{"id":45978,"date":"2018-10-27T20:36:34","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T02:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=45978"},"modified":"2021-02-07T21:00:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T04:00:55","slug":"author-tells-haunting-tales-from-calgarys-union-cemetery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2018\/10\/27\/author-tells-haunting-tales-from-calgarys-union-cemetery\/","title":{"rendered":"Author tells haunting tales from Calgary’s Union Cemetery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Calgary’s history uncovered:<\/strong> Harry Sanders, author of “Calgary’s Union Cemetery: A walking guide,” poses next to Colonel Walker’s cane in Calgary on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (Photo by Gareth Jones\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>here are some 60,000 graves in Calgary\u2019s Union Cemetery, and local historian Harry Sanders has dug up some of the most interesting stories.<\/p>\n

I<\/span>n his book, \u201cCalgary\u2019s Union Cemetery: A walking tour,\u201d Sanders looks into the lives of both the famous and unknown.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Oct 10, he presented the highlights in the form of a virtual tour for local organization the Southern Alberta Pioneers and Their Descendants.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is collecting and assimilating the history of the Pioneers,\u201d said David Wake, resident historian of the organization.<\/p>\n

The group, whose members settled in Alberta on or before Dec. 31, 1890, meet regularly in a memorial house<\/a> in the southwest Parkhill district.<\/p>\n

The log house sits atop a hill overlooking the Elbow River. It is furnished with countless historical artifacts, including the cane of Colonel Walker.<\/p>\n

Sanders, who was one of the group\u2019s guest speakers in October, shared a collection of slides ranging from interesting backstory to tales of tragic death at the cemetery, which sits on a hill on Macleod Trail, just south of 26th Avenue South.<\/p>\n

One such example was William Jasper Collins, the subject of Calgary\u2019s last execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollins stopped eating in his final weeks, so he didn\u2019t weigh as much as he did when his measurements were taken,\u201d Sanders explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when he was hung, the fall didn\u2019t break his neck. There was a legal case filed against the city, because despite being sentenced to hang, that wasn\u2019t how he died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders recalled that Union Cemetery has faced many problems since its inception in 1892, one of which has been winter burial.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, you can\u2019t break ground. So in 1908, the mortuary chapel was constructed in order to have an indoor gravesite in case of inclement weather,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a trap door built into the floor, so at the end of the service, the casket was symbolically lowered into the ground, and into the catacombs beneath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanders became interested in the cemetery after giving walking tours there in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

He was eventually approached by a publisher who had just released a book on Victoria\u2019s historic Ross Bay Cemetery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe book was the product of a lot of visits to the cemetery, to find interesting names and headstones,\u201d Sanders explained.<\/p>\n

He finds that, now more than ever, people have an interest in the history of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have always been those who make it their passion, but most do not,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have always been voices who said, \u2018don\u2019t tear down that old building,\u2019 or \u2018don\u2019t change that,\u2019 but I think it\u2019s a bigger force now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the approximately 60,000 bodies buried at Union Cemetery, there are many whose influence is still felt today.<\/p>\n

The book was the product of a lot of visits to the cemetery. – Harry Sanders<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One such individual is Thomas B. Braden, who moved to Calgary from Ontario.<\/p>\n

\u201cBraden was a co-founder of the Calgary Herald, who came here in 1883,\u201d Sanders explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin a year, he sold the Herald and founded the Tribune, which later became the Albertan. Nowadays, we know it as the Sun. So if you take away one thing from tonight, let it be that a liberal from Ontario founded both the Herald and Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are over 60,000 graves in Calgary’s historic Union Cemetery, and a local historian has worked to dig up some of the most interesting stories [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":514,"featured_media":45995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S2 Cemetery Tour","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/514"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45978"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46441,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45978\/revisions\/46441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}