Happy Halloween Canada!
The theme of Halloween has been featured on Canadian stamps and coins, including the most recent Haunted Series of stamps and coins released by the Royal Canadian Mint and Canada Post.One of the mint’s most popular Haunted coins is the Haunted Canada Ghost Bride, which is sold out.The 25-cent cupronickel coin’s reverse design features a portrait of a bride with her eyes closed, her bridal headdress softly cascading over her shoulders. Thanks to the creative use of lenticular technology, a uniquely haunting effect is produced when the coin is tilted: the bride’s eyes suddenly spring open, while the candles that lined the staircase light up the once-black background.
Below is the story of the Haunted Bride, as provided by the RCM:
Built in 1888, the iconic Fairmont Banff Springs hotel has long been a premier mountain getaway for nature lovers, travellers and even high society. Its architectural beauty and breathtaking vistas of the surrounding Rocky Mountain landscape have long cemented its reputation as an elegant, romantic setting for weddings and special events.
And as legend has it, one bride has also made it her eternal home since the early 1930s.
The wedding day itself held nothing but promise for the young lovebirds. The groom stood in the library, waiting for his bride to arrive, before they made their way together to the glamorous Cascade Ballroom for the evening’s celebrations. As the newlyweds stepped onto the winding limestone staircase, the numerous lit candles lining the steps cast a soft amber glow on the bride, who was resplendent in her white lace gown and veil.
Perhaps the bride caught her heel in the hem of her dress, or some movement caused her dress to brush up against a candle’s flame – something startled the bride, who suddenly stumbled then fell down the stairs ultimately meeting her demise. It was a truly tragic end to a love story, and a life that was cut all too short.But this bride’s story doesn’t end with her death. For years, stories have circulated about an apparition in a white wedding dress that moves quietly up and down the aforementioned staircase in the hotel. Some claim to have seen this otherworldly bride dancing alone in the solitude. It is believed that this Dancing Bride is seeking to relive that fateful day, when death denied her and her beloved their first dance as husband and wife.