A Grisly Past
By Doreen Marion Gee
Beware of walking in Beacon Hill Park at night! Dreadful ghosts will rise up and scream at the moon. You will see grisly apparitions of murderers and spectres of tragedies and horrific events. Who knew that our innocent emerald gem has a coloured past with shadows of violence and mystery? Behind those sun-drenched leaves and delicious floral landscapes, awful ghosts flutter in the breeze. The history of Beacon Hill Park is the stuff of Hollywood. Killings. Midnight stealth. Drownings. Deranged killer. Innocent victims. Take a deep breath and read on - if you dare.
The history of Beacon Hill Park is not always as pretty as its splendid floral meadows. Its past is stained with brutal killings of wildlife. Swans were a common target. Their numbers dropped dramatically from 1920 onwards. With increased numbers of visitors and dogs, ten swans were poisoned or stoned to death in the 1930's and thirteen were stolen or murdered by people and dogs in the 1940's. Several of the poisonings were due to pure ignorance and salted peanuts.
On a grim Monday morning in August 1981, Beacon Hill Park staff made a gruesome discovery. The bodies of forty-eight exotic birds lay still on the floor of their cages in the park aviary. Some were disembowelled, others decapitated. The senseless slaughter scene revealed that twenty-nine ringneck doves, nine budgies, nine canaries, and one cockatiel were clubbed and stabbed with a pointed stick. A small number survived and a lucky few escaped to the skies.
In this issue...
Feedback from Our Readership Survey
An Oasis: Canadian Pacific Lawn Bowling Club
Shore Power Will Not Decrease Emissions
Discovering BC History in Ross Bay Cemetery
International Cycling Festival & IMAX's Wired to Win
James Bay Community Project: Clinic Reaches Youth
James Bay Community Centre: artsReach, a Picnic, a First Day and a Last
On Strangers, Smoking, Bugs, and Lice
My Search for Optimum Health: Thrive Fitness
Heron Rock Celebrates 6th Anniversary
Somewhat Over the Top: Mephistopheles Comes to James Bay
Letters to the Editor
Long Ago at 438 Heather Street
JB New Horizons Activity Centre
Catering to Cruise Ships Costly
Cruise Tourism: Assertions, Analysis, and Esquimalt Graving Dock
Economics of Cruise Ship Tourism Article — Well Done
Recipes by Conni Atwell
This Month's Mystery House
Last month's mystery house was 27 Olympia Avenue.
The 2011 cruise ship schedule is available here.