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 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 that 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.

Haunted Montreal is 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.

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 (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $235 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we explore a legend about the most cursed structure in Montreal – McGill University’s MacDonald Physics Building!

Haunted Research

McGill is a research-intensive university credited with many scientific discoveries and other inventions. The university boasts that its professors have discovered everything from DNA as the building blocks of genetics to neuro-scientific breakthroughs and have invented all sorts of wonders. 

These include the world’s first artificial blood cells, gas masks, plexiglass, pre-cooked fish sticks, the Canadian national anthem and even the game of basketball itself.  McGill calls these discoveries “Eureka moments that changed the world”.

However, there are certain research projects that went horribly wrong and the university tends to downplay them. One of the most devastating discoveries ever made occurred in McGill University’s MacDonald Physics Building, which is now said to be cursed.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, an American B-52 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

The bomb was called “Little Boy” and when it exploded in a fiery holocaust, an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 people were killed instantly.

The heat from the nuclear explosion was so intense that many people were vaporized and the blast destroyed 10 square kilometers of the city and contaminated the rest with nuclear radiation. The victims included the residents of Hiroshima, Korean prisoners-of-war, and even some American POWs who were imprisoned there. 

The discovery that led to the nuclear bomb happened in the MacDonald Physics Building.  

The building was constructed in 1893 as a “gift” provided by Sir William Christopher MacDonald, the founder, owner and head of the MacDonald Tobacco Company. 

Even though he abhorred smoking himself, he was happy to make millions of dollars by hawking the dangerous product to other people. 

Over half of his workforce was comprised of women and children, who were paid much less than men. They did much of the hard work such as stripping, sorting, and drying the tobacco plants.

The motto for MacDonald’s company was “the tobacco with a heart.” 

MacDonald also fancied himself a man of science so created chairs in Physics, Engineering and Chemistry at McGill University and funded the construction of various buildings.

Architect Sir Andrew Taylor, along with his partners Morley Hogle and Huntley Davis, designed the Macdonald Physics Building with particular care.

They constructed the edifice in the Richardsonian Romanesque style using only wood, masonry, copper, bronze and brass for the nails and fixtures.

No iron or steel was used anywhere in the building to minimize magnetic interferences that could compromise experiments. The interior was made with heavy bricks and laboratories were stocked with state-of-the-art equipment for the era. 

The portico has two columns, one symbolizing “Power” and the other “Knowledge”. Additionally, the entrance hall fireplace hosts a mantelpiece engraved with “Prove All Things”.

In 1898, McGill University recruited Ernest Rutherford, a young New Zealander with penetrating eyes and an awkward manner, as the new MacDonald Chair and Professor of Physics. 

In 1903, Professor Rutherford had his “Eureka moment”, when he theorized that radioactive energy could be emitted from within an atom under the right conditions.

His theories about radioactivity revolutionized scientific understanding of the atom and ushered in the Atomic Age – and the nuclear bomb.

During Rutherford’s nine-year tenure at McGill, he conducted many groundbreaking experiments and remarkably published 69 papers. Described as “the father of nuclear physics”, Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908.

Furthermore, his colleague at McGill, Frederick Soddy, received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in radioactive decay.

However, despite these accolades that glorified McGill University for its quality research, things were about to take a very dark turn.

On the evening of the Hiroshima bombing, the Montreal Gazette sent a reporter to the MacDonald Physics Building, hoping to get an interview with Dr. John Stuart Foster, the successor of Professor Rutherford. 

Entering the dark and deserted building, the reporter wandered the shadowy corridors until he came upon Dr. Foster, hunched over a table in one of the lecture amphitheatres.

A light shone over his table with the rest of the place darkened. 

Professor Foster was rapping his knuckles on the table nervously and had a wild look in his eyes. He began talking to himself, like a madman. “It all began right here, in this building,” he muttered, “right here in this building!” 

The reporter, sensing it wasn’t a good time to interview the trembling professor, snuck out, leaving Dr. Foster alone to his thoughts in the big, silent amphitheatre. As such, he had difficulty filing his article.

Professor Foster was never the same again after that evening. Rumours spread about his mental health and soon he developed the reputation of a “mad scientist”.

Since that fateful day when McGill research bore its awful fruit, it is rumoured that many other students and teachers have gone crazy working in the McDonald Physics Building.

According to legend, Mother Nature was very upset with the unnatural violation of her sacred work.  As such, She cursed the McDonald Physics Building to fall into ruin. 

Soon thereafter, all sorts of problems began to happen within the edifice. 

Doors jammed and windows cracked. Water dripped through the ceiling when it rained. Rats, mice and insects of all sorts began infesting the building. As a result, important experiments sometimes went awry, despite the meticulous architecture designed to protect them. 

Outside, the masonry began to crumble, tiles fell from the roof and various birds nested in the architectural nooks and crannies. As vines began growing up its walls, the MacDonald Physics Building began to take on a forlorn appearance.

There were also complaints among students, professors and staff working inside the cursed building. These included frequent headaches, nausea, feelings of depression and even the development of dementophobia – or the fear of going crazy. 

Individuals with this phobia experience anxieties related to losing their grip on reality, such as concerns about hallucinations or the display of other psychotic symptoms.

These numerous problems did not lend themselves well to the precise scientific conditions required by the McGill Physics Department. Ironically, the hope for new “Eureka Moments” and Nobel Prizes were being thwarted by the very MacDonald Physics Building itself. 

As the complaints mounted and the building continued to fall into ruin, in 1948, the McGill Physics Department created a new Radiation Lab and Cyclotron under the direction of Dr. Foster. Following his death from a heart attack in 1964, the facility was named in honor. 

However, despite this new laboratory, the old MacDonald Physics Building continued to fall into ruin.

In response, McGill University erected the new Ernest Rutherford Physics Building in 1977. It was meant to provide more modern facilities and laboratories as a complement to the crumbling MacDonald Physics Building. 

Built in the Brutalist style, the five-story structure was made of prefabricated concrete slabs that were individually fastened to a massive steel frame. 

Precautions were made to keep the new building as stable as possible. The sensitive nature of the experiments being carried out inside its laboratories required precise conditions. 

Indeed, this new and remarkable concrete structure would foreshadow the demise of the original building.

In 1982, McGill University admitted that the MacDonald Physics Building was no longer deemed fit for purpose. Officials stated: “It no longer met the needs of the modern Physics department.” 

As such, the cursed, old building was shuttered, fully renovated and then repurposed into the “Macdonald-Stewart Library Building of Physical Sciences and Engineering”. 

McGill University claimed: “Its sturdy structure has been well adapted to house many thousands of volumes and remains regularly filled with physicists doing research.” 

However, despite its refurbishment and conversion into a library, the MacDonald Physics Building continued to slowly disintegrate.

By 2019, the edifice was in dire condition. To try and prevent the building from falling apart, McGill invested $31.8-million to do a “full renovation”, which was completed in 2023.

According to the McGill Reporter:

“The core of the project consisted of repairing and upgrading the building envelope, including the deteriorating façades. Sections of the façades had in fact been covered up for many years to prevent stones from falling.” 

Project Manager Johanne Guertin explained:

“We had to add structural reinforcements to the building to improve its seismic resistance, solidify the building, and secure the façade.” 

However, despite the comprehensive renovations, serious concerns remain. The root problem – Mother Nature’s Curse on the MacDonald Physics Building – was never properly addressed. 

Some claimed that the renovations were a “band-aid solution” to a building that was doomed to eventually collapse into ruin.

Haunted Montreal approached a McGill Philosophy Professor to elaborate on this remarkable and unique dilemma. The Professor agreed to be interviewed, based on the condition of total anonymity.

Firstly, the Professor explained that the idea that Mother Nature had cursed the building to fall into ruin was debatable. “Some people claim that it is a mere Urban Legend and nothing more,” explained the Professor.

However, for the sake of philosophical interrogation, the educator agreed to examine the “Curse” hypothesis as though it were true.

The Professor began with the following quotation:

“People need to be cautious because anything built by man can be destroyed by Mother Nature.” 

He attributed the quote to American Lieutenant-General Russel Honoré, who led rescue efforts during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

The Professor explained that Mother Nature is known to strike back against destructive human activity, stating: “It could be in the form of planetary warming, natural disasters, global epidemics and other powerful forces.”

When questioned specifically about the MacDonald Physics Building, the Philosophy Professor said: “If the curse is indeed true, they should just probably just allow it to fall into ruin.” 

“Indeed”, added the Professor, “in doing so, McGill University could achieve another Eureka moment – and learn the valuable lesson to stop interfering with Mother Nature! Plus, crumbling ruins in the middle of the campus could provide compelling pedagogical opportunities for study and reflection. Maybe they could even partner with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial – or Genbaku Dome – in Japan!”

As such, all eyes are on the newly renovated MacDonald Physics Building to see if and when it will begin slowly falling into ruin again.

Company News

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.

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).

Finally, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online store:  shop.hauntedmontreal.com

Haunted Montreal 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.

McGill University isn’t just known for its academic prestige – it’s also home to some of Montreal’s most fascinating ghost stories.

Our upcoming publication, Haunted McGill, digs into the campus’s eerie legends and real-life hauntings, taking you to key landmarks like the Arts Building, Faculty Club, Duggan House and the Allan Memorial Institute, all rumored to house lingering spirits.

