Haunted Montreal Blog #95 – Hôtel Place d’Armes

Welcome to the ninety-fifth installment of the Haunted Montreal Blog!

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

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Haunted Montreal’s seasons of public outdoor ghost tours is now in full swing! Offered every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, we have four ghost tours on rotation (Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and Mount Royal.)

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

Our Paranormal Investigation in the Old Sainte Antoine Cemetery happens on the first Friday and Saturday of every month.

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!

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 the Hôtel Place d’Armes, a boutique hotel in Old Montreal that allegedly hosts the ghost of a Lady in Black.

Haunted Research

The glorious Hôtel Place d’Armes occupies the south-eastern corner of Old Montreal’s most famous plaza. Opened in 2000, the boutique hotel with neo-Renaissance architecture caters to well-off tourists, corporate clients and the international jet-set crowd.

However, despite its prestige, some say that the hotel is haunted. During an interview in 2009, a top-notch concierge explained that a mysterious woman with a black dress and American accent haunts some of the suites.

The four historic buildings that house Hôtel Place d’Armes were originally constructed for pre-eminent Montreal businesses during the Victorian era.

The western-most building dates back to 1870, when the Great Scottish Life Insurance Company built a five-story edifice for its Montreal headquarters. Designed by architectural firm of Hopkins & Willy, the magnificent structure has withstood the test of time. Indeed, on November 7, 1975, the Quebec provincial government designated the building as an historic site.

At the turn of the millennium, the Antonopoulos Group purchased the Great Scottish Life Insurance Company building. Seeing its potential, being located in the heart of Old Montreal, they renovated the structure and re-opened it in 2000 as “Montreal’s first boutique hotel”.

According to Tourisme Montréal, “Boutique-hotel luxury is all about the particulars – the style, the amenities, the unique touches that are offered only there.”

Generally, boutique hotels are more expensive but offer a luxurious and unique experience. Clients tend to be more pampered. They can also usually purchase anything they wish to keep, such as bathrobes, slippers, pillows, beds, shaving mirrors and even the paintings on the walls.

Usually set in repurposed heritage buildings and located in desirable locations, Montreal has several of them. Tourisme Montréal invites visitors to book one, exclaiming: “Treat yourself to the personalized experiences hidden all over the downtown core, at Montréal’s beautiful boutique hotels, and start building lifelong travel memories.”  

Upon opening, the Hôtel Place d’Armes was an immediate success. Due to high demand, it has since expanded considerably. Over the years, the Antonopoulos Group has purchased and incorporated three other buildings to the east on St. Jacques Street. These include the former People’s Bank, Alexander Cross Building and lastly an edifice built in 1899 by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal.

According to the hotel’s website: “We are proud to be a part of Old Montreal’s vibrant culture and one of the neighbourhood’s most distinguished architectural structures. Housed in four historic buildings, we offer a plethora of amenities, including two restaurants, a magnificent rooftop terrace, over 12,000 square feet of versatile meeting spaces, and an exquisite Hamman spa. As a cherished Old Montreal hotel, we’re popular with business and pleasure travelers alike.“

With a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 on TripAdvisor, it is clear that the hotel is popular. Furthermore, unlike some other hotels, none of the low ratings of Hôtel Place d’Armes included complaints about ghosts or paranormal activity.

Indeed, it would seem that the ghostly lady haunting the hotel does not interact with clients, but rather with certain staff members.

On April 3, 2009, a McGill University History student interviewed Marie-Ève Larin, the Concierge of the Hôtel Place d’Armes at the time.

Marie-Ève Larin had been working there for about a year and a half at the time of the interview. Marie-Ève was handling both concierge and front desk jobs, providing service for 135 rooms, including suites and penthouses.

When working as a concierge, Marie-Ève’s job was to take care of client requests, such as arranging flowers, making dinner reservations, giving directions, and providing suggestions for tourist activities. While those requests are the most common ones, the concierge must literally answer every client’s wish, as long as it is legal (e.g. no drugs or escorts.)

There can be no denying that Marie-Ève was prepared for this type of specialized service work; after all, her official title is still “Concierge, Membre Clefs D’or Canada”. Following a process that took her over 3 years of intense professional development, full-time employment, and being severely tested by “mystery guests,” Marie-Ève was welcomed into the elite global order of concierges. Organized by the Union Internationale des Concierges d’Hôtels (UICH), Les Clefs D’or has approximately 4000 members working in over 80 countries and 530 destinations – spread over 5 continents.

Unlike all other countries where Les Clefs D’or operates, in Canada concierges must earn one golden key at a time, making the process that much more difficult. It is a sign of distinction to have earned the keys, and Marie-Ève was the youngest member in Canada to have been awarded them at just 25 years old. Marie-Ève’s considerable talents, efforts and accolades have not gone unnoticed; she has been sought after and recruited directly by many fine hotels in Montreal, including Hôtel Place d’Armes.

In addition to granting the client’s wishes, the concierge must also know the city inside and out in order to give them the best recommendations possible, such as locations for fine restaurants, extraordinary shopping opportunities, and the most enjoyable tourism activities. According to Marie-Ève, the biggest challenge of her job is to “always be on top of what’s going on in the city.”

