With over 600 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!

Our full slate of haunted walking tours is up and running, as our our Paranormal Investigations. Our Haunted Pub Crawl continues every Sunday at 3pm in English, and at 2pm in French the last Sunday of each month. More on this in our Company News Section.

And speaking of company news, let’s get right into it. This month, we revisit the story of Headless Mary, the city’s most famous ghost story…as Mary’s ghost is set to revisit us!

Haunted Research

Every seven years on the anniversary of her murder, the headless ghost of Mary Gallagher returns to on the corner of William and Murray Streets in Griffintown. Her last appearance was on June 27, 2019, which means she is returning again this year.

Haunted Montreal is planning a host of activities to welcome her back!

Mary Gallagher’s last visit was on June 27, 2019. At the time, Haunted Montreal organized a series of activities, starting with the blessing by a priest in collaboration with the AOH (Ancient Order of Hibernians).

There was also a clandestine bar set up on a concrete block in the yard. Here, a mysterious barman served up the infamous “Headless Mary Cocktail” to guests attending the experience (recipe below).

Haunted Montreal then offered numerous Griffintown ghost walks, back to back.

We also arranged live storytelling of the Headless Mary ghost story on the corner of William and Murray Streets every half hour from 7 – 10 pm in English and French.

At the time, the corner of William and Murray Streets was derelict and the house where Mary was murdered was nothing more than a vacant yard. The atmosphere was dark, creepy and perfect for ghost-sightings.

Over the course of the evening, hundreds of people showed up for the various activities. As the hours passed and the sky got darker, soon our offerings concluded into a final activity: a séance.

Situated in the vacant lot where Mary Gallager was murdered in 1879, the séance began at 10 pm. Conducted by psychics and mediums, it wasn’t long before a large crowd had assembled.

As the clock ticked down to midnight, the crowd got more and more excited – and fearful.

At 11:58 pm, as the crowd was waiting to see if Mary’s ghost would return, security guards from the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) burst onto the scene. Explaining that the school owned the land, they demanded that everyone leave.

The crowd began to panic when the guards moved in, just as the clock was about to strike midnight.

In the chaos that ensued, people began running away, but the psychics and mediums refused to leave. As the bell struck midnight, Headless Mary’s ghost returned according to multiple witnesses, including those hosting the séance. Some people screamed and others bolted. Even one of the ETS security guards allegedly ran away!

It was a chaotic climax for the Mary Gallagher commemoration event!

Now, on June 27^th, 2026, she may return again.

However, this time will be different. The vacant lot, the site of her murder, no longer exists. It has been replaced with an ETS building called Pavilion F. With its glassy, postmodern architecture, the building has transformed the site from borderline terrifying to somewhat banal.

At six-stories tall, Pavilion F features nearly 30 classrooms, open learning areas, study rooms, offices for research centers and other amenities.

It was designed with a total surface area of over 13,000 m² and space to accommodate 2,375 students, professors and other staff members.

During the planning stages for Pavilion F in 2019, Haunted Montreal sent representatives to plead with the ETS to preserve and commemorate the infamous corner. We explained that for well over a century, Irish storytellers have been using the spot to recount the deranged tale of Mary Gallagher’s headless ghost.

Happily, the ETS complied with Haunted Montreal’s request and ensured that Pavilion F preserved the corner intact.

However, despite this win for the local Irish community, the atmosphere certainly isn’t what it used to be. Regardless, Haunted Montreal is again planning a host of activities on June 27^th, 2026, to welcome Headless Mary in collaboration with the ETS.

In addition to the blessing, we are planning a candlelight vigil, ghost tours, free storytelling and a very special project!

Alan Hustak concluded his 2005 book The ghost of Griffintown: the true story of the murder of Mary Gallagher with the following words: “So long as Griffintown’s spirit remains alive, so too will the spirit of Mary Gallagher.”

To preserve some of history and spirit of the Griff, Haunted Montreal has commissioned talented Mohawk artist MC Snow to help realize our vision of a permanent commemoration on the corner.

MC Snow has created a prototype, a scaled down version of the proposed artwork and we will be unveiling it on June 27^th!

Here is the full schedule for June 27, also known as “Mary Gallagher Day”:

Haunted Griffintown Ghost Tours

Our Haunted Griffintown Ghost Tour runs from Rockaberry Griffintown to William and Murray in English starting at 5:30pm, 7:30pm, and 9:30pm (and in French starting at 5pm, 7pm and 9pm) with possibly more tours added.

A professional actor and storyteller will guide guests through the Griff and the tour lasts approximately 90 minutes.

Sample the Headless Mary Cocktail

Participating bars and pubs will be serving their own versions of the Headless Mary Cocktail. Stay tuned for participating locations!

You can also try the original recipe at home:

Headless Mary Cocktail:

Glass rimmed with V8 and then dipped into kosher salt

Ice

2oz Jamieson 

Salt, pepper, tobacco Worcestershire and one decapitated minnow fish

Filled with tomato juice

Garnished with a leek sliced like a lemon 

Free Events on the corner of William and Murray Streets:

We will be unveiling a sculpture from renowned Mohawk artist MC Snow commemorating the legend of Mary Gallagher. This will be part of a ceremony kicking off with a blessing and a candlelit vigil.

We will also offer free live storytelling and tarot readings by Stygian Media, all at the corner of William and Murray.

Here is the schedule:

8pm: Blessing and Start of Candlelight Vigil

8:30pm: MC Snow’s Statue Unveiling

9-10:30pm: Live Storytelling and Tarot Readings

11:00-12:00: Paranormal Investigation

Dominique Desormeaux will lead a free paranormal investigation, starting at 11pm, awaiting Mary’s return.

Please bring your own ghost hunting apps and equipment.

Midnight

The hour Mary Gallagher’s Headless Ghost Traditionally Returns.

Headless Mary Weekend

On Sunday, June 28th, our Haunted Pub Crawl will be Headless Mary-themed, and you can also sample the Headless Mary Cocktail at participating establishments.

We may be adding additional Haunted Griffintown tours this weekend.

Other Information

This event is being presented by Haunted Montreal in collaboration with community partners, including the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), Rockaberry Griffintown, and Alfred Café Buvette Griffintown.

Stygian Media will be filming and livestreaming at the event and Haunted Griffintown tours.

Haunted Montreal is excited to commemorate the return of Headless Mary, and invites everyone to join in the activities on June 27!

Company News

No longer in the test phase, we are launching Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal on June 20th. This daytime tour hosted by Sophie-Claude Miller smashes through the “tourist gaze” to reveal the area’s hidden histories, glossed-over facts and dark truths. It will run Tuesday-Saturday at 2pm in English an 4pm in French.

Haunted Old Montreal Haunted Griffintown, Haunted Downtown, and Haunted Mountain are all up and running, and we are testing our latest Paranormal Investigation tonight at 7:30pm.

Our Haunted Pub Crawl continues to run every Sunday at 3pm in English, and the last Sunday of each month at 2pm in French.

Private tours for any of our experiences 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 $250 for small groups of up to 8 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

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).

Our online shop is offline for the next few months. If you would like to purchase any Haunted Montreal-branded t-shirts or mugs in the meantime, please contact us at info@hauntedmontreal.com

Holly and Dr. Mab are back! Now part of Stygian Media, they will continue releasing Haunted Montreal videos based on our blogs in English and French among other horror-themed content.

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 each month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on July 13: The Dog-Faced Man of Griffintown

In the 1886, the citizens of Griffintown began to panic after numerous reports of a “Dog-Faced Man” wreaking havoc in the neighbourhood. After frantic citizens went to Police Station No. 7 to report their sightings, officers set out to try and arrest the creature, to no avail. As one of the greatest conspiracy theories of the 1800s, many people tried to identify who or what was behind the mysterious dog-headed man.

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.

With over 600 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!

After a brutal winter, our full slate of outdoor ghost walks are back from the dead! Haunted Griffintown, Haunted Downtown, and Haunted Mountain have joined Haunted Old Montreal on our public schedule.

Our Haunted Pub Crawl continues every Sunday at 3pm in English, and the last Sunday of the month in French…Canadiens Playoff schedule permitting.

And we’ve got a new Paranormal Investigation this month! More info in the Company News Section.

This month we revisit the Black Rock, the Irish Famine cemetery marker surrounded by paranormal activity and political machinations.

Haunted Research

In March 2018, Haunted Montreal first wrote about The Black Rock, a 30-ton granite boulder that marks the site of the city’s second mass grave for Irish Famine victims. Located in an industrial area on Bridge Street, the cemetery has been desecrated repeatedly since 1847.

Over the years, companies have used it as a garbage dump, laid railroad tracks across it and surrounded it with a highway.

More recently a caisson was driven into the heart of the cemetery for a pylon to support the REM light rail system. This resulted in fourteen skeletons being smashed up, then excavated and sent to a laboratory for study.

Needless to say, all of the desecration has resulted in paranormal activity at the cemetery. Ghosts are allegedly haunting both the cemetery and the REM train system.

Today, efforts are being made to transform the derelict resting place of 6000+ souls into a world-class park.

However, despite good intentions, there are major issues with governance of the project.

The Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation was established in 2014 by Victor Boyle, President of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, as the primary founder.

He invited amateur historian Fergus Keyes to sign the paperwork to establish the organization. They then recruited local Irish community members, politicians, professional historians and international academics to help establish a world-class park on the Irish Famine graveyard. I was asked to join the Board of Directors and accepted.

As the years passed, the project began to take shape slowly. However, there were also tensions within the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation’s administration and its membership. Notably, Fergus Keyes started posting material on the group’s Facebook page glorifying British genocidal figures like General Jefferey Amherst and John A. MacDonald.

Given that British Imperialism was responsible for triggering The Irish Famine, many members of the foundation objected.

In response, Keyes blocked and excluded anyone from the project who disagreed with him. This caused more people to protest, including board members.

It wasn’t long before dissenting members of the Board of Directors, myself included, were also scrubbed and replaced – without any voting or governance whatsoever. Other supporters, including the world’s leading academic experts on the Irish Famine in Canada, were soon excluded as well.

Reaction was swift and various stakeholders called for a third-party leadership review, including The Mohawk Mothers. In June 2023, an article appeared in the Eastern Door entitled “Mohawk Mothers defend Black Rock gravesite”.

In the article, Mohawk Mother Kwetiio stated:

“It irked me that someone who was a person on the board was using the platform to promote (keeping the John A. Macdonald statue), because it’s contrary to our people, and it’s racist.” She added: “It’s a big no-no to be profiting off someone’s burial ground, and it also shouldn’t be destroyed in the first place”.

However, Hydro-Québec is now in charge of the park project after buying the land for an electricity substation.

Their bureaucrats refused to consider the leadership review.

In October of the same year, CBC’s The Passionate Eye produced an episode called “Inside the Statue Wars”. It examined colonial statues being toppled and painted red across Canada due to their connections with genocide against Indigenous Peoples.

The episode features various Indigenous people and academics explaining why the genocidal statues are offensive and need to be retired. Fergus Keyes also appeared in the documentary, arguing strongly in favor of preserving the racist colonial statues. According to CBC:

“Fergus Keyes is the director of the Montreal Irish Monument Park Foundation and a self-described history buff. He is a staunch supporter of John A. Macdonald and even has a miniature statue of Canada’s first prime minister in his home.”

