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!

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 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!

As we enter into spring, Haunted Montreal is preparing for a whole new season of ghost tours and haunted experiences!

Our first outdoor tour is the special Irish Famine in Montreal Walk on Saturday, March 16 at 1 pm (in English)! Offered only twice per year, this tour delves into the history and ghosts of the Irish Famine in Montreal!

On this walk, we will also experiment with augmented reality to resurrect desecrated haunted sites, including St. Ann’s Church and the Black Rock Famine cemetery!

We also offer our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French 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 (except Haunted Mountain due to wintry conditions). These tours start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

We also have an online store for those interested in gift certificates and company merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we examine the Auberge Saint-Gabriel, a favorite haunt in Old Montreal that is also reputed to reek of the paranormal. While rumours swirl that a little girl and her grandfather died in a controversial fire, Haunted Montreal delves into the real history behind this legend.

Haunted Research

The Auberge Saint-Gabriel is a quaint stone building in the heart of Old Montreal. Reeking of old world charm, it is a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike.

The building was constructed in 1688 by retired French soldier Étienne Truteau as his residence. The following century, Richard Dulong opened the Auberge Saint-Gabriel on the site and it would go on to become the city’s most legendary inn.

Today, the building hosts a fancy restaurant, several dining rooms and even a speakeasy. However, the auberge is also reported to be haunted. From ghostly piano music to the spirit of a little girl who allegedly burned alive during a fire, the Auberge Saint-Gabriel is said to be a hotbed of paranormal activity. The ghostly girl, wearing a Royal Blue dress, has allegedly been spotted and heard laughing on many occasions.

Another claim to fame, according to its website, is that the Auberge Saint-Gabriel was the first inn that opened in North America. The website justifies this because the auberge received “the first liquor license in the country, on March 4, 1754.”

This statement is widely-circulated online and even the Bonjour Québec tourism website boasts: “The oldest inn in North America and the first to be granted a liquor licence under British rule, the Auberge Saint-Gabriel in Old Montréal offers fine dining wrapped in elegance, charm and 300 years of history.”

Such historical claims are undoubtedly good for business.

However, given that European colonization of Turtle Island (today’s North America) mostly began in the 1500s, one might question if no inns existed before 1754.

Historical research reveals that there were indeed inns all over the place dating back to the early days of colonization. For example, on September 19, 1648, the Council of New France granted Jacques Boisdon permission to operate an inn at the address 20, Côte de la Fabrique in Quebec City. Today, a historical plaque marks the site, labelling Boisdon as “Quebec’s first inn-keeper, 1648.”

Furthermore, there were many other inns elsewhere across the continent. For example, in Massachusetts, Concord’s Colonial Inn opened in 1716.

Another important point is the fact that the British did not rule Montreal until it capitulated in 1760, thus could not have granted a liquor license in 1754.

If the Auberge Saint-Gabriel’s publicity about being the oldest inn in North America is false, it is possible that the various claims that a little girl haunts it are equally baseless.

There can be no denying that the Auberge Saint-Gabriel has a very haunted reputation. It has been covered by dozens of media reports and websites, most of which claim that the ghost of a little girl haunts the establishment.

In an article for Exemplore titled “13 Most Haunted Restaurants in the World”, author Cristina Vanthulupdated exclaimed that Auberge Saint-Gabriel comes in as number seven on the list. She wrote: “Auberge Saint-Gabriel has had many ghost stories circulate within its walls. The enduring legend says that a child was burned in a fire, and she still roams the restaurant. She can be heard playing the piano from time to time.”

In 2017, Global News covered the haunting. Reporter Matt Grillo statied: “Some insiders tell us there is a ghost of a little girl that was basically burned out in a fire and she can be heard playing piano from time to time.”

Canadian Rail Vacations also recommends dining at the Auberge Saint-Gabriel as part of a spooky train trip across Canada that visits some of the country’s most haunted locations. This scary train vacation also invites clients to partake in the best Canadian ghostly experiences (including our Haunted Pub Crawl!)

