At 9:04 a.m., Halifax was torn apart in an instant. One moment it was a thriving wartime city, the next, it was fire, thunder, and ruin. A fireball as hot as the surface of the sun ignited the harbour. Shockwaves ripped through homes and streets. A wall of water followed, drowning what the flames had spared.

In this second part of our two-part series, we return to the stories of Francis Mackey, Vincent Coleman, and Kaye Chapman as we explore the devastation that unfolded in the hours and days after the blast. Entire neighbourhoods vanished. Families were torn apart. The city would never be the same.

The scars of the Halifax Explosion were not only etched into people, buildings, and the landscape. Something less tangible was also left behind. For over a century, ghost stories have circulated through the city, many tied directly to that morning. At St. Paul’s, a shattered window still carries the outline of a figure who looked toward the harbour at the fatal moment. At the Five Fishermen Restaurant, once a morgue overwhelmed with the dead, staff still hear voices and see a bearded man vanish into thin air. These hauntings are part of Halifax’s inheritance. The spirits of December 6, 1917 linger, a spectral imprint of a tragedy that reshaped the city forever.

Step into the ruins, hear stories of survival, and of those that still linger.

Now streaming: Halifax Explosion: Aftermath.

Listen to Episode 208 – Halifax Explosion: Before the Blast

For information or to get tickets for our ghost tours or paranormal adventures, please visit hauntedwalk.com.

On a crisp December morning in 1917, Halifax woke to calm skies and the quiet hum of a wartime city at work. Children hurried to school. Workers streamed into factories. Families went about their routines.

Out in the harbour, two ships moved slowly toward one another. One carried deadly cargo, volatile enough to erase a city. When they collided, a fuse was lit. At 9:04 a.m., Halifax was ripped apart in a wave of fire, force, and sound.

In this first part of our two-part series, we walk alongside the people who lived those ordinary minutes before disaster: the harbour pilot steering a ship of fire, the dispatcher tapping out his last warning, and the young girl whose small choice meant survival.

Hear their stories in Before the Blast, now streaming.

If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like:

Episode 193 – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Episode 164 – What Happened to the Mary Celeste?
Episode 152 – Premonitions of the Titanic Disaster

For information or to get tickets for our ghost tours or paranormal adventures, please visit hauntedwalk.com.

Three chilling mysteries. Two elaborate hoaxes. One truth you didn’t see coming.

These were strange events that gripped the public’s attention and convinced witnesses they had experienced something truly paranormal. In this episode, we uncover the truth behind these mysteries. We revisit a BBC broadcast that plunged a nation into hysteria. We follow a “woman in white” whose ghostly appearances hid a political agenda. And we meet a Tennessee family tormented by unearthly moans beneath their floorboards and the disturbing discovery that followed. The real stories are stranger than fiction.

Were your guesses correct? How did the hoaxes fool so many? And did one alleged hoax provide the perfect cover for the real thing?

If you missed our previous episode where we first shared these stories, we recommend starting there for the full experience.

Join us as we blur the line between fact and fiction and reveal why, in the world of the paranormal, the truth can be the most haunting thing of all.

For information or to get tickets for our ghost tours or paranormal adventures, please visit hauntedwalk.com.