HAUNTED RESEARCH

Montreal’s hip Quartier Latin neighbourhood plays host to numerous theatres, cinemas and cultural and educational facilities. Located in the eastern part of the Quartier des Spectacles, the area is renowned for both entertainment and education.  La Cinémathèque québécoise is a government-funded film library, set in an old Catholic elementary school,  that screens movies which were often made in Quebec. A popular cinematic diversion in a bustling area, the facility is enjoyed by thousands of local cinephiles and tourists every year.

However, despite the cinema’s jovial atmosphere, there are persistent rumours that the building is haunted by the ghost of a little schoolgirl. Janitors have reported seeing her on many occasions, and in 2005, the girl’s spirit was spotted by an employee in one of the projection rooms, clutching a stack of school books. Could the ghost be one of the school’s former students, and if so, why is she haunting the building?

Looking at the history of the vicinity, Montreal’s Red Light District was bursting at the seams in this same area during the roaring 20s. The ramshackle neighborhood was characterized not only for its numerous brothels and prostitutes working the street corners, but also by its rampant poverty and severe overcrowding. Never the best place to raise children, the Red Light District was an unsanitary and dangerous place to be at times. Not only was rampant violence a common theme in the neighborhood, but older children, usually female, were also at risk of being recruited and trafficked by unscrupulous pimps.

Religious authorities with the Catholic School Commission of Montreal (la Commission des écoles catholiques de Montréal) intervened and had the Saint-Jacques Boys’ School built in the heart of the Red Light District in 1921. Located on the corner of Sanguinet and de Montigny Street (now de Maisonneuve), it was designed to serve the Saint-Jacques Parish. The following year, the Jeanne-Mance School for Girls was erected immediately to the east of the boys’ school, forming a small zone where youth could focus on education instead of all the endless shenanigans unfolding throughout the Red Light District.

Just one block north, for example, existed Canada’s most notorious brothel at 312 Ontario Street, where 80 prostitutes worked in three shifts around the clock. Opened for business from the World War I until the 1950s, the first floor of the building included a smoky salon to drink, dance, and socialize. The upper floors of the brothel were described as a “honeycomb” of approximately 80 small rooms where locals, tourists, and soldiers could experience prostitution. 312 Ontario was run by a notorious manager named “Madame Bobbe” and  was located just across from Police Station Number 4. From the window of his office, the commanding officer could clearly see the debauchery, although he usually turned a blind eye.

The teachers at the Jeanne-Mance School for Girls, all nuns, wanted to ensure their charges were protected from the debauchery associated with the Red Light District and 312 Ontario. The nuns were very strict and taught handwriting, history, and grammar among other subjects, including catechism to ward off any sinful thoughts. Nuns were known to punish students by smacking them with rulers, especially if they wrote with their left hand, which was seen as a sign of the Devil. For decades, the nuns diligently educated their Catholic schoolgirls.  Slowly, on the heels of World War II, the neighborhood began to change. The Red Light District slowly began to fade after the Canadian Army ordered it shut down because soldiers were contracting too many sexually-transmitted infections, endangering the overall war effort.

By 1968, Quebec’s education system was transforming from a religious system to a more secular one. After 45 years of teaching Catholic schoolgirls, the nuns decided to change their mission to social work and religious engagement. They replaced the nun’s habit with street clothing and set to work among the destitute. Two of them continued teaching at the school, with a new clientele of itinerants and others in need. In 1978, the nuns finally moved away to teach at Collège Regina Assumpta on Gouin Boulevard, leaving the Jeanne-Mance School for Girls empty.

Meanwhile, the Cinémathèque québécoise was founded in 1963 with a mission is to “preserve and document film and television heritage in order to make it available to an ever-growing and diversified public.” It hosts an extensive collection which includes tens of thousands of films, television programs, posters, photos, pieces of historical equipment, scripts, production files, books, magazines, props, costumes and other items associated with the film industry.

In 1982, the Cinémathèque québécoise acquired the old Jeanne-Mance School for Girls and moved into the premises. From 1994 to 1997, the complex was extensively redesigned and enlarged by the architectural firm Saucier + Perrotte, earning the 1999 Governor General’s Award for Architecture.

Everything seemed to be going very well at the Cinémathèque québécoise until an unexplained incident in 2005, which left many of the staff members feeling deeply disturbed.

In October, 2005, staff at the Cinémathèque québécoise were alarmed by a spike in paranormal activity in the building. As Hallowe’en approached, strange, inexplicable sightings and unexplained phenomena became more and more frequent. A young woman was working at the Cinémathèque québécoise as a ticket-taker and one evening she found herself in one of the projection rooms. As a film rolled, she witnessed the ghostly figure of a little girl, clutching a stack of school books, enter the cinema. Not believing her eyes, she began inquiring to other staff members if they too had noticed the spirit of the schoolgirl. The janitor who worked at the Cinémathèque québécoise at the time confirmed that the ghost had been spotted many times over the years, but had no explanation as to who she was or why she was haunting the old school-cum-Cinémathèque.

