Gaslight Chronicles
An informational podcast that dives into Victoria, British Columbia’s past when gas powered street lamps illuminated the city. Hosted by Megan Evans who shares an array of stories from Victoria’s infamous cult leader, to Chinatown and the Opium Trade, Ross Bay Cemetery, Point Ellice House/Point Ellice Bridge Disaster and many others.
Gaslight Chronicles
Episode Four: Echoes by the Shore: Ross Bay Cemetery
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In today's episode we'll explore Ross Bay Cemetery, where nearly 30,000 burials spanned more than 150 years on the 27.5 acre property.
Podcast links and further reading:
1. "Funeral of Mrs. Pearse". Daily British Colonist. Victoria, BC. 1872-12-29. p. 3.
2. "New Plot Opportunity at Ross Bay Cemetery". City of Victoria. 2004. Archived from the original on December 17, 2007. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
3. Heiman, Carolyn (2007-02-16). "Lottery brings burial with a view". Times Colonist. Victoria BC. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03 – via Canada.com.
4. [1] CWGC Cemetery Report.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Bay_Cemetery?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://oldcem.bc.ca/tours/em_rb_tour/pooley-angel/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://www.tourismvictoria.com/statues-landmarks/ross-bay-cemetery?utm_source=chatgpt.com
https://www.victoria.ca/parks-recreation/parks-trails/our-parks/ross-bay-cemetery
https://youtu.be/-iNdoTr-iV0?si=jy6MJ-QepCBnLmep
https://archive.org/details/historicguidetor0000adam
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ross-bay-cemetery
https://oldcem.bc.ca/cem/cem_rb/in-the-news/
https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/sophie-pemberton/where-to-see/
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Welcome to episode four of the Gaslight Chronicles, where we’ll dive into Victoria, British Columbia’s past when gas-powered streetlamps illuminated the city. I’m your host Megan Evans and in today’s episode we’ll explore Ross Bay Cemetery, where nearly 30,000 burials spanned more than 150 years on the 27.5 acre property. Born of colonial expansion, shaped by nature and steeped in a rich tapestry of the tales of those buried there.
Autumn is my favorite time of year. The days are still warm, with a hint of chilliness in the evenings. Trees burst with red, orange and gold leaves, I planned my pumpkin carving patterns back in January, and everything feels like a renewal as October draws near. Pumpkin spice flows and I have my Halloween movie list all ready to go. Victoria is a beautiful place year-round, but most especially in the fall and one of my favorite spots is Ross Bay Cemetery.
There’s nothing like sea air with crisp leaves punctuated by chimney smoke as you wander through the Victorian garden style layout among winding carriageways, lush trees and monuments. In my youth, I remember posing at the Blue Angel statue with a rose in my hand, ah, romantic slush. At that age I didn’t appreciate the magnitude of where I was standing and how many influential people were buried there.
Ross Bay Cemetery was created in the early 1870s during a time of rapid growth in Victoria. The existing burial ground, the old Quadra Street Cemetery (now known as Pioneer Square), was almost at capacity and had poor drainage and maintenance problems. Civic leaders recognized that Victoria needed a larger, more permanent cemetery to serve the growing population.
In 1872, Victoria's Cemetery Trustees selected a 47-acre site near Ogden Point, but the proposal sparked considerable opposition. Critics, including physician and politician John Sebastian Helmcken, argued that the land was too valuable for cemetery use and that prevailing winds could potentially carry unhealthy conditions toward the city. As a result, the plan was abandoned. The city instead purchased approximately 13 acres of cleared farmland overlooking Ross Bay from Robert Burnaby for $300 per acre. Burnaby had acquired the property from Isabella Mainville Ross, one of the earliest and most remarkable landowners in colonial British Columbia. The cemetery took its name from Ross Bay itself, which had been named after Isabella Ross, who will be featured a bit later in this podcast.
