The third season of Fort Langley Ghost Walks begins next weekend.

Head interpreter Amn Johal has done extensive research into the final (and not so final) resting places of the former residents of the small fur trade post. On a wander through town which includes the cemeteries (official and unofficial), expert story tellers will regale participants with the tragedies and secrets of residents long-dead.

This event has proven a crowd favourite every year, with most walks selling out at least a week in advance.

They take place on Friday through Sundays in October — Oct. 2-4, 9-11, 16-18 and 23-25

Walks are at 7 p.m. nightly, with an additional 9 p.m. walk on Saturday nights.

Tickets are $13 each, or $11 for annual pass holders or groups of six or more.

A French language ghost walk is planned on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m.

Among the stops are Marr House: one of the older houses in Fort Langley and, like most of those houses, it has an uninvited resident. A story is told of an apparition; a lady in white who is seen occasionally within the house. She is thought to be the daughter of one of the previous owners, and she took her own life quite tragically. Young, with child and ashamed, she ingested rat poison to end it all.

Another stop is the William Henry Emptage grave: One of the most memorable employees at Fort Langley, this Englishman went to sea young for the East India Company.

After many years sailing to India he came west and joined the Hudson’s Bay Company. From Vancouver Island he was sent up to the Queen Charlotte Islands, where rumours of gold had piqued the curiosity of the company.

While blasting, William hurt his hand and was immediately taken back to Victoria. The surgery was crude; poor William didn’t even have chloroform to knock him out, so he drank whiskey and bit down hard on a rock while the surgeon sawed his hand off at the wrist. The worst was yet to come though.

The surgeon then peeled back his skin and cut the bone another inch, so he could sew the skin over the stump. Emptage, amazingly, recovered from this procedure, and went on to work at Fort Langley in the 1860s where it was reported that he did quite well in the garden and on the farm, carrying milk pails in the crook of his amputated arm.

To purcgase tickets for the Ghost Walk, call the visitor centre at 604-513-4777 or e-mail the historic site at fort.langley@pc.gc.ca.