Gaoler's Mews
12 Water Street
Located in the heart of Gastown is Gaoler's Mews. This intriguing structure was originally built in
the mid-1800's and housed Vancouver's first jail. After the jail burned down in the great Vancouver fire of 1886, it was
replaced by a brick building that, appropriately enough, housed a fire hall in the same spot as the old jail. More recently,
the building was completely renovated, including seismic up-grades, in 2008.
 Before it moved across
the street on account of the building renovations work, the popular Irish Heather pub was located
here for many years (at 217 Carrall Street). Part of its ambiance in this location was that it occupied the same unit as the
old jailhouse, right next to the cobble stoned courtyard where the hangman's scaffold once stood. There, in the 1800's, over 40
people were publicly executed.
There are two ghosts in and around the unit where the Irish Heather used to be. When the owners were first
setting up the pub, a contractor found that his tools had all been moved by unseen hands. On a separate occasion, one of
the pub owners heard her name called by a female voice when she was alone on site. When she went to investigate who had
called out to her, there was nobody there. This may very well have been the same spirit of a woman dressed in black who
was seen behind the pub, gliding along the outside passageway from where the scaffold once stood. At the southern end of
the passageway, she travelled through a wrought-iron gate that led to Blood Alley, where she promptly disappeared. Some
speculate that she is the spirit of a widow of someone who was hanged in the courtyard, eternally mourning for her lost
love.
The other ghost at this location is that of a man dressed in black. He was seen many times by the pub's staff members,
heading down the hallway, past the bar and towards the rear of the premises. He is thought to be the same ghost as the one
who used to appear in Blake's Coffee Parlour, immediately next door. Like the Irish Heather, Blakes
Coffee House was situated in Gaoler's Mews (at 221 Carroll Street) and moved out when the building underwent
extensive renovations in 2008. In the early 1900's, the Blake's Coffee Parlour unit housed a popular bar with a
brothel upstairs. The same ghost of the man dressed in black that was seen in the Irish Heather was often
seen literally passing through the brick wall where there used to be a door adjoining the two premises. He was typically
spotted in the early to mid-afternoon.
Today, it remains to be heard whether new commercial tenants in these two haunted units at Gaoler's Mews will
report any ghostly encounters of their own. |
