A naked woman walks into a bar…
That sounds like the starting line of a joke, but it was anything but a joke for the Rum of the Mill bar in Churchridge early last month.
It was not an ordinary Thursday evening as cold, wet weather deterred golfers from taking part in the men’s golf night at Antler Acres which usually was followed by a visit to the bar.
As a result the bar’s owner Sarah Datema was visiting with the bar’s lone female patron around 10:15 when an entirely naked woman walked in. Very calmly the woman, who Datema guessed to be in her 30’s, walked to the front of the bar where she stopped to casually look at some posters about up-coming area events.
“We were more surprised than shocked,” Datema recalls. Despite the inclement weather the visitor didn’t appear to be overly wet or dirty, including her bare feet, which leads Datema to believe she had been dropped off at or very near to the bar.
“She actually looked very well kept.”
Obviously not a ‘streaker’ she was offered a towel by Datema who then provided her with some clothes, which the visitor put on in the bar’s washroom. Later when she complained of being cold, a blanket was offered.
Concerned about the woman’s behaviour and also being nervous about any possible scenarios that could involve other unexpected visitors Datema called the Esterhazy RCMP detachment and a nearby male friend.
While they were waiting for the police to arrive the woman, who was quiet at first, began to talk to the two women but couldn’t explain how she had come to be at the Churchbridge bar. She said she believed she had come from Winnipeg but didn’t know where she lived, where she was going, or where her clothes were.
While it was possible that she may have been under the influence of drugs, Datema says it seemed more like she was traumatized.
She was given some water to drink and snacks because she was hungry.
Shortly before midnight RCMP officers arrived and took her away.
According to the police report on the incident, throughout that night and the next day she refused to give her true name and it was eventually determined she was not in danger or distress.
She was ultimately turned over to a friend “with nothing but shorts, a T-shirt and I’m sure a duffle bag of regrets,” reported Sgt. Geoff Stringfellow.
As for Datema it was definitely an event to remember and one she has had to recall many times for interested patrons of the Rum of the Mill.