Haunted Case File: Old Courthouse Inn
Location: Powell River, British Columbia, Canada
Established: 1939
Case type: Ongoing, multi-visit haunting investigation
Reported hotspots: Rooms 1, 3, 6, and 7; the second-floor hallway; the crawlspace; the basement
Primary reports: Shadow figures, EVPs, footsteps, equipment responses, moving cabinet doors, and an apparent orb
Case status: Open. Several events were filmed, but the original recordings still need to be reviewed together.
I’ve visited the Old Courthouse Inn more than once. Some of the reports are on film; others are moments I experienced in the building. This file gathers what I have so far. It keeps the building’s documented history separate from its ghost stories and from what I think the evidence may mean.
Documented History
The Old Courthouse Inn was built in 1939 in the Townsite district. It served as Powell River’s provincial building, housing the court, jail, BC Police headquarters, forestry service, public works, government agent, and relief services. Before construction, three houses stood on the Walnut Street site. They were moved to Westview to make room for the new building. epe.lac-bac.gc.ca
The Inn sits within Powell River Townsite, a planned mill community laid out in 1910–11 and now recognized as a National Historic Site. The current Inn reports that the building was renovated in 1997. www.pc.gc.ca
Fact check: An earlier Ghostly Activities post says the building opened in the 1910s. The courthouse building itself dates to 1939.
Haunting Claims at a Glance
| Location | Report | Current record |
|---|---|---|
| Room 1 | EVPs; you associate the room with a story that bodies from the pulp mill were stored there. | EVPs appear in Return to the Inn. The room’s reported past needs historical verification. |
| Room 3 | EVPs | Captured on film in Return to the Inn. |
| Room 6 | Shadow figure; cold spot during an Estes session; glowing orb in the same spot | Shadow figure is on film in Ghosts at the Inn. The cold spot and orb were recorded on infrared. |
| Room 7 | Shadow figure | Captured on your phone and included in Dark Tales from the Inn. |
| Second-floor hallway, across from Room 6 | Cabinet doors opened | Reported by you; recording method not yet noted. |
| Crawlspace | Class A EVP: “I’m right here.” | Captured on film. |
| Near Room 1 | Something appeared to run past the 360 puck | The event was captured on film; the device response and movement need to be reviewed together. |
| Room not yet identified | A phantom footstep set off the Flux 2 | Captured on film; exact room still to be identified. |
What the Inn Is Said to Do
The strongest recurring reports in my own case notes involve shadow figures in Rooms 6 and 7, voices captured in several rooms, and movement in or near the second-floor hallway. My earlier posts also document investigations in Rooms 6 and 7 and the Inn’s basement.
There’s also a story connected to Room 1 and the storage of bodies from the pulp mill. For now, I’m treating that as reported lore rather than established history. I’ll need to find a reliable source before presenting it as fact.
What Happened to Us
The Room 6 reports are among the most striking. On my first trip, I saw a shadow figure there, and it appears on film in Ghosts at the Inn. During an Estes session in Room 6, I felt a cold spot. A glowing orb appeared in that same spot on infrared video.
I later saw a shadow figure in Room 7. That one was captured on my phone and appeared in Dark Tales from the Inn. The events happened on separate visits and in different rooms, so I’m keeping them as two reports rather than assuming they involved the same thing.
Other recordings came from Rooms 1 and 3. The EVPs from both rooms appear on film in Return to the Inn. In the crawlspace, an EVP says, “I’m right here.” A footstep set off the Flux 2, and something appeared to run past the 360 puck outside Room 1. Both events were caught on film. I also remember the cabinet doors opening in the second-floor hallway across from Room 6.
These are reported experiences and recordings. The footage can help establish what was visible or audible, and when. It doesn’t by itself tell us what caused an event.
Environmental Problems With Investigating the Inn
A courthouse building turned inn has plenty of ordinary activity to account for: people moving through rooms and halls, doors and cabinets being used, and building sounds that can be mistaken for footsteps or movement.
One known complication is the Inn’s heating system. In an earlier Ghostly Activities report, I described hearing phantom door-like creaks during a long crawlspace session and connected them to radiant heat warming the floorboards and pipes. That gives us a documented explanation to keep in mind when reviewing similar sounds. It doesn’t automatically explain every sound—or the cabinet doors.
For the equipment reports, the key question is whether the video and audio show a clear timing relationship: what happened first, what the device registered, and what else was happening nearby. I’ll want to review the original recordings before drawing conclusions.
What I Want to Find Out
- Do the Room 6 and Room 7 shadow-figure recordings show similar shapes or movement?
- What exactly appears in the Room 6 infrared footage during the cold-spot and orb event?
- Can the Flux 2 response be matched to a clear footstep on the recording, and which room did it happen in?
- What does the film show near the 360 puck outside Room 1?
- Can the Room 1, Room 3, and crawlspace EVPs be heard clearly in the original recordings, before enhancement?
- What was happening in the second-floor hallway when the cabinet doors opened?
- Can local archives or historical records verify the story about bodies from the pulp mill being stored in Room 1?
Best Potential Evidence
The original recordings are the heart of this case. The strongest material to review first is the Room 6 infrared footage, the Room 6 and Room 7 shadow-figure footage, the EVPs from Rooms 1 and 3 and the crawlspace, and the filmed Flux 2 and 360 puck events.
A useful review would keep the complete, uncut files and note timestamps, camera position, people present, equipment location, and any environmental readings. That would let us compare each claimed event with the surrounding footage instead of judging a short clip on its own.
Pre-Investigation Assessment
The building history is well established: the Inn was built in 1939 as a provincial government facility, and three houses were moved from the lot to make way for it. The broader setting is a historic company town. epe.lac-bac.gc.ca
The haunting case has multiple firsthand reports and several recordings from different visits. That makes the Inn a strong subject for a longitudinal case file. The reports deserve careful review, especially where the video and equipment response can be compared directly.
For now, the case supports a clear statement: unusual experiences and equipment events have been reported and recorded at the Inn. Whether they point to a haunting remains open. The next step is to review the documentary footage and match each event to its date, room, witnesses, and original recording.
Previous Investigations At The Old Courthouse Inn
Have you investigated The Old Courthouse Inn? If so, let me know about it in the comments below. Much appreciated and take care!