Concerning the Auberge Saint-Gabriel, author Brianne Byiers states: “A little girl, who is said to have died in a fire in the nineteenth century, is the most famous of its ghosts, and has been seen on the top floor.”

However, the most detailed version of the tale comes from student journalist Alex Hutchins. He wrote an article called “A glimpse of our haunted history” for The Concordian on October 30, 2018 where he identified influential fur trader Joseph Frobisher as being responsible for the fire.

Hutchins wrote:

“The most notable tale is that of Joseph Frobisher, an affluent fur-trading businessman, who acquired the establishment in 1809. Frobisher needed his business to survive the winter until, come springtime, European tourists would come and buy his fur. Frobisher nefariously ordered the neighbourhood arsonist to burn down his competitor’s establishment, and while he specified that the arsonist should be sure no one was in the building, 12 workers burned to death.”

Hutchins continued:

“The arsonist begged Frobisher for money to flee town, and though he agreed, when Frobisher reached into his drawer to retrieve money, he instead took out a knife and stabbed the arsonist to death. During their altercation, the arsonist’s satchel carrying explosives fell into the fire, and soon the entire establishment went up in flames.”

He added:

“Standing on the streets, Frobisher wept in horror as his establishment was engulfed in flames, however it was not for fear of losing his business. His six-year-old daughter was still trapped on the second floor, in the middle of a piano lesson with her grandfather. A small shred of hope emerged when Frobisher saw his father trying to hoist his daughter up to a window to get her out of the house. However, when the window was opened, the oxygen intake fueled the fire and Frobisher watched his daughter and father be incinerated alive. A year later, Frobisher died from nostalgia, a term then used to describe cases where people speculatively died from either grief, fear or suicide.”

Finally, Hutchins concluded:

“On top of the countless inexplicable fires that have since occurred at the Auberge St-Gabriel, present-day staff have reported hearing a piano being played and the occasional laughter of a child.”

Given the murky backgrounds of various legends and ghost stories, it is often worth investigating them thoroughly. Were the authors of these tales taking poetic license – or was the haunted story based on fact?

In the case of the Auberge St-Gabriel, a deep dive into its history is required. Were there actually any fires? Which years did Joseph Frobisher live on the site? Is there any historical evidence that he was responsible for arson?

Firstly, Joseph Frobisher acquired the property in 1777. Their home represented only part of a real estate complex, including offices, stores and warehouses for the fur trade.

In 1779, when he was 38 years old, Frobisher married a sixteen-year-old girl named Charlotte Jobert. She was the daughter of a prominent surgeon who consented to the marriage. Twelve children were born from this union, but only three survived into adulthood.

Given, according to Hutchins, “Frobisher died from nostalgia” a year after his daughter’s fiery death, the fire should have happened in 1809. It is worth noting that Joseph Frobisher died in 1810 – of natural causes.

Records show that the only fire on the site occurred in 1768, when a man named Sabrevois de Bleury was living there. This suggests that the lifespan of the 1754 inn was very short.

After the blaze, he hired mason Jean-Baptiste Coquillard to do repairs and install a firewall between two of the buildings.

If the only fire in the building occurred in 1768, it was eleven years before Frobisher even moved in. Indeed, he hadn’t have gotten married or had children at this point. These facts suggest that the tale is likely bogus.

Furthermore, Joseph Frobisher was among the city’s top elite.

Had he have been an arsonist, why wasn’t he convicted? Why are there no historical records of these claims? Where does this story originate from?

Joseph Frobisher was born in England at Halifax, Yorkshire in 1748. He arrived in Montreal around 1763 with his brother Benjamin. They began working in the fur trade and associating with other wealthy merchants such as James McGill and Simon McTavish.

Like their peers, the Frobisher brothers married into prominent French-speaking families to solidify their grip on the fur trade. Before British colonization, this lucrative business was run with great profit during the “New France” colonial period.

