Haunted-Location Fun with St. John Alexander in New Westminster

Robb Demarest, Amanda Quill, and St John Alexander

The 2025 Halloween season brought another opportunity to visit some of Vancouver’s most active paranormal locations with St. John Alexander, reporter for CTV News Vancouver.

My friends and fellow paranormal investigators, Amanda Quill and Robb Demarest, and I spent time with St. John in two haunted spots in New Westminster to capture footage and stories about their ghosts.

It was lots of fun, as usual, working with St. John to help him get two terrifying tales ready for broadcast right around Halloween.

Location 1: Native Art Gallery
We visited the Native Renaissance Art Gallery on Carnarvon Street. Artist and gallery owner, Jay Groening, has heard phantom footsteps on the ground floor above him while creating his artwork in the basement. And the business owner next door has seen a ghostly figure in the basement of her consignment store that she describes as ‘black or grey’. Amanda has been tracking this entity for a long time. Check out St. John’s story and video about this location here.

Location 2: The Gatehouse of B.C.’s Most Haunted Former Prison
Our next stop was the Gatehouse of what was once the B.C. Penitentiary. Amanda, Robb, and I have investigated this castle-like building several times together in the past. We all know how very haunted it is, especially in the basement where holding cells used to be. Amanda and I both felt like we were being watched from behind while shooting our scenes in the long, dark hallway down there. And Robb, of Ghost Hunters International fame, once recored an angry, male voice in one of the former jail cells that said it was going to slit his and Amanda’s throats. Thanks to that ‘charming’ incident and others, Robb believes the Gatehouse is the most haunted place in Western Canada. See St. John’s story and video here.

Enjoy!