A Boozy Barber

Certain types have depicted Canadians as peaceful types. Not the kind of people to break the law or cause trouble. We are supposed to be polite and courteous. I even saw a documentary by one famous director that said that Canadians don't lock their doors. For those of you who are thinking that this country is some sort of paradise filled with well-mannered people and little crime, I got a news flash for you. It isn't.

My novel Missing Flowers was inspired by the Missing Women's case in which Robert Pickton murdered numerous prostitutes and disposed of the bodies on his pig farm. However, he isn't the only serial killer to haunt the streets of my city.

I am sure that many people reading this have had an alcoholic drink or two in their lifetime. Perhaps there have even been times when they have over indulged and felt horrible the next day. I wonder if any of my readers have considered using booze as a murder weapon.

Gilbert Paul Jordan - born Gilbert Paul Elsie - is believed to have done just that to between 8 and 10 women. His suspected murders span the years from 1965 to 1988.

Jordan would go into a bar, find a woman and buy her a drink. Then more. Sometimes he would pay them for sex and encourage them to drink with him. Many of these women were alcoholics and some were prostitutes.

Once the woman had drunk enough to pass out, Jordan would pour alcohol down her throat. When the body was autopsied and the level of alcohol was discovered, officials would assume that the woman died of her own actions. That she had just gone overboard that night.

The first woman to die in Jordan's company was a switchboard operator named Ivy Rose in 1965. She was found in a hotel room dead, naked and with a blood alcohol level of .51. (Remember that .08 is considered intoxication.) No charges were laid there.

Jordan was connected with the deaths of other women as well.

Mary Johnson was found on November 30, 1980 at the Aylmer Hotel with a blood alcohol level of .34.

On September 11, 1981, Barbara Paul's body was discovered at the Glenaird Hotel and her blood alcohol was .34.

Jordan's barbershop at 2503 Kingsway was the site for the next body discovery on July 30, 1982. Mary Johns had a blood alcohol level of .76.

Two years later, on December 15, 1984, the body of Patricia Thomas was found at the barbershop again with a blood alcohol reading of .51.

Another Patricia, Patricia Andrew, was discovered at that same place with a blood alcohol level of .51. Vera Harry was found dead on November 19, 1986 at the Clifton Hotel but her blood alcohol level was only .04.

Vanessa Lee Buckner died October 12, 1987 after drinking with Jordan. A month after that Edna Shane was found dead in a hotel room.

Jordan himself was known to drink more than 50 ounces of vodka a day.

The police knew that something was going on and after questioning Jordan in connection with Buckner's death - but not charging him - the police placed the man under surveillance. In the period between October 12 and November 26, 1987, the authorities managed to save four women from Jordan's clutches.

Jordan was eventually charged and convicted of manslaughter in the death of Vanessa Lee Buckner. He served six years.

Gilbert tried to change his name to Paul Pearce in 2000 but dropped the application when a loophole in the process was closed. At the time of his applying, fingerprints and criminal checks weren't performed.

Gilbert Paul Jordan died in 2006 at the age of 74.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Robert Pickton, history, Gilbert Paul Jordan, British Columbia

Supernatural in Vancouver

My tag line is that I am making the paranormal, normal and my latest releases Missing Flowers does deal with paranormal and supernatural occurrences. Today I thought I would look at some of the supernatural happenings in my gorgeous city. And I don't mean the television show.

But talking about the television show, Supernatural, I was walking along East Pender Street one day and saw cameras etc around a store across the street. I didn't think a lot about it - film making paraphernalia is a common sight  in Vancouver. Then I saw the black car and 'Dean' got out. I wonder if when this place was being scouted for a location shoot, if they realized that apparently there is a psychic crack in this area! Which I discuss more in the book.

Since it is October and I do plan on writing about haunted places later in the month, I thought in honour of the mystical side of Missing Flowers, I am going to share some stories for Vancouver.

The first tale I am going to relate was first told to me by Chris at the Bangkok City Cafe in Kitsilano. As the story goes, a young woman was riding in a car with her boyfriend on a rainy night. The two were travelling along 16th Avenue West when they got into a fight. She exited the car and started to hitch hike.  Unfortunately she was struck by a car and killed.

Nowadays her apparition is seen trying to flag down a ride. If someone with a passenger stops, she refuses to get in. If a single male stops, she accepts then disappears as she is getting into the rear seat.

At UBC - University of British Columbia - a woman in a white dress has been seen iin the library. This woman will disappear if anyone approaches her. No one seems to know who she is or why she still haunts the University.