In 1775, the Frobisher brothers participated in the founding of the North West Company, a rival to the Hudson Bay Company in the lucrative fur trade. Members of this elite company tended to become wealthy through their various business transactions.

In 1785, Joseph Frobisher purchased several plots of land in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine where he built his luxurious country residence “Beaver Hall”.

That year, the Frobisher brothers, James McGill and sixteen other founders of the North West Company established the Beaver Club. Membership requirements included having spent at least one winter working in the fur trade outside of Montreal. The club would meet occasionally to hold wild and raucous parties at Beaver Hall and other locations throughout the city. At these gatherings, the men sang voyageur songs, reenacted dangerous canoeing adventures, and engaged in rowdy behavior like breaking bottles and glasses.

The rules and social values of the club reveal the racist underpinnings of the group – its members were exclusively white and male. It is also worth noting that many of them were either slave owners or supported the slave trade.

In 1798, Joseph Frobisher retired from the North West Company and, two years later, he sold his rights to fur baron Simon McTavish. He spent the next twelve years making investments and entertaining the city’s elite in his homes, Beaver Hall and today’s Auberge Saint Gabriel. Frobisher also became involved in politics as a Member of Parliament for Montreal East from 1792 to 1796, in Lower Canada.

In 1800, Frobisher held the rank of captain in the British Militia of Montreal and was promoted to major in the 1st Battalion. He also obtained numerous commissionerships, including responsibility for the demolition of the old fortifications of Montreal in 1802.

Joseph Frobisher died on September 12, 1810. He perished at Beaver Hall at age 62 due to natural causes. His corpse was interred at the Christ Church Cathedral on Notre-Dame Street, which has since been demolished. Incidentally, his beloved Beaver Hall burned to the ground in 1847.

Returning to the claims that Joseph Frobisher hired an arsonist to destroy a competitor’s warehouse in 1809, there is simply no evidence that this is true. Firstly, he had retired from the fur business in 1798. Furthermore, the grandfathers of Frobisher’s daughter who allegedly burned to death were not alive in 1809. Joseph Frobisher Sr. died in 1763 and surgeon Jean-Baptiste Joubert in 1798. As such, neither of them could have been giving her a piano lesson on the day of the alleged fire in 1809.

In conclusion, while the Auberge Saint Gabriel certainly looks and feels haunted, there is no historical evidence to back up the legend of a girl and her grandfather burning alive. Like its claim to being the oldest inn in North America, the ghost story is likely also fictitious.

That being said, the Auberge Saint Gabriel is still well worth visiting! This fine establishment guarantees spooky vibes, an excellent menu and professional hospitality!

Furthermore, other paranormal activities that exist at the Auberge are beyond the scope of this blog. Look forward to a Part II that will explore these phenomena!

Company News

Haunted Montreal is preparing for a whole new season of ghost tours and haunted experiences for the 2024 Season!

Our first outdoor tour is the special Irish Famine in Montreal Walk on Saturday, March 16 at 1 pm (in English)! Offered only twice per year, this tour delves into the ghosts of the Irish Famine in Montreal! We are also experimenting with Augmented Reality and guests will be invited to download an iPhone app or see the demolished sites through a tablet!

Desecrated Irish Famine sites include Saint Ann’s Church and the Black Rock Famine cemetery! We want audience feedback to see which other historical sites should be resurrected in Augmented Reality!

Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French 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 (except Haunted Mountain due to wintry conditions) 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).

We also have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise for the holidays. 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 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 Google Reviews, something that really helps Haunted Montreal to market its tours. We are a small, specialized tourism company for fans of deranged history, ghost stories and the macabre and appreciate all the support and feedback we can get!

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: Montreal’s Gargoyles and Grotesques

High above the streetscape, Montreal is home to hundreds of gargoyles and grotesques carved into the architecture of various older buildings and churches. Sculptors allegedly created gargoyles to drain water and ward off evil spirits, a tradition dating back to mediaeval Europe. Grotesques are similar stone creatures but do not feature any plumbing. Some legends say that gargoyles can communicate with others when the rain passes through their mouths. Other myths claim that gargoyles and grotesques sometimes come to life at night. Montreal’s gargoyles are shrouded in mystery and a local legend from the late 19th Century highlights one of their deranged antics after sunset.  

