The Hauntingly Tragic Tale Of The Crying Boy At Calgary’s Zoo Bridge

Article originally written January 25th 2017 by Melissa Dawn

Cowboys, Indians, and Oil.

Perhaps that is what the Canadian city of Calgary is best known for in history and linked to in modern days. There is no doubt that Calgary (which was originally called Fort Brisebois in 1875) has a unique history. I grew up there learning all about the early settlers, the fur trade, the buffalo, and the native history. I have visited all the historical sites and have crossed the “Zoo Bridge” to St George’s Island. Often, I walked the wilting historic area of Inglewood, which is now a resurgence of culture in the city.

City of Calgary skyline

What I wasn’t aware of at that young age was the ghostly past that echoes to this day in old Calgary, and you may have already guessed, I’m about to tell you a mysterious story. A story of a horrific crime and a subsequent ghostly phenomenon.

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The city had expanded out of Fort Calgary, established by the North West Mounted Police in 1875, and was a budding city with a population of a hundred thousand people by 1946. Calgary had established a renowned city zoo located on St. George’s Island, along the bank of the Bow River. If you wish to travel from Inglewood to St.George’s Island one would cross the St. George’s bridge, also known as Zoo Bridge, which was dated back to 1908.

Map of the area

In August 1946 six-year-old Donnie Goss was playing at a park on the southeast end of St. George’s Island. Currently a zoo security building occupies the space where the park once was. Unbeknownst to the locals at the time the suspected child murderer Donald Sherman Staley was navigating the park looking for his next victim. He had ventured over from the city of Vancouver, where he was under investigation for the murder of another little boy that happened in Stanley Park. On this particular day, he ran into little Donnie, lured him away from the park with the offer of candy, then brutalized, raped, and murdered him, abandoning his body in a bush near the Zoo Bridge. The scene was so horrific that the entire city went into shock and to this day relatives of Donnie Goss still recall the loss.

Staley was eventually arrested and tried for his crimes in both murder cases and sentenced to death. On December 18th, 1946 Sherman was executed by hanging along with four German prisoners of war at the Lethbridge Provincial Gaol. This was the largest public execution in Canadian history. A horrific murder case ended and the predator received punishment.

Another image of the bridge.

Case closed. Or is it?

If you happen to be walking along the river pathways near the “Zoo Bridge” at night you might experience the screams of a young child crying for help. The scream is so realistic that local police receive reports several times a year from people claiming that a child is screaming in danger near the bridge. Even more disturbing there was a report from a ghost tour guide in Calgary stating that a mother on the tour claimed her child told her that an unseen boy named Donnie kept trying to play with him.

In my investigation, I came across a comment on an article from a lady declaring that she was the cousin of Donnie Goss. I will not link or use her name as I never received her permission. However, in the comment, she declared that she truly believed little Donnie was still there by the bridge re-living his horrific death. She also asked if a medium could go there and contact Donnie to tell him it was okay to go on to whatever comes after this life.

Little Donny's headstone

UPDATE:

This article was written in January 2017 and the old Zoo Bridge has since been removed and a new bridge put in its place. Whether or not this affects the declared haunting remains unknown.

Bridge being successfully lifted to be replaced.

New bridge