OUTLOOK - Well, wouldn't you know it, the community of Outlook might just have something else to hang their hat on if you consider the words of Saskatchewan ghost hunter, Curtis Riersgard.
The young man, who along with his uncle Nathan leads a video series on YouTube entitled Purgatory Adventures, called the Jim Kook Rec Plex the most haunted location that the pair have investigated so far.
"I'd say it ranks as number one," he said, on the phone with The Outlook. "It's definitely one of the most haunted locations that we've been to in a while, that's for sure."
With a wide array of visits to places such as the Heritage Village in Weyburn, the Bekevar church outside Kipling, the Arcola and Kerrobert courthouses, the Alameda District Museum, the Hotel Saskatchewan in Regina, and an alleged "screaming house" in Indian Head, it's interesting that Riersgard would rank the home of the Ice Hawks as #1 on a list of spooky places.
There has to be some kind of merchandising opportunity there, right? Lean into it and offer late-night tours of the rink for a fee?
Curtis, 21, says he's been investigating the paranormal world for nine years, starting back when his uncle Nathan helped introduce him to it. Since that time, it's become a passion project that has taken the pair to some interesting places.
"It was probably back when Nathan actually got me started in a place called Criddle/Vane Homestead," he said. "That's where I had my first investigation, and where I got into the paranormal."
Fans of ghost hunting can check out the pair's adventures on their Facebook page at , and one of those fans is the one who came to Curtis about the Rec Plex. After hearing stories of eerie incidents and experiences shared by other people, it pushed him to delve into some of the backstory of the building.
"Someone actually got in contact with me about it, Jesse Layton," said Curtis. "When we went up to the Kerrobert courthouse to do our investigation up there, we stopped by the Outlook location and talked to people that were there, and they said that they'd had experiences. At that point, we were very interested. Before I go to locations to film, I always like to go and just feel the energy first, and usually, I can feel what is there, and that's how I decide which locations we should go to."
In the video, Riersgard and Nathan can be seen probing all corners of the rink during an overnight visit back in the summer. Although the video can't be found on a search due to it being unlisted, it can still be viewed at the web address of for the time being, at least.
Riersgard says the vibe of the building made for a hair-raising atmosphere during his visit.
"It was creepy and it was definitely a scary, scary night," he said. "It was probably one of our scariest nights and it's probably our scariest location we've ever gone to. It even beats our Tommy Douglas investigation, I would say. It's a great location, but it just made a really scary atmosphere, that's for sure."
Curtis says the fear on both of their faces was genuine when things started happening in the Outlook rink, such as footsteps being heard above them on the building's exterior and an elevator light flickering on and off.
"Oh yes, there was definitely a real fear," he said. "When we heard the footsteps walking on the roof and we went out and saw no one there, that freaked us out quite a bit. Seeing the elevator light turn on a few times and capturing knocks, it all just made for a really great investigation."
Unfortunately for the ghost-hunting pair, after the video was created, a request by Outlook officials to view the video, a first for Riersgard, prior to it being uploaded went forgotten, which resulted in the material largely disappearing from YouTube. As well, although a town representative can be seen touring the rink with the host, it has since been learned that the show's filming did not have the full permission of the Town of Outlook.
"What had happened was I was supposed to send the video to them so that they could review it before I uploaded it," he said. "I kept living my everyday life, and in the three years I've been doing Purgatory Adventures, I've never had this happen and never had a location ask me to do this before. It just slipped my mind, and so I edited like I always do and put it out on YouTube, and then they requested that I take the video down and not upload it."
Although Curtis doesn't believe the video will ever be made widely available due to the situation, he's made sure that Purgatory Adventures will always have every T crossed whenever they investigate a new location.
"I don't think so," he said. "I don't know if it's ever going to come out. So, what we do now is we have contracts drawn up that means that once it's signed, we have full rights to the content and we can upload it to YouTube and our social media platforms."
For Riersgard, who doesn't do this for a living, it's the sheer adventure of it all that he considers to be the best thing about investigating paranormal phenomena.
"The best thing would be the experiences and the adventures that you go on," he said. "The journey is always the best part, for me."
