Like every city, Saskatoon has its ghost stories.
Like every city, Saskatoon has its ghost stories. Usually we trot these out around Hallowe’en. But this one, which we happened across in a 1996 issue of the Saskatoon Sun, has to do with skating, and in Saskatoon, stories about skating are always timely.
Our tale begins on November 3, 1943, at the old City Park Skating Rink, which until 1955 was on 4th Avenue south of 25th Street where the funeral home is now. That day, residents complained about loud music playing through the rink’s PA system at 2:00 am the previous night. George Ward, head of the Saskatoon Playgrounds Association, which ran all the city’s recreational facilities in those days, hauled the rink supervisor, Pete Ferbey, into his office, demanding to know what was going on. Ferbey swore he’d closed the rink down at 11:00 pm as usual. “It must be kids!” they agreed.
A few days later, it happened again. This time the police were called. Detective Richard Sissons and a patrol officer arriving to find the music playing loudly and two people on the rink: a tall, red-haired man in an air force uniform holding hands with a young woman as they glided across the ice to the strains of the Skater’s Waltz. In the rink shack, police found the record playing. But when they got onto the ice to confront the couple… the pair simply faded away.
The loud music stopped after that and the mysterious skaters were never seen again. When the story got out, people remembered a young couple that had frequently skated there together. He’d been shot down over they said—at 2:00 am on November 3, 1943. Tragically, the girl he was with had also died, in an automobile accident that same night.
And their favourite song to skate to? The Skater’s Waltz.
(Main Photo) Skaters at the “City Park: rink, where our spectral encounter allegedly took place. (1939) Local History Room - Saskatoon Public Library - LH 5542-b
(Left) 1950 Fire Insurance map showing the location. Courtesy of the City of Saskatoon Archives.