The next place I am looking at is considered to be not only the most haunted place in Vancouver but perhaps even Canada.

The Billy Bishop Legion Hall (Canadian Legion Branch #176) is located at 1407 Laburnum Street. The building opened in 1930 as a clubhouse for a  men's association, Maralomas. In 1947, the Air Force Association bought it and added another section. Apparently, according to records and conversations with long time members, no one has ever died in the building or on the property.  One thought is that the ghosts are those of former partygoers.

Staff at the legion have heard things like chairs and tables being moved on the floor above them when there wasn't a live human to move the objects. Patrons have reported seeing old friends then discovering that the person they had seen had died a couple of years previously.

According to investigators from the British Columbia  Society of Paranormal Investigation and Research into the Supernatural - who visited the legion in 2006 - a tall old man, a shorter younger man and a short woman have been identified as spirits.

A famous ghost that apparently resides there as well. An unfinished painting by artist Ted Hoskinson hangs in the building's north-east corner. The artist is said to be haunting the location until the painting is finished.

I have more stories to tell you but those will be closer to the end of the month. I want to thank an article I found at Canada.com for the extensive information on the Billy Bishop Legion Hall and the Haunted North America website for other information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

 Karen Magill, Vancouver, Supernatural, history, ghosts, British Columbia

Ladies of the Night

My latest book, Missing Flowers, has been published in eBook format. Here is a blurb on what this book is all about.

When psychic Julie Seer moves to Vancouver, her dreams are filled with visions of women being murdered. She doesn’t know who is being killed, or why, until the day Julie goes to a press conference held by the Vancouver Police Station: a press conference to announce the formation of a special task force that will investigate the case of the prostitutes who have gone missing from Vancouver’s East Side. 

 Detective Constable Santoro Ricci, an officer with the Vancouver Police Department, wants on the special task force. When he happens upon Julie at the press conference, Ricci finds himself unofficially investigating the case. Julie also finds herself having visions where she is transported back in time into the body of a Chinese prostitute in the late 1800s. Through these visions, and stories told to her by long time residents of the city, Julie learns more of the history of Vancouver. 

With the help of Francine, an east side prostitute, Julie and Santoro work together to solve the mystery of the missing women. When Francine and Julie are taken by the killer, Santoro must find the missing answers fast. 

If you are interested, click here to buy it on Amazon.

In honour of this release - my first with a traditional publisher - I am going to write on certain events in the book. Today it will be the history of prostitution in Vancouver.

In case you aren't aware, prostitution is legal in Canada. However, aspects associated with it are not. A person is not allowed to run a bawdy house, solicit or live off the proceeds from prostitution.Therefore, a woman, or a man, can sell their body for but they can't do anything with the money. At least those were the laws when I wrote Missing Flowers.

Back in 1906, the police chief - C.A. Chisholm - reported that there were 41 brothels in operation and 153 prostitutes working on the street in what is now Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. This led to a vice crackdown which closed all the bordellos and left about 64 prostitutes on the streets.

According to an article I read in an older edition of The Georgia Straight, in 2006 there were about 2,000 sex-trade workers that worked out of various enterprises in the city and around 150 that worked the dangerous are of the Downtown Eastside.

The author of The Georgia Straight article - Terry Glavin - referred to a book published by Daniel Francis, Red Light Neon: A History of Vancouver's Sex Trade.

During the first half of the 1900s, there were attempts to clear city of these 'women of ill repute'. There were intense,sweeps where those connected with prostitution were arrested followed by periods where the so-called good folk would turn a blind eye to the activity around them.

There was a long gap between crackdowns during the 1950s and 1960s, which ended in 1975 with a raid on the Penthouse Nightclub.

Suddenly, instead of so many prostitutes conducting their business behind closed doors, the ladies of the evening were once again pushed out onto the streets.

Hookers were everywhere. Especially along places like Davie Street. Then the women were moved from the West End to Richard's Street and from there to Strathcona. Finally, in the 1980s, the prostitutes had been driven to the dark, bleak streets of the Downtown Eastside. Ironically, this is the area where Vancouver's first red light district was. It had come full circle.

Missing Flowers is fiction. I do not have any stories that I have been told and are relating nor am I trying to make a statement here. Red Light Neon: A History of Vancouver's Sex Trade is a nonfiction book that educates and informs. My work entertains.

Wednesday I will write on another aspect of Missing Flowers. Could it be psychic phenomena or perhaps serial killers or something totally different? I haven't decided.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Georgia Straight, history, prostitution, British Columbia