The statue is not the only offensive item in Keyes’ macabre collection.  Keyes was present while archaeologists were unearthing skeletons after driving a caisson into the heart of the graveyard to erect a pylon for the REM light rail system. He snatched a piece of a broken famine coffin from the sacred burial ground, which now hangs on his wall.

In the next scandal, Fergus Keyes by-passed the Board of Directors to work with a local microbrewery in crafting a “Black Rock Beer”.

Outrage followed, with Victor Boyle demanding that the microbrewery cease and desist from brewing any more of the Irish Famine stout. He compared it to “Holocaust Wine”.

Boyle stated: “Unfortunately [the microbrewery] met with an individual who acted alone and did not share the idea with the AOH, The Park Foundation Board or the Irish community.”

Then, in March 2024, the Montreal Irish Park Foundation retaliated. It stated on its Facebook page that Victor Boyle “departed” because he was “no longer aligned with the other directors and partners of the Park Foundation regarding the future of the project and how best to achieve our goals” due to “differences in vision”.

However, as the President of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) and the Irish Memorial Park Foundation, Victor Boyle is adamant that he never “departed” but rather was pushed out against his will. He is now pursuing legal action.

The AOH has been trying to protect the cemetery from desecration since its Canadian division was founded in 1892 (the AOH in America was established in 1836). On the last Sunday of every month, Victor Boyle and the AOH organize the annual Walk to the Stone to commemorate the Famine Dead at the Black Rock Cemetery.

Excluding the President from the foundation is a kick in the teeth to the local Irish community and the thousands of Famine Dead buried at the Black Rock.

In 2025, the Montreal Irish Park Foundation announced that Lemay Architects were designing the park.

Founded in Verdun in 1957, Lemay’s website explains: “Inspired and strengthened by transdisciplinary creativity, the firm has also developed its very own NET POSITIVE^TM approach to guide teams towards sustainable solutions that shape a better future.”

However, the design put forward is raising a lot of eyebrows amongst the multitude of stakeholders who were excluded from the park project.

Firstly, it reimagines the cemetery as a community park with a large area surrounding the Black Rock paved over with stone tiles. It also includes curtain-like structures to be built on the cemetery, effectively shielding the Black Rock from passing commuters.

According to Lemay: “At its heart is a terraced agora, where the centrepiece of the Black Rock is framed by a reflective water feature that mirrors the sky and evokes the Irish immigrants’ perilous ocean crossing.”

Ironically, in the design images Lemay released of the “reflective water feature” depicts several children playing happily in the water, as they might in a splash pad.

Other images presented by the company show people walking their dogs on the hallowed cemetery. Furthermore, the green areas outside of the paved over “centerpiece” are littered with boulders in the design.

Overall, Lemay’s concept arguably evokes a recreation area more than a sacred cemetery. The atmosphere depicted seems playful, informal and multi-purpose. Dog-walkers, children seeking a splash pad, and joggers will likely distract those who want to contemplate the burial ground’s tragic history and the 6000+ souls resting below the earth.

In comparison, the Irish Famine cemetery on Grosse-Île is very well designed. The mass grave is grassy, the burial trenches are evident in the soil depressions, and it is marked with dozens of white crosses.

People are discouraged from walking on the mass grave. Instead, there is a commemorative viewing area where visitors can stand while contemplating the rolling mounds and the 5000 or so Irish refugees buried under them.

Visiting it is widely described as a profound experience.

In addition, a 14-metre-tall granite Celtic Cross towers over the island’s highest point, Telegraph Hill. Erected in 1909 by the AOH, the solemn monument complements the cemetery with its Irish religious symbolism.

The overall design on Grosse-Île is top-notch. It respects the Famine cemetery and provides visitors with a sombre and contemplative atmosphere that will leave lasting impressions.

In contrast, Lemay’s NET POSITIVE™ design highlights the company’s “commitment to creating sustainable, healthy, and accessible living environments for all”.

While Lemay’s goals are noble, the Black Rock Cemetery is meant to be a space reserved for the 6000+ Irish Famine Dead buried there. The current design, while well-intended, does not come close to matching the world-class Famine cemetery on Grosse-Île.

This is perhaps not surprising, given that the Irish Monument Park Foundation expelled its foremost experts – AOH President Victor Boyle, along with countless academics, historians, conceptual artists, etc.

The question remains how the Famine ghosts will react to the proposed park design. The Dead do not like to be disrespected and the concept of children splashing in the reflecting pool above their graves, along with dog walkers and joggers traversing the burial grounds may not sit well. Of course, this could spur even more hauntings.

One thing is certain, for this park design to succeed it is imperative to invite the experts back into the project. Lemay’s design needs to go back to the drawing board with the original stakeholders being consulted. Only this way can a world-class park be designed and developed at Montreal’s Black Rock Irish Famine Cemetery.

Company News

Haunted Montreal and Dominique Desormeaux invite you to our newest Paranormal Investigation: The Dark Past of New France. This takes place in Old Montreal, and starts May 29th in French and May 30th in English. Details and ticket info will be available by the end of the week. Please check our social media channels and website.

The Irish Famine Walking Tour returns Saturday, May 30th, at 2pm. Donovan King takes you to key sites associated with Black ’47, the year 75,000 Irish refugees fleeing the Famine landed on Montreal’s wharves. This includes the Black Rock, the subject of this very blog.

No longer in the test phase, we will be launching Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal later this month. This daytime tour hosted by Sophie-Claude Miller smashes through the “tourist gaze” to reveal the area’s hidden histories, glossed-over facts and dark truths.

Haunted Old Montreal continues to run, as Haunted Griffintown, Haunted Downtown, and Haunted Mountain join it on our public outdoor ghost walk schedule. Hosted by a professional actor and storyteller, these theatrical tours explore Montreal’s haunted hidden past, and ghostly present.

Our Haunted Pub Crawl continues to run every Sunday at 3pm in English, and the last Sunday of each month at 2pm in French. However, when there is a Montreal Canadiens Playoff game on Sunday at the Bell Centre, the bars on our tour near it will be full, so the Haunted Pub Crawl can’t happen. We are working on an alternate day for those weeks, so you can still enjoy some spirits with some spirits and cheer on the Habs.

Private tours for any of our experiences 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 $250 for small groups of up to 8 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

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).

Our online shop is offline for the next few months. If you would like to purchase any Haunted Montreal-branded t-shirts or mugs in the meantime, please contact us at info@hauntedmontreal.com

Holly and Dr. Mab are back! Now part of Stygian Media, they will continue releasing Haunted Montreal videos based on our blogs in English and French among other horror-themed content.

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 each month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Update on June 13: The Ghost of Headless Mary Returns on June 27^th   

Every seven years on the anniversary of her murder, the headless ghost of Mary Gallagher returns to Griffintown. Her last appearance was in 2019, which means she is returning again this year. Haunted Montreal is planning a host of activities including a book launch, statue unveiling, ghost tours, a candle-lit memorial and much more to welcome her back! Stay tuned for more details!

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.

With over 600 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 13^th 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 13^th! The blog is published in both English and French!

With the weather getting nicer, we have resumed public outdoor Haunted Old Montreal tours, with the rest of our outdoor public tour schedule, including Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal resuming throughout May.

Our Haunted Pub Crawl still runs every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

More on this in the Company News section.

This month, we take a look at an abandoned, crumbling church, that has become a destination for urban explorers, and is also purportedly haunted.

Haunted Research

Towering above Fullum Street in eastern Montreal stands the crumbling ruins of Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church.

Religious services were relocated in 2016 due to safety concerns about the deteriorating church, a dwindling flock of worshippers and rumours that the building was haunted.

The dilapidated building is causing a major headache for the Montreal Catholic Archdiocese.

Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Parish was established in 1896 to cater to a growing Catholic population in the eastern part of Montreal. Church officials erected a temporary chapel for worshippers until a more permanent structure could be built.

In 1913, construction of the Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church finally began, based on plans by architect Aristide Beaugrand-Champagne.

Designed in the Romanesque Revival style, it was meant to be an imposing visual landmark at 2151 Fullum Street.

However, due to the First World War, work was suspended from 1914 to 1919. Resources were scare and men were conscripted to go fight in Europe.

After the war, work resumed on the church under the direction of Joseph-Henri Caron. The magnificent Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church opened its doors in 1923. At the time, it was one of the largest churches in Montreal.

The church functioned well with good attendance until the 1960s, when rumours spread that The Devil himself had somehow managed to enter Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church and take up residence in the holy building.

Stories circulated of the church bells ringing in the middle of the night during the Devil’s Hour, which starts at 3 a.m.

Local residents who went to investigate claimed they could also hear someone playing disjointed notes on the church organ late at night when the building was closed.

The priests denied the allegations and blamed Quebec’s Quiet Revolution for the falling attendance.

It was a time when church attendance fell across the province due to secularization and anger at the strict policies of the Catholic Church, not to mention allegations of abuse.

As the decades passed and attendance continued to dwindle, in 2003 the Diocese of Montreal merged the neighboring parishes of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and Saint-Anselme into Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil.

Starting in 2009, worshippers moved into the church basement due to economic and security concerns.

In a nutshell, the diocese could not afford to fix structural defects in Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church, which were estimated at several million dollars. Furthermore, it cost tens of thousands of dollars annually to heat the immense building.

As such, services were held daily in a small chapel set up in a hallway between the deteriorating church and the rectory. At the time, parish secretary Laurianne Mailloux said: “For the few people who come, it’s more than enough.”

However, in March 2016 serious damage caused by leaking water triggered the few remaining worshippers to be relocated elsewhere.

At the time, parish priest Father Thomas explained: “When it came time to renew the building’s insurance, it was no longer possible. So, I made the decision to move the services.”

After Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church was abandoned, it began to take on a forlorn appearance. Despite being fenced off, vandals painted graffiti on its walls and urban explorers started breaking in to film the vast, crumbling interior.

Sadly, in 2019 a major fire broke out in the church, which required the intervention of dozens of firefighters.

The church floor was destroyed and the artworks inside were severely damaged. Investigators could not identify how the fire started but suspected it was caused by squatters or intruders.

Since then, the church has been vacant and is collapsing into ruin. The diocese has proposed several redevelopment projects over the years, such as a housing cooperative or private residential project. However, these ideas never came to fruition.

It soon became evident that Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church would have to be demolished due to its advanced deterioration, weakened structural conditions and the resulting safety issues.

Indeed, according to a CBC News report from February 2026 entitled Montreal parish fights to demolish derelict church that’s become a TikTok destination:

“Inside the church, the floor of the cavernous sanctuary is covered with debris, bird droppings, beer cans and the mangled remnants of the church’s organ… The sound of cooing pigeons and the flapping of wings echoes through the space, which once accommodated some 1,000 worshippers.”

Furthermore, Priest Roger Dufresne, who oversees the site, was scandalized when vandals graffitied the church’s interior. They spray-painted blasphemous messages such as “The Devil was here,” and “Kill God 666.”

Father Dufresne noted that intruders ripped out pipes from the Casavant Organ and tossed them on the floor, broke heads off statues and repeatedly climbed to the roof, trying to ring the church bell.

The priest said: “They use all kinds of tools to break the windows, break the doors, get inside. For young people, it’s mostly to make videos, TikTok challenges.”

