There’s something inherently spooky about Newfoundland and Labrador. Its rugged windswept visage, the lengthy, at times tragic history, and unshakable isolation all add up to a potent cocktail that would make a perfect backdrop for Lovecraft lore or a Poe fable.
In recent years, practitioners and proprietors of horror culture have done wonders in promoting all things creepy NL. The creative crew at Grind Mind have gained international attention for their healthy crop of titles and burgeoning film festival Fogfest. Authors have penned eerie tales and bone-chilling texts with Newfoundland connections, while others have taken to harnessing the power of the unknown in various forms.
Mike Hickey, the chief architect of the Terror Nova brand of horror anthology books and soon-to-be television series, has been an ardent proponent of the paranormal.
The longtime host of the Fright Hype web series, author and all- around creative, Mike has seen the renaissance of horror in New- foundland and Labrador grow exponentially in recent years, with modern films and television productions including SurrealEstate and The King Tide propelling the medium to new and exciting heights.
“The fandom is growing, but it’s also becoming a little bit more approachable, I think because more people are aware of the people doing it. It just kind of gives a bit of a green light.” Mike shares during a sitdown with Downhome, referencing Grind Mind’s ‘fear made right here’ mantra.
“The guys from Grind Mind especially helped in a big way to get this fear made right here philosophy. It’s this kind of concept that you can do this here. Their thing was so grassroots and it was so local and felt so local, that it gave a lot of people the ‘Oh, it’s the b’ys! And the b’ys are doing this here!’”
Buoyed by a thriving horror scene and the success of a series of anthology releases through Engen Books, the Terror Nova brand first took to television in 2023 with a Halloween special for local network NTV. The overwhelmingly positive response planted the seeds for something more expansive and ambitious.
“What we ended up doing was a bunch of interviews and features with people who do spooky stuff around here. We talked to the guys in Grind Mind, we talked to Ross Squires who does an annual haunt out on Thorburn Road, we talked to Dale Jarvis and Sasha and Leslie from Trash Panda Events and all kinds of people who are doing fun stuff that way. And then we went to the Woodstock (Public House) and did a ghost hunt and used that as the framing device where we would just throw in all these fun features, and it came out really well.”
The fanfare from the original broadcast, coupled with strong viewership for NTV’s new NTV+ app resulted in plans for a follow-up. Terror Nova with Mike Hickey will see the crew traverse the island for a six-episode series plus an additional Halloween special following a similar format of unscripted travel log meets ghost hunt.
“We’re going to be travelling around the island. Each episode is going to be anchored by a paranormal investigation. And then in each of the communities we go to we’re going to be talking to people who do spooky stuff, who promote spooky stuff, talking to museums and the people who run attractions and
people who sell spooky wares and make spooky art. Anything that appeals to people who dig that kind of ethereal, spooky, dark horror, Halloween culture,” Mike shares.
Among the teased highlights of the series, Mike revisits his old stomping grounds of Grand broadcast, coupled with strong viewership for NTV’s new NTV+ app resulted in plans for a follow-up. Terror Nova with Mike Hickey will see the crew traverse the island for a six-episode series plus an additional Halloween special following a similar format of unscripted travel log meets ghost hunt.
“We’re going to be travelling around the island. Each episode is going to be anchored by a paranormal investigation. And then in each of the communities we go to we’re going to be talking to people who do spooky stuff, who promote spooky stuff, talking to museums and the people who run attractions and people who sell spooky wares and make spooky art. Anything that appeals to people who dig that kind of ethereal, spooky, dark horror, Halloween culture,” Mike shares.
Among the teased highlights of the series, Mike revisits his old stomping grounds of Grand Falls-Windsor for one particularly ominous encounter with an abandoned Catholic School.
“One of the places we’re doing a hunt is a former Catholic grade school where I spent kindergarten to grade seven which is now an abandoned building,” Mike says of the property on St. Catherine Street. “After it was decommissioned as a school it was used as an empty space when the council owned the building and firefighters used it as a training site. Multiple firefighters have picked up weird anomalies on thermal imaging cameras while they were training in the place. So we have a thermal imaging camera, and we’re going to have a look around for ourselves and see if we can find anything”
Returning to a former residence he occupied in Goose Cove during his time with Rising Tide Theatre, Mike reflects on the structure which he labelled ‘the one spot I’ve ever truly thought could be haunted.’
“I ended up in this house by myself. And that house is the only spot I’ve ever truly thought could be haunted. And we have that house. No one lives there. It’s been abandoned for about ten years, but the guy who owns the property is letting us go in and do our ghost hunt there. So I’m actually going to get to go back into that house with ghost-hunting equipment and have a bit of an experience.”
Armed with eerie encounters and spooky settings, the Terror Nova crew, now experienced in the finer points of the genre, have benefitted greatly from the film and television boom within the province.
“A bunch of the people here who work in film and television suddenly have all this experience working specifically in shows that are within the genre and have these kinds of special effects and are these kinds of stories,” Mike explains. “So it helps elevate them in terms of their confidence and being able to execute it themselves. All that stuff just kind of feeds itself. And then the more that that happens, the more it grows, the more everybody gets comfortable acknowledging it.”
Faced with the timeless question of why Terre-Neuve works on almost every level as a backdrop for the macabre and unsettling, Mike references our deep-rooted history which lends itself to the creation and proliferation of expansive and engrossing folklore, ghostly or otherwise.
“There’s still that history here. And I think whenever you have that history and so much of our culture and our heritage comes from such a rich a place that has such rich lore, that lore gets brought over with them. It makes it really easy when you want to highlight the spooky stuff.”