We’re crowdfunding through The Stygian Society’s Scriptorium, with the first 25 backers receiving an exclusive 1st edition copy, beautiful art prints, and other spooky treasures. Help us reach our goal by July and secure your piece of Montreal’s haunted history. To support the project please click on this link!

Until publication, 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 July 13: Update on St. Joseph’s Oratory

Montreal’s iconic St. Joseph’s Oratory has been undergoing a major $150-million renovation since 2018. The goal is increase accessibility and create a new welcome centre, museum and observatory in the gigantic dome. However, in August of 2019, workers unearthed four pre-colonial Indigenous skeletons under the Oratory’s parking lot. In the Spring of 2023, three more sets of remains were discovered, leading to many questions and concerns about the disturbance of seven deceased Mohawk ancestors deemed to be over 1000 years old.

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 that our season of public outdoor ghost tours is now running 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. For tours in French, these 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 (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors.

Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $235 for small groups of up to 7 people. Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!

We are also thrilled to announce that we have created Hidden Montreal, a sister company that will offer daytime tours focusing on the secrets and hidden history of the city. Details in the Company News section below!

Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we provide an update on the most haunted building in Downtown Montreal, which was recently reborn as a fancy supper club.

Haunted Research

Montreal’s most infamous haunted nightclub at 1234 de La Montagne has been reopened as a high-end Japanese steakhouse. Conceived by the Jegantic Hospitality Group, founded by John E. Gumbley, the old funeral home was rebranded as Yoko Luna.

The restaurant is Canada’s largest fine dining supper club with a 20,000 square foot space. Set in “a dream-like environment”, the establishment boasts a whiskey den, cocktail lounge, massive dining room and outdoor terraces.

However, with a dark history as a creepy and ghost-ridden funeral home, followed by a series of haunted nightclubs, one must wonder if and how the old hauntings are affecting the new supper club.

Opening Yoko Yuna in a haunted building is a bit ironic given strong Japanese superstitions about harmful ghosts and spirits.

Yūrei (幽霊) are spirits in Japanese folklore that are comparable to the Western concept of ghosts. Indeed, many Japanese believe that after death a human spirit is angry and impure. To purify and pacify the soul requires many rituals, which are performed over a period of seven years.

Intrigued, Haunted Montreal sent a team including our paranormal investigators Dominique Desormeaux and Holly Rhiannon.

Many staff members were mum on the subject of hauntings in the restaurant. However, a few confessed that religious authorities were brought in to exorcise spirits before Yoko Luna’s grand opening in May, 2022.

Using ghost-hunting apps including Necrophonic and Spirit Talker, Rhiannon and Desormeaux explored the old funeral home and interviewed staff members.

The paranormal duo experienced everything from cold draughts, unexplained music, old-time whistling and the smell of myrrh and incense, the kind found in churches or funeral homes.

According to Desormeaux:

“We met a hostess, whom we chatted with and asked her if she had had any paranormal experiences there. At first she was a bit reluctant, but then started telling us about some of her experiences. She showed us where the morgue was.”

He continued:

“The morgue was located in the basement where the ladies’ bathroom is now. The hostess even went to see if anyone was in the bathroom to let us in. Other staff came to see what we were doing. We managed to make contact with a spirit who called out the name of one of the three hostesses who was with us at the time. She ran away.”

Desormeaux also managed to photograph what appears to be a paranormal type of mist drifting through the old funeral home. He explained: “Often spirits who are moving through a space create paranormal mist – or if they are about to appear. Ghost materialization usually starts with orbs or mist.”

Rhiannon concluded: “One hostess described hearing “old-time whistling” that unsettled her enough to ask it to stop. Comments on our YouTube video—one of our most viewed—echo similar encounters with music and whistling. Given how many visitors independently report these experiences without prior knowledge of the location’s reputation, I believe Yoko Luna holds compelling signs of paranormal activity.”

Following Haunted Montreal’s investigation, it appears as though the former funeral home, now hosting Yoko Luna, is indeed still haunted by disturbed spirits from its past.

Company News

We are thrilled to announce that we have created Hidden Montreal, a sister company that will offer daytime tours focusing on the secrets and hidden history of the city! It is in the proto-type phase, which means we will seek feedback to improve our tours and imagery. Keep an eye out for discounted tickets and possibly some free tours!

Hidden Montreal offers a unique alternative to traditional walking tours and takes clients beyond the stories that never make the guidebooks.

By taking a deep dive into the city’s secret, forgotten and controversial history, we explore excluded topics like colonial atrocities, slavery, witchcraft, public executions, forgotten cemeteries and more – all the while visiting Montreal’s most popular sites, monuments and attractions.

Contemporary issues such as Truth and Reconciliation, language politics, true crime and Montreal scandals are also covered.

We will start with two Hidden Montreal walking tours:

Secrets of Colonial Old Montreal – To Be Announced! Stay tuned to the Haunted Montreal Facebook page!

The Irish Famine in Montreal – May 24^th at 2pm in English! Tours in French are coming soon!

Returning to Haunted Montreal, our season of public outdoor ghost tours is open 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. 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 7 people. Email info@hauntedmontreal.com to book a private tour!

You can also bring the Haunted Montreal experience to your office party, house, school or event by booking one of our Travelling Ghost Storytellers today.

Hear some of the spookiest tales from our tours and our blog told by a professional actor and storyteller. You provide the venue, we provide the stories and storyteller. Find out more and then contact info@hauntedmontreal.com

Our team also releases videos every second Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can!

We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).

Finally, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online store:  shop.hauntedmontreal.com

Haunted Montreal 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.

McGill University isn’t just known for its academic prestige – it’s also home to some of Montreal’s most fascinating ghost stories. Our upcoming publication, Haunted McGill, digs into the campus’s eerie legends and real-life hauntings, taking you to key landmarks like the Roddick Gates, and the Arts Building, rumored to house lingering spirits.

We’re crowdfunding through The Stygian Society’s Scriptorium, with the first 25 backers receiving an exclusive 1st edition copy, beautiful art prints, and other spooky treasures. Help us reach our goal by July and secure your piece of Montreal’s haunted history. Don’t miss out – back us today and make history a little spookier!

Until publication, 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 June 13: MacDonald Physics Building

Legend has it that McGill’s Macdonald Physics Building has been cursed since 1945. Constructed in 1893 by tobacco magnate Sir William Christopher MacDonald, the university aimed to attract the world’s best talent. In 1903, visiting New Zealand Professor Ernest Rutherford’s experiments about radioactivity ushered in the Atomic Age – and nuclear weapons.  On the morning of August 6, 1945, an America B-52 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The legend suggests that due to this unnatural violation, Mother Nature herself cursed the building to fall into ruin.

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 that our season of public outdoor ghost tours will be resuming in early April! Tickets are already on sale!

In the meantime, Haunted Montreal is 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.

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 (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $235 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we provide an update on Montreal’s famous Red Roof Church, or St. John the Evangelist, which could be permanently shuttered. This raises questions about how its resident ghost might react.

Haunted Research

The Red Roof Church, or St. John the Evangelist, enjoys a prime location in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles – and a reputation of being haunted by its founder, Reverend Edmund Wood. 

Reverend Wood is a legend in the Montreal Anglican community.

Not only did he go from offering masses within a crumbling cemetery to establishing a historic church, but he was also known to have banished an offensive gargoyle that was terrorizing the city in the 1890s.

The Reverend died in 1909 and since then his ghost has been known as a friendly spirit who leaves warm feelings among those who encounter him. People have reported being hugged and comforted by an invisible force in his church.

Sadly, the Red Roof Church, which the Reverend conceived and founded, is now threatened with permanent closure. In 2023 church officials debated putting the historic church up for sale after disclosing urgent repair work that the congregation can ill afford. 

There are now concerns that if the church is shuttered, the ghost of Edmund Wood might feel lonely and start haunting other locations in the Quartier des Spectacles.

It is worth noting that the Red Roof Church has a history of supporting artists and renting its space out for everything from classical music symphonies and a homeless mission to sublime candlelight concerts to and even horror film festivals.

One classical musician, who has played at both the Red Roof Church and the neighbouring Opera House, contacted Haunted Montreal to report her concerns about the situation. 

She wrote: “I wish to remain anonymous, but I wanted to tell you that I play an instrument in a prominent orchestra in Montreal. I have played at both the Red Roof Church and the Opéra de Montréal, along with many other famous venues. The Red Roof Church has great acoustics, but there is sometimes the risk of an interruption during a performance.”

The musician added: “Once, when I was playing in a symphony at the Red Roof Church, I started to feel very warm. It was a winter concert, which was unusual. Here I was sweating when the old church is usually a bit chilly at this time of year. I was actually starting to boil as I played my instrument in the orchestra.”

She then reported what happened next: “Suddenly, as I was playing a very intense part of the symphony, I felt a warm hand grab my shoulder, as if to reassure me. However, I was jolted. Because of this weird interruption, I screwed up the next few bars of the music. I was very embarrassed to have compromised the symphony.”

The musician had heard of Reverend Wood’s ghost and chalked her paranormal experience down to this. She then added: “If they shut down the Red Roof Church, what is the Reverend’s ghost going to do? In both life and death he was very animated and sociable. I don’t think his spirit will tolerate being in an empty church for very long.”

One agent who works in programming for the Quartier des Spectacles is aware of the issue. Wishing to remain anonymous, he told Haunted Montreal: 

“Reverend Wood’s ghost is on our radar. While we know he is friendly and welcoming of people in the church he built, we cannot predict what he might do if the church is closed.”