With its hundreds of festivals, performances, and events, Montreal is famous for keeping its concierges constantly on their toes.

The best part of the job is “making people happy and making their stay in Montreal extraordinary,” said Marie-Ève, adding “It’s very rewarding.”

When asked about any negative sides of the job, while Marie-Ève noted that the hours in the busy summer season can be excessive, she personally doesn’t mind and actually thrives on it. There are also persistent rumours that the hotel is haunted, and some of the housekeeping staff fear entering certain rooms alone. “Hôtel Place d’Armes is divided into several historical buildings,” explained Marie-Ève, “the first one was the Great Scottish Life, which was an Insurance Company in the 1860s.” This section of the hotel maintains its old-world charm, and there have been reported ghost sightings, especially in Suites 1702, 1703, 1704 and 1705.

On several occasions housekeepers have noticed that a door to one of these Suites is ajar, and upon entering noticed a beautiful woman in her twenties, with long hair, who sometimes asks for a glass of water. When the staff member returns with the water, the woman is no longer there. “She vanishes into thin air,” according to Marie-Ève. These encounters usually happen when the room in question is unoccupied. On other occasions, staff servicing the mini-bars in each room reported seeing her wandering the hallways. Sometimes encounters with the beautiful, long-haired woman can be more terrifying.

There was one instance when a housekeeper noticed that the door of 1704 was ajar, and when she went to open it heard the woman’s voice telling her to “Come back later”. The housekeeper knew that the room was supposed to be unoccupied, so entered to confront the woman. What she saw caused her to panic: a thin, beautiful woman with long dark hair and wearing a long, black dress was standing on the ledge of a window, as though about to jump seven stories to her death.

“Don’t do it!” cried the housekeeper, but it was too late: the woman jumped. The housekeeper ran to the window and looked down on the street below. She was expecting to see a shattered corpse. However, there was no broken body or pool of blood. Where the victim’s corpse should have been was a flock of pigeons, pecking away at seeds on the sidewalk.

Terrified, the housekeeper quit her job shortly thereafter. While Marie-Ève did not have any personal theories about who this ghost might be, she was not bothered by the fact the hotel is haunted, saying it is all part of the job. Being a top-notch concierge means accepting whatever circumstances a hotel may have, including ghosts and paranormal activities.

When asked what skills a good concierge needs, Marie-Ève replied: “Strong people skills, patience, humour, resourcefulness, and always being a tourist in your own city! Dedication, most of all, is the key. I love my job, my city, and my guests… (ok, most of the guests.)” When asked if she would recommend the job of concierge to others, she said: “It’s the best job in the world! I would recommend it to everyone, but not everyone is cut for the long hours, meetings outside work, and dealing with everyone’s problems!”

With such exceptional service skills and a sterling reputation, Marie-Ève’s future was looking very bright. While she loved her job at Hôtel Place d’Armes, she aspired one day to become a concierge in Toronto, and perhaps after that in New York City: “Since I am a Clefs d’Or member,” she said, “my keys are valid everywhere in the world.”

It is worth noting that Marie-Ève Laurin has since moved on from the Hôtel Place d’Armes. Indeed, she was recently spotted working as the Concierge for American Express Centurion.

Returning to the mysterious ghostly woman, nobody really knows who she is or why she haunts the Hôtel Place d’Armes. Could she have been a client in mourning at the Great Scottish Life Insurance Company? Could she have jumped from the window because the life insurance of her deceased husband was denied? Could she have been a former guest at the hotel who somehow met her demise there? Could she be someone else? No evidence has been found in the historical record as of yet, so until more information becomes available there is only speculation.

Hopefully, one day the identity of this sad and ghostly woman in black will be revealed. Until then, the housekeepers at the Hôtel Place d’Armes will likely remain on their toes when working near Suites 1702, 1703, 1704 and 1705.

Company News

Haunted Montreal’s seasons of public outdoor ghost tours is now in full swing! Offered every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, we have four ghost tours on rotation (Old Montreal, Griffintown, Downtown and Mount Royal).

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

Our Paranormal Investigation in the Old Sainte Antoine Cemetery happens on the first Friday and Saturday of every month.

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!

You can 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 also 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.

Haunted Montreal would like to thank all of 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: Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery

The Catholic Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery is the largest burial ground in Canada. Featuring more than 65,000 monuments and 71 family vaults in a garden landscape, the cemetery contains the remains of over a million people. Not only is this vast graveyard reputed to be haunted, but in recent years it has witnessed all sort of deranged activity. Groundhogs have dug up numerous bones and sets of dentures. Trees have collapsed onto tombs during an ice storm. Hundreds of bodies are piled up awaiting burial due to striking gravediggers and other staff. To make matters worse, families are locked out and cannot even visit their Dead. Once Canada’s most picturesque burial ground, today Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery is a desolate, overgrown and forlorn place. With no maintenance, shattered trees and scattered bones, this massive graveyard has become a place of true horror.

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.