The Headless Ghost of Queen's Road, St. John's
Sleepy Hollow is not the only location to boast a headless ghost. Tales of headless horsemen and other headless phantoms can be found all over the world, and Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada are no exception to this. Travelling along Labrador's northeast coast in 1995, I was told stories of a strange man without a face who haunted the now abandoned community of Hebron, Labrador. Other headless phantoms have been reported in various other parts of the island of Newfoundland.
One of the oldest recorded stories of a haunting for St. John's, Newfoundland, involves a headless captain. And unlike Washington Irving's tale, the St. John's legend (dating to the year 1745) is reportedly true. It involves one Samuel Pettyham, a St. John's man who rented a small house on the fringe area of town, at the end of a small lane off Queen's Road. The man found a housekeeper to come in during the days to cook and clean, and who would then leave at night. The woman expressed some concern about Pettyham remaining alone in the house at night, but he dismissed her worries.
As the legend goes, Pettyham had been visiting a friend in the west end of town. As it was late, his host offered to drive Pettyham home in his carriage. As the horse drew near to the laneway to Pettyham's house, it stopped suddenly, and refused to move an inch further forward. Pettyham as a result offered to walk the rest of the way. The laneway to the little house was quite dark, and overgrown with trees. Pettyham walked on, and saw in front of him a glowing light. Thinking it was from a lantern of some kind carried by another person, Pettyham quickened his step.
About twenty yards further on, the figure stepped out into the moonlight immediately in front of Pettyham's house, and then turned and faced Pettyham. Mr. Pettyham took one look at the scene in front of him, and turned and fled in absolute horror. The figure he had seen was that of a very tall man, a man with his head cut completely off, close to the shoulders. Pettyham raced back up along Queen's Road, bursting into a boarding house and begging for shelter for the night, swearing he would never spend another night in his house.
The headless man he had seen was the spectre of a well known captain of a ship that plied its trade between England and Newfoundland. The captain had been the companion of a beautiful lady, who dwelt within the house. Whenever he was in St. John's, the two were always seen together, but while he was out to sea, she showered her affections on a local man. Apparently, the captain's nearness to the lady was too much for the local man, who decided to do away with his competition. One night, just as the captain said goodbye to the lady, and had stepped out onto the narrow pathway, the jealous lover leaped forward with an exceptionally sharp sword, and severed the captain's head, close to the shoulders. The man who committed the deed was never convicted, although all signs of guilt seemed to point to him. The soul of the headless captain, it is believed, still wanders, doomed to haunt the location of his hideous decapitation, forever in search of his unpunished murderer.