In late 1872, the site had to be surveyed, drained, fenced, and laid out into roads and burial plots. Landscape gardener Henry Mitchell and architect Edward Mallandaine Sr. prepared the plans for the cemetery's roads, boundaries, and landscaping. The design reflected the Victorian "garden cemetery" movement, which sought to create attractive park-like burial grounds rather than simple graveyards. Its official opening was on March 1, 1873, but the first burial was in December 1872. The first person interred was Mary Letitia Pearse, wife of colonial surveyor Benjamin Pearse. By March 1873, burial plots were being offered for sale and Ross Bay became Victoria's principal cemetery.
And of course, as Victoria grew, the cemetery expanded. In 1893 the western section was acquired and opened for burials in 1900. Additional land was added on the eastern side in 1906. The cemetery itself extended all the way to the beach of Ross Bay; therefore, some graves were practically on the shoreline, which fueled stories about coffins floating out to sea and children playing with bones on the beach.
Prior to the construction of a seawall, Dallas Road ran from Beacon Hill but ended when it reached what is now Memorial Crescent on the west side of the cemetery. Memorial Crescent was a narrow street called Lover’s Lane which connected Dallas Road to Fairfield Road.
One of the cemetery’s most notable events happened in 1909. Without a sea wall, years of erosion weakened the landscape and when a series of severe winter storms plagued the shoreline, sections of the cemetery washed away. According to the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria, the areas most affected were Sections N and L, where many members of Victoria's Chinese, Japanese, and Indigenous communities had been buried. Some graves were even relocated, and many remaining Chinese burials were moved to the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point.
In 1911 the seawall was built to protect from further erosion and extend Dallas Road along the shoreline. It successfully protected the cemetery but created new coastal erosion issues along the beach over the span of decades. Parts of the seawall were later rebuilt and reinforced in the 90s and is actively monitored today.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Ross Bay Cemetery became a horticulturist’s dream when the City of Victoria Parks Department utilized the grounds as almost a warehouse for various tree species. So, whenever the city needed new trees for local boulevards, they would take clippings. My father was a gardener, so he would have been all for me sharing the details of this diverse collection:
There were pines such as Austrian, Japanese red, Himalayan white, Mexican sweeping and Ponderosa.
Firs and spruces including Spanish fir, Rocky Mountain white, Atlas cedar, Sitka spruce and Grand fir.
Deciduous trees of Camperdown elm, cork-bark elm, black locust and bigleaf maple.
Japanese flowering cherries and plums as ornamentals.
Native and Windbreak Species along Dallas Road and Ross Bay boundaries included salt tolerant trees like Garry Oak, black cottonwood, and tamarisk.
And finally, shrubs like yew, lilac, holly, laurel and boxwood.
There are countless notable figures interned at Ross Bay from premiers, governors, judges, artists, explorers and pioneers. Included among them are:
· Sir James Douglas, chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company and founder of Fort Victoria, Governor of Vancouver Island, and the first Governor of the Colony of British Columbia.
· Sir Matthew Begbie, British Columbia’s first Chief Justice who established law and order during the gold rush era.
· James Dunsmuir, coal baron, premier and builder of Hatley Castle.
· Billy Barker, who discovered a rich gold deposit that led to the creation of Barkerville, one of the most famous gold-rush towns in Canadian History.
· Joseph Despard Pemberton, who was responsible for much of the physical layout of modern Victoria.
And what do all these figures have in common? Yes, they’re all men and that’s why they only get a mention here! I am an artist and a woman, so the female influencers and creators hold a particular interest for me. That’s why I’m going to dive a little deeper into the lives of some remarkable women who merit their own episodes (a possibility in the future).
Emily Carr
Emily Carr is probably the most famous woman buried at Ross Bay Cemetery, and certainly a household name to many Victoria artists. Victoria born in 1871, she was the youngest of nine children in a prominent colonial family. After studying art in San Francisco, England, and France, Carr developed a distinctive style that combined Post-Impressionist influences with her deep connection to the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. Beginning in the late 1890s, she travelled extensively throughout coastal British Columbia, sketching and painting Indigenous communities and monumental cedar totem poles at a time when many of these villages were being profoundly affected by colonial policies and cultural suppression.
