9. The Last Steps
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“Affected me far worse than anything I saw in France. … Over there you don’t see women and children all broken to pieces.“ (See: Personal narrative of Mr. Ralph Proctor, #216, MG1 vol 2124, Archibald MacMechan fonds, Nova Scotia Archives, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.)
Shell-shock was a new term and new diagnosis, a result of the trauma of World War I. Today it might be better classified as severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is now understood that PTSD can and does affect those who have experienced non-combat-related trauma. Many survivors of the Halifax explosion displayed symptoms of what we today would call PTSD, including fear of loud noises and fire.
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While the events depicted in this walk are true, and we have endeavoured to represent them as factually as possible, it is important to note that the characters are fictional. As such, small details about their personal lives may not be accurate. These characters have been created from the remembrances of real people, and drawn from the communities present in Halifax in December of 1917.