Furthermore, the church has spent more than $100,000 trying to secure the site since 2017, including erecting a fence around the building and by hiring security guards. Despite those efforts, the City of Montreal has fined the church $219,000 related to the structural integrity of the building.

In 2012, the City’s Division de l’expertise en patrimoine et de la toponymie listed Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church a building of “exceptional heritage value”.

Such designations make demolition much more difficult.

Fully repairing the church would cost more than $50 million according to engineering firm CIMA+, but the parish does not have the funds nor the worshippers to fill such a large space.

With unfathomable challenges like these, Father Dufresne and the Montreal Catholic Archdiocese want Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church demolished as soon as possible.

On January 7, 2026, the parish asked a judge at the Superior Court of Quebec to grant a demolition permit, citing health and security concerns as well as financial difficulties.

As the parish waits for a decision, Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church continues to decay and fall into ruin as urban explorers, vandals and TikTokers continue to break in.

Haunted Montreal reached out to a TikToker to ask what conditions are like in the church’s interior. The influencer, who wanted to remain anonymous for legal reasons, described many of the same things from the CBC article: flocks of pigeons nesting in the rafters, crumpled beer cans, obscene graffiti and bent Casavant organ pipes littering the floor.

When we inquired if the TikToker had experienced any paranormal activity, they said:

“It’s funny you should mention that. One of the TikTok challenges is to go into the building alone and film during the Devils’ Hour because the church is haunted. It’s a big dare.”

When pressed for more information, the TikToker explained:

“The inside of the church is scary late at night. It is very dark. I used my flashlight to walk through all the beer cans, broken pews and organ pipes. I wanted to stream my TikTok video at the altar. As I approached, I swear I could hear a faint noise, like an echo. I froze and listened carefully. It sounded like some sort of laughter, quiet at first. But then it started getting louder and scarier. It started cackling and sounding full-on demonic!”

Haunted Montreal asked what the TikToker did next. They replied:

“I decided to get the hell out of there! I ran to the exit, trying not to trip over all the junk on the ground. As I bolted, I accidentally kicked a pile of broken organ pipes scattering them across the floor. As I was reaching the exit, I heard a noise that I have never heard before. It sounded like the organ playing, but in a wheezing and sputtering way, like something half-alive. I turned around for one last look and shone my flashlight. I swear I could see those broken organ pipes slithering around the floor while making that horrible groaning noise. Then I left, glad that I was still alive. I won’t be trying that TikTok challenge ever again.”

When Haunted Montreal asked them if they would swear to the truth about the story, the TikToker admitted that they had been on magic mushrooms, but added: “Dude, it’s totally true. I’d swear with my hand on the Bible.”

All of these deranged stories have led many people to ask: is Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church haunted by The Devil? These rumours have been circulating for decades, after all.

Whatever the case, until this church is demolished, it will undoubtably continue to witness all sorts of problems. From anti-social behaviour and vandalism to the possibility it might be haunted by The Devil himself, it would not be surprising if the historic Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church is demolished in the near future.

Company News

Our outdoor public tours are resuming with Haunted Old Montreal in April and the rest of our slate throughout May. Haunted Montreal is running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal will also resume in May, but is currently available in English and French as a private tour.

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours, except for Haunted Mountain) 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 $250 for small groups of up to 8 people. Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!

Our bilingual indoor Paranormal Investigation at the Montreal Art Center and Museum in April is already Sold Out. We are working on adding another one in May. Stay tuned!

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

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).

Our online shop is offline for the next few months. If you would like to purchase any Haunted Montreal-branded t-shirts or mugs in the meantime, please contact us at info@hauntedmontreal.com

Holly and Dr. Mab are back! Now part of Stygian Media, they will continue releasing Haunted Montreal videos based on our blogs in English and French among other horror-themed content.

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 each month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming Up on May 13: Update on The Black Rock

In March 2018, Haunted Montreal first wrote about The Black Rock, a 30-ton granite boulder that marks the site of the city’s second mass grave for Irish Famine victims. Located in an industrial area on Bridge Street, efforts have been made to create a world-class park on the desecrated burial ground. However, the project has been sabotaged and the plans presented are raising eyebrows among the stakeholders who were excluded from participating.

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.

With over 600 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 13^th 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 13^th! The blog is published in both English and French!

Our Haunted Pub Crawl still runs every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm. Plus there is a second English Pub Crawl this Sunday at 4pm.

Our regular outdoor public tours are on pause until next month, but the Irish Famine in Montreal Walking Tour returns on March 21st in the afternoon. Plus our second indoor Paranormal Investigation Montreal Art Center and Museum is March 21st in the evening.

More on this in our Company News section below.

This month, we revisit the story of The Phantom Calèche in Old Montreal, a part of town that no longer has actual calèches roaming its streets.

Haunted Research

In September, 2018, Haunted Montreal first reported on The Phantom Calèche, one of the city’s most dangerous and sinister hauntings. Described as a horse-drawn carriage that took unsuspecting visitors to the netherworld, it was able to blend into the urban fabric because calèche rides were a major part of the tourism industry in Old Montreal.

However, former Mayor Valerie Plante banished all horses in the City of Montreal in 2020. While some say animal rights activists prompted this decision, others believe it was to try and get rid of the phantom carriage once and for all.

The plan seems to have worked – there were no sightings or reports of The Phantom Calèche for almost five years. Indeed, almost all of Griffintown’s stables were torn down and replaced with condominium towers.

The only remnant of this centuries-old tradition is a small plot of land on Ottawa Street, the site of the former Griffintown Horse Palace.

Built in 1862 by an Irish carter named Martin Kiely, the Horse Palace originally consisted of a central courtyard surrounded by buildings. These included a brick house with an attached stable. There was also an inn for travellers along with a few wooden barns and sheds.

For well over a century, the Griffintown Horse Palace served as a stable mostly for draft horses. These strong beasts pulled loaded carts in the port, train depots and factories along the Lachine Canal. The horses were also used in agriculture, construction, and to transport milk and ice into the city.

Later, as gas-powered trucks replaced horses for industrial work, the animals at the Horse Palace shifted their work to carriage rides in Old Montreal.

In April 2012, the City of Montreal acquired part of the original Horse Palace site with the goal of creating a park with the stables preserved for tourists.

However, by 2017 the Horse Palace stable was deemed to be too dilapidated and was demolished.

The city finally established the Parc de l’Écurie-Horse Palace on the site in March 2023. Despite having no more stable or horses, the small greenspace is meant to commemorate the neighborhood’s working-class history.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan until late one night in November 2025, when the sinister Phantom Calèche briefly reappeared. A tourist staying in a hotel adjacent to the Parc de l’Écurie-Horse Palace was awoken to the sound of horses snorting, neighing and clomping their hooves outside.

She pulled back the curtains and looked out of the window only to see what appeared to be an old carriage with two draft horses hitched to it. Peering into the darkness, she noticed a tall man wearing a black coat in the front seat of the calèche, holding the reigns.

With the crack of the reigns, the horses reared up. The mysterious man turned and looked the tourist straight in the eye. He then beckoned her to approach with his finger, sending shivers up her spine. Terrified, she quickly closed the curtains. After a few seconds, she parted them ever so slightly so she could peek out to see what was happening.

The calèche was no longer there. It was as though it had vanished into thin air along with the horses and coachman.

The tourist, who had attended our Haunted Griffintown Ghost Tour, reached out to Haunted Montreal to explain her creepy experience. When informed that she had likely encountered the infamous Phantom Calèche, she was relieved that she had stayed within the safety of her hotel room.

In conclusion, while former mayor Valerie Plante may have succeeded in getting rid of all living horses in the City of Montreal, it seems she was unable to abolish the undead horses pulling the Phantom Calèche. 

Company News

With St-Patrick’s Day coming up on Tuesday, March 17th, we are offering related events leading up to the parade next Sunday.

On Saturday, March 21 at 2pm, The Irish Famine in Montreal Walking Tour returns (in English). Join Donovan King and explore the sites connected to the thousands of Irish refugees who fled brutality and famine in 1847, arriving in Montreal on what became known as coffin ships.

There is no Haunted Pub Crawl on parade day, but we’re running two English Haunted Pub Crawls this coming Sunday, March 15. The regular 3pm tour is almost sold out, so we’ve added a second Crawl at 4pm. Following the parade, the Haunted Pub Crawl returns every Sunday at 3 pm in English throughout the winter months. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

Our bilingual Paranormal Investigations at the Montreal Art Center and Museum, the former Caledonian Iron Works Factory, sold out in February and is running again March 21 at 6pm. Good for beginners and seasoned investigators alike. Paranormal equipment will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own.

You can purchase your tickets here.

Haunted Montreal Founder and Owner (and the author of this very blog) Donovan King is still a working actor. He played deranged criminal and episode title character Chyldkrüsher on the TVA series ALERTES in French. You can watch his performance here.

King, as well as the host of our Colonial Secrets tour Sophie-Claude Miller were interviewed by City-TV News, talking about the unjust and exclusionary Montreal Municipal Bylaw G-2.

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

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).

Our online shop is offline for the next few months. If you would like to purchase any Haunted Montreal-branded t-shirts or mugs in the meantime, please contact us at 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!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 each month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on April 13: Ruins of Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church

Situated on Fullum Street, the crumbling ruins of Saint-Eusèbe-de-Verceil Church are causing a major headache for the Montreal Catholic archdiocese. Church services were halted in 2009 due to a dwindling flock and rumours that the building was haunted. A major fire gutted the church in 2019 and since then it has witnessed vandalism, urban explorers and TikTokers streaming within the ruins. Things have reached a boiling point and the archdiocese wants the cursed church demolished.

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.

With over 600 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 13^th 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 13^th! The blog is published in both English and French!

Our outdoor public tours are on pause until the Spring, but we are launching a new indoor Paranormal Investigation in February, March, and April at the Montreal Art Center and Museum, the subject of this very blog.

Our Haunted Pub Crawl still runs every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

We are also offering the Travelling Ghost Storyteller experience. Bring our stories to your party or event.

You can still book all of our experiences, except for Haunted Mountain, as private tours. These 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 people.

More information on this, our schedule, Gift Certificates and other events and projects in the works in our Company News section.

This month, we head to the Montreal Art Center and Museum, housed in the former Caledonian Iron Works Factory. We speak with some of the museum staff to learn of encounters with spirits from the building, and Griffintown’s, industrial past.

Haunted Research

Nestled among the new condo towers in western Griffintown, the Montreal Art Center and Museum stands out like a rare gem. It occupies the former 1879 Caledonian Iron Works factory, a Victorian-era company that produced engine parts for ships and trains, turbines and other complex metalworks.

During the era, there were no safety codes or labour laws. The factory witnessed fatal industrial accidents, major fires and life-altering injuries during its operations. The Caledonian Iron Works was a theatre of both industry and tragedy until it wound down its operations with the changing of the times in the mid-20^th Century.

Today, the Montreal Art Center and Museum is considered as one of the most historical – and haunted – buildings in Griffintown.

In 2010, the heritage structure was acquired by painter Allan Diamond. He wanted a home for the Montreal Art Center, a not-for-profit community arts organization he had founded.

The building was run down and showing its age. The empty structure was dirty and rat infested.

Slowly, with other members, Allan began to clean the place up, renovate it and create the Montreal Art Center.

