In 2019, the Haunted Montreal Blog identified 40 haunted pubs, watering holes and other drinking establishments dotting the city. In the bar industry, places often fold and new businesses are born, including in haunted buildings. One common question is this: do the ghosts remain when a new owner takes over the drinking venue? In 2024, the haunted drinking landscape has changed somewhat in Montreal. Some places have gone bankrupt and been reopened under new brands. Others were demolished and replaced with condos - and new haunted drinking establishments have also been discovered!
Welcome to the one hundred and seventh installment of the Haunted Montreal Blog!
With over 500 documented ghost stories, Montreal is easily the most haunted city in Canada, if not all of North America. Haunted Montreal dedicates itself to researching these paranormal tales, and the Haunted Montreal Blog unveils a newly researched Montreal ghost story on the 13th of every month!
This service is free and you can sign up to our mailing list (top, right-hand corner for desktops and at the bottom for mobile devices) if you wish to receive it every month on the 13th! The blog is published in both English and French!
With the summer here, Haunted Montreal is running a whole season of ghost tours and haunted experiences! Our ghost tours include Haunted Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and the mountain!
Please note that due to construction. our Haunted Old Montreal Ghost Tour has changed its starting location!
Details in the Company News section below!
Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 pm.
We also offer paranormal investigations! In addition to our investigation of the old Sainte-Antoine Cholera Cemetery, Haunted Montreal is proud to announce our latest experience – Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal.
To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page!
Private tours for all of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.
Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!
Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!
This month we update our readers about some remarkable new archaeological discoveries – and alleged desecration – within the historic Dawson Site.
Haunted Research
The Dawson Site, a 19th Century archeological dig that unearthed an Indigenous village in Downtown Montreal, is one of the city’s biggest mysteries.
Haunted Montreal Blog #44 – The Dawson Site – was written in April, 2019. The article featured the history of this remarkable place and the paranormal activity associated with it.
Since the original blog publication, there have been important new developments.
In 2016, workers were doing construction on Peel and Sherbrooke Streets as part of the Promenade Fleuve-Montagne tourist itinerary. Rumour has it that an earth-digger allegedly cut the skeletal remains of a Mohawk chief in half, which put an immediate stop to the work.
Realizing that they had discovered more of the Dawson Site, archaeologists proceeded to unearth over 2000 Indigenous artefacts at the intersection between 2016 and 2019.
However, many speculate that the alleged desecration of the chief’s skeleton, purportedly cut in half by the digger, triggered paranormal activity.
Rumours now abound that a set of skeletal legs, cut off above the hip bones, can sometimes be spotted wandering about the crossroads.
The discovery also inspired some incredible public art! Tsi niion kwarihò:ten, a series of 11 stations along Peel Street featuring detailed bronze spheres, reflects Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives during the colonial era.
Created by Kanien’kehá:ka artist MC Snow and Kyra Revenko, a non-Indigenous artist, the sculptures are inspired by the Mohawk thanksgiving ceremony “Words Before All Else”. Essentially, the artworks honor every important element of life and highlight the importance of cultural diversity, dialogue and reconciliation.
Given the rarity of Indigenous public art in the city, Haunted Montreal highly recommends walking the trail and engaging with its bronze spheres and the audio app tied to them. Just keep your eyes peeled for any potential paranormal activity at the intersection with Sherbrooke Street!
Company News
Haunted Montreal is proud to announce our latest haunted experience – Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal.
Hosted by professional Ghost-hunter Dominique Desormeaux of Investigations 13, Haunted Montreal’s “Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal” takes guests on a dark adventure into the mysterious world of ghost hunting!
With the summer in full swing, Haunted Montreal is running a whole season of ghost tours and haunted experiences! Our ghost tours include Haunted Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and the mountain!
Please note that due to construction, our Haunted Old Montreal Ghost Tour has changed its starting location! Our former location, Parc de la Presse, is fenced off for upgrades.
As such, Haunted Old Montreal Ghost Tours have relocated and will now be starting at the mysterious Bank of Montreal Clock.
Guests are invited to meet the guide next to the Bank of Montreal Clock in front of 155 St. Jacques Street West. The location is on the north-east corner of St. Francois-Xavier and St. Jacques Streets, very close to Metro Place d’Armes on the Orange Line.
In the meantime, our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 pm.
To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page!
Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours are based on the availability of our actors and start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.
Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!
You can also bring the Haunted Montreal experience to your office party, house, school or event by booking one of our Travelling Ghost Storytellers today.
Hear some of the spookiest tales from our tours and our blog told by a professional actor and storyteller. You provide the venue, we provide the stories and storyteller. Find out more and then contact info@hauntedmontreal.com
Our team also releases videos every second Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!
Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!
In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can! We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).
Finally, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise.
We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.
Purchases can be ordered through our online store.
Haunted Montreal has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! New stories at the Haunted Montreal Blog will now be offered every two months, whereas every other month will feature an update to an old story.
As always, these stories and updates will be released on the 13th of every month!
Haunted Montreal would like to thank all our clients who attended a ghost walk, haunted pub crawl, paranormal investigation or virtual event!
If you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page, something that really helps Haunted Montreal to market its tours.
Lastly, if you would like to receive the Haunted Montreal Blog on the 13th of every month, please sign up to our mailing list.
Coming up on August 13th: Montreal’s Forgotten Irish Famine Cemetery
Plans are afoot to build a whole new neighbourhood in the Bridge-Bonaventure sector south of Griffintown and the Lachine Canal. Urban plans depict high-rise condominiums, spaces for commerce and arts and even an “urban beach” in the old Wellington Basin. However, local historian Sylvain Gaudet has recently unearthed research suggesting that over one thousand Irish Famine Dead are still buried in the vicinity. As the site of Montreal’s first Irish Famine Cemetery, further desecration will almost certainly result in more ghosts in the already haunted area.
Author:
Donovan King is a postcolonial historian, teacher, tour guide and professional actor. As the founder of Haunted Montreal, he combines his skills to create the best possible Montreal ghost stories, in both writing and theatrical performance. King holds a DEC (Professional Theatre Acting, John Abbott College), BFA (Drama-in-Education, Concordia), B.Ed (History and English Teaching, McGill), MFA (Theatre Studies, University of Calgary) and ACS (Montreal Tourist Guide, Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec). He is also a certified Montreal Destination Specialist.
Translator (into French):
Claude Chevalot holds a master’s degree in applied linguistics from McGill University. She is a writer, editor and translator. For more than 15 years, she has devoted herself almost exclusively to literary translation and to the translation of texts on current and contemporary art.
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