The road will split into a ‘T’, after you lean your left turn a stone church will steal your attention from the top of Comiaken Hill.

The surroundings are captivating, old mountains steal your view of the olympic mountains, overcasting the bay and surrounded with farmland. 

In that golden sunset, that hill shines brighter than the sun. 

Yet, between willows and farms lays an eerie chill that radiates from the Old Butter Church. 

Pioneer missionary, Father Peter Rondeault, built this landmark with the help of the Cowichan people around 1870.

The Cowichan people were one of the largest tribes in British Columbia, bringing priests like Peter Rondeault to the area in attempt to establish and gain a following. 

Helpers were paid by what the Father made from churning butter, hence the name. 

“It’s been a place that is steep in the history of the first established Indian contact with European Religion,” Local artist, Joe Jack expands on his website, “and over the last 140 years it’s also been a place of unexplained occurrences that have been wrapped in mystery, and intertwined with sacred Native Indian spirituality.”

The Church was rather exclusive in its early days but shortly after being completed it was abandoned in 1880. Even Ripleys ‘Believe it or not’ covered the spook in 1921, claiming no one would go near it because those who built it all died mysteriously. 

Although I do believe that ‘died mysteriously’ meant something entirely different in the pioneer days,  and I am sure it was still just as devastating, I can’t help but wonder what how those deaths would be diagnosed with modern medicine. 

Whether it was a high amount of consumed butter, new illnesses, or a poltergeist, this church is a beauty and only proves the lush amount of history that the Cowichan people have. 

If only we dug deeper. 

Some last words from Jack, please visit his website for more information on the church, and his art. “Over the years I have heard the whispers about the Butter Church that have given it the Spiritual respect that it deserves. Night time visits to the Butter Church on dark cloudy nights have echoed stories of strange sounds, eerie feelings, cold spots, and feelings of being watched, and even still to this very day, those stories of unexplained and supernatural occurrences at the Old Stone Church continue to echo in new voices.”