According to its website:

“The center provides working studios for artists, creating a nurturing environment where creativity flourishes. It is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and supportive art community.”

Since its opening, the arts space has hosted various community events, performing artists, concerts, lectures and movie nights.

In early 2022, the art center officially became a museum. There are now art galleries featuring the Italian Renaissance, French Baroque and New France. The center’s permanent collection of European masterpieces include works on paper by Picasso, Monet and Rembrandt.

Furthermore, member artists’ works are displayed in other galleries and many are on sale.

Museum guests also can see a 140-year-old safe, antique furniture, Douglas fir wooden structural elements, and various other interesting displays.

Artisan and painter Roxanna Kibsey joined the art center in February 2011 and was instrumental in helping Allan Diamond to realize his mission.

She recalls how run down the building was when she first set foot in it. It was dark, grungy and creepy.

One her first day there, her brother visited in the evening and noticed the gloomy atmosphere. He asked her if she had been visited by something yet. When she asked him to clarify, he told her that Griffintown was full of ghosts, including the infamous – and headless – Mary Gallagher.

When Roxanna heard this, she was concerned so asked all of the mean ghosts to leave the building the following day. She added: “Paddy, you can stay.”

“Paddy” was a common nickname for Irish people during the Victorian era and many of them worked at the Caledonian Iron Works.

Roxanna believed Irish ghosts were not malevolent, which is why she said “Paddy” could stay. Ever since, those witnessing paranormal activity in the Montreal Art Center and Museum usually put the blame on “Paddy.”

The most common occurrence is the manifestation of shadowy figures lurking in the building. Once, while Allan was showing a woman around the art center, she jumped when she noticed a shadow moving out of the corner of her eye.

In another case, a woman claimed that something had just walked in when nobody else saw it. On another occasion, a man applying to work as a cleaner claimed that there were spirits in the building.

There was also an incident when something lightly pushed Roxanna as she was descending a flight of stairs. A volunteer named Brenda said: “You look like you’ve just been pushed!” Roxanna replied that it was “Paddy.”

Just a few years later, in 2014, the City of Montreal ordered the art center to decommission or repair its ancient freight elevator. With an estimated cost of over $200,000 to restore it, administrators decided to remove it instead, keeping only the old mechanism for historical value.

When they took off some old wooden planks, they discovered something surprising written on an old wall. The name “Pat” was clearly written along with a family name that might be Leary, Leahy or something similarly Irish. The writing included a date: Feb. 2/27.

While some staff members feel that this is uncanny proof that the ghost of “Paddy” is real, research into the name and circumstances of its writing is inconclusive.

Incidentally, the Montreal Art Center and Museum is currently fundraising for a new elevator to better service its mobility-reduced visitors.

Another important note is that the venue is well-known for hosting Halloween parties and events.

The most recent Halloween party in 2025 was billed as the “Witches Night Out: A Haunted Evening of Art, Music & Magic.”

The advertisement stated: “Step into the spellbinding atmosphere of the Spooky Halloween at the Museum 2025—an unforgettable night where history, art, and enchantment collide. Set inside a 140-year-old Griffintown landmark—home to the legendary ghost of Mary Gallagher—this celebration transforms the museum into a playground for witches, vampires, and mystical beings of every kind.”

Roxanna recalled one of the first Halloween parties in 2012 or 2013. A transformer on a pole outside exploded into flames, plunging the art center into darkness right as the party was about to begin.

Staff began placing candles throughout the building and the atmosphere was soon just perfect for Halloween night! It was widely described as one of the best parties the center has ever hosted.

Returning to the headless ghost of Mary Gallagher and the art center’s connection to her, it is interesting to note that beyond the Halloween advertising, Allan has also been inspired by her spirit.

On many occasions when Allan mentioned Mary Gallagher’s name, the lights started flickering. This uncanny activity inspired him to create a painting of her ghost, which is now on display in the museum.

Another creepy story relates to the New France Gallery. This space features colonial artworks along with several historical waxworks from Montreal’s former Musée Grévin, the first international branch of the famous Paris wax museum.  

Located in Montreal’s Eaton Centre, the Musée Grévin opened in April 2013. It contained over 120 waxwork figures arranged in various scenarios.

Themes featured inspiring historical figures, stars from the world of entertainment and colonists from New France.

The life-like waxworks included Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Houdini, Lady Gaga, Mahatma Gandhi and many others.

Controversial colonial figures such as Jacques Cartier, the Sieur de Maisonneuve and Queen Elizabeth II were also present.

Unfortunately, the Musée Grévin officially closed on September 16, 2021.  Some say it was due to economic hardships caused by the pandemic. Others blamed its haunted reputation, which was seen to deter customers.

Indeed, since its opening, there had been many reports of tourists feeling uncomfortable within the attraction. Some clients felt like they were being followed or stalked. Others complained that the eyes of certain waxworks were glaring at them.

There was even an incident in 2018 when a tourist complained about being touched inappropriately by one of the wax figures.

As things got worse, in 2019 The Daily Hive wrote:

“Houdini’s ghost is said to haunt Grevin’s wax museum in the Eaton Centre. Staff members claim to constantly hear chatter and music from the museum’s main ballroom after the doors have been locked up. From wax figurines, don’t use the legacy of the dead to make money or Harry Houdini may make sure of it.”

Sales soon plummeted by over 50%. In 2021, the Musée Grévin had no choice but to shutter its operation and vacate the Eaton Centre. It also needed to liquidate its assets – including the waxworks.

The museum offered some of its 128 wax figures to the real-life celebrities they portrayed. Other statues were sent to the original Musée Grévin in Paris, and the rest were sold or donated to various Quebec institutions.

Allan Diamond was able to acquire some of the colonial waxworks for his New France Gallery, such as Jacques Cartier, Marie de l’Incarnation and Paul de Chomedy, Sieur de Maisonneuve.

However, soon after the waxworks were installed, paranormal activity in the New France Gallery started to manifest.

Harper Tallon, responsible for artist studio rentals, is also in charge of the New France Gallery. Part of Harper’s job is to lock the room’s gate at night to deter any potential burglaries. As a meticulous person, she always checks to make sure everything in the New France Gallery is perfect, ensuring morning visitors get the best experience possible.

However, when she arrived one morning and unlocked the gate, Harper noticed that something was amiss.

More specifically, certain things on the Marie de l’Incarnation waxwork were out of place. The nun’s habit had been re-arranged during the night. The veil was now covering her face, whereas the day before it had been pulled back. The rosary beads in her hands had moved in their position and her Bible, which had been closed, was now open.

Harper was too scared to touch the waxwork. Eventually another employee corrected the arrangement to uncover her face.

In another incident, an antique cup that was on display was discovered flung to the other side of the gallery one morning.

Furthermore, the eyes of the de Maisonneuve waxwork tend to unnerve some people. Visitors have reported feelings of being stared at by the waxwork and of having his piercing eyes follow them around the gallery.

The gallery’s security camera turns on when it detects movement. On many occasions during the night, it has turned on when nobody is present. The camera always indicates that there is movement at the de Maisonneuve waxwork.

On one particularly troubling night, the gallery’s burglar alarm went of at around 4 a.m. Roxanne, who lived only a few streets away at the time, was jolted awake by the alarm.

She rushed out to see what was going on. When she arrived at the Montreal Art Center, the police were already on the scene. The sergeant told her she could not enter the building because officers were doing a sweep.

 A few minutes later, the officers had cleared the building and one of them appeared to be trembling. He was as white as a ghost and his colleagues were laughing at him. When Roxanna inquired what was going on, a sergeant chuckled and told her that a rookie cop had almost shot the waxwork of the Sieur de Maisonneuve because he was armed.

With all this seemingly paranormal activity, the New France Gallery appears to be one of the most haunted areas in the Montreal Art Center and Museum.

There are many other stories, such as the time a medium named Fernanda said she usually saw spirits in the museum but insisted they were all nice.

Given all the ghost stories and paranormal activity, Haunted Montreal dug into the historical archives to see what might be causing these disturbances.

Originally constructed by Scottish entrepreneur John McDougall, the Caledonian Iron Works was a thriving foundry that employed over 300 workers.

They produced components for ships and trains, as well as turbines, pumps, engines and other large and complex metalworks. The company played a vital role in the industrial development of Montreal during the late 19th century.

The archives revealed all sorts of fires, deadly industrial accidents and horrendous injuries that occurred while the Caledonian Iron Works was in operation.

For example, on April 5, 1895, La Presse reported that a man named John Marshall was taking legal action against the foundry.

He demanded $15,000 due to negligence that left him with a severe head injury, including permanent blindness, after an industrial accident at the Caledonian Iron Works.

On March 1, 1902, the same newspaper reported that a worker named John Enger was electrocuted while working there. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Montreal General Hospital.

On October 29 of the same year, Le Soleil reported that a mechanical engineer named Meredith Percy had perished after an industrial accident at the iron works. The following day, the The Daily Witness provided more details:

“The evidence showed that Mr. Percy was superintending some extra work in the Caledonian Iron Works, when the electric lights went out. They were run by a dynamo, which was temporarily installed for the occasion, and had been working badly. Mr. Percy took a workman’s torch, and went to examine the dynamo, and seems to have stepped back a little too far, and been caught in a belt, which injured him fatally.”

On July 16, 1904, according to Le Cultivateur two brothers were severely injured when a brick wall collapsed on them at the foundry. Their names were Pierre and Louis Blain.

There were many other industrial accidents at the Caledonian Iron Works, in addition to two major fires.

The first blaze occurred on August 6, 1909, starting in the stables at around 1:30 p.m. According to La Presse, the fire completely destroyed the stables, killing one horse and severely injuring another. The poor creature, which had almost burned alive, had to be put down because it was in agony.

Two adjacent houses also suffered $4000 in damages from the fire.

Just three years later, on April 9, 1912, the Caledonian Iron Works suffered a much larger fire that caused $15,000 in damages to the business. Le Canada suggested that the foundry was largely destroyed by the blaze.

The Montreal Gazette reported that the two-alarm fire had started in the moulding shop at around 9 p.m. and quickly spread. A firefighter named Lieutenant Guthrie was injured by falling shards of glass, which cut his hand. He was treated on scene by one Dr. Morrisson and sent home to recover.

As the years passed, so did the ownership of the Caledonian Iron Works. During the 1920s, the company consolidated and eventually became part of larger industrial conglomerates like Canada Iron Foundries Ltd.

Eventually, with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, almost all the factories along the Lachine Canal and in Griffintown began to shutter their operations.

By the 1980s, the foundry was largely derelict, used primarily for storing the company’s massive collection of wooden casting molds.

Returning to the paranormal activity in the Montreal Art Center and Museum, one thing that stands out is the connection between electricity and ghostly activity. When the lights flicker at the mention of Mary Gallagher or when the power fails due to exploding transformers, one wonders if there is any connection to the 1902 electrocution death of John Enger.

Whatever the case, because the Montreal Art Center and Museum has so much creepy and unexplained activity, Haunted Montreal has partnered with the establishment to launch a new paranormal investigation!

For three nights only, paranormal expert Dominique Desormeaux will host the bilingual activity:

• Saturday, February 28 @ 6:00 pm
• Saturday, March 21 @ 6:00 pm
• Saturday, April 18 @ 6:00 pm

Brave guests will use paranormal tools to communicate with the spirits that haunt the former Caledonian Iron Works. Tickets can be purchased here.

