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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Following a busy Hallowe’en Season where Haunted Montreal launched its new ghost tour, Haunted Old Montreal, we are now moving into our winter mode.

With the temperatures dropping, we are moving our public tours 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 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 $170 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 for the holiday 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 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fascinating connection to Montreal and its haunted activity. In 1922, he ended a lecture tour about Spiritualism in Montreal and learned about a mischievous local poltergeist. He would record the haunting in his 1924 book “Our Second American Adventure”!

Haunted Research

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes, has a special relationship with Montreal – and its paranormal phenomena!

Born in 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle led a remarkable life. Both a physician and prolific writer, he is best known for the 60 stories he wrote about detective Sherlock Holmes. However, his body of work also includes nearly 200 novels, short stories, poems, historical books and pamphlets. He also wrote ghost stories, such as those found in “Tales of Terror and Mystery”.

Conan Doyle became a devout believer in the afterlife following the death of his son, Kingsley, during World War I. The huge loss of life during the war resulted in many converts to “Spiritualism”, or the belief that it was possible to communicate with the dead through séances and rituals.

Public séances in London’s Royal Albert Hall and other huge venues were common, and the appeal of the paranormal movement cut across the Atlantic and social classes.

His wife, Jean, became a self-proclaimed medium and automatic writing practitioner. At their Sussex home, they had their own personal spirit guide named Phineas who could apparently predict global catastrophes. Phineas also dictated when the Doyles should move house, travel or make other major decisions.

Conan Doyle was also a member of the “Ghost Club” and “The Society for Psychical Research”, both of which still exist today. The latter society describes itself as the “first society to conduct organized scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models.”

He would go on to spend a small fortune trying to prove that the Dead were everywhere and eager to communicate with the living. He spread his message by giving lengthy, multi-city lecture tours, which brought him to North America occasionally. As one of the most famous authors in the British Empire and the United States of America, he often attracted large crowds of admirers.

In 1920, Conan Doyle met famous illusionist and escapologist Harry Houdini and they became good friends. The two men were brought together by a shared interest in spiritualism.

Houdini longed to believe that he might be able to communicate beyond the grave with his beloved mother. However, he knew far too much about the trickery and illusion of the stage to be easily convinced. In fact, Houdini began exposing fraudulent mediums, whom he described as “human leeches”.

He took particular pleasure in debunking the work of Boston medium Margery Crandon, who performed scantily clad and sometimes emitted ectoplasm from her vagina.

Because Conan Doyle was a true believer in spiritualism while Houdini was trying to debunk it, a rift began to form in their friendship. Serious cracks appeared in their relationship in 1922 in Atlantic City. During a hotel room séance, Conan Doyle’s wife Jean attempted to contact Houdini’s deceased mother via automatic writing. Jean claimed success after scribbling 15 pages, supposedly written through her hand by Houdini’s mother.

Houdini did not believe that the 15 pages were a genuine message from beyond the grave. The writing was grammatically correct, whereas his Hungarian mother’s English had been terrible in life, after all. When Houdini publicly denounced the stunt, his relationship with Conan Doyle became cold and distant.

Houdini would die in 1926 after an altercation with some McGill students in Montreal that ruptured his appendix. His relationship with Conan Doyle had never healed.

In any case, in 1922 Conan Doyle travelled throughout the English-speaking world espousing the cause of “spirit return” and “spirit communication.” He delivered two lectures on Spiritualism in various cities, often to full houses, and described his experience in his book Our Second American Adventure (1924). His trip lasted from April 9^th to June 24^th and he visited cities such as New York, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago and he concluded his tour in Montreal.

He wrote: “It was a joy to feel the glamour of history once more as we entered Montreal. On the first day we ascended the mountain and looked down on what is one of the most wonderful views in the world — and I can speak now with some knowledge. At your feet lies the old grey town, which is spreading fast upon either flank, and which is impressive in its wealth of domes and spires. Beyond is the glorious St. Lawrence, studded with green islands, and winding east and west as far as eye can reach, while those low hills and forests upon the far southern skyline are over the frontier in the States.”

Conan Doyle’s lectures were held at the luxurious Mount Royal Hotel.

He had not expected large audiences, “As the heat was great, and as the community is largely Roman Catholic, and of the opinion that the psychic phenomena which occur within its own ranks are saintly, while those experienced by others are diabolical.”

He added: “However, the two lectures were splendidly attended, and the second was quite full. It was my last appearance in this series, and so it was rather a solemn moment for our little party.”

