Spooky Scenes Along the Milk River

It was getting near the end of a long day of dragging the canoe along the sandy riverbed of the Milk River, when we spotted an old farmhouse on the side of the river. It was kind of surprising, given that according to our maps we were hundreds of miles from anyone or anything.

As we got closer, we decided to go check it out. Secretly I think we were both hoping that someone was home (and that they had some cold beer). We left the canoe and all the gear on the shore and headed up towards the house, taking only a machete and the camera. When we got to the clearing in front of the house, the first thing that I noticed was that there was no road of any kind, not even a walking trail, but for some reason, water was running out of an old-fashioned water pump. This might not seem weird but everything freezes in the Alberta winter so someone has to come by each spring and fall to turn the water on and off.

We decided against our better judgment to go see inside. I know this is how all horror movies start: When I watch those movies, I’m always yelling at the characters for going into the creepy house in the middle of nowhere. But sadly, I walked right in with a stupid grinn on my face. Although there was no crazy murderer in the house there was a tone of creepy stuff. Toilet seat on the wall, burnt bed frames and mattresses, random animal bones, shotgun holes in the walls, old ripped clothing and what looked like blood stains on the fence. You don’t have to know me to realize that I was getting scared in this part of the video. If you could have seen my knuckles, they were white from clutching my machete too tight. I kept having visions of ‘deliverance’ style hillbillies pulling up in a pickup truck with some tourists tied up in the back.

Needless to say I was relieved when Bryan said he wanted to get out of there. We were both unhappy about getting back in the canoe at the end of the day but there was no way we were sleeping in a tent anywhere near that house. It was well after dark when we finally found a spot on the
other side of the river and got camp set up but I slept much better knowing I wouldn’t be part
of one of those “based on a true story” horror films.

Catch the Paddling Bryans tonight at 10pm ET on Travel+Escape!

Missed last week’s episode? Watch it here!