The Lethbridge Full Moon series has been set up to honour the rich folk history of ghosts and hauntings in Lethbridge, and show you some of my favourite spooky spots. They are being released in time for the second full moon of October 2020, which falls on October 31st. This cache is available day or night, but for your best chance at seeing or feeling a ghostly presence, the whole series can be undertaken at night, preferably during the full moon. Use your common sense (and your sixth sense) to stay safe, and bring a buddy.
Each cache in the series will give you a clue to solve the final mystery cache (Full Moon Final: GC915ZV)
This cache is placed in an eerie spot near some abandoned buildings that belong to the Research Station and right across the street from the property of the Lethbridge Correctional Centre. If you walk north on the road a little bit you’ll see a really creepy abandoned playground behind the shuttered residences. You don’t need to go onto the property to find the cache or to get goosebumps.
Although there are four cemeteries in Lethbridge, there is one more related cemetery just outside City limits; the one at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre. From 1912 to 1956, 18 executions took place at Lethbridge's jail and those pepole were buried in the prison yard if no family members came to claim their bodies.
"Four of those were German prisoners of war who were put to death, after they hanged one of their fellow POWs for what they perceived as crimes against Nazism.” (Lethbridge News Now) In fact, the day that those four POWs were executed, one other man - a 29 year old Canadian named Donald Sherman Staley was also hanged here marking Dec. 18, 1946 as the day of Alberta's largest mass hanging, and Lethbridge's jail holds the dubious distinction of being the location of the gallows.
You can read more about what happened if you’re interested here (Edmonton Journal). “With no one to claim the bodies, the men were put in individual coffins and buried in a common grave.”
This whole area gives me the heebie jeebies, good thing this is a quick park and grab.