While in Montreal, he met a married couple who informed him of their problems with a poltergeist in their home.

Conan Doyle described the situation as such:

“A singular case of poltergeist haunting came under my notice whilst at Montreal. It had occurred to a couple, the man an experienced journalist, the wife a rather nervous lady of middle age. They lived alone, their only child having gone out into the world. These people were haunted by a very active and mischievous but at the same time harmless spirit or spirits. The box of bricks which had been their child’s toy was dragged out and fantastic buildings erected, which were put up again as soon as dismantled. When one of these buildings was photographed, a queer little mannikin figure came out in the photograph behind the bricks, and beside it what looks like a female head. There seemed to be two haunters, for presently direct writing began to appear upon pieces of paper scattered over the house.”

“I examined these and found distinctly two scripts, one of a grown-up person and the other of a child, which corresponded with the photograph. A picture of a house was also drawn, an extraordinary high, thin erection of twelve stories, with “the Middlesex House” written underneath. It was very well drawn.”

“Occasionally the pranks were of a less harmless nature. The electric lights were switched off at untoward moments, and the pictures were stripped from the walls. Twice the husband was assaulted by pillows until his incredulity had been buffeted out of him. Prayer seemed of no avail. Unhappily it seldom is in such cases. I have notes of one where a large fur hearthrug was the centre of the disturbance. A priest was brought in to exorcise the force, and whilst he was in the midst of his exorcism the rug sprang at him and enveloped his head and shoulders, so that he ran terrified from the house.”

“One is dealing with a mischievous and rather malicious child, and reason together with kindness is the only weapon. In this particular case at Montreal the couple were finally compelled to abandon the house. The haunting seemed to be local, for it did not follow them.”

Conan Doyle did not provide any specific details about the name of the couple or the location of the haunted house in Montreal.

Following his lecture tour, he was pleased to have achieved his three objectives: “One was to help and confirm those who were already Spiritualists. The second was to aid those who had some knowledge already, and to make it easier for them to realize what that knowledge would lead to. The third was to present our case to those who knew nothing about it, and to persuade them that there really was something there which could not be answered by jokes or by sneers, and that it was worthy of study and attention.”

Conan Doyle’s visit to Montreal undoubtedly left a lasting impression and may have even resulted in some new converts to Spiritualism.

On July 7, 1930, Arthur Conan Doyle died at his home of a heart attack, aged 71. In his obituary, the New York Times wrote:

“Sir Arthur had been ill from heart trouble for two months, but was making good progress against the malady until last Saturday, when a return of the heart attacks prostrated him. At his bedside when he died were Lady Doyle, his two sons and one daughter. Sir Arthur’s illness was attributed to his work in Scandinavia last October, when he gave a series of lectures on Spiritism. Although Sir Arthur had been in failing health for some time, that did not deter him from his work. Up to the end his enthusiasm for psychic investigation was unflagging.”

A few days later, on July 13^th, the Spiritualist Association rented the Royal Albert Hall for a séance following Conan Doyle’s death.

Ten thousand people gathered expectantly in the gigantic auditorium to watch a medium named Estelle Roberts attempt to communicate with Conan Doyle from beyond the grave. Lady Doyle took to the stage beside members of his family, with a vacant chair on her right reserved for her dead husband.

She said: “Although I have not spoken to Arthur since he passed, I am certain that in his own time and his own way he will send a message to us.”

Time Magazine, which attended the séance, reported:

“Mrs. Estelle Roberts, clairvoyant, took the stage. She declared five spirits were “pushing” her. She cried out their messages. Persons in the audience confirmed their validity. Suddenly Mrs. Roberts looked at Sir Arthur’s empty chair, and cried: “He is here!”

The clairvoyant said that his ghost was wearing “evening clothes” before rushing to Lady Doyle, exclaiming that her late husband was sending a message from beyond.

According to Time Magazine, just as Estelle Roberts was about to relay the otherworldly communication: “The audience rose in a clamor, and the great organ of the Hall began to peal, the noise drowning out the answer of Mrs. Roberts.”

In the meantime, Houdini’s widow, Bess, held a yearly séance for her deceased husband. She hoped that he might make contact and send her message using a prearranged code. Unfortunately. Houdini never communicated with his wife in death.

In 1936 she gave up, declaring that “10 years is long enough to wait for any man”.

Today, the Spiritualism movement has transformed into the fields of mysticism and paranormal investigation. With Montreal being a popular hub for these happenings, it is well worth remembering Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s visit to the city. In spreading the paranormal Gospel and reporting on local poltergeist hauntings, the famous author had an important influence on the city and likely contributed to the various haunted activities that are practiced today.

