When we exchanged maps, I was partnered with Amber and given a map of supposedly haunted places around campus and Old Strathcona, with a quick trip across the river to the Hotel Macdonald. THIS WAS REALLY GREAT, BY THE WAY. (And Amber, if you see this, I forgot to ask/tell you: are you making it public? Because you totally should.) Seriously, I love ghost walks. I keep wanting to do that one around here that they've got in the summer, but everyone calls me a loser and won't go. ANYWAYS.

What I mean to get at with this is that one of the themes of the map was the idea of places having a "dual history" -- the "official" one that everyone knows, the facts and figures and documented things, as well as the other one, what I want to call the colloquial history, the bits and pieces that aren't official or necessarily really there on record, but the stories and legends that everyone knows. I was thinking about it again today with the discussion of the Rossdale site and the fact that everyone just kept forgetting about -- or maybe in some cases, ignoring -- the history and importance of the place. Why? Going back to the dual history thing, I think sometimes that we forget the importance of the other histories, the off the record versions. And this is really rather terrible, when you think about it (aside: I need a synonym for think. Sorry.) The other versions of history are no lesser just because they're not endorsed by the public or the government or whoever the hell is in charge of writing horrible elementary school texts that pretend like racism doesn't exist...the people who decide what should be on record, in other words. The ghost stories I learned probably aren't on official record anywhere (the gruesome murder of a prostitute at the Strat, for instance? And her bloody figure? Probably not going on that plaque on the outside of the building.) I think Amber got at least a few of her stories from Barbara Smith's book Ghost Stories of Alberta, which is, yes, a collection of stories told by one person or a passed among a few over the years.

I think I'd like to see more things like this, really -- collections of the stuff that everybody knows, but isn't really recorded. Or maybe they exist and I just haven't found them? Either way, it'd be cool. And since we're on the topic -- do you kids know any such stories? I'd like to hear them.

PS. Excuse the lateness, dear hearts? I drafted this yesterday (really) and forgot to publish it, and I've just now gotten to a computer.