The hub of St. John's downtown scene is George Street. Locals speak with mixed English and Irish accents, though many of their families have been planted on the Canadian island for several generations. The island is also home to 125,000 moose. Shipwrecks are all too common for this island near the North Atlantic Ocean. And some accidents can be contributed to the thick clouds that hover near the earth's surface and block visibility.
Foggy weather is hazardous for shipping and drilling rigs, especially when icebergs are present.
But to visitors from the dusty West Texas plains, the eerie mist provides just the right ambiance to share tales of haunted hotels, mysterious water creatures and ghostly beasts from the pages of John Fitzgerald's book, Strange But True Newfoundland Stories. During one cold winter night, loud knocking awakened guests at the Faran's Hotel downtown. After searching the hotel, two guests determined the sound was coming from an upstairs room. When they entered the room, the noise stopped. They searched the room, but found nothing.