The mere mention of Dana Bradley's name in Newfoundland immediately brings painful memories rushing to the surface. And even though more than 20 years have passed since her death, people still haven't forgotten.

It's that spirit that prompted the song, 'The Ghost of Dana Bradley.'

Like so many other Newfoundlanders, the teenager's death has lingered in the back of the mind of singer, Ron Hynes.

In fact, it wasn't until years after her death that he wrote the song.

"It was I guess 17 or 18 years later. I sat up in bed and I could hear it. I came down, I knew the whole song almost like I knew it. I could see the lyric... I went and wrote it and it took all of 10 minutes. But that had been internalized for more than 15 years, so maybe it was easier."

"Someone stole her life away, someone still at large they say, who can it be?"

Hynes is a Newfoundland icon. His songs have been performed by artists including Prairie Oyster and Emmy Lou Harris. He writes about love and loss but mostly he writes about Newfoundland.

"Dana looms so large in the whole panorama of Newfoundland women... It happened to us and it happened to her and she's kind of a reflection of us now."

Even though Newfoundland has had hundreds of tragedies over the years, this crime had a particularly strong impact on the writer.

"She was so young, her murder was so brutal, and it got into the collective consciousness and stayed there."

It's a song that he rarely plays during performances, because it's so difficult to get through. Hynes says that when he does play it, people still want to talk about what happened.

"It's their way of dealing with tragedy. It's like they revisit it. We're not comfortable putting things to bed and leaving them alone... But at the same time, we have respect for it and we're very good at sharing grief."

But perhaps his most difficult performance was when he first played the song for Dana's mother, Dawn.

"I was quite prepared to say, 'I hope you like the song. If you want this just to be as far as it will go, that's fine with me. I'll just consider it one of the best pieces that I have ever written and it will just sit in that guitar case and stay there'."

But she didn't want that to happen. Dawn Bradley gave Hynes her blessing to play the song in public.

Hynes considers Dana to be an icon in Newfoundland history and this song was an inevitable result of her impact on Newfoundlanders.

"It has to be chronicled. You just can't forget it and let go... If it hadn't been me, it would have been somebody else who would have written about Dana."

Lyrics to The Ghost of Dana Bradley
Copyright Ron Hynes

Depending on the kindest heart
Could be a gamble at the start in these times