He concluded: “The last thing we want are disturbances in other nearby artistic venues such as the Place des Arts and Opera House. We must hope that they find a way to keep the Red Roof Church open long into the future.”

Company News

We are pleased to announce that our season of public outdoor ghost tours will be resuming in early April! Tickets are already on sale!

Before we launch our season, we are offering the Irish Famine in Montreal Walking Tour with Augmented Reality (in English) at 1 pm on Saturday, March 15!

Learn about Black ’47, the year 75,000 Irish refugees fleeing the Famine landed on Montreal’s wharves. The tour visits key sites associated with this tragedy, such as the locations of fever sheds, burial grounds and hospitals, providing in-depth history about the Irish Famine’s impact on Montreal in 1847.

Led by Donovan King, the Irish Famine in Montreal Walking Tour also features Augmented Reality to resurrect Saint Ann’s Church, the heart of the Irish Famine community in Griffintown!

In the meantime, Haunted Montreal is 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.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page!

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors.

Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours are based on the availability of our actors and start at $235 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

You can also bring the Haunted Montreal experience to your office party, house, school or event by booking one of our Travelling Ghost Storytellers today.

Hear some of the spookiest tales from our tours and our blog told by a professional actor and storyteller. You provide the venue, we provide the stories and storyteller. Find out more and then contact info@hauntedmontreal.com

Our team also releases videos every second Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can!

We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).

Finally, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise.

We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online store:  shop.hauntedmontreal.com

Haunted Montreal has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! 

We are also pleased to unveil it this month! The book is titled Haunted McGill, and is authored by yours truly, Donovan King!

Our publisher is The Stygian Society. They are crowdfunding Haunted McGill through The Stygian Society’s Scriptorium. The first 25 backers will receive an exclusive 1st edition copy, beautiful art prints, and other spooky treasures. Help them reach their goal by July and secure your piece of Montreal’s haunted history!

Until publication, 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 April 13: The Ghostly Soldiers of Pointe à Quenet

There is a little-known old ghost story set in Beaurepaire Village, Beaconsfield, called “The Ghostly Soldiers of Pointe à Quenet”. Recorded by famous folklorist E.-Z. Massicotte, the tale involves the oldest house on the peninsula. Connected to a colonial fort from the New France Era, people in the home have spotted ghostly soldiers in the cellar and sometimes marching about the property in formation. This mysterious ghost story has been passed from generation to generation in the ancient home known today as the Maison Beaurepaire. There is wild speculation about who these ghostly soldiers are, from the ranks of the French and British Armies to Irish Fenian rebels.

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!

With the Halloween Season now over and colder weather setting in, Haunted Montreal is 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 4 pm.

We have also extended our outdoor Haunted Old Montreal ghost tour and paranormal investigations until the end of November.

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 (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we update information about Montreal’s dozens of haunted pubs and drinking establishments!

Haunted Research

In 2019, the Haunted Montreal Blog identified 40 haunted pubs, watering holes and other drinking establishments dotting the city. In the bar industry, places often fold and new businesses are born, including in haunted buildings. One common question is this: do the ghosts remain when a new owner takes over the drinking venue?

In 2024, the haunted drinking landscape has changed somewhat in Montreal. Some places have gone bankrupt and been reopened under new brands. Others were demolished and replaced with condos – and new haunted drinking establishments have also been discovered!

Starting with bars that have closed, these include Charlie’s American Bar, Club Le Cinq, Le Pionnier, the John Doe Pub and Maison Pierre du Calvet.

Le Pionnier was demolished and replaced with condos, Maison du Calvet is presently vacant and the others now host new establishments.

Charlie’s is now the 042 AFRO LOUNGE, Club Le Cinq has become the Yoko Luna Japanese Steakhouse and the John Doe Pub is now a branch of Tsukuyomi Ramen, a noodle joint.

Secondly, Ken McCaskill passed away in December, 2023. He was the Point Saint Charles Legion’s bartender who regaled his clients with ghost stories from the establishment. May he rest in peace.

Thirdly, Haunted Montreal has blogged several of the drinking establishments on our original list to provide more detailed information regarding their hauntings. These include Place Viger, Hotel Place d’Armes, Auberge Saint Gabriel and Hurley’s Irish Pub.

Last but not least, we have discovered two haunted drinking establishments we were not aware of!

The first one is Gibby’s Steakhouse in Old Montreal, which has a mysterious ghost haunting its courtyard.

The second haunted watering hole is the ATIPIK PUB at 1458 Crescent Street in Downtown Montreal. Formerly the location of the Dragon & Dame Pub Urbain and then Ayers Rock MTL, the ATIPIK PUB has attracted paranormal investigators.

In May 2023, the team from Entre deux tombes conducted a paranormal investigation at the ATIPIK PUB. In search of a “Kitchen Devil Lady”, they encountered everything from screaming noises, phantom footsteps, shadowy movements, chairs moving on their own and glasses falling off the bar.

While change is not unusual in the bar and hospitality industry, the question always remains how ghosts adapt to new ownership and décor in the places they haunt. Only time will tell what paranormal surprises await the new owners of the old haunted drinking establishments that have changed hands!

Company News

With the Halloween Season now over and colder weather setting in, Haunted Montreal is 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 4 pm.

We have also extended our outdoor Haunted Old Montreal ghost tour We have also extended our outdoor Haunted Old Montreal ghost tour and paranormal investigations until the end of November.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page!

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour.

These tours are based on the availability of our actors and start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

You can also bring the Haunted Montreal experience to your office party, house, school or event by booking one of our Travelling Ghost Storytellers today.

Hear some of the spookiest tales from our tours and our blog told by a professional actor and storyteller. You provide the venue, we provide the stories and storyteller. Find out more and then contact info@hauntedmontreal.com

Our team also releases videos every second Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

Haunted Montreal is also pleased to announce the publication of the book “Montréal hanté. La mémoire macabre d’une cité victorienne”, written by Pierre-Luc Baril.

Directly inspired by the Haunted Montreal Blog, the book tells several ghost stories, including those of Simon McTavish, the mysterious Trafalgar Tower and the murder of Mary Gallagher.

You can purchase a copy by clicking on this link.

In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can!

We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).

Finally, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online store.

Haunted Montreal has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! New stories at the Haunted Montreal Blog will now be offered every two months, whereas every other month will feature an update to an old story. As always, these stories and updates will be released on the 13th of every month!

Haunted Montreal would like to thank all our clients who attended a ghost walk, haunted pub crawl, paranormal investigation or virtual event!

If you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page 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^th: 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. Historically the site of Montreal’s oldest church, creepy cemeteries and a colonial fort used to try to evangelize Indigenous Peoples, today the area reeks of paranormal activity and disturbing cemetery rituals involving animal sacrifice.

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!

With the Halloween Season in full swing, Haunted Montreal is running a full roster of ghost tours and haunted experiences!

Our ghost tours include Haunted Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and the mountain!

Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 pm.

We also offer paranormal investigations! In addition to our investigation of the old Sainte-Antoine Cholera Cemetery, Haunted Montreal is proud to announce our latest experience – Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal.

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

Private tours for all of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we examine McGill University’s storied Arts Building and its various paranormal phenomena. As the oldest structure on campus, it is also one of its most haunted.

Haunted Research

McGill University’s Arts Building is an iconic symbol of the institution. Constructed in 1843, as the oldest structure standing on campus, it is also reputed to be haunted. This may be due to its deranged history as the first edifice where medical students performed experimental autopsies on unfortunate corpses, many of them stolen from local cemeteries.

Today, phantom footsteps echo throughout the old building and some students have reported spotting what could be the ghost of an old Anatomy professor.

McGill University officially opened in 1821, but its only initial building was the crumbling Burnside Hall. Originally the country home of James McGill, the structure was unsuitable for academic studies due to its farm-like layout and deteriorating condition.

Burnside Hall was named as such because it was located next to a babbling brook that ran across James McGill’s property. In Scotland, a “burn” is a commonly used word for a small stream, creek or brook.

James McGill enjoyed spending summers on his bucolic forty-six acre country estate. Named Burnside Place, it was situated well outside of the city during his lifetime. McGill enjoyed his leisure time here with his wife.

Indeed, his every whim was attended to by his various servants and slaves.

James McGill owned at least five slaves, including two Indigenous children and three people of African descent. One Indigenous girl was named Marie and the other’s name is unknown. The Black slaves included a man named Jacques and two women, Marie Louise and another lady referred to variously as Sarah Cavilhe, Charlotte or Marie Charles.

James McGill also traded in slaves. In 1784, he sold two enslaved Black people, named Caesar and Flora. Three years later, he sold four more slaves. He also made enormous profits from products created by enslaved people in other British colonies, such as sugar, molasses, rum and tobacco.

These nefarious transactions helped make James McGill one of the richest men in Montreal with a net worth of approximately £100,000.

In 1811, James McGill, bequeathed his beloved Burnside Place estate to the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning, based in London, England.

Stretching from what is now Doctor Penfield Avenue to a few streets south of Sherbrooke Street, the size of the land was substantial.

He also donated £10,000 to the Royal Institution, on the condition that they establish a university in his name within ten years following his death. He stipulated that if the university was not founded within ten years after his passing, the property and funds would be given to his heirs.

Ironically, James McGill was a school dropout himself. He may have wanted to redeem his lowly scholastic reputation by creating a university in his name.