Rumours of the haunting continued to circulate over the years, and in March, 2015, Journal 123 reported that the Cinémathèque québécoise was one of the five most haunted sites in all of Quebec.

Staff currently working at the Cinémathèque québécoise seem unaware of any ghost presently haunting the premises. When questioned, the receptionist at the Cinémathèque québécoise said, “Those who witnessed the ghost no longer work here and we don’t have their contact details anymore.” The current film librarian added: ” I’m not aware of a ghost story at the Cinémathèque. The janitor is no longer employed by the library and I do not know the ticket-taker who worked there in 2005.” All other attempts to glean information about the hauntings from present staff have been met with silence.

However, other avenues of research have proven more fruitful: the story is spelled out in detail in Histoires paranormales au Québec, a book of ghostly and paranormal tales compiled by Thomas-Charles Vachon and Éloïse Trinel.

In the second chapter, entitled “Le petit spectre de la Cinémathèque” (translation: The little ghost of the Cinémathèque), the authors relay the ghost story in more detail.

Apparently the name of the ticket-taker was Kate and during the evening of the paranormal incident she was working as an usher for an experimental film festival. She was sitting in a near-empty cinema, in the section reserved for ushers, watching a strange film roll. Kate was sleepy and began to feel her eyelids drooping. She was about to doze off when she noticed a little girl enter the cinema clutching what she assumed was the festival’s program. Kate whispered to the girl to take a seat without bothering to check her ticket because she did not want to disturb the handful of cinephiles watching the film. The little girl paid no attention to Kate. Frustrated, Kate made a waving gesture to motion that the girl should take a seat. Again, there was no reaction. The experimental film at this point became very bright, with a snowy tele-visual effect unfolding, which lit up the cinema. Kate noticed that the light seemed to stream right through the little girl, who now appeared as ghostly and transparent. Kate assumed it was an optical illusion from the film so rubbed her eyes, but the ghostly girl was still there.

Kate tried to speak to the girl, but no words came out. Kate felt as though her mouth and body had become paralyzed. Speechless, she could only stare at the phantom schoolgirl in horror. Suddenly, the ghostly image began to fade and the little girl rushed towards a wall before disappearing into thin air. Kate’s paralysis instantly subsided. Shocked, she blinked her eyes to make sure she had control of her body and was relieved to realize that she could now move.

When the film ended, Kate turned on the lights and inspected the cinema, deeply disturbed by her experience that evening. Was she losing her mind? When she approached a close colleague with the story, her friend told her not to worry, explaining that it was not an isolated incident. Her colleague explained that since 1982, when the Cinémathèque opened in the old Jeanne-Mance School for Girls, the phantom schoolgirl had been spotted on many occasions, but only in the section of the enlarged and renovated building where the old school had existed. According to the janitor who worked there, the phantom schoolgirl was always seen clutching a stack of schoolbooks. Kate realized that it was not the festival program the girl had been carrying, but rather a bunch of books.

Over the next several weeks, Kate continued looking for answers and heard rumours that a girl had once died in a fire in the old Jeanne-Mance School for Girls. There was some speculation that the fire had occurred in an older version of the school, before it was rebuilt in the Red Light District in 1922. One theory suggested that the girl who had died in the fire was such a good student that she returned to the new school as a ghost to continue her education, albeit in a paranormal sort of way. Despite the school’s closure and ultimate re-purposing into the Cinémathèque québécoise, it appeared that the ghostly girl, perhaps unaware, continued to haunt the place.

Kate made a startling discovery a few days later. While flipping through a booklet that employees used to leave notes for each other, she noticed a sketch between two of the note-taking pages. Upon closer inspection, she was stunned to see a drawing of the phantom schoolgirl in the lower right-hand corner of a page. Scrawled in pen, the spooky drawing resembled the ghostly girl to a tee, right down to the schoolbooks. Also disturbing was the fact that sketches of immense flames filled up the rest of the page.

Kate assumed it was one of the sketches created by an absent-minded employee who enjoyed doodling. Upon questioning, the man explained that the drawing was the result of a sudden inspiration he had experienced. He had never actually heard of or seen the ghostly girl with the schoolbooks, but was inspired by some mysterious force to draw her – and the flames – in detail. When Kate told him about the ghost and rumours of her death in a fire, the colleague was deeply disturbed. Had the ghost entered his mind and prompted him to draw her?

Kate never experienced the phantom schoolgirl a second time, but according to the authors of the story, long after quitting the Cinémathèque québécoise, she would never forget her uncanny encounter with the paranormal that fateful October night in 2005.