Emily Carr received little recognition for many years, until 1927 when she met members of the Group of Seven, who recognized the originality and significance of her art. In her later years, she produced some of her most famous paintings, capturing the spiritual energy of British Columbia's forests with sweeping forms and vibrant colours. She also became an acclaimed writer; her memoir Klee Wyck won the Governor General's Award in 1941. Buried in Ross Bay Cemetery in 1945, today she is regarded as one of Canada's most important cultural figures, remembered for creating a uniquely West Coast artistic vision and for leaving an invaluable record of Indigenous village sites and landscapes during a period of profound change. Carr’s grave remains one of the cemetery's most visited landmarks and Emily Carr House operates as a National Historic Site.
Isabella Mainville Ross
Isabella Mainville Ross was born near present-day Montreal in 1807, she was an Anishinaabe-Métis woman whose life intersected with some of the earliest years of European settlement on Vancouver Island. Eventually married to Hudson's Bay Company trader Charles Ross and travelled west through the fur trade network before settling near Fort Victoria in the 1840s.
After Charles died in 1844, Isabella Ross was left a widow with children to support in an era when women rarely controlled property. She successfully petitioned the Hudson's Bay Company for ownership of her husband's land and became one of the first women—and the first independently registered female landowner—in what would become British Columbia. Her farm, known as Fowl Bay Farm, encompassed much of the land that later became Fairfield, Ross Bay, and surrounding neighbourhoods in Victoria.
Ross managed and expanded her property for decades, raising livestock, farming the land, and participating in the growing colonial economy. Her ownership was remarkable not only because she was a woman, but also because she was Métis at a time when colonial society increasingly marginalized Indigenous peoples and women. As Victoria expanded, portions of her land were subdivided and sold, shaping the development of the city.
Hannah Maynard
Hannah Maynard was born in Cornwall, England in 1834 and would become one of Canada’s most pioneering photographers and photographic artists of the 19th century. She immigrated to Canada with her husband, Richard Maynard, and settled in Victoria in 1862. In 1868, she opened Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery on Douglas Street, becoming one of the first professional female photographers in British Columbia. Over the next fifty years, she photographed thousands of Victorians, from politicians and business leaders to miners, sailors, Indigenous visitors, and ordinary families, creating an invaluable visual record of colonial British Columbia.
Decades before photographic manipulation became commonplace, Maynard experimented with multiple exposures, photomontages, and composite images that showcased both technical skill and artistic imagination. Her famous "Gems of British Columbia" series featured dozens of images of herself appearing multiple times within a single photograph, making her one of the earliest practitioners of photographic surrealism. She also held a government contract to photograph prisoners at the provincial jail, creating one of the earliest systematic photographic records of incarcerated people in Canada. Buried in Ross Bay Cemetery in 1918, Hannah Maynard is recognized internationally as a groundbreaking artist whose work challenged Victorian expectations of both photography and women's roles in professional life. Maynard’s photography can be seen in the BC Archives at the BC Museum.
Other remarkable women include:
Sarah Lindley Crease
Sarah Lindley Crease was born in England in 1826 and would become an accomplished artist, writer and observer of colonial life. She married lawyer and future Supreme Court Judge Henry Pering Pellew Crease in 1853. The couple emigrated to Vancouver Island in 1860, settling in Victoria during a period of rapid growth driven by the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes. As a member of one of the colony's most prominent families, Sarah moved within the social and political circles that helped shape early British Columbia.
Sarah Crease maintained detailed diaries and produced hundreds of watercolours and sketches documenting settlements, Indigenous communities, landscapes, and everyday life. These records have become invaluable historical sources, offering perspectives on everything from travel and social customs to politics and the challenges of frontier life. Beyond her role as a chronicler, she was an accomplished artist, helping preserve visual records of British Columbia before the widespread use of photography. Buried in Ross Bay Cemetery in 1922, Sarah Crease is considered an important eyewitness to the colonial era whose contributions to British Columbia's legal, cultural, and social history spans several generations. Crease’s paintings can be viewed online through the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, link is in the podcast notes.
Sophie Pemberton
Sophie Pemberton was born in Victoria in 1869 and was one of Canada’s most accomplished early painters to achieve international recognition in the art world. She was the daughter of surveyor and colonial official Joseph Despard Pemberton. At a time when professional artistic careers were difficult for women to pursue, Sophie Pemberton studied in San Francisco, London, and Paris. In 1899, she became the first Canadian woman to win the prestigious Prix Julian in Paris, earning recognition for her exceptional talent as a portrait and figure painter.
