Three kilometers off the entrance to Halifax Harbour, lies an place called Sambro Island, and it is said that the Island is inhabited by a ghost named Double Alex. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, military personal were stationed on the island, and one of these men, a Scot named Alexander Alexander, is said to have committed suicide rather than face charges of stealing an army payroll. Double Alex’s ghost apparently haunts the island—walking loudly, turning lights on and off, flushing toilets.Some claim to have seen and smelled him. According to light keeper John Fairservice, if Double Alex was close by, a “peculiar odor” permeated the air. When one of the empty lightkeeper’s houses was moved off its foundation and floated to the mainland, Alex apparently hitched a ride, leaving the island in peace.
The new homeowner put up with the ghost’s shenanigans for a while, then told the wayward spirit to leave. Being a dutiful ghost, Double Alex did just that, catching a lift back to Sambro Island in John Fairservice’s boat. How did the keeper know Double Alex had returned? He smelled the odor, and the hauntings began again. The lens from the lighthouse was moved to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. By coincidence, when Double Alex’s name was mentioned during a tour, a pane of glass shattered in a nearby exhibit!
If you know of any Ghost stories from this area, or have a story of your own that you would like to share, we would love to hear from you!
Read another great story! - John Ruff's Ghost
Photo By Letterofmarque - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4572675