A series of disturbing recent events, such as an attempted animal sacrifice in a cemetery and body dumping in a local nature park has triggered Haunted Montreal to investigate Sault-au-Récollet. Located on the eastern edge of the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Sault-au-Récollet is one of Montreal’s many haunted neighborhoods. Situated on the Back River (La Rivière des Prairies in French), it is one of the city’s oldest colonial settlements.
Looking for a Halloween event in Montreal in 2024? Haunted Montreal offers ghost walks, paranormal investigations, haunted pub crawls, and more!
Plans are afoot to build a whole new neighbourhood in the Bridge-Bonaventure sector of Point Saint Charles, just south of the Lachine Canal at Griffintown. Glossy designs depict new high-rise condominiums, trendy spaces for commerce and arts - and even an “urban beach” in the old Wellington Basin! However, this utopian vision is partially located on the site that hosted Montreal’s first Irish Famine Cemetery in 1847.
Montreal’s sprawling Metro system is well known for its architecture, public art works and ability to move people quickly around the city. However, lesser known are the hauntings and paranormal activity that plague the network. With a long history of deaths from construction accidents, fires, violent acts, electrocution and suicides, the Montreal Metro hosts lingering spirits and other deranged mysteries. With decades of service, the network has witnessed countless tragedies and is now rumored to host ghosts and paranormal activity, especially at three distinct stations.
More recently known to host bars such as The Pioneer, Clyde’s Bar and Grill and Le Pionnier, the heritage building has since been demolished. High-end condominiums were built on its footprint and a neighboring parking lot, and some wonder if the site is still haunted. Trouble started brewing in May, 2018 when owner Diane Marois announced her plans to sell Le Pionnier to developers. Over 4000 Pointe Claire residents signed a petition to try and save the historic building. However, given that other former heritage sites in the municipality were destroyed, like the Edgewater Hotel and Maples Inn, there was a feeling of hopelessness. Marois shuttered the building after one final last call on July 21, 2018.
High above Montreal’s streetscape, hundreds of gargoyles and grotesques are carved into the architecture of various older buildings and churches. Sculptors created gargoyles to drain water and allegedly to ward off evil spirits, a tradition dating back to mediaeval Europe. Grotesques are similar stone creatures but do not feature any plumbing. Some legends say that gargoyles can communicate with others when the rain passes through their mouths. Other myths claim that gargoyles and grotesques sometimes come to life at night. Montreal’s gargoyles are shrouded in mystery and a local legend from the late 19th Century highlights one of their deranged antics after sunset.
The massive Sûreté du Québec Police Headquarters on Parthenais Street is rumored to host all sorts of paranormal activity. Disembodied screams are known to echo throughout the building, officers have spotted a ghostly inmate wearing a straitjacket, and sometimes the nauseous stench of burnt food wafts through the air, disgusting staff members.
Situated in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont Royal Borough, Saint Louis Square is a beautiful and bucolic park dating from 1876. Surrounded by stunning Victorian architecture, the leafy square is popular with locals and tourists alike. It features a central fountain, busts of famous poets and even a small stone building with a café and ice cream parlor inside. However, the square also has a turbulent history. Once the stomping ground of many disturbed artists, the Montreal Hippy Movement and an era of decline including rampant prostitution, deranged things have happened in the park and its environs. Unsurprisingly, there have been ghost sightings in Saint Louis Square.
This month we examine one section of Montreal’s new light rail system, the REM, which is finally operational. The line, running from Central Station in Montreal to Brossard, passes over the Black Rock Irish Famine Cemetery. Given that the REM desecrated the hallowed ground by removing over a dozen bodies to insert a concrete pylon, many people speculated that the REM would become haunted. It appears to be the case – since its opening, the REM has been plagued with numerous electrical problems and was even struck by lightning!
Despite the new plans to revitalize Place Viger and its environs, there are constant rumors that the building is haunted. There is speculation that the ghostly activity is likely related to a string of tragedies in the hotel’s history. One report of a paranormal encounter at Place Viger dates back to July 31st, 2011. A tourist from Washington DC named Amy "Citizen of the World" C visited