Maritime Mysteries

by Bill Jessome

Here is a frightening, fun trip through the Maritime's most bone-chilling ghost stories and tales of the unexplained. From the spirit who lurks in the halls of Dalhousie University's Shirreff Hall to the phantom train on Prince Edward Island, Maritime Mysteries chronicles the restless spirits, ghostly apparitions, eerie poltergeists, and haunted houses that surround us.

Genres: Ghost Stories, Novels, Canada, Short Stories, Horror

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Bill Jessome was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia and served in Italy during World War Two. Jessome worked in television, radio, and as a stage actor in the United States before returning to the Maritimes in the 1960s. For many years, his popular television show Maritime Mysteries was broadcast throughout the region.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because one of our book clubs in the Children’s Literature Group on Goodreads is for October 2021 featuring supposedly “true” ghost stories, I decided to read Bill Jessome’s anthology of reputed to represent bona fide reality ghost and hauntings tales set in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island (which I happened to stumble across on Open Library). And albeit that his, that Jessome’s Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us (which is actually the revised 2014 edition) in my opinion does not in fact appear to have been specifically conceptualised with younger readers in my mind, there is to and for me also nothing really all that creepy and frightening to be encountered in Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us, and that Bill Jessome’s collection of tales (from haunted houses, to tales of possession, and of course, seeing that we are dealing with the Canadian Maritimes, also a sizeable amount of phantom ship and sea ghost stories) is therefore and basically just a fun, interesting, intriguing (and definitely at times even quite believable) but with regard to presented eeriness and spookiness rather majorly tamely penned account of Maritime provinces of Canada ghostly evidence and encounters with diverse phantoms and spirits that is most definitely suitable for reading by anyone from about the age of nine or so onwards.

Now with regard to the believability of the encountered tales, well, Bill Jessome does not actually seem to expect his readers to in fact absolutely believe in ghosts and to therefore equally believe in the veracity of Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us. However, with the vast majority of the encountered ghost stories, Bill Jessome’s text does mention both specific geographic localities, specific areas and municipalities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and also particular ghosts and the names of individuals and families who have met up with, who have encountered hauntings and visits by departed spirits, which certainly does make it a bit more difficult to discount the stories of Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us as just figments of the imagination and/or legends (and especially so since in many of the included ghost stories, there are reported accounts of many many people experiencing these ghostly phenomena, such as for example with the ghost ship of Northumberland Strait, where whenever the burning ship is seen, this is reported all along the PEI and NB coasts).

So yes, although there is no included bibliography with suggestions for further reading and research, personally, I do think that the author, that Bill Jessome does present the ghost stories of Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us as being “true” for the most part, or at least as possibly so (and considering that when I was at university in Sackville, New Brunswick, I was never quite sure if I had not seen the ghost ship of the Northumberland Strait, I am certainly willing to believe that many of the stories found in Maritime Mysteries: And the Ghosts Who Surround Us do have that proverbial ring of truth to them).

[Margaret Westlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading Maritime Mysteries and the ghosts who surround us by Bill Jessome, (Nimbus Publications 2014). It's a fun collection of ghost stories from around the Maritimes though probably not so much fun for those who experienced the visitations.

I was looking for a good jumping off place for another Haunted PEI story led by Molly and company. “The Ghost of Jenkins House” particularly caught my imagination. It has all the elements I like in a good ghost story. I like a clear beginning, middle and end to any story, or one that I can craft a satisfactory ending to. I like a ghost story that has substance and a discernible reason tor the haunting. So many ghost stories are too diffuse to raise any frisson of unease. These stories are for the most part good strong stories about places I knew as I grew up in Halifax, or visited (Uniacke House) although I have never felt presences. I was surprised by the number of stories taking place on PEI very near to where I now reside.

A good collection of tales, Mr. Jessome. I really enjoyed them and would recommend them to anyone who likes other worldly stories.

[Cornerofmadness · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the last decade, it's become a thing for me to collect local haunted books when I travel and this is one of the ones I picked up this year in my tour of the Canadian maritimes. I have a preference for the newer style true hauntings, i.e. some real investigation has been done. This is not that book. This is more of a collection of local lore and oral tradition and there is nothing wrong with that.

It's well written and sometimes we get more than one version of the story. Some are your typical haunted hitchhiker or spurned lover sort of thing that are ubiquitous but others are very different. I enjoyed the book. It's broken into the different types of hauntings (churches, rural etc). I'm glad I picked it up.

[Bobandace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love a good ghost story. When i was little, Mr Jessome had a segment on after the news each week that would spotlight a ghost story from the Maritimes. I couldn't wait for it to come on and snuggle up with my Grandfather to watch it. He eventually came out with these collection of books, and i could not wait to meet him and have him sign my books when he came. What an amazing, intelligent, well mannered man. These are the type of stories to tell around a campfire! Love

[Essie-Marie F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this book three stars because it was well written, and it was delightful to hear the local stories of the maritimes. I personally didn't like it very much, because I'm not as brave as I thought I was! This is a collection of ghost stories, and even though Jessome doesn't seem to be trying to frighten his readers, I got scared anyway.

[Cate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written by a local TV personality in the 90s, and, in many ways, it shows. Although he seems like a fun story-teller, writing did not seem to be his strength. From colloquialisms (often misspelled) to incorrect grammar and spelling (sometimes changing the spelling from one paragraph to the next, as if hedging his bets) to typos (like replacing a capital "O" with a zero...), the written version of this became quite frustrating. Certain key details to stories also seemed to be missing, so you almost had to puzzle things together at times. If I could have sought clarification as we went, it would have been better, but as it was, I had to keep going back and ultimately guessing at certain portions. It made for a bit of a frustrating read. The stories themselves were interesting, though, and many about places I know!

This is not the first time I’ve read a book published by Nimbus Publishing and struggled with its execution. It seems that they may need to invest in editors before publication…perhaps this book could have benefited from a ghost writer (pun intended!).

I would have loved to sit around a campfire with Bill Jessome and hear him tell the stories himself; he seems like he was an intriguing wealth of knowledge and stories! 2.5/5

[Renée W · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit repetative

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it. It was like having a yarn at the coffee shop with yer grandfather's friends.

[Juli Irving-Melanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's nice to read about places you're familiar with. I love ghost stories and will remember these stories every time I'm near one of the story locations.