Written by Joel A. Sutherland
Illustrated by Sara Harding, Maya McKibbin, Jackie Reynolds, & Josh Rosen
Scholastic Canada
978-1-0397-1126-6
144 pp.
Ages 9–12
September 2026
There's always a good time for reading all the Haunted Canada series, graphic novel or not, but what better way to herald the Halloween season than with a new Haunted Canada Graphic Novel from Joel A. Sutherland and a quartet of talented illustrators.
In this third volume titled Four Chilling Tales, Joel A. Sutherland tells us four haunting stories from the past that move into the present day. The first story is "Rebecca's Concrete Grave" in which a young woman in 1876 Moncton is declared a witch after she helps save her family's farm when drought and fire ravages the rest of the community. After she is hanged and placed in a grave filled with concrete, the area is said to be cursed. When contemporary teens play a prank on a student, Rebecca appears to challenge the betrayal. Illustrator Sara Harding takes us easily from post-Confederation Canada to a contemporary setting, giving us a frightening Rebecca that will be the thing of nightmares.
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| Illustration by Sara Harding from Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 3: Four Chilling Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland |
The story of "Nighttime in the Asylum" comes from Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Quebec (1959) when a building was being used as a boys' home. When three boys sneak to the basement to open a stolen Christmas gift, they hear a voice telling one to use a lighter to burn it all down. Almost sixty years later, after the boys' home had been turned into an asylum and now bought by a couple who see profits in opening it to ghost hunters, the yellow-green ghosts still want those whom they encounter to burn everything down. Illustrator Maya McKibbin gives us wacky ghost hunters, electrifying specters, and shockingly mesmerizing eyes on those stricken by the ghosts.
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| Illustration by Maya McKibbin from Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 3: Four Chilling Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland |
"The Swamp Hag" is the third story and is illustrated by Jackie Reynolds. This story from Bell Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, has a miner dealing with the disappearance of his daughter in 1943. The miners believe that mines are haunted, so some aren't surprised when Clancy believes he sees his daughter there. But, the real surprise occurs when two miners, Nate and Walt, go to work their fields, and Walt admits to seeing something that he has been ashamed to reveal.
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| Illustration by Jackie Reynolds from Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 3: Four Chilling Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland |
Joel A. Sutherland's final story, "The Haunted Camp," is inclusive of all the earlier tales as a scout leader at Camp Gilwell, Lebret, Saskatchewan regales his young charges with scary stories. Some don't believe the stories, but when he tells them the one about the creepy old place nearby, they may start to think differently. It's a story of a doctor who opened his home to tuberculosis patients. When his wife becomes ill, she begs him to take care of her beloved dogs Archie and Bailey. After he remarries and then dies, his first wife haunts the home looking for her dogs. Josh Rosen's illustrations are both playful and surprising. The boys are curious, bold, and anxious, and their scout leader is a little goofy, though he does go to check out the haunted house. As for the ghosts of Helena, the doctor's wife, and her dogs, Josh Rosen gives them just the right touch of menacing. They are enough to make a good story without keeping young readers up at night.
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| Illustration by Josh Rosen from Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 3: Four Chilling Tales, written by Joel A. Sutherland |
Haunted Canada Graphic Novel, Volume 3: Four Chilling Tales will be a colourful diversion until the costumes and trick-or-treating are upon us. Better yet, Joel A. Sutherland makes us believe these stories might all be true, if you trust in his preface.
The following stories are inspired by true events. That's right, true. You can choose to believe...or not. The ghosts don't mind either way.
Huh?