Company News

Following a busy Hallowe’en Season where Haunted Montreal launched its new ghost tour, Haunted Old Montreal, we are now moving into our winter mode.

With the temperatures dropping, we are moving our public tours 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 any of our experiences can be booked at any time based on the availability of our actors. Clients can request any date, time, language and operating tour. These tours are based on the availability of our actors and start at $170 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

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 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.

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 December 13: The Poltergeist of Côte Saint-Luc Part II

Haunted Montreal follows up with a man named Jeff in Côte Saint-Luc regarding his ongoing poltergeist experience. Since he initially contacted us in June 2021, the poltergeist activity has only gotten stronger. From the kitchen faucet turning on by itself to rotating dish racks and drawers opening and closing, Jeff’s apartment is a paranormal wonderland. It seems that the poltergeist follows him outside as well, as witnessed one day when it likely caused Jeff to do a faceplant on the sidewalk, resulting in scrapes and bruises.

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.

To receive a new Montreal ghost story on the 13th of every month, please sign up to our mailing list on the right of the screen (or below on mobile devices).

HAUNTED RESEARCH

Harry Houdini, once known as the world’s greatest magician, was a man of great mystery. His connection to the City of Montreal is both strong and extremely tragic. Houdini met his fate in Montreal while touring a magic show at the Princess Theatre on the afternoon of October 22, 1926.

Following an incident with a student from McGill University in his dressing room, Houdini’s health began to fail. While he attempted to continue touring, he died just over a week later in a Detroit hospital – on Hallowe’en, no less! Today, rumours swirl that Harry Houdini’s ghost haunts various locations throughout North America, including Montreal!

Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary. His parents, a Jewish rabbi and his wife, named him named Erich Weisz.  While still a child, his family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin and he spent much of his childhood there. When he was 13, the family moved to New York City and young Erich became interested in trapeze arts – and magic.

In 1894, Erich renamed himself Harry Houdini (in homage of the great French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin) and launched his career as a professional magician. Though his magic met with little success at first, his feats of escape using handcuffs drew lots of attention.

His assistant, Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, fell in love with him and they married. Her stage named was Beatrice “Bess” Houdini.

In 1899, Houdini’s act caught the attention of entertainment manager Martin Beck, who booked him at some of the best vaudeville venues in the United States. On the heels of success, a European tour followed. Houdini’s feats often involved the local police force, who would strip search him, place him in shackles and lock him in their jail cells. Every time, he was able to escape. Harry Houdini’s show became a huge sensation, and he soon became the highest-paid performer on the American vaudeville circuit.

Houdini continued touring his magic show in the United States in the early 1900s, constantly pushing boundaries with his feats. He escaped from handcuffs, straightjackets, locked tanks filled with water and packing crates with nails hammered through them. Once, he even spent 91 minutes in a galvanized iron coffin that was submerged at the bottom of a hotel swimming pool. Using his uncanny strength and his equally impressive ability to pick locks, he escaped dangerous situations time and time again.

His most famous act, the hallmark of his career, was unveiled in 1912 – the Chinese Water Torture Cell. The performance involved Houdini, suspended by his feet, being lowered upside-down into a locked glass cabinet filled with water. In this aquarium-like contraption, Houdini had to hold his breath for more than three minutes in order to escape.

The performance was considered so daring and was such a crowd-pleaser that it remained a staple in his act until his death in 1926.

As a great illusionist, Houdini was also involved in an impassioned debate that was unfolding at the time surrounding a practice known as Spiritualism. Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. Believers see the afterlife, or the “spirit world”, as a place where spirits are active and continue to evolve. Spiritualism was popular from the 1840s to the 1920s and was considered a part of Victorian subculture. It included mediums, specialist newspapers, pamphlets, treatises, and secret societies. Private and public séances included table rapping, table tipping, automatic writing, levitation, and other types of communication with spirits. Spiritualism was especially popular in English-speaking countries and drew followers mostly from the middle and upper classes.

Some of the society’s most influential people practiced Spiritualism. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert participated in Spiritualist séances as early as 1846. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of Sherlock Holmes, was an adherent and even Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King communicated with spirits.

