10/15/2026
On This Day: October 15, 1785, Sydney's first ghost is encountered. Late this afternoon at the Sydney barracks (Victoria Park today) after dinner, during which they had not drunk any w**e, Capt. John Cope Sherbroke and Lt. George Wynyard of the 33rd Regiment sit having coffee in the latter's apartment. The room has two doors--one into the hallway and the other into the bedroom.
Sherbroke notices the stranger first, an emaciated young man about twenty-years-old, who stands in the hall doorway. Surprised at the presence of anyone dressed in such light clothing, when it is necessary to wear something heavier, especially during October in Cape Breton, Sherbroke calls Wynyard's attention to the visitor. Wynyard becomes very agitated and is struck speechless. They watch the figure move slowly across the room looking at Wynyard before he passes into the bedroom. When Wynyard recovers, he exclaims that the visitor is his favourite younger brother, John, who is at the time serving in the 3rd Regiment of Foot-Guards in India.
They got into the bedroom but find no trace of the young man. The window, the only means of escape, is still securely puttied down for the winter. The figure has disappeared as silently and as quickly as he had appeared. Wynyard feels sure that the figure is the spirit of his brother John, and he fears that something terrible has happened to him. The others in the Regiment become involved in waiting for news from England. The first ships in the spring have no news for him. Finally, on June 6, 1786, word is received that his brother had died at that very hour on that very day of October 15, 1785, while in India.
The story is fully documented and researched. Both Sherbroke and Wynyard are noted for their good sense and their honesty. Several years later in 1811, Sir John Sherbroke becomes Lt.-Gov. of Nova Scotia.
Source: The Cape Breton Book of Days by Pamela Newton
