Another famous guest was none other than American author and wit Mark Twain, who had his only paranormal experience while staying at the Windsor Hotel in December, 1881. Mark Twain wrote about his experience in Harper's Magazine's September 1895 issue called Mental Telegraphy Again.
In the dining room, a picture fell off the wall with the hanging loop unbroken and the nail in the wall intact. The dining room radio (not a clock radio) has been known to turn itself on, and once during suppertime, the lamp in the ceiling turned on by itself. The paranormal activity also happens in the bathroom.
As Wade prepared the statue and plinth in his workshop, workers began digging up French, Indigenous and Irish corpses from the former Saint Antoine Catholic Cemetery in order to lay the foundation. The fact that authorities were installing a Protestant symbol of British Imperialism and genocide in a Catholic burial ground rankled many citizens. Rumors began to swirl that the cemetery desecration would most certainly result in the ghosts of the displaced corpses returning to haunt the site.
As she approached, she could hear a sort of a gurgling noise. As she got closer, she noticed a sweet and tarry smell in the air. As the man stumbled towards her, she saw that there was a problem. She could see his jawbone and teeth protruding through tattered skin. The man reached out as though to grab her and she went tumbling to the right down the slope. She scrambled over the fence, breaking it in the process, and bolted back into her Residence.
In 1742, Montreal was rocked by a sensational trial about sorcery. A French soldier named Francois-Charles Havard de Beaufort, stationed in Montreal, was accused by authorities of practicing sorcery after rumors spread about his attempts to cast a magic spell to discover the identity of a thief. François-Charles Havard de Beaufort had a reputation in the Montreal region as an entertainer and a “sorcerer.” Having an ingenious mind and a solid education for the period, he used his card and knife tricks to divert and amuse spectators. By his own admission, he also used his trickery to “intimidate ordinary people in serious matters.”
On other occasions, people have heard the disembodied rattling of bones within the Redpath Museum. One night guard, who has since retired, reported hearing bones creaking and rattling on several occasions during his graveyard shifts. He also noted, while patrolling the third floor overlooking the lower levels, something that deeply unnerved him. Sitting atop a display case is the skeleton of an anaconda snake. Horrified, the guard recalled sometimes hearing bones clacking in the middle of the night.
With the reputation as a haunted tunnel, it also attracts thrill-seekers who dare one another to enter through the metal gate near the off-ramp. One nearby condo owner has reported seeing people cautiously enter the tunnel only to bolt out of it screaming after a minute or two.
The ice castles were also rumored to be haunted on account of the fact that Dominion Square was established on the old Saint Antoine Cholera Cemetery which had closed in 1799 because it was full. With tens of thousands of corpses buried under Dominion Square, many stacked in burial trenches, rumours spread that the Dead were unhappy with these celebrations taking place on their old cemetery.
Werewolves and similar creatures have a long history of plaguing those living on the island of Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. When the French began colonizing the Indigenous lands of Turtle Island in the early 1600s, strange European tales of werewolves came with the settlers.
There are reports of strange moaning noises and metallic clanging within the old sewer. Security guards have claimed the noises usually start around 9 p.m. and can last throughout the night. The best theory about why the collector is haunted takes us back to Christmas Day during 1840.