In conclusion, entering the Montreal Art Center and Museum is like stepping into the past. Steeped in mystery and haunted activity, this rare gem in Griffintown is a must-visit site for paranormal enthusiasts, art lovers and history buffs. Just make sure to stay alert in case you meet something unexpected!

Company News

Haunted Montreal is running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English throughout the winter months. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

Our public outdoor tours resume in the spring, and tickets for all of our 2026 dates are now on sale.

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours, except for Haunted Mountain) 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 people. Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!

As mentioned above, we are offering three bilingual Paranormal Investigations at the Montreal Art Center and Museum, the former Caledonian Iron Works Factory. Good for beginners and seasoned investigators alike. Paranormal equipment will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own.

You can purchase your tickets here.

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

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).

Our online shop is offline for the next few months. If you would like to purchase any Haunted Montreal-branded t-shirts or mugs in the meantime, please contact us at 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!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 each month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on March 13: Update on The Phantom Calèche

The sounds of horses trotting in Old Montreal and Griffintown have mostly vanished since former Mayor Valerie Plante banished the animals in 2020. After receiving complaints from animal rights activists, she outlawed horse-drawn carriage rides, which had been a part of the city’s history for centuries. It wasn’t long before Griffintown’s stables were torn down and replaced with condominium towers. However, the Griffintown Horse Palace was converted into a small park to commemorate the past. Recently, the sinister Phantom Calèche has been spotted in the enclosure late at night by an upset condo owner.

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.

With over 600 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 13^th 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 13^th! The blog is published in both English and French!

Our outdoor public tours are on pause until the Spring, but our Haunted Pub Crawl still runs every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

We are also offering the Travelling Ghost Storyteller experience. Bring our stories to your party or event.

You can still book all of our experiences, except for Haunted Mountain, as private tours. These 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 people.

More information on this, our schedule, Gift Certificates and other events and projects in the works in our Company News section.

This month, we revisit the old Dow Brewery in Griffintown. There are now development plans for the abandoned, and purportedly haunted, sections.

Haunted Research

The abandoned Dow Brewery is in the process of being repurposed into a new campus pavilion by the École Technologie Superieure. To be named the Dow Complex, the project is epic and fraught with concerns due to the haunted history of the site.

In October 2023, Haunted Montreal blogged about the haunted brewery, describing the disturbing ghost of a little girl crying who had been discovered by paranormal investigators. We also looked at rumours that that mafia had used the abandoned site to dispose of unwanted corpses by burying or otherwise concealing them.

Many of the buildings are in a state of ruin and are contaminated with asbestos. As such, Amiante National Asbestos has been hired to remove the toxic contaminants and mold before stripping away all interior industrial elements.

Once the contamination and interior machinery are removed, the plan is to demolish several buildings of the old brewery. Architectural designs suggest some buildings will be preserved and repurposed whereas others will be destroyed to make way for the new campus.

Because there have been breweries onsite since the early 1800s, many of the existing buildings have historical value – and ghost stories.

Indeed, the building marked GH on the map is the oldest building in the complex and dates from 1860. Slated for demolition, it was originally a cold storage facility used in the brewing process.

Located at 400 Montfort Street on the corner of Saint-Paul Street, the stone building is currently clad in metal fencing to prevent it from shedding materials onto the street below.

Demolition plans would see it replaced with a modern structure to serve the students and professors at the École Technologie Superieure.

Designed in a banal style, the new building is much taller, boxy in design and features various rectangular windows in a pattern.

However, heritage organizations such as the Conseil du patrimoine de Montréal and the Office de consultation publique de Montréal would prefer that the 1860 cold storage facility be preserved. They believe it would be better for the structure to be repurposed into the new complex because of its historical value.

Furthermore, Haunted Montreal has learned about a ghostly legend associated with the former cold storage building that is slated for demolition. It is visible in a 1909 map as a blue building in the lower right portion of the complex.

The legend involves the ghost of a Scottish assistant brewmaster who worked there during the Victorian era. The bizarre tale was known to many workers at the Dow Brewery, which ceased operation in 1998.

According to one retired employee, who is now in his eighties, employees called the ghostly assistant “Archibald”.

When alive, he was said to spend a lot of time at the Dow Brewery, especially in the cold storage building where he could check on the fermenting beer. To keep the temperature low enough to ferment and age the beer, ice blocks were cut from the St. Lawrence River and stored in boxes filled with sawdust to slow down the melting.

Thick masonry walls also helped keep the cold storage cool.

Archibald was also known to play the bagpipes and may have been a member of The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada. According to the legend, beer and bagpipes were the two things Archibald loved the most.

It wasn’t uncommon for him to combine his passions by playing his bagpipes while overseeing the fermentation of the beer in the cold storage area. Apparently, he believed the droning of the bagpipes would improve the flavour and quality of the beer.

In addition to brewing beer, Archibald also liked to drink it – often in copious amounts. As such, the Dow Brewery was the ideal workplace for him, and he was often drunk on the job.

Unfortunately, according to the legend, early one morning before sunrise the night watchman made a horrifying discovery while doing his rounds. Inside the cold storage area he discovered Archibald’s bagpipes lying on the ground next to one of the union casks. Union casks were large wooden vessels, typically made of oak, that held beer during cold conditioning. These were shallow, wide tuns to expose more surface area to the cold.

When the watchman leaned over to look in the cask, he was shocked to see Archibald’s lifeless body floating face down in the fermenting beer.

Since that terrible day, brewery workers sometimes reported hearing the faint drone of the bagpipes in the cold storage. On other occasions, a ghostly man, dripping from head to toe was seen wandering the area, always leaving a wet trail of beer in his wake which remained after he had disappeared into thin air.

Such is the legacy of the haunted cold room at the old Dow Brewery.

In conclusion, as the École Technologie Superieure moves forward with its plans to gut the old brewery to create a new campus, there are fears that human remains could be found and nearly-forgotten ghosts might be stirred up during the work. It does not bode well for the school’s  complex.

Company News

Haunted Montreal is running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English throughout the winter months. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

Our public outdoor tours resume in the spring, and tickets for all of our May 2026 dates are now on sale. We will also be launching an indoor Paranormal Investigation (details next month).

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours, except for Haunted Mountain) 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 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

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).

Our online shop is offline for the next few months. If you would like to purchase any Haunted Montreal-branded t-shirts or mugs in the meantime, please contact us at 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!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 each month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on February 13: Montreal Art Center and Museum

Located in Griffintown, the Montreal Art Center and Museum is in the former 1879 Caledonian Iron Works factory. The company produced parts for ship engines and trains during an era when there were no safety codes or labour laws. In 2010, the structure was acquired by The Montreal Art Centre, a not-for-profit community arts hub. However, the owners soon realized that their new home was rife with paranormal activity, including a ghost named Paddy. Today, as the center carries out its vision, artists and visitors never know what strange things they might encounter in the old factory.

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.

With over 600 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 13^th 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 13^th! The blog is published in both English and French!

With the winter weather already here, our public tour schedule has moved indoors. Our Haunted Pub Crawl runs every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

You can still book all of our experiences, except for Haunted Mountain, as private tours. These 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 people.

We are also offering the Travelling Ghost Storyteller experience. Bring our stories to your party or event. More information on this, our schedule, Gift Certificates and our shop in the Company News section.

This month we take a look at purportedly haunted clocks along one street in Old Montreal and ask if it may have something to do with the desecration of French colonial cemeteries.

Haunted Research

Montreal, like most cities, has outdoor clocks gracing banks, train stations, City Hall and many other prominent locations. Some of these timepieces are freestanding whereas others are built into the facades of buildings.

However, while noted for their historical charm and timekeeping abilities, some of Montreal’s clocks are reputed to be haunted.

It is worth noting that, while rare, stories and legends about haunted clocks can be found all over the world. The most famous example is perhaps the Prague astronomical clock, officially called the Prague Orloj.

According to the legend, after clockmaker Master Hanuš built the Prague Orloj in 1410, city officials cut his eyes out to stop him from creating another masterpiece. In revenge, he supposedly cursed the clock, ensuring it would bring misfortune to the city if ever neglected, with his ghost personally guarding it.

The legend claims if the Prague Orloj stops, the city will suffer. Supposedly, the curse will be confirmed by the skeleton figure on the clock nodding its head.

Other infamous haunted clocks include The Sussex Grandfather Clock (Sussex, England) and The Warren Occult Museum’s Organ Clock (Monroe, Connecticut, USA).

So intriguing is the topic, that Brian Balmages wrote a musical score titled “Haunted Clocks” in 2014. The piece “tells the story of a haunted clock factory and its mischievous inhabitants,” and is wildly popular with school orchestras to this day.

Most of Montreal’s haunted clocks are located on St. James Street, an area associated with the extreme desecration of French colonial cemeteries by various financial corporations.

Rue Saint Jacques was first recorded on a map by François Dollier de Casson in 1672, thirty years after the founding of the French colony of Ville Marie.

For almost a hundred years, the area surrounding the street was associated with French colonial cemeteries, which stretched from the Place d’Armes all the way to today’s McGill Street.  

When the city capitulated to the British Army in 1760, the new governors made plans to stop all burials within the then walled city for health and sanitary reasons. New Protestant and Catholic cemeteries were opened to the north-west and burials ceased to continue in the old colony.

Indeed, the older cemeteries were quickly forgotten, and Saint Jacques Street was anglicized into St. James Street.

Under British rule, Montreal soon expanded into being the largest city and economic hub of British North America. By the 1800’s financial entities of all sorts were setting up shop, spurred by the banking, trade and insurance sectors.

With the Industrial Revolution in full swing, rapid growth of the street was assured.

It began in 1818, when the first Bank of Montreal built its headquarters on St. James Street. Other financial companies soon followed, such as the Royal Bank of Canada, Banque canadienne nationale, Banque provinciale du Canada, Molsons Bank, Merchants Bank, Montreal City and District Savings Bank, Royal Trust Company, Crown Trust Company, and Nesbitt Thomson.

Numerous British insurance companies also installed their head offices on St. James Street, including the Life Association of Scotland, Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance, Yorkshire Insurance, Standard Life, Colonial Life, Guardian Fire and Life, and London and Lancashire Insurance.

With so much building and financial investment, it wasn’t long before St. James Street became known as the “Wall Street of Canada”.

However, it is hard to ignore that these opulent buildings were constructed on the footprint of the French, Indigenous and Black colonial cemeteries, meaning thousands of skeletons were unearthed and disposed of during construction.

Records are scarce about what happened to all these human remains, but during the era financial progress was seen as far more important than respecting the Dead. It is likely that in many cases the human bones were considered merely part of the soil to be excavated and disposed of.

According to the late historian E.A. Collard:

“The principal cemeteries were just inside the northern wall marked by Fortification Lane today. They occupied the area beginning close to the wall and extending down to about the middle of what is now St. James Street…This means that the buildings on the north side of St. James Street today are standing in these old cemeteries. When the custom of burying “within the walls” was abandoned, most of the old bones were left lying where they had been interred.”

Collard continued: “Later, when foundations and cellars for the buildings on St. James Street’s upper side were being dug the bones were unearthed. Even then, in some cellars, the bones were not all removed. They were left lying above ground. A story of a cellar full of bones is told about a building at or near the corner of St. James Street and Victoria Square.”

