By Pratik Bhattarai
Oct. 26, 2023
Mitchell McNally, actor and Holland College student, playing the character of Thomas Preston during the “Ghostly Tour” in front of Kirk of St James, Presbyterian Church, 35 Fitzroy St., Charlottetown.
Walking by any cemetery in Charlottetown, one might bump into a man named Thomas Preston.
He appears out of thin air and vanishes whenever he wants.
He wears long black jacket with a black hat on and carries lantern.
No one knows where he lives.
No one knows where he’s from.
No own knows if he’s alive or dead.
He’s Irish, a trait given away by his accent and legend goes, he used to be a famous coffin maker at a Roman Catholic Church.
He knows everything about Charlottetown, including every sin committed.
If asked, he will take those curious to different places in Charlottetown and tell stories of hauntings and supernatural events.
Preston will share stories like the haunting of Ester Laudon’s house on Water Street, the last public hanging of P.E.I., and the famous tale of Kirk of St. James.
But, things are not always as they appear.
Thomas Preston is not a real person.
It’s a character played by Mitchell McNally.
McNally is a 23-year-old photography student at Holland College, and an actor at the Confederation Centre for Arts.
He takes people on a ‘Ghostly Tour’ of historic Charlottetown as Preston who tells those stories of paranormal activities.
“I love playing this character,” he said. “As much as I am enjoying the photography program, I would not be here if I had the opportunity to do this job year-round.”
McNally also created the character around his own Irish background.
“Being that old man around the fire telling the tales of long times past and that sort of aesthetic is very fun and amusing for me.”
The Charlottetown resident loves performing in front of crowds and he loves seeing people’s reaction to his character.
“The character is kind of omnipotence, nobody knows what year it was born, and it’s an outcast, so it leaves the tourists a chance to guess whether the character itself is a ghost or a real person.”
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