Stepping down onto the dirt main street, you'd think you were being transported into an 1860s movie set. It's so picturesque and perfect for the time. The dirt, the slightly overgrown weeds climbing up through the boardwalk, the wooden buildings hardly showing any age at all. You barely notice the people running around excitedly except that they don't match the scene before you in their jeans and t-shirts. It's the feeling of knowing deep within you, this isn't a model, it's reality this city was real, it's history, all real.
Today we know Barkerville, B.C. as a tourist attraction we can visit in the summer months and get a feel for what the gold rush and life was really like back in the 1860s. However it began when Billy Barker, the towns namesake, struck it rich! Almost overnight the town went from a creek to a city boasting a population of 5,000. Most of the city burned in a great fire in 1868, but was rebuilt just 6 weeks later. The town consisted of a theatre, barbershop, restaurant, brothel, saloon, church, a few general stores, boarding houses.. and the oldest 'China Town' in Canada. As the gold dried up, most of the residents moved away. The last remaining resident leaving in 1958, after which it was turned into a historic site.
I'd done my homework before visiting the town. Naturally trying to absorb all the information that I could. So when we arrived I had thought there was no more I could really learn without going into the town itself and exploring. Thanks to it being transformed into a tourist attraction I was able to do exactly that! After the lengthy two hour drive it took to get there, I noticed the air at first, felt different. Not in an elevation way, but in an energy way. The closer we got the thicker and more intense the energy had become. I remember turning in my seat in the car wondering if I should tell my husband to turn around and take me home. Unfortunately I could feel him brimming with excitement, so I chose not to mention anything.
When we finally arrived, I had the most intense headache, my entire body was aching and trembling. There was just so much that it was hard to take. Most of the city was a blur, I didn't really see much of whatever my ex husband had been looking at. I more or less wandered around feeling. It's unclear if what it was, was residual or the actual residents of the city never left at all.
There was pain, and anger throughout the courthouse. No matter which direction I turned I couldn't escape it. Men I didn't recognise were whispering and I could feel the shock in one, as if he hadn't known why he was brought into court at all. Originally I would have assumed that we were just bystanders to a play court, until I focused a little and noticed save for the two "clerks" we were alone in the large open room. Leaving that unpleasantness behind we moved on to the brothel... his unfortunate main attraction. On the outside, it seemed innocent enough, and most of it's barred off to begin with, essentially you walk in and peer into the rooms that are left in such condition you'd think at any moment a saloon girl might whiz past you and lay with a rich drunken traveller. Again though, what I read was pain. Excitement, lust, but also pain. These women, weren't what they appeared to be on the outside. The next memorable stop on our tour was the Royal theatre. It was quiet at the time but the peace that filled me was incredible. I could feel the piano at my fingertips, despite being nowhere near any. The music and the joy of that one place is astounding. However pleasant.. here. This is where Spirit decided to show itself. Dull at first, then more vividly, there was a man. He appeared to be resting, and staring at the stage. He didn't speak once, or look my way. Just nodded in the direction he was facing, and disappeared. I didn't feel as threatened when we were exiting the theatre, but I was exhausted. The very last place we decided to look (after running around aimlessly) was the graveyard. A short hike out of the little town. Which had been strange to me, I'm accustomed to being in graveyards, and they typical do feel quite peaceful and serene. All I could sense here was confusion. Feeling confusion and being confused is quite a thing to be. From the start, an Empaths feelings hardly ever match up with what they are thinking. However I could truly not understand why there would be confusion here.
After leaving, and dare I say I was glad to go, I realised just how haunted Barkerville truly is. The energies around it so intense and magnetic it's understandably a place worth seeing, but definitely not staying.
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