Harry Houdini, despite being the world’s most famous magician, was never a believer in Spiritualism, although he claimed he wanted to be. When his mother died in 1913, she left an impression on Houdini with her last word: “forgive”. He began to visit a number of mediums in an attempt to receive confirmation that his mother’s spirit existed in the after world. However, the more séances he attended, the more Houdini began to believe that all mediums were fraudulent and were taking advantage of vulnerable people. None of the mediums he visited were able to repeat his mother’s last word, and for him, this was enough evidence that the movement was a hoax.

Houdini decided to use his talents as an illusionist to expose the sneaky tricks used by unscrupulous mediums to take money from grieving clients.

His mission to debunk such unethical quackery gained an impassioned, albeit small following.

Houdini’s position caused rifts within the Spiritualism movement and even ruptured friendships. His friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was convinced that Houdini possessed “divine” powers of dematerialisation, despite all of the magician’s protestations to the contrary.

Their relationship began to sour when Houdini began to publicly debunk mediums, both on stage and in a journal called Scientific American.

Conan Doyle was devastated when Houdini exposed a Boston medium named Margery Crandon, an attractive blonde who was also known as the “Blonde Witch of Lime Street”. She would often perform naked and apparently secreted ectoplasm from her private parts. Houdini attended her show, observed her sleight-of-hand tricks, and then publicly exposed her as a fraud.

When Houdini announced to the séance attendees that the game was rigged, Margery and her spirit guide, Walter, were furious. “Houdini, you goddamned son of a bitch,” Walter yelled. “I put a curse on you now that will follow you every day for the rest of your short life.” This threat didn’t deter Houdini, and he took his exposé public, publishing pamphlets that described in detail exactly how Margery performed her “tricks”. Before long, Houdini didn’t just have Margery’s career in a death grip, he was strangling the entire Spiritualist movement. In August, 1926, Walter declared “Houdini will be dead within a year.”

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle interpreted Houdini’s mission to unmask mediums and debunk Spiritualism as a personal betrayal. Their friendship devolved into a feud and they made tit-for-tat comments against each other in various newspapers.

In spite of this conflict, Harry Houdini would continue touring his magic shows throughout North America, enjoying the fame and fortune that comes with being the world’s greatest magician. However, Walter’s curse and prediction would come to fruition in October in Montreal, where an unexpected incident would put an end to the storied magician’s career – and life.

On the afternoon of October 22, 1926, Houdini was relaxing in his dressing room at Montreal’s Princess Theatre on Sainte Catherine Street before an evening performance.

He was visited by two McGill university students who were curious about his alleged magical powers. One student named J. Gordon Whitehead asked Houdini if it was true that he could withstand any punch to the stomach, as the magician had previously proclaimed. Houdini said yes. All of a sudden, the young man delivered a series of four punches to Houdini’s gut before the magician could tighten his muscles.

Taken off guard, Houdini’s appendix ruptured and his health quickly began to fail.

Throughout the evening, Houdini performed his show in excruciating pain. He was unable to sleep and remained in constant pain over the next two days as he travelled to Detroit to continue performing. When he finally sought medical help, Houdini was found to have acute appendicitis and a fever of 38 degrees. A doctor advised him to go to the hospital for immediate surgery, but Houdini decided to first complete his show, as planned, on October 24 at the tony Garrick Theatre.

When the curtain rose, Houdini’s temperature was a feverish 40 degrees. Despite help from his assistants, he was clearly exhausted and in pain. Houdini missed several cues and seemed in a rush to complete the show. By the middle of the third act he could not continue so asked his assistant to lower the curtain. Houdini collapsed backstage and was carried by his assistants to his dressing room.

Stubbornly, he continued to refuse medical care until the next morning, when his wife Bess insisted he go to the hospital. Houdini relented and was admitted to Detroit’s Grace Central Hospital.

Doctors quickly removed his ruptured appendix. The doctors did not have much hope for his survival. Several days later, on October 31, Harry Houdini was surrounded by his wife and brother on his deathbed in room 401. Houdini promised his wife that he would send her a message from beyond the grave, if it was possible. With the last words “I’m tired of fighting,” Harry Houdini died at 1:26 pm of septic poisoning caused by peritonitis from a ruptured appendix, making for an extremely macabre Halloween.

Houdini’s funeral was held on November 4, 1926 in Queens, New York, at the Machpelah Cemetery. More than 2,000 mourners in attendance witnessed his burial. The crest of the Society of American Magicians was inscribed on his tombstone and a Broken Wand Ceremony was conducted.

The ritual is performed at the funeral of a magician and a wand is broken, signifying that with the magician’s demise, the wand has lost its magic. The Society of American Magicians continues to hold an annual Broken Wand Ceremony at Houdini’s grave to this very day.

