Update May 2006 In May 2006 we received the following lead to the above report:

I live in Val Gagne a longtime now live in the neighbor city... We believe this ghost has to do with the fire of 1916 which has burn the township... In that time the town was call Nushka... they rename the town to Val Gagne cause the priest Gagne was trying to save people suffer there in the Valley..

Our thanks to this reader for sharing his thoughts with us! This is what we found out about this fire:

The fire of 1916 is known as the Matheson fire because of the complete annihilation of the town. Other smaller communities suffered as badly, including Nushka.

July 30th was a frightening day, almost a repeat of the events that had happened only five years previously. This time, the fire consumed nearly 800 square miles of forest, and the toll reached an unheard of 282 official deaths.

Nushka, just down the T&NO line from Matheson, was particularly hard hit. As the fires approached the town, the local priest, Father Gagne, led 56 people to a field outside of town. There was no other place to go. All 56 were asphyxiated when the flames surrounded the field. As a memorial to Father Gagne's efforts, the community was renamed Val Gagne."

Source: Geographical Names of Canada - Northern Ontario Disasters

http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/education/n_ont_disasters_e.php

Sue is currently attempting to pinpoint wether or not this is indeed the same field.

If you have had a similar experience in this area or can shed some light on this event both ourselves and the witness would like to hear from you. I may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please note that ownership of the above photos is retained by the photographer and may not be used in any format whatsoever without the express written permission of the photographer.