When James McGill died suddenly on December 19, 1813, the Royal Institution began plotting the creation of McGill University. The school opened in 1821, just two years shy of the deadline.

However, due to the lack of adequate space for studies, in 1837 the Royal Institution commissioned the McGill College Building (which was later renamed the Arts Building). In 1839, well-known British architect John Ostell was hired to design the building in the Classical Revival style.

By 1843, Ostell’s team had constructed the central and eastern sections of the building. The central block featured classrooms, the college hall, a library, a kitchen, the steward’s residence, and a room for the Governors’ council. The eastern section contained the chapel and vice-principal’s residence.

Unfortunately, funds ran out which prevented construction of the western section and a two-story portico with Doric columns for the central building.

Furthermore, due to unfinished work, the building was uncomfortable to say the least. The roof leaked in various places, the rooms were both cold and dark, there were several broken windows and before long rats had infested the structure.

In order to raise funds to finish the project, the Royal Institution sold valuable land south of Sherbrooke Street.

E.A. Collard’s book “Oldest McGill” devotes an entire chapter called “Early Years in the Arts Building” (pages 30 – 45) where he describes this very difficult situation.

The first faculty at McGill University was the Faculty of Medicine. It emerged from the Montreal Medical Institution and was grafted onto the university in 1829. In 1845, the Medical classes were moved to the Arts Building, joining the new Faculty of Arts, which had started teaching there in 1843. 

Since Montreal had not yet expanded as far west as McGill, the only access to the Arts Building was by way of bumpy, unkempt lanes which became almost impassable in the harsh winter snow drifts. 

Indeed, many of the students felt that the campus was too far from the city and were grateful when a professor could offer a ride on a sleigh, especially during blizzards.

With the long distance, unfinished structure and nasty weather, there was a lot of discontentment with the facilities. Thus, the Faculty of Medicine was not satisfied with their relocation to the Arts Building. They described it as “a lonely building, far removed from other dwellings, imperfectly heated, and lighted by candles – the light being barely sufficient to render the surrounding darkness visible.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Faculty of Medicine decided to move out of the Arts Building in 1851. Their timing was very good, as the City of Montreal began constructing the nearby McTavish Reservoir in 1852.

Explosions to hollow out the reservoir inadvertently showered the Arts Building with rock fragments and boulders, making studies very dangerous and further damaging the structure. When cracks began appearing in the walls, the remaining staff and students relocated until the Arts Building could be fully repaired.

It took a full decade until repairs had restored the structure. By 1862, the Arts Building was finally functional and also saw the addition of its western wing. The structure was now complete according to most of Ostell’s original designs and professors and students reoccupied the building.

The final touch occurred on June 23, 1875, when the “James McGill Monument” was installed in front of the Arts Building.

The four-sided stone pedestal is topped with a decorative urn in memory James McGill. His human remains are in a box within the pedestal.

When McGill died in 1813, he was buried in the St. Lawrence Protestant Burying Ground next to his old friend, John Porteous. McGill’s wife, a Catholic, had to be buried elsewhere due to religious regulations that forbade Protestants from being buried in the same cemeteries as Catholics.

Over the years, the cemetery filled up and reached capacity as its tombstones and monuments began to crumble and vandals began destroying the place.

In 1873, the city expropriated the creepy cemetery to make way for a public square. Descendants were asked to remove any corpses they wanted to have re-interred elsewhere.

Upon hearing this, in 1875 McGill University administrators arranged for the transfer of James McGill’s skeleton and monument from Plot #16 to the location where it is today, in front of the Arts Building. They put his skull and bones in a box and placed it within the pedestal they constructed before securing his funerary urn on top. Coincidentally, Burnside Hall was also demolished in 1875.

As the urn eroded and deteriorated over the years due to the seasonal weather, in 1944 the McGill Graduates Society and Canadian Grenadier Guards replaced it with a replica.

Some people believe that the ghost of James McGill haunts the area around his urn, whereas others believe he is burning in Hell for his role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

On October 23, 2011, The Tribune published an article called “Haunted McGill”. Journalist Kyla Mandel wrote:

“Once upon a midnight dreary, McGill’s campus was quite eerie. The orange leaves rustled and the autumn air was crisp; shadows danced in the blustery wind. It was Halloween and the ghosts that lurk McGill were out to play. Where are these phantoms of the night, you ask? They can be found in many places; all it takes is a little faith and courage. The place to start hunting for McGill’s ghosts is in front of the Arts Building, where the remains of James McGill were reinterred in 1875.”

Mandel continued:

“There have been other stories of ghosts haunting the Arts Building itself. After passing the ghost of James McGill, take the steps up into the Arts Building to wander its echoing corridors and the recesses of its basement alcoves. According to Peter McNally, Director of the History of Montreal project, in the 1840s the Arts Building housed the Faculty of Medicine and its cadavers. So beware, the ghosts that prowl these quarters may not be as welcoming as the shape of James McGill. Perhaps the only detection of a ghost you’ll find is that chill that has just passed through you, or the light that appears only on some nights in the cupola atop the Arts Building.”

Additionally, some students have claimed to hearing phantom footsteps in the hallways and the creaking staircases of the Arts Building. Other reports document a horrible and nauseous stench that sometimes overwhelm students. Some of them have described the foul odour as “the smell Death” or “rotting flesh, mixed with formaldehyde.”

The nasty stench typically materializes in classrooms, hallways and staircases before dissipating within a few minutes. It has actually caused both students and professors to run to the toilets to vomit.

One Anatomy student was familiar with the stench. He described it as “effluvium”, an unpleasant or harmful odour, secretion, or discharge associated with autopsy drippings.

There have also been sightings of what could be the ghost of an old Anatomy professor. He is often spotted out of the corner of one’s eye before disappearing.

Described as wearing Victorian attire, including a cap and sporting a bloody full-length apron, his ghost has spooked many a student and professor in the hallways, classrooms and especially on the staircases. The fact that he carries a scalpel does little to ease those who spotted him.

One prominent theory is that the ghost is a Victorian academic who started his career preparing and dissecting corpses for Anatomy Professors. His name was Dr. D. C. MacCallum and his title was the “Prosector to the Professor of Anatomy”. Having suitably arranged the cadavers in the original Arts Building for his superiors, in 1847 he wrote the following words:

“I had to prepare, during the greater part of the session, the dissections of the parts which were to be the subject of the Professor’s lectures the following day. This necessitated my passing several hours, usually from nine to twelve o’clock at night, in the dismal foul-smelling dissecting room, my only company being several partially dissected subjects, and numerous rats which kept up a lively racket, coursing over and below the floor and within the walls of the room…”

Describing the rodents, Dr. MacCallum wrote:

“Their piercing and vicious shrieks as they fought together, the thumping caused by their bodies coming into forcible contact with the floor and walls, and rattling produced by their rush over loose bones, furnished a variety of sounds that would have been highly creditable to any old-fashioned haunted house.”

Some students believe that the infamous ghost haunting the Arts Building is none other than Dr. MacCallum, who went on to become a full Professor of Anatomy.

Indeed, unfounded and scandalous rumors have spread around the campus for many years about this professor.

According to the rumour, Dr. MacCallum was lecturing to his students in the dissecting room of the Arts Building when he suddenly fell ill at his podium and collapsed on the floor. However, instead of trying to help their professor, some of his students began agitating for his immediate autopsy.

Apparently, Dr. MacCallum was a tough professor and had failed almost half of his Anatomy students. Some of them described his behavior as “eccentric”, “unbalanced” and “odd”. With their careers in potential danger, many students saw the strict Anatomy Professor as a risk to their future success.

The unfounded legend suggests that when Dr. MacCallum fell onto the lecture floor from his podium, some of his students at risk of failure began chanting “Autopsy! Autopsy! Autopsy!”

While some level-headed students protested the idea, a mob mentality took over. Within minutes, a horde of students had descended upon the professor and thrust him upon the autopsy slab, scalpels in hand! They set to work on him, despite one student yelling that he was still alive!

Within an hour, the poor professor had been thoroughly dissected. To make matters worse, some of the students kept organs, bones and other body parts as “trophies” and brought them back to their residences.

It is worth noting that this legend is very questionable. While it is true that students were so desperate to acquire fresh corpses for McGill’s Anatomy class that they often resorted to grave-robbing, there is no evidence that they ever performed an autopsy on their own professor.

Indeed, Dr. MacCallum retired as Professor Emeritus in 1883 and passed away in 1904, suggesting that the outlandish legend is simply untrue.

In April 2019, the McCall MacBain Foundation gave a private donation of $200 million to McGill University on condition it could attach its name to the Arts Building.

At the time, it was largest gift to a university in Canadian history and the edifice was renamed the McCall MacBain Arts Building.

It is also worth noting that in March, 2022, the Arts Building and funerary urn were both given clandestine paint jobs. While McGill officials described the incident as “vandalism”, activists described it as “editing”. Indeed, the activists had painted the words “DIVEST” on university buildings and “Fucking Slave Owner” and “Take Him Down” on the urn.

This episode followed the removal of a statue of James McGill the previous year in the Lower Quad of the campus. Created by David Roper-Curzon and installed in 1996, the statue had also been painted red on many occasions due to McGill’s ties to the blood-soaked slave trade.

After much pressure, the university finally removed the offending James McGill statue in July, 2021 and placed it into storage.

Today, the Arts Building still stands as a major symbol of McGill University. Despite its deranged past, the building is bustling with professors and the many students attending their lectures.

