Newfoundland and Labrador is blessed with more fairies, devils, old hags, phantoms, Jacky Lanterns, sea monsters, and other fabulous and frightening creatures than any other spot in Canada. Author and researcher Dale Jarvis, creator of the award-winning St. John's Haunted Hike, has pulled together a compendium of strange tales about the even stranger spectres, sprites, and curious beasties that inhabit the province's shores. From Signal Hill's headless ghost to the Northern Peninsula's Isle of Demons to the fairy paths of the Southern Shore, Wonderful Strange is your guide to encounters with the unexplained.

Dale Jarvis works as the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, helping communities to safeguard traditional culture, the only full-time provincially funded folklorist position in Canada. Dale holds a B.Sc. in anthropology/archaeology from Trent University, and a M.A. in folklore from Memorial University. He is a past president of the Newfoundland Historic Trust, and has contributed as a board member and volunteer to many local arts and heritage organizations. He regularly teaches workshops on oral history, cultural documentation, folklore project management, and public folklore programming. By night, Dale is the proprietor of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour and raconteur of local tales. As a storyteller, he performs ghost stories, stories of the fairies and little people, tales of phantom ships and superstitions, and legends and traditional tales from Newfoundland, Labrador, and beyond. His repertoire includes long-form folk and fairy tales from the island, with a wide-ranging knowledge of local legends, tall tales, and myths. A newspaper columnist and author of several books on Newfoundland and Labrador ghost stories and folklore, he is a tireless promoter of local culture. A mummering enthusiast and hobby horse–maker, Dale was one of the founding members of the 2009 Mummers Festival in St. John’s.

Dale Jarvis' profile page

Perfectly spooky!

by DoctorDonna