Throughout her career, Pemberton produced portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes that were exhibited in Canada, Britain, and Europe. Her work was admired for its technical skill, sensitivity, and elegance, and she became a leading figure in British Columbia's cultural life. Although periods of illness interrupted her artistic output, her reputation continued to grow, and today she is regarded as one of the province's most important early artists. Buried in Ross Bay Cemetery in 1959, Pemberton's achievements helped pave the way for future generations of Canadian women artists, demonstrating that they could succeed on the international stage. Pemberton’s paintings can be viewed online through the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, link is in the podcast notes.
Nellie Cashman
Born in Ireland in 1845, Nellie Cashman was a miner, businesswoman and philanthropist who travelled extensively. She immigrated to North America as a child and spent much of her life following mining booms across the western United States and Canada. Cashman lived and worked in British Columbia, Arizona, Alaska, and the Yukon, operating boarding houses, restaurants, supply businesses, and mining ventures in some of the most remote and challenging regions of the continent. At a time when women were rarely accepted in the mining industry, she repeatedly defied social expectations by financing expeditions, staking claims, and managing successful businesses in frontier communities.
Cashman became known as the "Angel of the Cassiar" and the "Miners' Angel" because of her extraordinary generosity and courage. In 1874, while living in British Columbia's Cassiar goldfields, she organized and personally led a relief expedition through harsh winter conditions to rescue stranded prospectors who were facing starvation. Throughout her life she raised money for hospitals, churches, schools, and individuals in need, often giving away much of what she earned. Her reputation for compassion spread throughout the West, and she became one of the best-known women of the gold-rush era. When she died in 1925, newspapers across North America celebrated her as a frontier heroine whose kindness matched her adventurous spirit. She was even commemorated on a US postage stamp.
Ross Bay Cemetery has accumulated more folklore and ghost stories than perhaps any other cemetery in British Columbia. It has become a cornerstone of ghost walks and bus tours. I had the opportunity to attend the cemetery tour eons ago and I remember local historian John Adams led the presentation. I really enjoyed it and recommend doing the tour at least once, especially around Halloween.
One of the rumors I’ve always heard is that there are underground tunnels beneath the cemetery. So, I had to find that out. What exists is a mixture of real underground infrastructure, local legends, and urban-exploration stories that have become intertwined over the years.
Historically, Ross Bay Cemetery was built on former farmland overlooking the ocean. The site required extensive drainage when it was established in 1872–1873 because portions of the land were wet and poorly drained. Records describe the cemetery being laid out, drained, and graded before burials began.
As a result, there are stormwater drainage systems; old drainage tiles and pipes; and utility corridors installed over many decades. All of these are engineering works, not tunnels. Victoria has long been associated with stories of underground passages beneath downtown, Chinatown, the Inner Harbour, and various other historic buildings. Some are real former service passages, coal-delivery routes, utility corridors, or basement connections.
A few reasons why speculation persists is that Victoria does have genuine underground spaces elsewhere in the city and the cemetery became associated with ghost stories and occult rumors. Yes, there are family vaults or mausoleum-style structures, but they are above-ground or partially below-grade burial structures, not interconnected tunnels.
Over time, folklore expanded these stories into claims of a vast network extending across much of the city. One version of the legend alleges tunnels running as far as Ross Bay Cemetery. Urban explorers and local storytellers occasionally repeat this claim, but apparently no historical evidence has surfaced showing a cemetery tunnel system used for burials, secret societies, smuggling, or movement of bodies. A shame really, it would make a great documentary.
Other folklore and ghost stories extend to the iconic Blue Angel. The marble angel monument stands on the grave of Charles Edward Pooley who was a prominent lawyer, judge, and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Esquimalt from 1886 to 1904. The Pooley family had the statue erected in the early 20th century in the Victorian-era style, which was intended to symbolize mourning and the soul’s ascension to heaven.
At some point, vandals painted the porous white marble headstone blue which caused permanent stainage, despite restoration efforts. As a result, locals began referring to it as the Blue Angel. According to the Old Cemeteries Society, the angel has lost her right hand and the rose she held due to vandalism.