Whether or not there have been any more recent sightings of the phantom schoolgirl is unknown. In other possibly-related news, the Cinémathèque québécoise has recently come under a cloud of scandal. On February 17, 2016, the French newspaper La Presse published an article alleging that Quebec’s most famous film director, the late Claude Jutra, was a pedophile who had molested children as young as six years old.

In 1987, the Cinémathèque québécoise named its main cinema “Salle Claude Jutra” in honour of the late filmmaker, prompting rumours that it is cursed and debate about whether or not it should be renamed as something less controversial. It is unknown whether or not Salle Claude Jutra is the same projection room where the ghost of the schoolgirl was spotted in 2005.

Whatever the case, until the phantom schoolgirl makes another appearance at the Cinémathèque québécoise, this is one ghostly tale that will likely continue to baffle Montrealers due to the mysteries surrounding it.

COMPANY NEWS

Haunted Montreal has been busy planning its 2016 public season of ghost tours. We are pleased to announce that all public tours will now be offered in both English and French! This year Haunted Griffintown (Griffintown hanté) and Haunted Mountain (Le Mont hanté) will be offered in both languages, alternating on Friday nights, starting in June:

Friday, June 3 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, June 10 8:30 pm  Haunted Mountain
Friday, June 17 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, June 24  8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, July 1              8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, July 8              8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, July 15 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, July 22 8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, July 29 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, August 5 8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, August 12 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, August 19 8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, August 26 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, September 2 8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, September 9 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, September 15 8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, September 23 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown
Friday, September 30 8:30 pm Haunted Mountain
Friday, October 7 8:30 pm      Haunted Griffintown

Tickets can be booked in the 2016 Tours section.

Haunted Downtown is currently being revised before translation, but is still available for private tours for groups of 10 or more people (in English only, for the moment). Haunted Griffintown and Haunted Mountain are also available for private bookings, in English or French, subject to availability.

Haunted Montreal is also please to announce a Jane’s Walk called “Haunted Red Light District”, on Sunday, May 8 at 2 p.m.

Jane’s Walks are an opportunity for anyone to give a free walking tour in a neighbourhood of their choice, on any given topic. The Haunted Red Light District Jane’s Walk will involve Donovan King sharing some recent research with attendees. Space is limited and guests must sign up at the Centre d’écologie urbaine de Montréal.

Finally, we invite clients who attended a ghost walk to write a review on our Tripadvisor page, something that is very helpful for Haunted Montreal in promoting its tours.

For those reading the blog who want to receive a new Montreal ghost story on the 13th of every month and stay updated, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on May 13: Théâtre du Nouveau Monde

Located in Montreal’s new Entertainment District (Quartier des Spectacles) is an old theatre that has changed hands many times and is reported to be haunted. Built in 1912 as the Gayety Theatre, it is presently known as the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and is one of Quebec’s most popular venues for francophone theatre. According to various reports, the building is haunted by several ghosts that are known to cause disturbances. Mysterious, disembodied footsteps echo throughout the theatre and in the past a benign seat refused to fold into its upright position, as though someone was still sitting there. In another instance, when a visiting student turned off the theatre’s ghost light against the wishes of a guide, an actor suddenly fell off his roof and injured himself. Lastly, one employee was so terrified when working alone one night that he bolted from the theatre, leaving the door unlocked. While no one is certain exactly who is haunting the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, there is speculation that the ghosts could include former patrons, managers from long ago and even the spirit of Montreal’s most famous burlesque star, Lili St. Cyr!

Haunted Research

Lurking in the basement of the grandiose Monument-National, one of Quebec’s oldest and finest theatres, is a dark drama studio that is rumoured to be haunted. Presently branded the “Studio Hydro-Québec”, the building’s basement has a very bizarre and unsettling history.

It is the site of the infamous Eden Musée, a Victorian waxworks museum where visitors could experience some of the era’s most deranged crime scenes and enjoy weird and disturbing artifacts, including at least one freakishly tall human corpse.

In 1894, Montrealers were treated to the opening of the bizarre new museum. Located beneath the busy Monument-National theatre, the Eden Musée offered an unparalleled experience into the mysterious and satisfied a taste for the sensational.

Founded by International Shows, Ltd., the company aimed “to organize in the metropolis of Canada an undertaking especially consecrated to fine arts and the glorious episodes of the history of the world.” The museum’s subterranean galleries were designed “principally for the young people”, intended as “a continual source of instruction and amusing recreation, the actual reproduction of events…being more lasting than a page of history learned off by heart.” The directors of the company sought to curate “subjects for the instruction and amusement of the public, carefully excluding the vulgar or offensive.”

The grandiose front entrance of the Eden Musée was made of rare-looking wood and had colored glass embedded throughout. A clerk with a gold-trimmed costume took a ten-cent entry fee.