Indeed, a reporter at the Montreal Gazette wrote in 1872: “The writer has frequently been told by a gentleman who in his boyhood resided in St. James Street… that a wine cellar of more than ordinary depth was almost paved with bones and skulls, and that for this reason none of the servants could be induced to go into the place alone, save an old butler who had the cellar in charge, and who cared so much for his wines that all the ghosts in a dozen grave yards would not have frightened him from them.”

The fact that the cemeteries being desecrated by British financial interests contained mostly French, Black and Indigenous corpses likely did not sit well with these colonized communities. Indeed, two of these cemeteries contained interred slaves from the New France era, many of them children.

To make matters worse, British commercial interests began to install clocks on banks and a skyscraper along St. James Street.

It is worth noting that clocks are almost never found in cemeteries. The reasoning is that the Dead do not like to be reminded of the passage of time. The Dead usually wish to lie undisturbed in their final resting places for eternity.

The installation of the clocks disturbed the Dead even further with their constant ticking sounds, regulating the bustling commercial district built upon their burial grounds.

Today, four clocks overlook the street and three of them are said to have serious paranormal issues.

The clocks include, from the east on the corner of St. Laurent Boulevard to the west on the corner of St. Pierre Street:

• An antique clock on the La Presse Building (north-west corner of St. Laurent Boulevard).

• An astronomical clock on the New York Life Insurance Building clocktower (overlooking Place d’Armes, near the cornerof Côte de la Place-d’Armes).
  
  
• A Modernist standing clock outside the Bank of Montreal Main Office Building (north-east corner of St. Francois-Xavier Street).
  
  
• A classical standing clock outside the Molsons Bank (south-east corner of St. Pierre Street).

Starting with the antique clock on the La Presse Newspaper Building, this charming clock was likely installed upon completion of the edifice in 1900.

Situated on the north-west corner of St. Laurent Boulevard and St. James Street, the clock hangs off a pillar of the building overlooking the corner.

Shaped like a black box with tapered pyramids on the top and bottom, it features two round clocks on each corner with the words “La Presse” inscribed above the time mechanism.

Despite being situated a stone’s throw from the New France era jail, where prisoners were chained to the wall and tortured, the La Presse antique clock is not said to be haunted. This is probably because it was not built atop a cemetery, unlike the other three clocks on St. James Street.

Moving westward, the next clock soars high above the Place d’Armes on the tower of the New York Life Insurance Building.

The New York Life Insurance Building was erected from 1887–1889 and was the first skyscraper in Montreal at 152-feet tall. The first eight floors were designed for retail office space and hosted some of best lawyers and financiers in the city.

When the clock tower was completed in 1889, the owner created the largest legal library in the country on the ninth and tenth floors. Impressively, the red sandstone building also featured electric lighting, water tanks and the city’s first elevator. Designed by architects Babb, Cook and Willard and contractor Peter Lyall, the final cost was $750,000.

The clock tower features two whimsical astronomical clocks, one overlooking St. James Street on the west and the other the south.

The 1899 tower clocks feature a sun and a moon on its hands, which are typical elements of astronomical clocks. The symbolism represents balance and harmony between opposing forces, especially the perpetual cycle of day and night. 

However, the New York Life Insurance Building was built on part of a cemetery on the Place d’Armes. The tower clocks have been anything but harmonious.

Notably, these giant towering clocks overlooking the square have been reported to cause paranormal disturbances during the Devil’s Hour.

While the area is usually devoid of human activity in the dead of night, there is a harrowing tale about a man who experienced paranormal activity beneath the clocktower while out late.

A client named Laurent Desjardins contacted Haunted Montreal in 2015, telling us that he had witnessed something unexplainable while crossing the Place d’Armes in the middle of the night during a blustery October evening.

He said: “I had finished my shift at a fancy restaurant on Saint Paul Street and was walking home to my apartment on the Plateau when I arrived at the Place d’Armes. All the shops were shuttered for the night, and a cold wind was howling and scattering leaves throughout the square. It was pretty miserable.”

He added: “Suddenly, the air grew heavy. Shadows began to move in an unnatural way, like ink spilling across a page. It was really creepy to watch. I then heard what sounded like thunder above me. I looked up and saw that the giant clock on the skyscraper, with its sun and moon hands. It seemed to be glowing red.”  He noted that it was exactly 3:33 a.m.

A chill ran up his spine – and then the whispers began. They rose from the ground. It sounded like a layered murmur of voices, whispering in a muffled French. The faint voices, male and female, sounded as though they were pleading, warning and mourning.

He explained that the temperature felt like it plunged about 15 degrees Celsius. Laurent then saw about a dozen translucent figures slowly begin to emerge, headfirst, from the ground. Peering through the gloom, he saw the outlines of men and women wearing in tattered clothing from the colonial era. The apparitions rose to just above the pavement, where they hovered a few inches in the air.

Their eyeless faces turned toward Laurent, as though drawn to the living warmth he carried.

Trembling in the freezing air, Laurent felt extremely unwelcome and frightened as the ghostly, eyeless figures seemed to stare at him directly. He felt as though they wanted something from him.

“I began to run as fast as I could to the other side of the square,” he said, “and once I was safely past it, I turned around to look back in case they were following me. I was very relieved to see that here was nothing there. The temperature was normal again and the Place d’Armes was empty.”

When Haunted Montreal explained to Laurent that the Place d’Armes was built on top of a colonial cemetery and suffered all sorts of paranormal activity, he vowed never to take that route home ever again.

The second haunted clock is located outside the Bank of Montreal Main Office Building on the north-east corner of St. Francois-Xavier Street and St. James Street. Box-like and silver in colour, it has been described as a Modernist standing clock. Likely installed in 1960, this is the newest clock on the street.

The Bank of Montreal Main Branch was constructed in 1960 after the adjacent 1847 neoclassical bank was deemed too small to meet demand.

At 17-stories, the Modernist skyscraper overshadows the original bank.

The Bank of Montreal clock is reputed to be haunted by many visitors. Indeed, it is the meeting location for the Haunted Old Montreal Ghost Tour.

Guests have reported feelings that the clock is watching them and some have even heard tapping noises from within the clock face. It almost sounds like someone is inside the clock, as though wanting to be let out.

One client swears that he actually saw a distorted skull appear in the clock’s glass for a few seconds before vanishing.

In other cases, people have claimed to feel someone or something tapping them on the shoulder, grabbing their feet and even tripping them on occasion.

Lastly, electronics tend to malfunction in the vicinity of the clock, such as smartphones losing all battery power, video cameras having footage deleted and laptops turning themselves on and off.

Overall, most people who have experienced these phenomena described a feeling of being unwanted in the immediate vicinity of the Bank of Montreal clock.

The final clock stands outside the Molsons Bank on the south-east corner of St. James and St. Pierre streets.

The Molsons Bank was founded in 1837 by brothers William and John Molson, Jr., the sons of brewery magnate John Molson. As the bank grew, the brothers soon decided buy land on the prestigious St. James Street for their headquarters.

Designed by architect George Browne, the Molsons Bank was the first edifice in Montreal to be built in the Second Empire style, from 1864-1866. The building features an ornate stone facade, mansard roof, copper detailing, paired columns, and intricate carvings.

The street clock has a classical appearance and complements the handsome building.

However, there have been many instances when the clock has simply stopped ticking dead in its tracks. Historians note that this may be because the bank was partially built on the colony’s Black slave cemetery, along with the Royal Bank Building just to the west across St. Pierre Street.

People who witness the clock stopping often cross themselves if they know the legend of this haunted timepiece. According to the urban legend, when the time stops on the Molsons Bank clock, it signifies a bad omen. It usually foreshadows an inevitable tragedy in the vicinity.

This may be tied to an old European tradition of stopping the clocks when someone dies.

After getting over the initial shock of the death, mourners had to cover all the windows with thick curtains and let passers-by know of the death by putting black ribbons or a wreath on the door.

Precautions were needed to safeguard the spirit of the deceased. Clocks had to be stopped to respectfully mark the time of death and to ward off bad luck. This was said to prevent the spirit from wandering aimlessly through time and space, unsure where to go.

The clocks would be started again for the funeral so that the spirit could leave and not haunt the house or vicinity.

Returning to the Molsons Bank clock, it has stopped on many occasions in the past just moments before tragic events such as streetcar accidents, explosions and deadly fires.

The most infamous case occurred in the morning of June 13, 1910. Some bankers standing by the clock noticed that it suddenly stopped ticking and froze at exactly 10:29 a.m.

About 30 seconds later, they heard a loud crashing noise about three blocks west on St. James Street, followed by ear-piercing screams and falling glass and masonry. What they had heard was the devastating collapse of the nearby Montreal Herald Newspaper building. At five storeys tall, the building was full of workers putting together the evening edition of the paper.

The collapse was triggered when the 30,000-gallon water tank atop the structure, designed to assist in case of a fire, suddenly gave way and went crashing through the building. As the giant cistern plummeted through the floors of the building, it burst and swept press machinery, office furniture and shocked workers with it into the void of a quickly-flooding basement. The back portion of the building was completely destroyed. Ironically, a deadly fire then broke out in the front part the structure that was still standing.

With around 300 workers in the building, there was sheer panic as people tried to rescue their injured colleagues and evacuate the burning, wrecked building.

Once the survivors were rescued and blaze was extinguished, it took nearly a week for police, firemen, and volunteers to extract the remains of thirty-three unfortunate employees.

Nineteen men and fourteen women were killed in the tragedy. Many were young girls working in the bindery department near the back of the edifice, which was located directly under the water tank. Most of the corpses were found bloated in the flooded basement or charred beyond recognition. The disfigured bodies were taken to the city morgue to try and identify them.

It was perhaps the deadliest building collapse in Montreal’s history.

As for the haunted clock at the Molsons Bank, it had to be restarted by technicians, as it had many times before.

Today, St. James Street is a shadow of its former glory as the financial center of Canada. During the 1970s, Toronto overtook Montreal as the wealthiest Canadian city.

A mass exodus of corporate head offices was triggered by political uncertainty and new laws that made French the only official language in the province.

Since then, the old banks on St. James Street have mostly been repurposed into fancy hotels, high-end condominiums, events spaces, etc.

However, the clocks on the street are still there, bearing witness to the former financial era – and terrifying people at times with their paranormal activity.

In conclusion, haunted clocks fascinate and frighten people all over the world. According to superstition and folklore, installing a clock in a cemetery could have several potential consequences for the dead, primarily related to disturbing their eternal rest and disrupting the timeless, spiritual atmosphere of the graveyard.

The fact that St. James Street hosts three haunted clocks is remarkable. It is also understandable given that the former “Wall Street of Canada” was erected upon the vast colonial cemeteries from the old French colony of Ville-Marie.

Given the deranged history and paranormal activity, walk this historic street at your own risk!

Company News

Haunted Montreal is running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English throughout the winter months. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours, except for Haunted Mountain) 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 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

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).

For those hoping to do some holiday shopping, our online store is open until the end of December!