Houdini’s tragic and unexpected death on Hallowe’en and his promise to communicate from beyond the grave, even though he was a skeptic in life, raised a lot of eyebrows.

It didn’t take long for hundreds of mediums to emerge, each pronouncing that they had received messages from the late magician. Furthermore, the following year Bess organized a séance on Hallowe’en night in an attempt to bring forth his spirit.

It is a tradition that has continued into the present, with a séance being held somewhere in the world every Hallowe’en to try and communicate with Houdini’s ghost. In 2017, the séance is being held in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The contradictory nature of Houdini’s discourse about Spiritualism coupled his seemingly magical powers and the fact that he died on Hallowe’en have given rise to many, many theories about his ghost. While many skeptics don’t believe he ever became a ghost, others think he returned to haunt various locations around North America in a paranormal afterlife.

The first theory places Houdini’s ghost in Los Angeles. Ghost hunters Richard and Debbie Senate believe Houdini’s ghost haunts an old stone staircase at a ruined estate on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Hollywood.

Known as the “Houdini Estate”, the mansion at 2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard burned down in 1959.  When and Los Angeles’s three big daily papers ran stories about the old Houdini mansion burning, visitors to the grounds began to report spotting Houdini’s ghost. They described phantom light orbs that could be seen darting through the trees on the hill behind the old mansion’s foundations.

Houdini had lived in Laurel Canyon in 1919 while making two films for Lasky-Famous Players and was known to swim in the spring-fed pool at the luxurious estate. Houdini had said that Hollywood was his favorite place and the nine months that he stayed there may have been the happiest time of his life.

Could his ghost have returned there, perhaps to reminisce about happier days?

The second theory places Houdini’s ghost in Niagara Falls, Canada. In the book Shadows of Niagara, John Savoie explains that “in 1968, atop Clifton Hill, The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame opened its doors featuring professional paraphernalia of the famous magician and escape artist. The large amount of treasures were bequeathed to Houdini’s brother, known in the profession as Hardeen.”

Houdini had instructed Hardeen to burn the material so that no one would discover his secrets, but Hardeen did not want to destroy the items. Instead, kept them in storage for nearly 40 years. Eventually, the hoard of items Houdini used during magic shows were sold to the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls and put on display.

According to Savoie: “In the first year of the museum’s operation, there were a series of six fires, a robbery and a freak accident in which one of the museum’s directors walked through a plate glass window. It appeared as if Houdini himself was showing his displeasure of the museum.”

Savoie also mentions the numerous séances that were held each year to see if the spirit of Houdini would return: “Each time, the séances were less effective than previous years and finally in 1974, medium Ann Fisher, persuaded Houdini to make himself known and that this would be the last séance if he had not. Instantly, a pot of flowers fell to the ground and a book about Houdini followed. It opened to a page which featured a Houdini poster with the title, Do Spirits Return?”

In 1995, Houdini’s ghost was blamed for a massive fire that ripped through the building. Most of the artifacts were destroyed in the blaze, essentially fulfilling Houdini’s final wishes.

This building now houses a 3D Moving Theatre, and according to staff members, paranormal activities still unfold there, including disembodied voices that spook caretakers late at night. Could Houdini’s ghost haunt Niagara Falls, perhaps in anger that his last wishes were not respected?

The third theory suggests Houdini’s spirit remained in Detroit after his death. Some people believe his ghost haunts the David Stott Building, located on the same site of the Garrick Theatre, which was demolished in 1928. Other rumours place his ghost at the building that once housed Wm. R. Hamilton’s Funeral Home, where Houdini was embalmed. Still others feel it is more realistic that he haunts the site of the old Grace Central Hospital, which today hosts the Harper Professional Building. The hospital was, after all, the only place that Houdini was unable to escape from. Could Houdini’s ghost have returned to the site of his tragic death?

The fourth theory places Houdini’s ghost in Greenwich Village, New York. In the book Haunted Greenwich Village, author Tom Ogden speculates that Houdini haunts McSorely’s Old Ale House in Chapter 20, entitled “Escape from Beyond”. Founded by an Irish immigrant who had escaped the Famine, the tavern would go on to welcome some of America’s most famous people, including Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, e.e. cummings, Brendan Behan, Woody Guthrie and John Lennon. Houdini liked to frequent the establishment when in New York when between tours and Ogden believes his ghost haunts the watering-hole to this very day. The evidence? A pair of manacles that are rumoured to belong to Houdini are shackled to a gleaming bar rail.

