Tod House: The Canadian Haunting Solved by a Shovel

Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

Darren Marlar

True Crime, History, Society & Culture, Documentary, Science, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 December 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For decades, a ghostly woman in chains appeared in the upstairs bedroom of Victoria's oldest home, pleading for help — until workmen digging near the front porch uncovered her skeleton buried seven feet deep in quicklime.

Episode 4 of 12 in the “Twelve Nightmares of Christmas” series!

IN THIS EPISODE: “Strange Happenings at Tod House”, “Professor Gladstone and The Murderer”, “The Mackey Haunting”, “The Dug Hill Booger”, “The Old Royal Ascot Hotel”

SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…
All stories in this episode are from the book, “The Spirits of Christmas: The Dark Side of the Holidays” by Sylvia Shults: https://amzn.to/3uT2vMA
Join the Weird Darkness Syndicate: https://weirddarkness.com/syndicate
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"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46

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#WeirdDarkness #HauntedHouse #CanadianGhostStory #TrueScaryStories #ChristmasHaunting #SkeletonDiscovery #ParanormalActivity #GhostStory #HauntedHistory #BuriedSecrets

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome, weirdos. This is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal,
0:08.7	supernatural, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, and unexplained. If you're new here, be sure to
0:16.8	subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Android so you don't miss future episodes.
0:22.6	This is a special 12 Nightmares of Christmas episode.
0:27.1	Each day from December 13th through December 24th, I'm posting a new episode of Weird
0:32.9	Darkness featuring material from the new book, The Spirits of Christmas, The Dark Side of the Holidays
0:39.6	by Sylvia Schiltz. Be sure to come back every day from December 13th through the 24th for
0:46.6	more holiday horrors. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the weird
0:57.0	darkness.
0:59.0	The oldest private home in Victoria, British Columbia, a small bungalow on Heron Street.
1:16.5	The wooden frame house was built in 1851 by John Todd, head trader for the Hudson Bay Company.
1:24.0	John Todd was quite the frontier character.
1:27.5	He emigrated from Scotland in 1813 to seek his fortune in New Caledonia, as that part of
1:34.8	British Columbia was then known.
1:37.3	He certainly made the most of the freedom the Canadian frontier offered.
1:42.1	At one point he ran afoul of the governor of the Hudson Bay Company
1:45.5	and was banished to the remote outpost of Fort McLeod. He spent nine years there and used
1:52.6	the time to become fluent in several Native American dialects. One anecdote in particular reveals
2:00.0	Todd's rough and tumble take-no-crap attitude.
2:02.9	In 1847, he was Chief Trader at Fort Camloops when Chief Nicola and his men showed up
2:10.3	to attack the fort.
2:12.3	Todd showed the chief a keg of gunpowder and threatened to blow himself and the fort sky high if the Camloop
	...

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