Ghost Town

Firstly, I want to begin by saying how deeply sorry I am to anyone affected by the Humboldt Broncos bus crash back in 2018. My heart goes out to you and your families- truly, it does. And to the survivors, continue to build a life you can be proud of.

I want to approach this with a lot of respect, unlike the way the documentary approached things (which, if you're curious, can be found for free on Tubi). I thought it was a terrible documentary but I am not much for documentaries.

This was what came to my mind when Vocal released this new challenge called:

The Moment That Changed Everything

Write a story about a single moment that altered the course of a life, a community, or the world.

My first thought was the bus crash. I knew I wanted to share my perspective on the crash as a resident of Humboldt with ties to the community. I may not be the right person to write this post as I am not much of a sports person, but that moment, changed so many people's lives. The sadness radiated, in every person for so long. It still does. The energy in Humboldt has not been the same since the date of the accident. This bus crash, changed the entire world with the impact that it made.

Humboldt is where I grew up- a big little hockey town. I remember going to the Elgar Peterson Arena with my grandfather as a kid. For some reason, I vaguely recall when the arena was named after Elgar Peterson back in 2000. I was never much into sports; I'm too clumsy to be good at physical activity.

On April 6th, 2018, the Broncos' bus was struck by a semi-trailer truck while en route to a game. Sixteen people lost their lives, and thirteen were injured. I was nineteen years old at the time. Many of the people on the bus were familiar faces- kids I went to school with or grew up around. I remember hearing about the crash, but it didn't fully hit me how serious it was until hours later.

On a personal level, I cried for a while as the news kept pouring in. My heart broke for my community, for the people I knew on the bus, for their friends and families. The reason I titled this piece Ghost Town is because of how I felt in the days that followed. I vaguely remember going to my mom’s house during one of the memorials at the arena, and the city was so still. It was quieter than it usually is on Christmas. No traffic, no hustle and bustle- Humboldt felt like a literal ghost town.

But then again we all moved on. We attended the funerals, we went to work, we went to school. The sadness remained. The energy of Humboldt has been forever changed. But how could people just move on? That was a question I asked myself almost daily following the days of the accident.

It’s hard to put into words what a tragedy like this does to a community. In the days and weeks following the crash, we were all left with this heavy, lingering sense of loss. Not just for the lives that were lost, but for the spirit of the town, which felt irrevocably changed. Humboldt, a place I once thought of as quiet and familiar, suddenly felt like it had lost a piece of its soul.

I never would have expected our small city to become world famous. It still surprises me how many people traveled here to pay their respects at the crash site. As a front desk clerk and waitress, I’ve seen firsthand the profound impact this tragedy had on people.

My mom worked at a business called Spotlight around that time, a local place that printed out Bronco T-shirts. On a global scale, the sales were phenomenal, as were the donations to the Humboldt Broncos and their families.

I have never witnessed a tragedy like this before in my life. It shocked me to my core and changed my life, if I’m being completely honest. I realized that everything you love can be taken away in an instant. It made me understand the importance of holding onto those you love dearly with every piece of yourself. That accident sparked change within our community, our province, and even our country.

For the survivors, I can't imagine the immense pressure of having to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of such a tragedy. They became the face of recovery for the entire community. And as much as I respect and admire their strength, I also recognize the immense burden they carry. Healing from something like this isn't linear. It’s not something that can be easily “fixed” or “moved past.” You just find a way to keep going, step by step, while still feeling the impact.

But the emotional toll was not something that could be easily brushed aside. Even now, nearly seven years later, there are moments when the weight of it hits me again, sometimes out of nowhere.

Humboldt may never be the same, but the love and strength that came out of the crash are a testament to the power of people coming together, even within the darkest of times. Just kind of like that Albus Dumbledore quote, "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times—if one only remembers to turn on the light."

To those we have lost, we remember and honor you.

To those that survived, continue to build a life you are proud of.

Thank you for reading a little bit about my community and the Humboldt Bronco Bus Crash of 2018. I hope this shed a little bit more light on the accident and how it affected the residents in my small city of Humboldt- even still to this day. This is one of the hardest things I ever wrote. I even debated not publishing it for a little while but that did not sit well with me either. This was a story that deserved to be shared.

Chloe Rose Violet🌹