Some years ago I was employed at an old downtown hospital in Calgary, Canada, that had occupied its site for over 100 years. There were five buildings of various ages in the complex, with stories to tell from each of them. The story I am telling you happened in the old nurse's residence, built in the 1950's. By the time of my experience, it had been void of the sounds of nursing students and their instructors for many years. By then it housed mainly offices that were occupied by staff during daylight hours. It was late one evening, around 11:30p.m., when I wearily walked from the main hospital building to our locker room, situated on the sixth floor of the old building, in what had many years before been two rooms where student nurses had resided. As I exited the elevator and walked down the hallway towards my fresh change of clothes, I very plainly heard footsteps in the hallway behind me. Thinking that it was the night cleaning staff, I continued on my way. However, I very quickly realized that the sound I heard could only come from shoes with very hard heels, something which no staff member walking all day would wear. Thinking that it may be someone who shouldn't be there, I turned around to look and see. The footsteps stopped immediately, and I saw no one. I walked to where the sound had come from, checking the doors along the way, finding not a single one of them open. A short time later, I was telling another staff member of what I had experienced. It was only then that I heard the story of the old "House Mother" who continued to walk the halls in order to protect the young girls under her care. I was told that if the sound of footsteps disappeared while one was still in the building, it was a sign that the "Mother" had realized that you were of no threat, but that if you heard the footsteps all the way until you left the building, then she was making sure you would bring no harm. I never heard the steps there again...

Neil Peters, Calgary, Alberta, Canada