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!

With the winter upon us, our public tours are on pause until March, when the weather warms up. Our first outdoor tour is the special Irish Famine in Montreal Walk on Saturday, March 16 at 1 pm (in English)! Offered only twice per year, this tour delves into the ghosts of the Irish Famine in Montreal! On this walk we will also experiment with augmented reality to resurrect demolished and desecrated sites!

We also offer our Haunted Pub Crawl every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French 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 (except Haunted Mountain due to wintry conditions). These tours start at $215 for small groups of up to 7 people.

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

We also have an online store for those interested in gift certificates and company merchandise. More details are below in our Company News section!

This month we examine the Youville Stables in Old Montreal, a charming stone complex that hosts the famous Gibby’s Steakhouse. However, a ghost has been spotted in the courtyard reading a book – and he does not like to be disturbed!

Haunted Research

The Youville Stables is a charming stone complex in Old Montreal that was built on the hospital grounds of the Grey Nuns in 1827, originally as a warehouse. Today the site hosts the tony Gibby’s Restaurant, one of Montreal’s finest steakhouses. However, there are reports that its courtyard is haunted by an irate ghost who sits on a bench while reading a book. When approached, he tends to look up as though annoyed and proceeds to glare at those intruding his solitude – before disappearing into thin air. 

While there have been several sightings of this ghost, the most prominent one was penned by Sonny Orr, a Cree writer and journalist from Chisasibi.

On February 10, 2010, he penned an article called “CREEEPY CCCANAADA…” for an Indigenous publication called The Nation.

In the article, he recounted two ghostly encounters, including one in the courtyard of the Youville Stables.

He explained:

“The first was at the popular Gibby’s restaurant in Montreal, where on a nice evening several years ago, we had a business supper and I brought my young daughter along. Since talking business wasn’t exactly her cup of tea (or milk), we decided to take a short break and check out the quaint ivy-covered courtyard. Holding hands, we noticed that a man holding a book was sitting on a bench further back.”

They did not want to disturb him, but as they circled the courtyard, they soon found themselves close to the man quietly reading on the bench.

Orr explained: “He slowly put down his book and looked at us, at first annoyingly then glaringly. He spoke volumes with his do-not-disturb attitude without saying a word. I, being naturally polite, stated that it was a nice evening to be out reading, but he didn’t respond, except by glaring even more sterner, so we walked away. Turning for a last look before going back into the restaurant, he was gone.”

Years later, after watching an episode of Creepy Canada about Old Montreal, Orr said “my neck hairs stiffened after realizing that what we had seen was a ghost.”

Orr isn’t the only one who has had a ghostly encounter at the Youville Stables. Indeed, the complex was once referred to as the “Phantom Stables” by Montreal’s now-banished calèche drivers. The site has a fascinating history.

The complex, made up of three solid stone warehouses, was constructed starting in 1826 for potash inspector Jean Bouthillier.

For twenty years, he had been doing his job in a wooden shed located on a large site that he rented from the Grey Nuns on a long-term lease.

That year, he and his then 32-year-old son Louis-Tancrède renewed the long-term lease. They planned to demolish the existing wooden structure and build a complex of three stone warehouses. Completed in 1828, the two warehouses to the east housed an ironworks yard and a nail factory, while the one to the west was used mainly for the Bouthilliers’ potash inspection business.

Built in the horseshoe shape of monastic complexes, the warehouses were built in the Neo-Classical tradition, with œil-de-bœuf windows, pediments and quoins. The cut-stone façade and large scale of the property reflected prosperity and solid construction methods for the era.

