The Moose Island Mystery

The recent “Not since Moses” run at Five Islands, Colchester Co, brings back memories of a not so happy event that took place there early in the mid eighteen hundreds.

Since these events happened so long ago many details are lost in the mists of time and it is a well known saying that time changes everything but according to local history a Scot by the name of John Ruff was either granted or took up land on the east end of Moose Island, the largest and most accessable of the Five Islands, and here he undertook to eke out a living and raise a rather large family.

Besides clearing farmland on the heavily wooded Island, Ruff sold lumber and manufactured charcoal as well which was used by local blacksmiths and could also be exported.  All these operations required a lot of manual labour, this was where the children were employed and John Ruff was reputed to be a slave driver if not an out-and-out tyrant.

One day one of the older boys arrived at Five Islands village with the news that his father had been killed, apparently a tree had fallen on him while he and two of his sons were clearing land.  John Ruff had suffered a severe head wound.  This kind of accident was not unheard of with all the land clearing that was taking place at the time and Ruff was soon brought ashore and buried within sight of his homestead.

John Ruff’s name might have soon faded from local memory, after all he was not exactly a well-loved member of the community but one of the younger boys had a story to tell on his next trip to the mainland.  His older brother, he claimed, had killed his father, had hit him on the head with an axe!  This story soon reached the authorities and the boy, for he was only fourteen or fifteen years old at the time, was arrested and taken to Truro, the county seat, for trial.

One version of events was that a prosecutor was brought from Halifax as the only other practicing attorney in the town had been asked to defend the accused.

Some locals who had visited the scene and brought the body ashore were called, then the youngster who had made the accusation was summoned.

Had he been a witness to the crime?

No

Had he heard the others tell about the attack?

No

How did he know about it then?

Because the Devil had visited the family and told them that they must kill their father because he was beating them and making them work too hard.

The prosecutor was astonished!  “What did the devil look like?”

“He was a black dog.”  The boy explained and he could not be shaken from this story.

The jury had no choice but to find the older son innocent and he was released.  Soon after the family abandoned the homestead and moved away.  Since that time there have been no permanent homes there as the ghost of John Ruff has apparently made Moose Island uninhabitable.

Taken from local folklore and related by Ed Gilbert