The theory suggests that Houdini’s ghost returns to his old watering hole in the form of a black phantom cat, sitting in the window, before suddenly disappearing. Could Houdini’s ghost have returned to his favourite pub?

The final theory places Houdini’s ghost in Montreal, the city where he met his fate. Montreal’s old Princess Theatre, where Houdini received the punches that ultimately killed him, is located at 476 St. Catherine Street West in a building that is presently abandoned. The Princess Theatre was built in 1908 for vaudeville and burlesque shows, operettas and theatrical performances.

In 1915, it was completely destroyed by fire but was rebuilt two years later with a terracotta facade. It was in the second incarnation of the building that Houdini met his fate.

In 1963, the Princess was renamed Le Parisien, and underwent major renovations. In 1974, the theatre closed for more renovations and was later re-opened as a five-screen cinema. Le Parisien hosted the first Montreal World Film Festival in 1977, one of Canada’s oldest film events.

During its days as a cinema, there were wild rumours that Houdini was haunting the building. Staff members reported seeing his ghost on no less than three occasions, wearing a top hat and a cape.

In 2002, a fire destroyed one auditorium and damaged six others. Finally, the cinema closed its doors for good on April 12, 2007, after serving as a low-cost cinema showing French language movies. Could Houdini’s ghost have returned to haunt the site where he met his fate?

Today, the building is for rent, but with persistent rumours that Houdini’s ghost haunts the place, finding a tenant might be difficult.

There can be no denying that Houdini still inspires artists and magicians to this very day. In popular culture, the stories of Harry Houdini’s spirit continue to influence creative people. In 2011, a Canadian band called Punch Drunk Cabaret wrote a song called “The Ghost of Harry Houdini“.

Meanwhile, Montreal’s McCord Museum has recently launched an exhibition featuring some of Houdini’s posters. It is entitled Illusions – The Art of Magic and will run through to January 7, 2018.

While ultimately it is still unknown if Houdini returned as a ghost, there are certainly a lot of theories about which city he haunts. Given that he was considered the greatest magician to ever live, perhaps he continues to appear and disappear at various locations throughout North America in a paranormal afterlife. If he is indeed a ghost, the odds seem good that he haunts Montreal, if only for the reason that it was here that he met his fate, the unexpected and fatal blows from a McGill student, that led to his ultimate demise.

COMPANY NEWS

For the Hallowe’en Season, running through October to Hallowe’en and beyond, Haunted Montreal is pleased to announce a gamut of activities! For the first time ever, we are offering all three of our ghost tours in both languages on many different nights. Check our website for more information and to buy tickets for Haunted Mountain (Mount Royal), Haunted Griffintown and Haunted Downtown ghost walks.

Haunted Montreal is also very proud to assist organizers for the city’s 375th anniversary with a three day Hallowe’en Festival at the Place des Arts. Entitled La Trouble-Fête, the spooky event runs from October 27 – 29!

We have also been busy helping establish a new company called Secret Montreal! The new enterprise has taken over the Haunted Red Light District Ghost Walk and also offers a brand new Montreal Burlesque Walking Tour that is being led by real burlesque queens!

The Haunted Red Light District Ghost Walk is being offered in both languages on Friday nights. For the Hallow’en Season, tours will run from Thursday, October 26 to Tuesday, October 31st.

Secret Montreal plans to develop other tours in the future that delve into the city’s fascinating past with a focus on hidden history.

For details on Secret Montreal and its walking tours, please visit the Secret Montreal website.

A big thank you to all of our clients who attended a Haunted Montreal ghost walk! If you enjoyed the experience, we encourage you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page, something that helps Haunted Montreal to market its tours. Furthermore, if you would like to receive the Haunted Montreal Blog on the 13th of every month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Lastly, Haunted Montreal wishes everyone a very happy Hallowe’en Season!

Coming up on Monday, November 13th: Paranormal Activity at the Hotel Bonaventure

Montreal’s Hotel Bonaventure is nestled on the top two floors of the 17-storey brutalist Place Bonaventure, the city’s original convention center. The 4-star hotel features 397 spacious rooms, including 5 luxurious suites, conference halls, the fancy Kube Restaurant and a heated rooftop pool. Described as “a true Garden of Eden overlooking the bustling streets of the city,” the hotel has also witnessed unexplained paranormal activity, including a well-documented UFO sighting on November 7, 1990! Tune in on November 13th to learn more about this mysterious hotel and its paranormal encounters!

Donovan King is a 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 Abbot 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).