However, one never knows what may be lurking in the shadowy hallways, staircases and recesses of this storied edifice.

Only one thing is certain – as the oldest structure on campus, the Arts Building reeks of paranormal activity and ghostly hauntings. Enter at your own risk!

Company News

With the Halloween Season in full swing, Haunted Montreal is running a full roster of ghost tours and haunted experiences! Our ghost tours include Haunted Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and the mountain!

Haunted Montreal is proud to announce our latest haunted experience – Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal.

Hosted by professional Ghost-hunter Dominique Desormeaux of Investigations 13, Haunted Montreal’s “Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal” takes guests on a dark adventure into the mysterious world of ghost hunting!

In the meantime, our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 pm.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page!

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours are based on the availability of our actors and start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

You can also bring the Haunted Montreal experience to your office party, house, school or event by booking one of our Travelling Ghost Storytellers today. Hear some of the spookiest tales from our tours and our blog told by a professional actor and storyteller. You provide the venue, we provide the stories and storyteller.

Find out more and then contact info@hauntedmontreal.com

Our team also releases videos every second Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

Haunted Montreal is also pleased to announce the publication of the book “Montréal hanté. La mémoire macabre d’une cité victorienne”, written by Pierre-Luc Baril. Directly inspired by the Haunted Montreal Blog, the book tells several ghost stories, including those of Simon McTavish, the mysterious Trafalgar Tower and the murder of Mary Gallagher.

You can purchase a copy by clicking on this link.

You are cordially invited to the official launch of the book, on October 17, 2024, at 6 p.m., at the Le Port de Tête bookstore (222 avenue du Mont-Royal E). See the Facebook event.

In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can!

We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).

Finally, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online store.

Haunted Montreal has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! New stories at the Haunted Montreal Blog will now be offered every two months, whereas every other month will feature an update to an old story. As always, these stories and updates will be released on the 13th of every month!

Haunted Montreal would like to thank all our clients who attended a ghost walk, haunted pub crawl, paranormal investigation or virtual event!

If you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page 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^th: Update on Montreal’s Haunted Pubs and Drinking Establishments

In 2019, the Haunted Montreal Blog identified 40 haunted pubs, watering holes and other drinking establishments dotting the city. In the bar industry, places often fold and new businesses are born, including in haunted buildings. One common question is this: do the ghosts remain when a new owner takes over the drinking venue? In 2024, the haunted drinking landscape has changed somewhat in Montreal. Some places have gone bankrupt and been reopened under new brands. Others were demolished and replaced with condos – and new haunted drinking establishments have also been discovered!

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.

Here is what we are offering this Halloween Season:

Halloween Ghost Walks

Haunted Old Montreal: Step back in time into Montreal’s most historic and most haunted neighbourhood. Guided by a professional actor and storyteller, you will learn the dark history behind some of the city’s most popular tourist spots. Join a Haunted Old Montreal walk for Halloween 2024

Haunted Griffintown: A professional actor and storyteller takes you through mysterious ruins, a polluted canal, former burial grounds and creepy old buildings that are said to be haunted. Also, Griffintown’s most famous ghost, Headless Mary. Join a Haunted Griffintown walk for Halloween 2024

Haunted Mountain: A theatrical guide will regale guests with ghost stories, mysteries and legends about Mount Royal, including haunted hospitals, abandoned castles, cemeteries teeming with undead spirits, and all sorts of paranormal activities on the mountain. Join a Haunted Mountain walk for Halloween 2024

Haunted Downtown: Follow a professional actor and storyteller through Downtown Montreal’s haunted bars, a forgotten graveyard, hotels rife with paranormal activity, and other locations where ghosts have been spotted! Join a Haunted Downtown walk for Halloween 2024

Halloween Paranormal Investigations

Old Sainte Antoine Cemetery: Learn strategies and techniques to locate and communicate with spirits while walking on top of Downtown Montreal’s largest forgotten cemetery, with approximately 70,000 buried beneath! Hosted by paranormal expert Dominique Desormeaux. Investigate the Old Sainte Antoine Cemetery for Halloween 2024

Colonial Old Montreal: Hosted by professional Ghost-hunter Dominique Desormeaux, our newest haunted experience takes guests on a dark adventure into the mysterious world of ghost hunting in Canada’s most haunted neighbourhood. Investigate Colonial Old Montreal for Halloween 2024

Halloween Haunted Pub Crawls

Led by a professional ghost storyteller, the Haunted Montreal Pub Crawl visits three haunted pubs. Guests will not only learn about many of the haunted drinking establishments in the city, but will also hear Montreal’s most infamous ghost stories. Raise a glass at the Haunted Pub Crawl for Halloween 2024

Private Tours

Haunted Montreal offers private tours for all of our ghost walks and other experiences based on the availability of our actors. These are ideal for tour groups, corporate groups, school groups, bachelorette parties, and gatherings of all types. Book a Private Tour for Halloween 2024

Travelling Ghost Storyteller

A professional actor and storyteller brings some of the most popular Montreal ghost stories from our tours to your office Halloween party, school event, house party, or other event. Book a Travelling Ghost Storyteller for your Halloween 2024 event

Any questions? Please contact tours@hauntedmontreal.com

See you this Halloween!

With over 500 documented ghost stories, Montreal is easily the most haunted city in Canada, if not all of North America. Haunted Montreal dedicates itself to researching these paranormal tales, and the Haunted Montreal Blog unveils a newly researched Montreal ghost story on the 13th of every month!

This service is free and you can sign up to our mailing list (top, right-hand corner for desktops and at the bottom for mobile devices) if you wish to receive it every month on the 13th! The blog is published in both English and French!

With the summer here, Haunted Montreal is running a whole season of ghost tours and haunted experiences! Our ghost tours include Haunted Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and the mountain!

Please note that due to construction. our Haunted Old Montreal Ghost Tour has changed its starting location!

Details in the Company News section below!

Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 pm.

We also offer paranormal investigations! In addition to our investigation of the old Sainte-Antoine Cholera Cemetery, Haunted Montreal is proud to announce our latest experience – Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page!

Private tours for all of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we update our readers about some remarkable new archaeological discoveries – and alleged desecration – within the historic Dawson Site.

Haunted Research

The Dawson Site, a 19^th Century archeological dig that unearthed an Indigenous village in Downtown Montreal, is one of the city’s biggest mysteries.

Haunted Montreal Blog #44 – The Dawson Site – was written in April, 2019. The article featured the history of this remarkable place and the paranormal activity associated with it.

Since the original blog publication, there have been important new developments.

In 2016, workers were doing construction on Peel and Sherbrooke Streets as part of the Promenade Fleuve-Montagne tourist itinerary. Rumour has it that an earth-digger allegedly cut the skeletal remains of a Mohawk chief in half, which put an immediate stop to the work.

Realizing that they had discovered more of the Dawson Site, archaeologists proceeded to unearth over 2000 Indigenous artefacts at the intersection between 2016 and 2019.

However, many speculate that the alleged desecration of the chief’s skeleton, purportedly cut in half by the digger, triggered paranormal activity.

Rumours now abound that a set of skeletal legs, cut off above the hip bones, can sometimes be spotted wandering about the crossroads.  

The discovery also inspired some incredible public art! Tsi niion kwarihò:ten, a series of 11 stations along Peel Street featuring detailed bronze spheres, reflects Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives during the colonial era.

Created by Kanien’kehá:ka artist MC Snow and Kyra Revenko, a non-Indigenous artist, the sculptures are inspired by the Mohawk thanksgiving ceremony “Words Before All Else”. Essentially, the artworks honor every important element of life and highlight the importance of cultural diversity, dialogue and reconciliation.

Given the rarity of Indigenous public art in the city, Haunted Montreal highly recommends walking the trail and engaging with its bronze spheres and the audio app tied to them. Just keep your eyes peeled for any potential paranormal activity at the intersection with Sherbrooke Street!

Company News

Haunted Montreal is proud to announce our latest haunted experience – Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal.

Hosted by professional Ghost-hunter Dominique Desormeaux of Investigations 13, Haunted Montreal’s “Paranormal Investigation – Colonial Old Montreal” takes guests on a dark adventure into the mysterious world of ghost hunting!

With the summer in full swing, Haunted Montreal is running a whole season of ghost tours and haunted experiences! Our ghost tours include Haunted Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and the mountain!

Please note that due to construction, our Haunted Old Montreal Ghost Tour has changed its starting location! Our former location, Parc de la Presse, is fenced off for upgrades.

As such, Haunted Old Montreal Ghost Tours have relocated and will now be starting at the mysterious Bank of Montreal Clock.

Guests are invited to meet the guide next to the Bank of Montreal Clock in front of 155 St. Jacques Street West. The location is on the north-east corner of St. Francois-Xavier and St. Jacques Streets, very close to Metro Place d’Armes on the Orange Line.

In the meantime, our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 pm.

To learn more, see the schedule at the bottom of our home page!

Private tours for any of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours are based on the availability of our actors and start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

You can also bring the Haunted Montreal experience to your office party, house, school or event by booking one of our Travelling Ghost Storytellers today.

Hear some of the spookiest tales from our tours and our blog told by a professional actor and storyteller. You provide the venue, we provide the stories and storyteller. Find out more and then contact info@hauntedmontreal.com

Our team also releases videos every second Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can! We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).

Finally, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise.

We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online store.