We have Haunted Montreal t-shirts, mugs, and even toques, and other assorted items. Visit shop.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!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 each month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on January 13: Update on the Dow Brewery

The abandoned and haunted Dow Brewery is in the process of being repurposed into a new campus pavilion by the École Technologie Superieure. Amiante National Asbestos has been hired to deconstruct the old Brewery, including asbestos removal, decontamination, removal of toxic products and mold and stripping away all interior finishes. With plans to then demolish several buildings before new constructions begin, there are fears that human remains may be found and ghosts may be stirred up during the work.

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.

With over 600 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 13^th 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 13^th! The blog is published in both English and French!

Despite the Hallowe’en Season ending, Haunted Montreal is still offering outdoor tours of Haunted Old Montreal until the end of November!

Haunted Montreal is also running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page and see more details in the Company News section below!

Private tours for all our experiences 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 people.

Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!

This month we provide an update on the Hôpital de la Miséricorde and analyze controversial plans by Hydro-Québec to integrate an electricity substation into the haunted site.

Haunted Research

The ghost-ridden Hôpital de la Miséricorde has been empty for years and is starting to crumble. Located on prime real estate in Downtown Montreal, citizens have long demanded social housing and other community services on the site.

In May 2025, Santé Québec sold the site of the former hospital to developer Alta Canada for $8.5 million.

Alta Canada announced plans to redevelop the site into housing, starting with a 90-metre tall, multifamily tower to be built in the hospital’s old parking lot.

However, before Alta Canada could break ground, Hydro-Québec suddenly purchased the hospital in August 2025 for $15 million.

The electricity giant had been involved in a controversy when they announced plans to replace the Berri 1 transformer station, a brutalist structure that was ageing fast.

Hydro-Québec proposed building the new 315,000-volt transformer substation on the garden and adjacent plot of the Grande Bibliothèque, Quebec’s national library.

Outrage ensued and on May 10^th over 100 people turned up to protest the plan. Opponents, including librarians, residents, community leaders, and academics, argued against the project due to its destruction of a green space and its perceived threat to future library expansion.

The protest was effective.

Acknowledging the lack of social acceptance, Hydro-Québec cancelled the proposal and went on to purchase the haunted hospital with plans to build the electricity substation there.

However, there are three major problems with the new plan.

Firstly, the Hôpital de la Miséricorde includes greystone heritage buildings dating back to the 19^th century.

Hydro-Québec has pledged to launch an architectural competition to ensure the new construction is integrated into the urban fabric. However, critics are unclear about how a modern substation can be integrated into a heritage site.

Secondly, there are major concerns that deceased children may be buried or hidden on the site. The Mohawk Mothers demanded to search the hospital complex for dead infants before its sale.

They cited the fact that the death rate of babies born at the hospital was 37.7 per cent, including Indigenous children, with many burials unaccounted for. Their demand was refused.

This means that Hydro-Québec could possibly uncover the remains of dead babies while constructing their electricity project.

The hospital already has a lot of ghostly manifestations, such as the disembodied sounds of wailing and the appearances of many spirits and apparitions. Any new macabre discoveries could lead to even more paranormal activity on the haunted hospital site.

Lastly, paranormal experts strongly advise against combining electricity with ghosts. According to Dominique Desormeaux, ghosts “feast on electricity”. He had warned the REM light rail system that by inserting a concreted pylon into the heart of the Black Rock Irish Famine Cemetery, their system would be disrupted by angry ghosts.

He was proven right, as witnessed by the many malfunctions, failures and strange activity associated with the light rail system.

Given that transformer substations handle a lot of electricity, perhaps it is just as likely that the new installation will face similar problems

In conclusion, given all the serious problems with the plan to convert a haunted hospital into an electricity transformer station, this project could be doomed from the start!

Company News

Despite the Hallowe’en Season ending, Haunted Montreal is still offering outdoor tours of Haunted Old Montreal until the end of November!

Haunted Montreal is also running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 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).

For those hoping to do some holiday shopping, our online store is open until the end of December!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 December 13: The Haunted Clocks of St. James Street

It is worth noting that clocks are almost never found in cemeteries. The reasoning is that the Dead do not like to be reminded of the passage of time. The Dead usually wish to lie undisturbed in their final resting places for eternity. Unfortunately, Montreal’s Saint James Street, once known as the “Wall Street of Canada”, is largely built on colonial cemeteries. With the construction of banks and skyscrapers, the colonial cemeteries were desecrated. The installation of clocks further disturbed the Dead. The constant ticking sounds regulating the commercial district built upon their burial grounds did not sit well. Today, four clocks overlook the street and three of them are said to have serious paranormal issues.

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.

With over 600 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 13^th 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 13^th! The blog is published in both English and French!

Hallowe’en is just around the corner and Haunted Montreal has a plethora of experiences on offer!

These include Haunted Old Montreal, Haunted Mountain, Haunted Downtown and Haunted Griffintown. Paranormal Investigations include Old Sainte-Antoine Cemetery and Colonial Old Montreal.

Haunted Montreal is also running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

We are also pleased to announce a new tour as part of our upcoming Hidden Histories series!  The Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal Walking Tour is in its final testing phase and $5 tickets are available on weekends in October and early November in both English and French.

This tours will be under the umbrella of Hidden Montreal, our new division of daytime walking tours.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page and see more details in the Company News section below!

Private tours for all of our experiences 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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 people.

Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!

This month we look at haunted issues in the upcoming Montreal municipal election on November 2. With five candidates running for Mayor, Haunted Montreal is pressing all of them to do more to placate the city’s Dead.

Haunted Research

Montrealers are heading to the polls on November 2 to elect a new mayor. While the citizens have the democratic privilege of voting, the Dead certainly do not.

As such, Haunted Montreal will be representing them and making demands to the mayoral candidates on their behalf. Generally-speaking, the Dead want two things: to be remembered and to be respected.

Sadly, Montreal is littered with forgotten cemeteries, burial grounds are often desecrated in the name of progress and important historical figures and sites have never been commemorated.

This election has five candidates from five different parties vying for the reigns at City Hall:

• Luc Rabouin (Projet Montréal)
• Soraya Martinez Ferrada (Ensemble Montréal)
• Jean-François Kacou (Futur Montréal)   
• Craig Sauvé (Transition Montréal)  
• Gilbert Thibodeau (Action Montréal)

It is worth noting that Projet Montreal has been in power for eight years under the helm of Mayor Valerie Plante and Ensemble Montreal was in charge before that. All the other parties have never been elected.

Montreal’s municipal politicians have a long history of neglecting the Dead. For example, during Valerie Plante’s tenure the Black Rock Irish Famine Cemetery was desecrated by the REM, which hammered a large metal caisson through layers of skeletons.

Indigenous remains were also disturbed during construction on Peel Street and at St. Joseph’s Oratory. There are now plans to disturb another mass grave at the Wellington Basin with the coming of a new neighborhood.

Furthermore, Montreal is falling behind on its commitment to Truth and Reconciliation. The city refuses to rename Christophe-Colomb Avenue despite its offensive and genocidal connotations.

Montreal also won’t repeal by-law G-2, which makes it illegal for the vast majority of Indigenous people to lead guided tours on their unceded territory.

Lastly, notable historical figures, sites and events have not been commemorated or marked in any way. Mayor John Easton Mills died of Typhus in 1847 after coming to the aid of Irish Famine refugees – and yet there is no statue of him. Indeed, the city has dozens of historical plaques marking the industrial revolution but only one marking the Irish Famine. Even Montreal’s most infamous ghost story, that of Headless Mary, has almost been erased.

Other historic sites are rendered invisible. For example, historic prison cells exist beneath Place Vauquelin in the heart of Old Montreal but are not open to the public. Furthermore, the holy site of Jeanne Le Ber’s death in the recluse of her church is now a parking lot. These places could be refurbished and become Old Montreal historic sites that respect the deceased associated with them.

Haunted Montreal follows all these issues very closely and has produced a list of 5 concerns and proposals for the mayoral candidates.

***

Election Issue #1: Commemorating Montreal’s Most Infamous Ghost Story

Our first election issue has to do with Montreal’s most infamous ghost, Headless Mary, who returns to the corner of William and Murray Streets in Griffintown every 7 years on the anniversary of her murder. Her next appearance is scheduled for June 27^th, 2026.

However, when Mary Gallagher’s ghost last appeared in 2019 the neighbourhood looked very different.

Back then, the famous corner was derelict and creepy, just as it always had been since the 1800s when the Griff was Canada’s most notorious Irish shantytown.

With rapid gentrification, the corner is now bursting with shiny new buildings constructed by the ETS (École de technologie supérieure). After an intervention by Haunted Montreal, ETS agreed to preserve the famous corner by making it a gathering space outside the new Pavilion F building. However, there is no commemoration yet for the city’s most infamous ghost story despite our request for one.

As such, Haunted Montreal has created a plan with local artists to start the ball rolling. Not wanting to frighten the students and professors at the ETS, we are not requesting a statue of Headless Mary. Instead, we wish to commemorate the site in a more subtle manner that reflects a fascinating part of Griffintown’s history.

When the Griff was Canada’s most notorious shantytown, the corner was very much feared due to rampant reports that Mary Gallagher’s ghost would return every 7 years on the anniversary of her murder. In 1999, the late renowned Griffintown storyteller Denis Delaney told CBC’s Anna Asimakopulous that “children used to take her candy and little bags of treats, and things like that, and we’d leave them for her and then run away so she wouldn’t harm us.”

Parents would use the ghost story as a way of keeping their children obedient, warning that “Headless Mary” would get them if they didn’t eat their cabbage, do their homework, or return home on time. The children believed that by leaving gifts for the ghost they would be spared from her wrath.

Keeping this idea in mind, Haunted Montreal is proposing a statue on one of the four corners of a small group of fearful children placing candies and treats on the corner to placate Headless Mary.

It is important to remember that Griffintown has enormous importance for the Irish community and most of the Irish heritage has been erased from the neighbourhood. The proposed statue would go a long way in helping to commemorate this heritage and offer something interesting and meaningful for locals and tourists to visit.

Haunted Montreal’s demands:

1. Support the commemoration project technically (e.g. permissions, zoning issues, Public Art Bureau policies, etc.) and financially, if possible.
2. Offer more support in the future for Irish heritage projects in the city.

Election Issue #2: Better Indigenous Representation

Our second election issue is about improving Indigenous representation in the city.

We would like the City to consult experts from the Mohawk First Nation to find ways to include more Indigenous representation and perspectives, especially in Old Montreal. There are many colonial statues, monuments, and plaques in the City of Montreal that should be re-evaluated and potentially removed due to their genocidal depictions and colonialist narratives.

There are also streets and other topographical features that are very problematic, such as Christophe-Colomb Avenue. Glorifying genocidal colonists should become a thing of the past, as we saw with the rebranding of Amherst into Atateken Street. The City of Montreal must listen to the Mohawk activists making the demand to retire the Christopher Columbus name from the cityscape.

It is also embarrassing that even “Mount Royal” is not yet acknowledged with its original Mohawk name – Tekanontak – on maps, websites and guided tours. According to Mohawk Elders, Tekanontak is one of the largest Indigenous burial grounds in North America. It deserves to be properly named and marked.

Lastly, by-law G-2 makes extremely difficult for Indigenous people to legally host guided tours of unceded territory. This “Tour Guide” by-law has resulted in a cartel of guides, the APGT, which is estimated to be 98% white.

Furthermore, to get a license students must attend a lengthy and expensive course at the ITHQ that barely covers any Indigenous history, language or contemporary issues.

