Folklorist and storyteller Dale Jarvis is the executive director at Heritage Newfoundland and adjunct faculty member at Memorial University. On summer nights, you’ll find him roaming the capital’s streets leading his St. John’s Haunted Hike. As a teller of Newfoundland and Labrador tales, he’s appeared at events across Europe, the U.S. and Canada. These days, he’s working on a book about haunted houses and would love to hear your story.

Saltscapes spoke with Dale Jarvis about avoiding fairies, embracing TikTok, and pickling the past.

Were you always a story collector, a storyteller?
I was the nerdy kid with his nose always in a book. I loved folktales, fairytales, ghost stories. I’d go to the library and sign out the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series.

Where did you grow up?
Ontario. I moved to Newfoundland for two years in 1994 for a graduate program at Memorial in folklore. I half-jokingly say that I’m a professional outsider. My wife is a Newfoundlander, so I straddle the world of come-from-away and someone who lives here.

Do you think those who move here have a better eye than local people for what’s interesting about the Atlantic provinces?
People tend to take local knowledge for granted: heritage, traditional skills, stories, legends. People often don’t consider that stuff to be terribly  important, but of course, it’s endlessly fascinating to people who aren’t from this place.

Speaking of stories, is there one that really stands out as special to Newfoundland?
There’s such an incredible richness of stories. I was just on the west coast of Newfoundland at a community museum. Two young interpreters there knew who I was because I tell stories on TikTok. They said, “Oh, we’ve got to show you this room of creepy old dolls, and there’s this little tin truck that moves around by itself.” I tell stories in Ontario and people say, “That’s a lovely story.” When I tell a story here, someone will say, “Now, buddy, let me tell you my story.” The character of the Atlantic provinces is geared towards storytelling.

Does the same go for fairytales?
Here in Newfoundland, there’s still a respect for fairy stories. Maybe in the past, people would think, “That’s superstitious and bold foolishness.” Now, there’s a pride in it. Someone from Upper Canada would think of lovely little gossamer-winged fairies at the bottom of the garden. Newfoundland fairies are dark, scary, and malicious, and best to be avoided.

That reminds me of the dark fairies in Indigenous stories. 
Yeah, the Mi’kmaq have stories about little people in the woods getting into things and causing mischief. There are some interesting parallels between Mi’kmaw stories and settler stories.

Earlier, you mentioned TikTok. So, you’re finding social media and technology really useful for telling traditional stories?
I thought it was kids doing silly dances, but there are people who love dark and spooky history, ghost stories, cemeteries. People say all the time, “Storytelling is dying.” I don’t see that in any way, shape or form. It’s thriving online. The oral tradition is alive and well in the digital era.

You anticipated my next question. I’m curious about your prognosis for local culture at a time when powerful, corporate cultural forces are at work — social media, Disney, Netflix.
People are hungry for it. Sometimes, older people will say, “Young people aren’t interested in learning these old traditions.” I’m like, “Have you been on a university campus lately and seen how many people are knitting?” Young people are very interested in this stuff, and they’re using social media to share and learn. That’s a hallmark of a healthy culture, that we can adapt and do old things in new ways. I’m not interested in pickling stuff in the past.