.png)
.png)
What is Happening at 26th and Kaufmann?
The Dark Energy of Fruit Valley Neighborhood.
Long before I got into Hidden Bricks, I worked at a metal shop off of Fruit Valley Road, within a few blocks of 26th and Kaufmann, which was the site of the second Hidden Brick Company operations.
The Hidden family still owns the land and there are ruins of the old brickyard equipment on site. It is all fenced off - do NOT trespass here or anywhere else in the name of Paranormal Research! Don't be an asshole!
I discovered through research that this area has more than an average amount of dark history attached to it.
The Metal Shop on Fruit Valley Road.
The second haunted shop I worked at ended up being just at the edge of the land that Mother Joseph purchased and owned for the Providence Academy Farms.
It is within a stone's throw of where the location of the original barn was where Mother Joseph would allow the children from the Academy to play as she and the older children worked in the fields there.
Oven bearings would explode, the roof caved in from water once, forklift brakes would fail. There were many near misses and injuries while I worked in this building for over two years. I was relieved to leave.
Even after I left strange things continued, with the building having an extremely near miss during the 2020 wildfire season, the fire literally creeping up to the lot next door. The amount of chemicals in that building would have caused it to blow sky high should that fire have reached the facility.
There is an elementary school next door. That scenario would have been very, very bad.
The Saddest Block in Vancouver, 6th and Broadway.
There's one block in downtown Vancouveraround 6th and Main/Broadway Streets that seems to have a longer list of really sad hauntings than is normal, even for an old part of town. Hauntings including a fire that killed a child and his dog at a former car lot and the murder of an employee locking up for the night at the site of a former Safeway. Following the pattern, one of these hauntings is also linked to the site of a double suicide at 26th and Kaufmann,
The side door where a former Safeway employee was murdered.
Corner of former Safeway location, 7th and Main, now a parking lot and an orange building.
The large cream building on the left is the back of the Heritage building. Former car lot, site of fire.
The Heritage Building Hauntings.
Lowell Mason Hidden was friends with Charles Brown, who was the X of the First X Bank in Vancouver. In fact, Lowell went on the record in the local paper The Columbian to defend Charles when the first allegations of embezzlement and theft grew from whispers to what turned out to be valid accusations,
This was not the first time the Hidden family would lose a good portion of their fortune due to issues with local banks.
Activity in the Heritage Bank building has been reported
Ceiling in lobby of Heritage building.
The Haunted Charles Brown House.
The embezzling banker from the old Bank in the Heritage building, Charles Brown's home is located at X. This is officially the oldest historic home in Vancouver, built inX.
Mr. Brown and Mr. X stopped by the home so that Charles Brown could peer in the window at his family one last time without their knowing, as they were on their way to end their lives at 26th & Kaufmann, which was a field at the time.
This home is also a stop on many of the local ghost tours due to reports of activity here.
The front window Charles was reported to view his family for the last time through.
.jpg)
Built in X, The Charles Brown home is considered the oldest home in Vancouver.
Walking up the east side of the house to get a better look at the foundation, I smiled when I learned what I already had suspected before my first visit - the bricks involved in this home are indeed Hiddens.
.png)
The First Presbyterian Church
Another of the buildings that became more than just a haunting but a lesson during this investigation is the First Presbyterian Church, built in 1912.
A Warning... Or A Lesson in Opposites?
In December 2020 the sudden demolition of the First Presbyterian Church was quickly granted by the City of Vancouver. The speed as to which this happened was incredible, and members of the public were taken offguard at the sudden turn of events.
Initially this church pinged my interest as it was reported to be Hiddens. During takedown it was discovered that the bricks used were not Hiddens, they were in fact inferior imposters!
The Church here is reported to be haunted by the spirit of the former Pastor X, who died in the process of saving his family from drowning on the Columbia River.
Fake Bricks are a warning. Black Lodge Church vs Academy.
RIP Church. What a loss.
Comparison Brick Experiments.
If you go to construction sites as they are being dismantled and nicely ask the workers there if you can have some brick pieces that are going in the trash, they will typically indulge you. Thanks, construction dudes, for doing me a solid. Once I had some of these Hidden knock off bricks, I was excited to compare them side by side. It doesn't take a trained Brick Nerd eye to see the major differences right away,
Initially, the thought was the bricks were crumbling due to being overcooked on purpose. The local Historical Museum reported the bricks were overcooked Hiddens up until teardown of the structure - this is how unexpected this information was!
A Happy Coincidence...
Mini Mart Story