During your Kayak Safari adventure, you’ll get the chance to cherish a beautiful summer’s day on the water. On the Athelstan course, where you paddle for 7,6km on the Chateauguay river, you will see two bridges : the Gilmore and the Walker.
The Gilmore bridge has always been a mysterious location. It is an abandonned bridge and the road is closed down. The reason said by most of the locals is because of a lack of finances to repair and maintain it. But, there is also an urban legend that collides with popular belief. It’s the story of the fallen fisherman.
In the early 1900s, a convict broke out of an american prison located in the Adirondacks. Apparently, he was in jail for several murders.
He would’ve crossed the border illegally and made his subtle nest in the small town of Athelstan. One of his passions was fishing and the Cheateauguay river was filled with a large variety of fish. He was feeding himself with his catches and having fun, perhaps forgetting his dark past.
It is sepculated that one stormy day in spring, while fishing on the Gilmore bridge, the fisherman slipped and fell in the river, drowning himself in the process. The body was never found. There are rumors that the ghost of the american is now haunting the area at night, terrorising anyone who approaches his beloved fishing spot. All these apparitions wouldve forced the locals to condemn the bridge and the road.
Perhaps, this legend brings an unanswered question : how did an experienced fisherman drown randomly in the river?
Some say that the american man had a lot of ennemis, mainly due to the fact that he didn’t socialize with anyone. That can be a reason why the ghost of the fisherman haunts the bridge, by desire of vengeance.
Another theory is the karmic energy one. Did a man guilty of murder deserve to have a peaceful and prosper life?
Legend or not, come visit Kayak Safari without the fear of encountering a ghost : he only comes out at night!