A small community along the coast of Labrador is shrouded in mist and being terrorized by ghosts — but world famous paranormal investigator Hellboy is on the scene.
That’s the premise of The Ghost Ships of Labrador, a new comic book story co-written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and Rob Williams, and illustrated by Laurence Campbell. It’s the latest installment of the popular and long-running comic book series that has been set all over the globe, and now in Red Bay, Labrador.
“I like the idea of this small little town with a population of maybe like 100 people or more. And suddenly one day a great fog descends upon it and ghosts are everywhere,” Williams told CBC Radio’s Labrador Morning.
In this new Hellboy adventure, the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) send exorcist Agatha Blunt, who uses a wheelchair and is aided by her dog Elba, to Red Bay — only for the pair to go missing.
That’s when Hellboy is dispatched to the community.
Williams said he became interested in the Basque whalers who made the journey across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain to Labrador in the 1600s. During his readings, he came across the ship the San Juan, which sank off the coast of Labrador in 1565.
In the Hellboy story, the San Juan is a ghost ship that sails the ocean pressing ghosts into joining its crew.
“If you’re captured by the San Juan, you end up in its brig for eternity. And that’s what happens to Hellboy as we go,” Williams said.
After the first issue was released, Williams said he found out it had coincided with a replica of the San Juan being relaunched into the sea, “which blew our minds.”
He said he had fun digging into the history of the area as part of his research.
“That’s part of the joy of actually writing these stories. You get to … be a little bit of a historian for a couple of days when doing your research. And it’s amazing, you know, the worlds you uncover,” he said.
The first issue was released in November, and the final installment of The Ghost Ships of Labrador is scheduled for release in January.
Hellboy made its debut in 1993 and tells the story of the half-demon by the same name.
“The best Hellboy stories are always based on real life folk tales,” said Williams.
This time the inspiration came from an ghost ship map of Newfoundland and Labrador posted online.
“Some kind soul had made a list of all the sightings and where they happened. And what had been … seen out there,” said Williams.
Karin Murray-Bergquist, a folklore PhD candidate at Memorial University, is the creator of that map. It denotes the legends and their locations.
And when the new Hellboy issue was released, the messages started to come in, she said.
“People were sending me the link to this new issue and saying, ‘Look, ghost ships of Labrador.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, wow, that’s a funny coincidence,’” she said.
When CBC News told her that her research helped inspire the story behind the new issue, Murray-Bergquist said she couldn’t believe it.
“I was really excited as a writer. It’s really thrilling to know that one’s research can be used creatively,” she said. “I was really chuffed to hear that.”
She said she knows about the Hellboy comics, but had never read them.
“I’m curious now. I’m really interested to learn more,” said Murray-Bergquist.
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