In the center, Jean Bouthillier created a quiet garden oasis within the horseshoe shape of the architecture. At the time, most gardens in what is today Old Montreal were off-limits to the less well-to-do. Private gardens at the time were seen as status symbols for powerful priests, wealthy citizens and influential merchants. As such, Jean Bouthillier saw his small courtyard as a private piece of paradise in an otherwise bustling urban area. It was a quiet and leafy place where he could relax, entertain guests and otherwise escape the hustle-bustle of the urban environment,

It was here that he enjoyed relaxing and holding deep conversations with his son, Louis-Tancrède. Jean Bouthillier encouraged him to pursue investment and educational opportunities. He explained to his son that he could move up the social ladder with hard effort, wise investments and solid social networking.

In 1832, Jean Bouthillier passed away. Louis-Tancrède was devastated, but he inherited a handsome sum, including 75% of the complex and property. The other 25% went to Pierre de Rastel de Rocheblave, his father’s brother-in-law.

Bouthillier used the rest of his inheritance to buy several properties in and around Montreal, including a farm at Côte Sainte-Catherine. The following year, he began to build a large, two-story brick house for his family on his newly-acquired farm. He named the property Outre-Mont, which means “the other side of the mountain” in English. He named it this given that his property was on the opposite side of Mount Royal from the City of Montreal. It was here, in his opulent home, that he would raise his two sons, Charles-Frontenac and Henri, along with his wife Françoise-Geneviève.

Louis-Tancrède continued to return to his garden oasis at the complex in Old Montreal on a regular basis. Recalling his father’s encouragement to aim high, he would often sit on a bench in the courtyard, studying business investments, famous literature and other writings.

Louis-Tancrède’s work paid off. In 1835, he was appointed Commissioner of the Lachine Canal, followed by Commissioner of Crown Lands in 1838.

When de Rocheblave sold his stake to Louis Renaud in 1850, Louis-Tancrède decided to rent the entire complex to him to serve his grain and provisions trade. Louis-Tancrède had become too busy moving up in the world to waste his time in the warehouse business.

In 1850, he assumed the role of the Customs Collector of Montreal. In 1863, Louis-Tancrède was appointed as the Sheriff of the city, a position he would hold for almost ten years. He also became the president of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society in 1864.

In 1875, Louis-Tancrède was honored when the area surrounding his home was recognized as a village and named Outremont, after the home he had built decades earlier. With only 300 inhabitants, Outremont would later grow into a very wealthy municipality for the city’s francophone elite.

Now retired, Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier could look back on a very successful career. Not only had he enjoyed some of the most important positions in the city, but his investments had made him a wealthy man. He had also raised a wonderful family. He often recalled his loving father and the magnificent time they spent together in the courtyard oasis between the stone complex of warehouses in Old Montreal.

Unfortunately, after a period of illness, Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier died in his home of Outre-Mont on February 28, 1881. The Saturday Budget announced:

“Mr. Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier, who formerly filled several public offices under the government, but long since retired from advanced years and infirmity, died here last evening at the age of 85. Among the offices which he held were Commissioner of Crown Lands, Collector of Customs and Sheriff of Montreal.”

Returning to the stone complex, the Grey Nuns decided to take over the administration of their property in 1869. Almost a century later, they sold the land and buildings to real estate developer Écuries D’Youville Limitée.

The company initiated a major restoration of the complex in 1967, under the direction of architect Janusz Warunklewicz. The project was rebranded “Écurie Youville / Youville Stables“, which was seen as odd because the property was never used to board horses or other animals.

Nevertheless, Gilbert (Gibby) Rosenberg was very impressed with the site and installed his second location of Gibby’s restaurant there in 1972.

He had opened the first location in St-Sauveur with two business partners in 1969. Serving high-end steak and seafood, Montreal Gazette food critic Lesley Chesterman described Gibby’s as “arguably Montreal’s most popular restaurant.”

Many people believe the ghost in the courtyard to be that of Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier, given his love of the garden oasis. There are many theories that ghosts sometimes return to the places they loved the most while alive.

However, some detractors think the ghost is none other than François Dollier de Casson, Montreal’s first historian.