To add to the Blue Angel’s aura of mystery, legends developed such as she is said to cry during a full moon; her blue tint appears stronger at dusk; her facial expression changes depending on the weather or the times or day; and of course, the local ghost tours describe her as one of the cemetery’s most active supernatural locations.
From a folklorist's perspective, Ross Bay Cemetery is teeming with tales that blend documented history with local imagination. It’s hard to whittle them all down, but notable ones include:
The Ghost of Isabella Ross
One of the most enduring legends involves Isabella Mainville Ross, whose land eventually became Ross Bay Cemetery. Visitors have reported seeing a woman in nineteenth-century clothing walking among the graves before disappearing. In local folklore, the apparition is often said to be Isabella continuing to watch over the property she once owned.
David Fee's Restless Spirit
A famous Victoria murder case gave rise to another ghost story. In 1890, David Fee was shot and killed on the steps of St. Andrew's Cathedral on Christmas Eve. He was buried at Ross Bay Cemetery, and later stories claimed his spirit wandered the grounds. Reports of a man appearing near older sections of the cemetery are often linked to Fee's unsolved murder.
The Lady in Black
Perhaps the cemetery's best-known apparition is a mysterious "Lady in Black." Witnesses have described a veiled Victorian-era woman walking quietly among the monuments before vanishing. Different storytellers identify her as a grieving widow, Isabella Ross, or an entirely unknown spirit. The identity changes depending on who is telling the story, which is typical of folklore.
The Elderly Couple
Another recurring legend tells of an elderly Victorian couple seen strolling hand-in-hand through the western part of the cemetery. According to the stories, they disappear when approached. This tale appears repeatedly in local ghost lore and paranormal accounts.
The Horse and Phantom Hoofbeats
One of Victoria's lesser-known cemetery legends claims that a horse was once used to pull hearses along an old cemetery road. After the road was removed, people allegedly continued to hear hoofbeats at night where no road remained. The story survives largely through oral tradition and local storytelling rather than historical documentation.
The Storm-Lost Graves
Folklore grew from the previously mentioned shoreline erosion disaster in 1909. Stories developed about spirits wandering the shoreline between the cemetery and the ocean. Some versions claim that on foggy evenings figures can be seen near the seawall before disappearing into the mist. The historical erosion is well documented; the ghosts belong to the folklore that grew around it.
The "Satanic Rituals" Legend
In the 1980s, Ross Bay Cemetery became associated with the sensational book Michelle Remembers, which claimed that satanic rituals had occurred in Victoria, including at Ross Bay. I read it and have a copy, and although very interesting, it fueled the "Satanic Panic" era. I’m reminded of the fascinating documentary Satan Wants You from 2023, that dives into those involved with Michelle Remembers. It’s available on CBC Gem (if you want to check it out). All the satanic claims were discredited, but the association became part of the cemetery's mythology and still surfaces in local discussions today.
Ross Bay Cemetery remains one of the best-preserved Victorian-era cemeteries in Canada and retains much of its 19th century character with winding carriageways, mature trees, ocean views, and carefully planned landscapes that were intended to create a place of reflection and remembrance. Within its grounds rest governors, premiers, artists, entrepreneurs, gold-rush pioneers, military veterans, community leaders, and ordinary citizens. Walking through it is to take a stroll through Victoria’s history.
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Gaslight Chronicles where we dove into the enthralling history of Ross Bay Cemetery. We only really scratched the surface, so if you’d like to learn more about this chapter in Victoria’s history, links to materials can be found in the podcast notes. And if you enjoyed our exploration, consider rating and reviewing our podcast and subscribing for more hidden stories from Western Canada. Until next time, stay curious, Vancouver Island!
Gaslight Chronicles was written and narrated by Megan Evans. Produced and edited by Megan Evans. Executive producer Gary O’Connor. Music included Sweat Peas by Arthur Benson and Sucker for Hearts by Lvly courtesy of Epidemic Sound. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review on Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever you found us. Reviews are key to keeping Gaslight Chronicles on the charts so people can find the show. Thank you so much!
