘reluctance’ to speak of/share stories between different regions and different populations. Indeed, Baker does a good job reflecting on the cultural characteristics that historically defined a region/population while going through the forms of stories that are present and details that may be known or left unclear.
The latter aspect is probably what I felt was the most limiting characteristic of the book. It seeks to cover all the major stories for a nation by region, in very broad overview. The organization and the presentation definitely give an emphasis on folklore research/context and tidbits on the people involved in sharing and investigating the stories. That means the stories themselves which are included are all very short without lots of details or the sense of a spooky narrative. In some cases this is understandable; the only known information is rather vague. Nonetheless I kept hoping for moments that would recall that atmosphere gotten from reading something like a Scary Story to Tell in the Dark or hearing a ghost story around the campfire.
One thing that Baker does do very well is contextualize stories within cultural milieus and the mixing that has occurred here in North America through colonization and subsequent immigrant group arrival. Even within just the lumped colonial European-descended population there is a tremendous diversity in types of stories told and things that might be freely shared or verboten.
However, Baker treads especially carefully in consideration of Indigenous, First Nation stories and knowledge. After the chapter-organized march across Canada, Baker has a chapter on “Indigenous Spiritual Knowledge” and “Beyond the Mainstream European Influence.” These are in part repetitive in that they’re more fleshed out and compacted discussion of points that he by necessity must bring up throughout the book when relating particular tales. There are ones taken from Indigenous groups and reformed into something else, or ones that are held by groups and kept for insiders alone due to their nature or past experiences of something sacred being disrespectfully appropriated. In parts of these sections I like that Baker simply includes quotes of email (or other) correspondence he has had with indigenous individuals/groups while collecting the stories in this and commenting on them. Rather than simply reporting what they may say in his words alone, he simply allows them to speak for themselves.
The final chapter of the book is on “Discussions with Paranormal Investigators,” which I felt was too short to add anything beyond what had been already covered. Perhaps it’s also that this element interested me the least though. Others may find this more informative, but even then I would think would crave a little more on the topic.
Featuring extensive notes, bibliography (especially), and an index, Eerie Whispers is a really impressive bit of research, collecting, and exploration into a regional (albeit broad) corner of supernatural folklore. I don’t know as there’s much else out there like it to focus on this particular niche, so it’s hugely important in that. Yet reading it also makes an interested individual eager to dig deeper and hear the stories more, making Eerie Whispers into something that is interesting and valuable, but also just a beginning step, a foretaste into more, deeper, spooky explorations.
