Season 2, Episode 9 (Halloween Bonus 3)
When nights grow long and familiar paths suddenly lead you astray; when fog shrouds the coast in deathly gloom and strange lights flicker in empty bogs,
that’s the time when ghosts and ghouls explore this new found land.
Welcome to the Strange Truths & Tall Tales Halloween Special.
Title: Restless Corpses
Time: 24 minutes
Locations: La Poile, St. John’s
Story: The Restless Corpse of La Poile & Mrs Coyle and the Corpse
Listen:
About The Episode:
Halloween Bonus Episode Pt. 3
It’s October and the nights are getting noticeably longer. As darkness takes a hold. I’ve decided to embrace the ‘spooky season’ for some shorter Halloween episodes.
This episode features an old story concerning a corpse in La Poile that seemed to have trouble realizing it was dead. It’s a strange that makes my blood run cold… and warms my heart. It’s based on a story written by ‘R’ and published in the Public Ledger newspaper in 1831.
Read: Mrs Coyle and the Corpse
After La Poile, I’ll move onto St. John’s and the story of Nancy Coyle — a woman who spent her life with the dead and, perhaps, her death with the living.
Coyle provided mortuary care in St. John’s in the 1800s, and was rumoured to have resurrected the dead. While she appears to have been a real, historical figure, she is more famous these days as a ghost story.
Nancy Coyle is rumored to haunt the graveyards of old St. John’s.
Listening Options
You can listen to the episode here or on your favourite platform.
Credits
Tocatta & Fugue in D Minor (Bach) from orangefreesounds.com, Paul Pittman, public domain.
Thunder (bajko) from freesound.com, Creative Commons 0
Thunder With Synth (klangfabrik) from freesound.com, Creative Commons 0
Knock of the Door (deleted user) from freesounds.com, Creative Commons 0
Sources & Further Reading
The Restless Corpse of La Poile, Product of Newfoundland
The Widow of La Poyle: A Newfoundland Tale, Public Ledge, May 6, 1831
Mrs Coyle & The Corpse, Product of Newfoundland
The Oldest City, Paul O’Neill, 2003
Nancy Coyle (1840s), Heritage NL
Queen of the Dead, Haunted Canada 5, Joel Sutherland
An Encounter with Nancy, Queen of the Dead, Anecdotage.
Newfoundland has some place names that sound like they belong in a ghost story. This Halloween, I’m exploring some of the island’s creepiest names and the curious stories behind them.
In October 1794 a shortage of sailors aboard a naval ship in St. John’s harbour set off a chain of events leading to the gallows… and a grisly post-mortem punishment.
According to one newspaper, Torbay was gripped by a ghostly disturbance in 1877. Night after night, Moses Power’s home was under attack…
In 1894, a painter from St. John’s was exhibiting her work in Paris. Margaret Campbell Macpherson built an international career — and somehow became a nearly forgotten Newfoundland story.
After years of illness, a Newfoundland nun left the island praying for a miracle. She returned convinced her prayers had been answered.
Something was killing sheep near Little St. Lawrence in 1958. Then a strange, five-foot-long animal was captured. Its skull was sent to St. John’s for identification…