Haunted Montreal has temporarily altered its blog experience due to a commitment on a big writing project! New stories at the Haunted Montreal Blog will now be offered every two months, whereas every other month will feature an update to an old story.

As always, these stories and updates will be released on the 13th of every month!

Haunted Montreal would like to thank all our clients who attended a ghost walk, haunted pub crawl, paranormal investigation or virtual event!

If you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page, something that really helps Haunted Montreal to market its tours.

Lastly, if you would like to receive the Haunted Montreal Blog on the 13th of every month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on August 13^th: Montreal’s Forgotten Irish Famine Cemetery

Plans are afoot to build a whole new neighbourhood in the Bridge-Bonaventure sector south of Griffintown and the Lachine Canal. Urban plans depict high-rise condominiums, spaces for commerce and arts and even an “urban beach” in the old Wellington Basin. However, local historian Sylvain Gaudet has recently unearthed research suggesting that over one thousand Irish Famine Dead are still buried in the vicinity. As the site of Montreal’s first Irish Famine Cemetery, further desecration will almost certainly result in more ghosts in the already haunted area.   

Author:

Donovan King is a postcolonial historian, teacher, tour guide and professional actor. As the founder of Haunted Montreal, he combines his skills to create the best possible Montreal ghost stories, in both writing and theatrical performance. King holds a DEC (Professional Theatre Acting, John Abbott College), BFA (Drama-in-Education, Concordia), B.Ed (History and English Teaching, McGill), MFA (Theatre Studies, University of Calgary) and ACS (Montreal Tourist Guide, Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec). He is also a certified Montreal Destination Specialist.

Translator (into French):

Claude Chevalot holds a master’s degree in applied linguistics from McGill University. She is a writer, editor and translator. For more than 15 years, she has devoted herself almost exclusively to literary translation and to the translation of texts on current and contemporary art.

With over 500 documented ghost stories, Montreal is easily the most haunted city in Canada, if not all of North America. Haunted Montreal dedicates itself to researching these paranormal tales, and the Haunted Montreal Blog unveils a newly researched Montreal ghost story on the 13th of every month!

This service is free and you can sign up to our mailing list (top, right-hand corner for desktops and at the bottom for mobile devices) if you wish to receive it every month on the 13th! The blog is published in both English and French!

Haunted Montreal is in our winter mode and all of our public haunted experiences are now indoors!

Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 pm.

Private tours for all of our experiences (including outdoor tours) can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours start at $190 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

We’ve just launched our newest haunted experience: Travelling Ghost Storyteller. Find out more in the Company News section.

Our Virtual Ghost Tour is also available on demand!

Want to give the gift of a haunted experience?

You can now order a Haunted Montreal Gift Certificate through our website. They are redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual experiences. There is no expiration date.

Lastly, we have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we examine Place Viger, a multi-use complex that was born out of the once-luxurious Viger Hotel and its now defunct adjoining train station. According to one tourist review, the site has a negative vibe and is haunted.

Haunted Research

A majestic castle-like structure sits proudly on the north-east corner of the Old Montreal district.

The beautiful Place Viger was conceived as both a grandiose hotel and railway station serving what was once central Montreal. Constructed in 1898, Place Viger was designed by architect Bruce Price for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Price is famous for designing other haunted hotels, such as the original Banff Springs in Alberta and the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City.

Built with Montreal gray stone and orange brick from Scotland, Place Viger stands out with its “Châteaux de la Loire” style, characterized by its numerous pepperbox corner turrets, pronounced conical roof and distinguished copper elements.

Created to replace Dalhousie Station, which became too small due to an increase in rail traffic, Place Viger was built near what was then the central part of Montreal. Located in proximity to the financial district, City Hall, the port and the courthouse, the complex housed the railway station in its lower levels and a luxurious hotel on the upper floors.

Place Viger also enjoyed an enviable setting right beside the beautiful Viger Square, the first public garden in Canadian history.

The location allowed both railway travellers and hotel guests to stroll along the bucolic pathways and fountains.

The trains ran south from Viger Station and to then the east along the water’s edge towards Quebec City and other destinations north of Montreal.

However, when Montreal’s commercial core began shifting to the north-west in the late 19^th Century, Place Viger was put at a disadvantage. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, it signaled the demise of the hotel, which ultimately closed in 1935. Viger Station was soon shuttered in 1951 and the complex was sold to the City of Montreal. The luxurious interiors were gutted and transformed into banal office space, and the building was renamed Édifice Jacques-Viger.

For over 60 years, the magnificent Place Viger was used as office and storage space by the City of Montreal. To make matters worse, with the construction of the Ville-Marie Autoroute in the 1970s Viger Square and its magnificent Victorian gardens were destroyed. The replacement was a poorly-designed Brutalist park that featured mostly concrete.

With the desolate new setting and inadequate maintenance, the castle-like building soon took on a forlorn appearance, including boarded up windows.

Place Viger was sold in 2005 to a developer who intended to convert the building to apartments and a new hotel. However, the company suffered financial difficulties and finally resold the property in 2012 to real estate developer Jesta along with other partners. In May 2014, the new owners announced a $250 million mixed-use redevelopment plan for the complex, residential and office space in addition to a new hotel. At the time of this writing in 2023, construction and renovations are well under way.

The City of Montreal is also giving Viger Square a much-needed makeover to correct the mistakes of the 1970s. The area is coming back to life after decades of neglect.

However, 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 31^st, 2011. A tourist from Washington DC named Amy “Citizen of the World” C visited and then wrote a review on Yelp:

“We were on our way to the Latin Quarter via Rue Saint Denis and passing by Rue Sainte Antoine when the green rooftop and interesting architecture of the exterior of Place Viger caught my eye a block away. We were drawn to it by its aesthetics, but as we drew closer we noticed all the boarded up windows and construction permits on the doors.”

Amy added: “Appearances aside, I felt a very strong negative energy about the place. I immediately knew the place was haunted. I heard children crying for their mothers and the sadness engulfed me. I felt a tightness in my chest so I practically ran back across the street. On my way back, I noticed broken glass on the sidewalk near the front of Place Viger. It looked like shattered glass from a car accident. As soon as I was across the street, I felt a whole lot better.”

However, the broken glass that Amy had spotted was perhaps an omen of what was to come.

Indeed, Amy wrote: “All of sudden, a car collided into the front of another car as it turned onto the block. No one was hurt, but both cars were dented. The drivers pulled their cars over to the front of Place Viger.”

Amy concluded her review with a recommendation: “Ever since that experience, I keep thinking about Place Viger so I did some internet research and learned the history of it. Whether you believe in spirits or not, it’s worth a quick walk around the outside.”

Despite being very disturbed by her paranormal encounters, Amy gave four out of five stars to Place Viger in her online review.

There can be no denying that Place Viger has experienced some horrific events throughout its short history. Examples include a robbery, messy train accident and an unexpected gas explosion that sent about 100 people on a train quay flying into the air. Over 20 of them were left crippled.

Going back in time, the robbery occurred in the early hours of April 3^rd, 1935. A man approached the ticket counter and passed a note to the clerk that demanded he put all of the money into an envelope. The thief had his hand in his pocket and it appeared as though he might have a revolver.

The clerk put $200 in an envelope and handed it over. The thief took the wad of cash, glanced around and then fled. Detectives were unable to find the culprit.

Next was the train accident, which happened in the evening of June 15^th, 1913.

A railcar loaded with 80,000 gallons of coal tar broke away from a train in the Mile End Railyards. The errant railcar began rolling on its own down the slope towards the river. It soon was barreling down the escarpment and racing towards Viger Train Station.

According to the Montreal Daily Witness, “The first obstacle it met was the buffer. Built of steel and heavy timber, the buffer appeared to be strong enough to stop it, but so great was the force with which the car travelled that steel and wood gave way before it. Jumping the metals, it forged its way across the concrete concourse, tearing up the stone work, and flung its weight, amounting to many tons, against the railway gates and the stone work of the waiting room.”

As the railcar slammed into the waiting room, it tipped over, spewing thousands of gallons of coal tar. The force was so great that the tarry mess filled the waiting room and splattered all the way to the ceiling. Three people were injured, one of them named Alfred Gadoury seriously. He was taken to Notre-Dame Hospital, covered in coal tar.

Finally, in this string of horrible episodes, a major tragedy struck Place Viger in 1909 on New Year’s Eve.

That Friday night, hundreds were gathered on a railway quay to bid farewell to friends and relatives who were departing for Quebec City to see loved ones on New Year’s Day.

As the crowd waited for the train to depart, at 11:27 p.m. there was a massive explosion on the quay. In the fiery and apocalyptic scene, around 100 people were scattered into the air. They landed in a chaotic heap of broken bodies.  

Amidst the screaming, moans of pain, and children crying for their parents, railway officials ran over to try to help the victims of the explosion. Among the piles of scattered people, they discovered that over twenty of them were seriously mangled.

The railway quay they had been standing on was split open almost its entire length, revealing a burst pipe that was carrying “Pintsch” gas, which was used to light railway carriages at the time.

For over an hour, ambulances worked tirelessly to transport the injured to the various hospitals around the city. Many had broken bones and were in a state of nervous shock. The youngest victim was a 15 year-old boy named M. Diedonné Paquin. His body was twisted and mangled and the medics transported him to the Montreal General Hospital in a terrible condition.

Another victim, Mme. Patrick Guay, 28, died of her injuries shortly after the explosion – at the Royal Victoria Hospital. Other deaths were to follow.

