Haunting Insights: B.C. Anthropologist on Halloween Spirits

As Halloween approaches, Camosun College anthropologist Nicole Kilburn offers insight into why ghost stories endure in B.C.’s culture. She explains that so-called “restless spirits” often represent people who experienced a “bad death” — one marked by violence or unfinished business. Kilburn notes that Western societies tend to avoid discussions about mortality, using euphemisms instead of confronting death directly. Halloween traditions like carving pumpkins, she says, evolved from old rituals meant to ward off spirits. In Victoria, tales such as the “April ghost” of the Victoria Golf Club reflect how communities continue to navigate fear, memory, and the meaning of death.