Haunted Montreal’s demands:

1. Create better opportunities for Indigenous representation, business and tourism in Montreal.
2. Cancel by-law G-2.
3. Study problematic statues and plaques in the City of Montreal with the goal of removing them or addressing them in a satisfactory manner.
4. Rebrand streets named after genocidal figures, such as Christophe-Columb Avenue.
5. Restore the original Mohawk name Tekanontak for “Mount Royal” on maps, websites, tourism brochures, etc.

Election Issue #3: Protection and Commemoration of the Wellington Basin Famine Cemetery

The City of Montreal is moving full steam ahead with the creation of large new neighborhood in Point St. Charles called Bridge-Bonaventure. Working in tandem with Canada Lands, the project envisions a mixed-use neighbourhood with 2,800 housing units, an artisan district and even a public beach in the old Wellington Basin.

However, the chosen site also hosts the Wellington Basin Irish Famine Cemetery.

Today, an estimated 1200 – 1700 bodies repose in a mass grave beside the basin. There is nothing to indicate the presence of this Famine cemetery and the construction project risks disturbing the Dead.

As such Haunted Montreal is asking mayoral candidates to prevent anything from being built on the Wellington Basin Famine Cemetery. In fact, we are demanding a world-class Irish Famine Park on the burial site in collaboration with Canada Lands.

We also would like to see the creation of a commemorative monument dedicated to Mohawk First Nation’s solidarity with the Famine Irish. In 1847, they donated $150 and brought food to aid the Irish refugees. Mohawk artist MC Snow has committed to creating the monument and Canada Lands has also agreed that it should be installed.

There is also the problem that the Irish Famine is not commemorated along the Lachine Canal, where much of the tragedy played out. We are demanding plaques to be installed to tell this tragic story.

Lastly, we would like Montreal’s Martyr Mayor John Easton Mills to be properly commemorated in the new development with a statue and a street, square or park named after in his honour.

Mayor Mills was extremely compassionate and died caring for the Irish refugees in 1847 after succumbing to Typhus.

Haunted Montreal’s demands:

1. Protect the Wellington Basin Famine Cemetery from desecration.
2. Create a world-class Irish Famine Park on the footprint of the burial ground.
3. Support the creation of a Mohawk Famine Solidarity Monument to be created by MC Snow.
4. Add plaques along the Lachine Canal and other important sites commemorating the Irish Famine in Montreal.
5. Commemorate Martyr Mayor John Easton Mills with a statue and by naming a street or square after him in the vicinity.

Election Issue #4: Study opening the Old Prison Cells under Place Vauquelin

Over 80% of tourists visit Old Montreal and yet extremely important historic sites are rendered invisible and not used in an adequate manner.

For example, the Old Courthouse and the dungeons of the original Montreal Prison are located right beside City Hall in the heart of Old Montreal. The Courthouse has been rebranded the Lucien-Saulnier Building and is used by the city’s Department of Finance. Meanwhile, the old prison cells are located beneath the Place Vauquelin.

Many cities highlight their old prisons and courthouses as museums about the history of crime and punishment. In Canada, such museums exist in places like the Kingston Penitentiary, Ottawa Jail Hostel and St. Andrew’s prison and courthouse. These are popular educational and tourist attractions that enhance the heritage fabric of aforementioned cities.

Indeed, this type of attraction can be found all over the world. Perhaps the best example is the City of Las Vegas repurposing its old courthouse into the world-famous Mob Museum.

In a city with hundreds of attractions, the Mob Museum remains among Las Vegas’ most popular.

Haunted Montreal’s demands:

1. Study the possibility of converting the old prison cells and some of the original courthouse into a museum exploring crime and punishment in the city.

Election Issue #5: Study the creation of Parc de la Recluse in Old Montreal

Like Mayor John Easton Mills, Jeanne Le Ber was once considered a Montreal city hero.

Known as the “Angel of Montreal”, she spent much of her life as a recluse, cooped up in a small room behind the altar of a church which she funded. There, she prayed for the city while living in full reclusion, poverty and submission.

However, the site where she prayed and died in her church was demolished decades ago. It is now an unsightly parking lot in Old Montreal on the corner of Cours Le Royer and Saint-Laurent Boulevard.

Haunted Montreal is proposing that the City expropriate the parking lot to make way for a new greenspace called Parc de la Recluse. This park would commemorate her life and death on the site while removing an eyesore and improving the attractions in Old Montreal

Haunted Montreal’s demands:

1. Study the possibility of expropriating the parking lot to make way for a new greenspace, Parc de la Recluse, dedicated to commemorating Jeanne Le Ber’s remarkable story.

***

If you agree with any or all of Haunted Montreal’s electoral demands, please contact the candidates and make sure your views are known.

Contact details for all mayoral candidates:

Luc Rabouin : luc.rabouin@projetmontreal.org

Soraya Martinez Ferrada : soraya.martinez@ensemblemtl.org

Jean-François Kacou : info@futurmontreal.com     

Craig Sauvé : https ://www.transitionmtl.org/nous-joindre

Gilbert Thibodeau: info@actionmontreal.ca

Are you registered to vote?

Visit this link to check your registration status. Your name must be registered no later than 6 pm on October 16, 2025.

Haunted Montreal would like to thank our readers for considering supporting our demands by contacting mayoral candidates – and by voting if eligible.

Company News

Hallowe’en is just around the corner and Haunted Montreal has a plethora of experiences on offer!

These include Haunted Old Montreal, Haunted Mountain, Haunted Downtown and Haunted Griffintown. Paranormal Investigations include Old Sainte-Antoine Cemetery and Colonial Old Montreal.

We are also running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

We are also pleased to announce a new tour as part of our upcoming Hidden Histories series!  The Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal Walking Tour is in its final testing phase and $5 tickets are available on weekends in October and early November in both English and French.

This tours will be under the umbrella of Hidden Montreal, our new division of daytime walking tours.

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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 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).

Lastly, we have reopened our online store from October to December!

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! Until further notice, we will be offering updates on old stories every second month and the regular blog service alternating.

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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 November 13: Update on the Hôpital de la Miséricorde

The ghost-ridden Hôpital de la Miséricorde has been empty for years and is starting to crumble. Located on prime real estate in Downtown Montreal, plans were announced to build social housing on the derelict site. However, it was suddenly purchased by Hydro-Quebec who want to build a transformer station on the old hospital. Paranormal experts advise against combining electricity with ghosts, meaning that this project could be doomed from the start.

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.

With over 600 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!

We are pleased to announce a new tour as part of our upcoming Hidden Histories series!  The Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal Walking Tour is in its final testing phase! $5 tickets are available on weekends in September and October in both English and French.

These tours will be under the umbrella of Hidden Montreal, our new division of day time walking tours.

Haunted Montreal’s season of public outdoor ghost tours is now in full swing and tickets are on sale! These include Haunted Old Montreal, Haunted Mountain, Haunted Downtown and Haunted Griffintown. Paranormal Investigations include Old Sainte-Antoine Cemetery and Colonial Old Montreal.

Haunted Montreal is also running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page and see more details in the Company News section below!

Private tours for all of our experiences 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 $235 for small groups of up to 7 people.

Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!

This month we provide an update on Montreal’s Mysterious River Monsters and their latest antics.

Haunted Research

In May 2020, Haunted Montreal published a blog about Montreal’s Mysterious River Monsters. Since then, the waters surrounding the city have witnessed more bizarre sightings and situations involving unknown and dangerous marine creatures.

The most notable case occurred in June 2024, when an eight-year-old boy was attacked by something predatory in the enclosed waters of Jean Doré Beach.

He sustained several deep gashes in his leg that required stitches.

Ironically, he was bitten while playing in the water at an inflatable structure called Aquazilla. The 30-by-35 meter aquatic playground is comprised of “obstacles, slides and platforms for jumping into the water.”

Some scientists speculated that the predator was a muskie, a large fish with sharp teeth. Others felt it was more likely a river monster that had somehow entered the waters of the enclosed beach in search of its next meal.

Whatever the case, the question remains as to how an aquatic creature could enter an enclosed beach with no direct access to the St. Lawrence River. The answer may be found in a Mohawk legend.

Brant McGregor recounted a story dating July 1995 when he and his grandfather decided to go fishing off the shores of Kahnawà:ke, a Mohawk First Nations territory across the river from Montreal.

They set anchor near the mouth of the Chateauguay River near an area known as “Big Fence” and cast their lines. After about 15 minutes a snake-like creature surfaced nearby.

McGregor described its head and neck as being as thick as a telephone pole and rising 8-10 feet out of the water. The creature was the colour of a rotting log, had huge black eyes and horns protruding from its head.

It also had sharp teeth and a 5-foot-long purple forked tongue. MacGregor estimated that it was 50-65 feet long.

The creature began swimming towards them as they pulled up anchor to escape. MacGregor believed the monster could swallow him whole in one gulp, which prompted them to speed their boat to the safety of the shore.

The story is recounted in “Monster in the St. Lawrence River? | NEW 2025 Cryptozoology Documentary”. Haunted Montreal has verified that this is a true story.

The same episode features “The Kahnawake Mohawk Legend” about the infamous river monsters. According to Mohawk lore, the river monsters can slither great distances across land. They lay their eggs in forests and swampy areas and travel at night to avoid suspicion. The newly-hatched creatures are said to be metallic blue in colour.

The river monsters can also create powerful storms and turbulent waters when upset.

They also have been known to appear in the dreams of people who have encountered them.

Brant McGregor was haunted in his dreams by the river monster he had encountered, so he asked a medicine man for assistance. He was told that it appeared in his dreams because the monster wanted him to enter its watery domain.

It is worth recalling that these snake-like monsters can slither across the land. As such, it is entirely possible that one of these creatures slinked over the enclosure protecting Jean Doré Beach before attacking the boy.

Whatever the case, if ever swimming in the waters swirling around the Island of Montreal, do so at your own risk!

Company News

We are pleased to announce a new tour as part of our upcoming Hidden Histories series!  The Colonial Secrets of Old Montreal Walking Tour is in its final testing phase and $5 tickets are available on weekends in September and October in both English and French.

These tours will all be under the umbrella of Hidden Montreal, our new division of day time walking tours.

Our season of public outdoor ghost tours is now in full swing and tickets are on sale! These include Haunted Old Montreal, Haunted Mountain, Haunted Downtown and Haunted Griffintown. Paranormal Investigations include Old Sainte-Antoine Cemetery and Colonial Old Montreal.

We are also running our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 2 pm.

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 $235 for small groups of up to 8 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).

Lastly, we have decided to close our online store due to low sales and high maintenance costs. It will only be open from October to December in the future.

Haunted Montreal also has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project!  The book is titled Haunted McGill, and is authored by yours truly, Donovan King! Our publisher is The Stygian Society.

Until publication in 2026, new stories at the Haunted Montreal Blog will 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 and/or on Google Reviews – 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 October 13: Haunted Issues in the Montreal Election

Montrealers are heading to the polls on November 2 to elect a new mayor. While the citizens have the democratic privilege of voting, the Dead certainly do not. As such, Haunted Montreal will be representing them and making demands to the mayoral candidates on their behalf. Most importantly, we will ask that a commemorative statue be installed on the corner of William and Murray streets in Griffintown – before Headless Mary returns on June 27, 2026!

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.