Skeletons at the Flat

The tide going out in Bear River, Nova Scotia

Skeletons at the Flat is a ghost story from the Bear River area. It happened many, many years ago.

One day this guy was walking through the woods near Bear River along the brook known as “The Flat”. He was just enjoying the walk in nature when he came across two skeletons. Some say there were five or six skeletons, but for sure there were more than one. Just as the guy spotted the skeletons the bones all clattered together and fell down in a heap.

The man turned away as quick as he could and ran away. But as he ran he noticed that he was being chased by a ghost who ran alongside him all the way out. The poor guy darn near went crazy and he jumped on the very next ship leaving the harbour, never to return to Bear River.

Several years later a sawmill was built on that very spot at the Flat where the bones had been found.

One day 2 men showed up at the mill. They asked the cook to feed them and put them up for the night. The cook agreed to feed the men, but decided to put them up for the night in a store shed out back. He made beds of straw and spare blankets for them in there.

That evening around the campfire the cook told the men about the story of the skeletons found on this very spot of the Flat years before. It was getting late and the two men decided to turn in. The cook forgot to give them a light so it was extra dark in the storage room.

In these days when they slaughtered an animal for food, the bones would be used for soup. Until they were needed they were kept in a sack which was left hanging somewhere. This sack just happened to be hanging over the corner of one of the made up beds in the shed.

During the night one man felt cold and decided to get up to look for an extra blanket. It just happened that the other fellow was having a bad dream and he woke up at this time yelling that the skeletons were right there beside them. He was told to be quiet, but as the cold one was getting up he knocked the sack holding the soup bones and the bag let go and all the very dry bones came down on top of him.

This was just too much and the two men took off through the woods screaming at the top of their lungs. They left the Flat so fast they did not grab their caps and coats and both near froze to death making their way back to town.

Leave the Skeletons at the Flat Story and return to check out other Annapolis Ghost Stories.