Captain Bellefleur, of the municipal police force, was on the station platform when the explosion occurred. He recalled that he couldn’t define the feeling of the blast and wondered if he was still alive. “I am not usually afraid,” he said, “and yet I must confess that fear kept me immobile for some time.”

Bellefleur’s colleague, Captain Bourgeois, had a very eerie memory. He recalled that nine years earlier – on the same date and at the exact same time – a Canadian Pacific train had beheaded a man just a few feet from where the explosion occurred.

Captain Bourgeois, who was on duty at Viger Station that night, picked up the victim’s head himself. It was found nearly two feet from the tracks. The death was mysterious, according to the captain, who said “we never knew if this was a suicide or an accident”.

Early Saturday morning, an inquiry was held by Mr. McNicoll, vice-president of Canadian Pacific. Experts made a meticulous examination of the gas pipe that had exploded and concluded that the break was caused by cold temperatures. The gas was brought from a main tank through a half-inch underground pipe below the platform. The pressure was approximately 150 pounds per square inch.

The experts theorized that the gas had leaked through the damaged pipe, essentially filling up the underside of the quay. That evening, a thick layer of ice had covered the platform, ensuring the gas was unable to dissipate.

While the ultimate cause of what ignited the gas remains unknown to this day, authorities at the time speculated that it may have been caused by a lit cigar that someone had carelessly tossed onto the quay.

Today, the Place Viger is bustling with activity and construction as it transforms into a mixed-use “urban campus”. It will include office space, apartments, restaurants, a large interior courtyard and a Hyatt Centric boutique hotel.

Corporate clients include Lightspeed and Novartis Pharma Canada. There is also the Espace Gare Viger, a magnificent reception venue, which is available for rent within the complex.

There are many questions about the hauntings at Place Viger. What causes the disembodied screaming of children for their parents? Are there any other ghosts? Will the newly-constructed buildings also experience paranormal activity?

The most common theory of the crying children goes back to the devastating gas explosion of 1909. With over a hundred people scattered across the train quay, children screamed out for their parents.

For example, it is unknown 15-year old M. Diedonné Paquin survived his terrible injuries or if children onboard the train lost any parents to the explosion.

Tragic events can lead to residual hauntings, and it appears that the gas explosion may have created one.

It is also undeniably strange that architect Bruce Price’s other castle-like hotels are haunted. The Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City features a mysterious “Lady in White”, whereas the Banff Springs has at least four ghosts. These include a bellhop, a bartender, a headless bagpiper and a ghostly bride.

The unfortunate bride perished on her wedding day when her dress caught fire from a poorly-placed candle on a spiral staircase. She is so popular that Canada Post featured her on a stamp in the Haunted Canada series, which ran from 2014 to 2016.

Returning to Place Viger, it is unknown at this time if there are other hauntings in the revitalized “urban campus”. Given the tragic history, it is entirely possible that other spirits are lurking about.

Only time and more investigation will tell.

Company News

Haunted Montreal is now in winter mode and with the cool temperatures, our public activities are now only indoors!

Our Haunted Pub Crawl happens every Sunday at 3 pm in English. For tours in French, these happen on the last Sunday of every month at 4 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 $190 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

We’re also launching our newest haunted experience:

You can bring the Haunted Montreal experience to your office Christmas party, house party 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 Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can!

We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).

Finally, we have opened an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online shop.

Haunted Montreal would like to thank all of our clients who attended a ghost walk, haunted pub crawl, paranormal investigation or virtual event during the 2022 season!

If you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page, something that really helps Haunted Montreal to market its tours.

Lastly, if you would like to receive the Haunted Montreal Blog on the 13th of every month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on February 13: City of Montreal Archives

A massive vault sits below Montreal’s City Hall and it contains the valuable archives of the metropolis. These include 4.6 km of historical documents, dating mainly from 1796 to the present day, and around two million photographs. Researchers can browse the collection and study documents in the Conrad Archambault Consultation Room. Named after a former archivist who died in 1980, it is a quiet and scholarly place ideal for analyzing historical materials. However, there are also reports of paranormal activity within the City of Montreal Archives – and some staff members believe the ghost of Conrad Archambault is the likely culprit behind these phenomena.

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 500 documented ghost stories, Montreal is easily the most haunted city in Canada, if not all of North America. Haunted Montreal dedicates itself to researching these paranormal tales, and the Haunted Montreal Blog unveils a newly researched Montreal ghost story on the 13th of every month!

This service is free and you can sign up to our mailing list (top, right-hand corner for desktops and at the bottom for mobile devices) if you wish to receive it every month on the 13th! The blog is published in both English and French!

Haunted Montreal is pleased to announce that we are offering our regular ghost tours every Saturday evening on rotation up until June, when the season will be expanded:

Haunted Downtown Ghost Walk

Haunted Griffintown Ghost Walk

Haunted Mountain Ghost Walk

Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English and on the last Sunday of the month at 4 pm in French.

While public tours are available Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons for the Haunted Pub Crawl, private tours can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors.

Our Virtual Ghost Tour is also available on demand!

Additionally, our team is releasing videos of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog every Saturday, in both languages!

Our hosts include Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French).

Want to give the gift of a haunted experience for the 2022 season?

You can now order a Haunted Montreal Gift Certificate through our website. They are redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual experiences. There is no expiration date.

Lastly, we now have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we explore the Fort de la Montagne, the first Residential School in what is now modern-day Canada. Today, only two towers of the old fort remain – and they are reputed to be haunted.

Haunted Research

Lurking behind stone walls on Sherbrooke Street stand two old towers that are reputed to be haunted. As some of the oldest intact structures in the City of Montreal, these fortifications have a deranged history.

Designed as the first Residential School in what is now modern-day Canada, the towers actually feature gun-ports. This military architecture was designed to repel anyone – at gunpoint – who might dare to interfere with the “instruction” happening within the fortified “school”.

Before examining these haunted towers, it is a good idea to look at the history that led to their construction.

When Europeans began colonizing the world in the 1500s, their goal was generally to subjugate Indigenous civilizations in order to steal their lands and resources. This usually involved cultural genocide, or attempts to extinguish Indigenous practices, beliefs, languages and cultures.

When explorer Jacques Cartier arrived from France in 1534, he planted a 30-foot cross in today’s Gaspé region – to claim all of the indigenous territories on behalf of the King of France, François I.

Indigenous leaders, such as Donaconna, objected to Cartier’s gesture and would later tear down the cross.

Regardless, in the early 1600s, the French began establishing colonies in what they called “New France”. Settlements like Port Royale, Tadoussac, Quebec City and Trois-Rivières began to take shape.

Tiohti:áke, the original Mohawk name for Montreal, was seen as a colonial prize worth taking due to its geographic location. With several rivers systems flowing into the archipelago, the island was a major transportation hub and Mohawk trade center.

However, the French were at war with the Mohawk First Nation along with the rest of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. This league of five allied nations also included the Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida and Onondaga. French authorities saw Tiohti:áke as too dangerous for colonization.

Meanwhile, back in France, in La Flèche, a devout Catholic and tax collector named Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière claimed that he had been receiving Holy visions for six years. In these episodes, God instructed him to found a religious colony and a hospital on Tiohti:áke.

Along with other Catholics, de la Dauversière founded “The Notre-Dame Society of Montreal for the Conversion of the Savages of New France” (Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal pour la conversion des Sauvages de la Nouvelle-France) in 1639.

The goal of this colonial organization was to create a “New Jerusalem” on the island -and to convert all Indigenous people to Catholicism.

This evangelical project was related to another one that started in 1637 in Sillery, near Quebec City.

Sillery was the first reserve created by Europeans for Indigenous peoples in what is now Canada. It was funded by a French nobleman, Noël Brûlart de Sillery, in response to an advertisement placed by Father Paul Le Jeune in the Jesuit Relations. Le Jeune was looking for a suitable place to attempt to convert Indigenous people to Catholicism.

His aim was to instill an agricultural lifestyle in the semi-nomadic Algonquin and Innu people of the area to evangelize them. French authorities established the land as a seigneury for Indigenous people under Jesuit supervision.

The project was a total disaster. By the 1670s, epidemics such as smallpox had wiped out many of the Indigenous residents. Unhappy with the deadly diseases, strict Catholic doctrine, and un-arable lands, the last Indigenous peoples had left Sillery by the late 1680s.

Returning to “The Notre-Dame Society of Montreal for the Conversion of the Savages of New France”, their leaders hatched a plan to colonize Tiohti:áke. After a fundraising campaign, they recruited French military officer Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve to lead the project.

On May 17, 1642, de Maisonneuve and his colonists arrived at Tiohti:áke and established the colony of Ville-Marie. Needless to say, this sparked an all-out war between the French and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, who attempted to defend this part of the vast Mohawk territory. The brutal war would last, on and off, until a peace treaty was signed in 1701.

In 1652, while visiting France, de Maisonneuve recruited nun Marguerite Bourgeoys to become Ville-Marie’s first teacher. He envisaged her educating French children and evangelizing Indigenous people, young and old. He also brought over another 100 colonists to bolster the colony during the war.

In April 1658, de Maisonneuve provided Bourgeoys with a vacant stone stable to serve as a schoolhouse for her pupils.

She taught the children of the colony about the Catholic faith, as well as counting, reading and writing. The older girls learned household skills to prepare for marriage and motherhood.

Before long, the stable was deemed too small so another school was constructed. Bourgeoys also started to receive some Indigenous children whom she tried to indoctrinate.