On August 28, 2008, Norman Goldman published an article entitled “A Summer Walk into Montreal’s Early Years under French Rule” on a blog called BootsnAll: One Stop Indie Travel Guide. Goldman suggested:

“If you are in Montréal on a sunny weekend summer day and if you want to hear and perhaps see the ghosts of early Montréal, take a walk through “Vieux Montréal” (Old Montréal). The best time to embark on this venture is very early in the day on a Saturday or Sunday where you may encounter Monsieur Dollier de Casson Father Superior of the Seminaire de Montréal and perhaps Canada’s first town planner.”

François Dollier de Casson was a major figure in the early days of the Ville-Marie colony, as Montreal was formerly known. He was born in France into a wealthy bourgeois and military family in 1636. After serving in the French Army for three years, he decided to study to become a priest. Once accepted into the Sulpician Order, he was deployed to “New France”, an assignment he took on with some reluctance.

When he arrived in Quebec in 1666, his superiors appointed him as military chaplain to Prouville de Tracy, a commander carrying out a genocidal campaign against the Mohawk First Nation, whose territory the French were attempting to colonize.

Dollier de Casson was active as a missionary and explorer until becoming Superior of the Sulpicians in “New France” in 1671. He also contributed to church architecture, served as vicar general of the diocese of Quebec and ordered the first street survey of what is now Old Montreal.

He was also one of the key figures of the first attempt to dig the Lachine Canal, in 1689, which ultimately failed.

While Dollier de Casson was well known as a religious figure and public authority, he also appointed himself as the city’s first “historian” and wrote Histoire du Montréal, 1640-1672, Issues 1-5.

Furthermore, Dollier de Casson appears with a book in his hands in an official portrait, adding weight to the theory that he is the ghost in the courtyard.

Remarkably, Dollier de Casson also wrote about paranormal activities in the colony.

In one case, he described a “phantom ship” arriving in the city’s harbor on a misty day. The colonists could not agree whether it was a ship or not, and it later disappeared without having attempted any form of communication with the inhabitants of Ville-Marie. Another story involved a blood-stained handkerchief that could speak and even covert people to Catholicism!

Perhaps the most bizarre tale from Dollier de Casson is about a notary named Jean Saint-Père, whose decapitated head began harassing Oneida warriors after they had killed him.

In 1701, Dollier de Casson died at the age of 65 at the Montreal seminary. Those who suspect he is the ghost in the courtyard believe he loved the colony so much that he decided to stay after his death.

Whatever the case, both men suspected of being the ghost clearly loved the area that is today Old Montreal.

For those thinking of entering the courtyard of the Youville Stables, tread carefully. If anyone spots a man reading a book on one of the benches, it is best if he is left undisturbed!

Company News

Haunted Montreal is now in winter mode and is preparing for a whole new season!

Our first outdoor tour is the special Irish Famine in Montreal Walk on Saturday, March 16 at 1 pm (in English)! Offered only twice per year, this tour delves into the ghosts of the Irish Famine in Montreal! On this walk we will also experiment with augmented reality to resurrect demolished and desecrated sites of interest!

Our Haunted Pub Crawl is offered every Sunday at 3 pm in English. Tours in French 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 (except Haunted Mountain due to wintry conditions) 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).

We also have an online store for those interested in Haunted Montreal merchandise for the holidays. 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 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 Google Reviews, something that really helps Haunted Montreal to market its tours.

We are a small, specialized tourism company for fans of deranged history, ghost stories and the macabre and appreciate all the support and feedback we can get!

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 March 13: Auberge Saint Gabriel

The Auberge Saint-Gabriel is a quaint stone building in the heart of Old Montreal. Constructed in 1688 by a French soldier, the building would become the city’s first inn in 1754. Today, it hosts a fancy restaurant but is also reported to be haunted. From ghostly piano music to the spirit of a little girl who allegedly burned alive during a fire, the Auberge Saint-Gabriel is a well-known hotbed of paranormal activity.

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.