Ghostrider Legend

The legend of the Ghostrider all begins with one man, a Scottish fellow by the name of William Fernie.

According to the legend, Fernie was prospecting in the Elk Valley during the 19th century when one day he came across a young Ktunaxa woman. Fernie noticed that the young woman wore a unique piece of jewelry, a necklace made of several shining black stones. Being a prospector, Fernie immediately recognized the stones as pieces of coal. Intent on finding the source of the coal, Fernie decided to negotiate with the girl’s father who also happened to be a chief. The two men struck a deal. If Fernie would marry the chief’s daughter, then the chief would reveal the location of the coal. After learning the location of the coal deposits, Fernie backed out of his end of the deal and refused to marry the young Ktunaxa woman. This, of course, angered the chief greatly. Legend has it that in his rage, the chief placed a curse on the valley, promising fire, flood and famine.

In the ensuing years, Fernie saw more than its fair share of disasters. A tragic mining accident occurred in 1902, during which 128 miners lost their lives in an explosion at the Coal Creek mine. In 1904, a fire wiped out Fernie’s business area in a mere four hours as a fire that started at Richard’s General Store quickly grew and spread. Fire struck again in 1908, this time taking less than 90 minutes to obliterate all but 16 homes at the far west end of Fernie as well as the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal Co. offices.

After each of these devastating events, the resilient citizens of Fernie rebuilt, only to be hit again by a flood in 1916 when the Elk River overflowed its banks, giving more credence to the Ghostrider legend. Whether these disasters had anything to do with the curse, we’ll never know, however the belief was so strong that in 1964, the City of Fernie requested that Chief Ambrose Gravelle and members of the Ktunaxa nation perform a curse lifting ceremony. Although the curse has been lifted, on sunny summer afternoons you may see the shadow of a horse and rider on the face of Mt. Hosmer. Legend has it the rider is the young woman, and the shadowy figure beside her is that of her father, both forever in limbo, watching over the valley.