In 1675, a new school called the Fort de la Montagne was established at the base of the mountain.

The purpose of this new institution was specifically to evangelize Indigenous people. The pedagogy was designed ensure their adherence to the Catholic religion, which made up a large part of the curriculum.

However, soon Marguerite Bourgeoys and other authorities noticed that many of the Indigenous students at Fort de la Montagne were practicing traditional culture including ceremonies. Alarmed and upset, the Catholic overseers began describing these practices as “witchcraft”.

Furthermore, in the tradition of Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière, certain members of the Catholic community began claiming that they too were receiving direct and visionary messages from God. The highest religious authorities in the colony frowned upon this type of talk, as they could not control it.

As things at the Fort de la Montagne got more and more out of control, word reached the head of the Sulpician Order in Paris, France. In response, a hardliner named François Vachon de Belmont was deployed from Paris to the Fort de la Montagne in 1680 to stop the spread of “witchcraft” and visions.

The following year, de Belmont was named as the Superior of the Fort de la Montagne mission, which at that point housed over 200 Indigenous people, mostly Nipissing, Kanienkehà:ka (Mohawk), and Algonquin children, who were living in cabins on the site.

In order to stamp out the “witchcraft”, it is likely that Marguerite Bourgeoys added ghostly Catholic stories to her curriculum. Apparently, one of her favorites was the deranged tale of Jean Saint-Père’s Talking Head.

Ironically, Marguerite Bourgeoys and other Catholics did not consider the decapitated head of a colonist blabbering away after Death to be “witchcraft”. However, they considered traditional Indigenous culture that had been practiced for thousands of years as the Devil’s work.

To further secure the site, in 1685 de Belmont ordered that fortifications be constructed. Colonial workers constructed a 13-meter palisade and four stone towers with ominous gun-ports around the school.

With these new defenses, Indigenous people who tried to rescue their colleagues in the Fort de la Montagne could be shot as they approached the school.

Despite these efforts, Marguerite Bourgeoys and de Belmont were unable to extinguish Indigenous culture within the Fort de la Montagne.

Things exploded in 1689 the day after the Feast of the Dead. On the night of November 3^rd, Marguerite Tardy, sister of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame claimed she had a vision from God as she watched by the fireside.

She told Marguerite Bourgeoys that a sister “dead for more than sixteen months” had appeared to her. The dead nun told Sister Tardy: “I am sent from God. Tell the Superior of the Congregation that she is in a state of mortal sin, because of a Sister whom she named to her”.

Given that Marguerite Bourgeoys had founded the Congrégation de Notre-Dame – and was the Superior – this allegation especially alarmed her.

It got worse the following year, when Sister Tardy and a man named Joseph de la Colombière claimed to have experienced new divine visions and appearances.

On the night of January 3^rd 1690, Sister Tardy told Marguerite Bourgeoys that she had again received a visit from the deceased nun. This time, the message was more threatening: “This Superior has not yet done what she must do. This is the last time I will warn her…”

François Vachon de Belmont felt that he was losing control, so sent letters to his superior in Paris, Louis Tronson, explaining the situation.

Louis Tronson was very surprised to learn the extent of the affair. He reacted quickly to snuff out the so-called “visionaries” before their claims could spiral out of control. He was especially worried that people like Sister Tardy and Joseph de la Colombière could cause scandal all the way to the King’s court.

For Louis Tronson, these supernatural manifestations were only “chimerical visions” and “ridiculous prophecies”. He described the visions as “the production of a hollow head and a heated imagination”. He charged the culprits with having “visible errors” and said they were “deceived by their false views”.

To break the chain of the conspiracy and to destroy its influence, Tronson recalled all malcontents back to France. These included Sister Tardy, Joseph de la Colombière and a priest named William Bailly.

Once the Catholic rebels had been deported, Louis Tronson demanded the absolute submission of the Sulpicians to their Montreal Superior. Anyone who did not comply with Tronson’s orders were threatened to be sent back to France.

In September 1694, a major fire broke out at the Fort de la Montagne.

A young warrior fired a gun into the cabin of an adversary. The occupants had time to flee, but the fire caught and spread quickly due to high winds.

Within three hours, nearly fifty Indigenous cabins, fifteen frame-houses, the Church and much of the palisade surrounding the village had all burned to the ground.

By 1696, the Indigenous inhabitants had been relocated to the other side of the island, to Fort Lorette at Sault-au-Recollet. In 1721, the mission was finally relocated to present-day Kanesetake.

In 1854, during the building of the College of Montreal, all of the remains of the Fort de la Montagne were demolished expect for the two southern towers. They still stand today.

Originally, the west tower had housed the school of Marguerite Bourgeoys. The nuns of the Congregation used the east tower as a chapel. Today, both towers are empty – and for good reason. They are both reputed to be haunted.

Students at the College of Montreal often dare each other to visit the haunted towers at midnight. There have been many reports over the years that visitors to the West Tower sometimes hear the sounds of children weeping emanating from the gun-ports.

One former student reported to Haunted Montreal that she had visited the towers with some fellow students one Friday the 13^th in 2018. She explained:

“We decided to go on a dare. During the daytime, the towers, while creepy-looking, don’t exhibit much paranormal activity. According to the legend, midnight is the best time to go to experience the hauntings. When midnight struck, we decided to start with the West Tower.”

As they crept up to the imposing fortification in the darkness, one of her friends dared her to approach a gun-port and shine her flashlight inside.

Nervously, she approached until she was mere feet away. She claimed:

“Just as I was about to shine my light into the tower’s gun-port to see what was inside, I heard a loud burst of sobbing coming from inside! I was so taken aback that I literally fell over! As I tried to scramble back to my friends, I heard a softer weeping sound, almost like children. My friends had already run away in terror and once I picked myself up, I ran away also. It was one of the most frightening nights of my life!”

The East Tower is also reported to be haunted by a ghostly nun. Her apparition has been spotted standing outside the heavy door of the structure, as though awaiting others to follow her inside.

According to lore, she appears at night and sometimes beckons those exploring the site to join her inside with a hand gesture. She then turns around and walks straight through the thick wooden door, effectively vanishing.

Many speculate that the ghost is that of Sister Marguerite Tardy. Some believe she returned in the afterlife due to her failure to convince authorities of her visions and subsequent deportation to France.

The towers were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1970 and as provincial historical monuments in 1974.

Today, despite running the first Residential School in modern-day Canada, Marguerite Bourgeoys is celebrated like few others.

Marguerite Bourgeoys became Canada’s first female Saint on Hallowe’en in 1982, when Pope John Paul II canonized her at Vatican City. There is also a French school board named after her, a museum about her life in the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, not to mention a stamp in her honour and various other commemorations across the country.

People can also visit her final resting place in the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel in Old Montreal, which is also said to be haunted.

In conclusion, despite the fact that Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Fort de la Montagne were instrumental in cultural genocide against Indigenous people, they have both been immortalized and glorified by Church and government officials. Perhaps this is one of the reasons the towers are said to be haunted.

In the Age of Truth and Reconciliation, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the discourse surrounding the first Residential School created by European colonists.

It was, after all, the progenitor of all of the others to come. Instead of celebrating and glorifying these symbols of cultural genocide, it might be best to re-contextualize them historically in a more realistic light.

Visit these haunted towers at your own risk, especially during the witching hour!

Company News

Haunted Montreal is pleased to announce that we are offering our regular ghost tours every Saturday evening on rotation up until June, when the season will be expanded:

Haunted Downtown Ghost Walk

Haunted Griffintown Ghost Walk

Haunted Mountain Ghost Walk

Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English and on the last Sunday of the month at 4 pm in French.

While public tours are available Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons for the Haunted Pub Crawl, private tours can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors.

Our Virtual Ghost Tour is also available on demand!

For private tours, clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours are based on the availability of our actors and start at $170 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

Furthermore, our team is releasing videos every Saturday, in both languages, of ghost stories from the Haunted Montreal Blog. Hosted by Holly Rhiannon (in English) and Dr. Mab (in French), this new initiative is sure to please ghost story fans!

Please like, subscribe and hit the bell!

In other news, if you want to send someone a haunted experience as a gift, you certainly can!

We are offering Haunted Montreal Gift Certificates through our website and redeemable via Eventbrite for any of our in-person or virtual events (no expiration date).

Finally, we have opened an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise. We are selling t-shirts, magnets, sweatshirts (for those haunted fall and winter nights) and mugs with both the Haunted Montreal logo and our tour imagery.

Purchases can be ordered through our online store: shop.hauntedmontreal.com

Haunted Montreal would like to thank all of our clients who attended a ghost walk, haunted pub crawl, paranormal investigation or virtual event during the 2021 season!

If you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page, something that really helps Haunted Montreal to market its tours.

Lastly, if you would like to receive the Haunted Montreal Blog on the 13th of every month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on June 13^th: The Haunted Cross on the Mountain

Visible from 80 kilometers away, Montreal’s 30-meter high metal cross on the mountain glows at night with special lighting. A symbol of Catholicism, it was based on a wooden cross that French colonists erected in 1643. To prevent any interference, the cross is surrounded by metal fencing and has sensors and video cameras to alert the police to any intruders. Today, rumours are swirling that the site of the cross is haunted because the mountain is peppered with Indigenous graves dating back thousands of years. A group called the Mohawk Mothers is now calling for its removal as a symbol of genocide.

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.