Upon entering, guests were treated to a magnificent art gallery where a wax statue of Her Majesty the Queen, in court dress and jewelry, reigned above the crowds. Nearby, also cast in wax, was His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, wearing pontifical garments. Numerous artworks were generously displayed on the walls.

From the gallery, guests climbed a short staircase and entered the Room of Curiosities. Living curiosities, such as midgets and contortionists, intermingled with a strange collection, including “vagaries of nature, scientific and optical wonders of informative and interesting character.” The room also contained several statues and wax figures, stereoscopic views of battlefields and other historic sites, not to mention a wide assortment of curiosities. Visitors could also spend time trying to navigate a “magical maze.”

Nearby was the Chamber of Horrors, where guests experienced Satan’s imps, an ossified man, mummies from Mexico, a skeleton of a “devil-child” born with feet and a tail like a calf, and a replica opium den, amongst other strange offerings. Notorious murder scenes were also re-created and some of the society’s most dangerous criminals were cast in wax. The museum proudly offered life-like reproductions of the Rawdon murder, the St. Canut murder, the St. Henry mystery, the Valleyfield murder, the St. Cunegonde tragedy, Dr. Crippen and Jack the Ripper. Another popular exhibit featured a gorilla carrying off a woman after having killed her husband, whereas in “the Devil’s Kitchen” visitors could witness “Satan and his Imps roasting a human over a large fire.”

There was also a Théâtrorium, an intimate 200-seat theatre with “wonderful performances” set every hour, including live concerts, farces, plays and other presentations. Eventually, as technology advanced, Eden Musée began offering silent films and other projections. The museum also employed a special police force to maintain order in the exhibitions and to ensure women and children could visit without fear of harassment or molestation. With frequently changing exhibitions, guests never knew what was in store for them at the Eden Musée.

One of Eden Musée’s strangest attractions appeared in 1905, when the corpse of the world’s tallest man, Beaupré the Giant, was put on display. At 8-foot-three-inches, the cadaver became a major tourist attraction, an embalmed human specimen among the waxwoks.

Édouard Beaupré was born in the southern Saskatchewan town of Willow Bunch on January 9, 1881. An aspiring horseman, he had to give up the trade at 17 because, at 7-foot-1-inch, he had grown too tall to ride a horse. His freakish growth continued until he finally reached a towering height of 8-foot-three-inches. Beaupré abandoned life on ranch and launched into show business, demonstrating his strength by bending iron bars and lifting horses onto his shoulders. He toured from Winnipeg to Montreal and stayed for a time In California. While in Montreal, on March 25, 1901, Beaupré wrestled Louis Cyr, a famous French-Canadian strongman, who was regarded as the strongest man to have ever lived. While Cyr easily won the match, Beaupré’s reputation as a strongman only increased. He was very much in demand by the numerous travelling circuses, museums and freakshows of the era.

On July 1, 1904, Beaupré signed a contract with a circus promoter to appear at the St. Louis World’s Fair. However, shortly after arriving in Saint Louis, Beaupré contracted tuberculosis, which quickly resulted in a high fever. Only 23 years old, he became gravely ill and died suddenly at a local St. Louis hospital only two days after signing the contract.

His family had been unable to afford the costs of transporting his body home to Saskatchewan, so the circus requested that his corpse be embalmed – in order to display it. In death, Beaupré was more popular than ever. His towering, embalmed corpse drew huge crowds at the St. Louis World’s Fair and was the envy of many circuses, freakshows and museums.

Eden Musée was somehow able to obtain the body of Beaupré the Giant, and had the cadaver transported to Montreal in 1905. The deceased, embalmed giant was put on display amongst the waxworks, despite assurances to avoid “vulgar and offensive” displays. The macabre exhibit proved to be extremely popular. Huge crowds began to overwhelm the museum, in hopes of catching a glimpse of the dead giant. After crowds became too large and unruly, managers were forced to remove Beaupré’s corpse from the exhibition. His body was left abandoned in a warehouse and eventually it was claimed by the University of Montreal for research purposes. Doctors, professors and medical students, no doubt fascinated by his freakish anatomy, proceeded to perform various medical experiments on the body, some of them surgical.

Beaupré’s corpse was finally repatriated to Saskatchewan in 1989, after his family overcame numerous bureaucratic obstacles to get the cadaver back from the University of Montreal. Beaupré’s corpse had been seriously compromised, no doubt after decades of medical experiments, so family members had him cremated before finally burying his ashes, 85 years after his death.

Meanwhile, Eden Musée was closed in 1940 after it was deemed too tawdry by the St. Jean Baptiste Society, the owners of the Monument-National. The organization representing francophone Catholics had commissioned the theatre’s construction in the 1890s as a monument to celebrate the glory of the French-Canadian “nation”. The striking building, designed with a Neo-Renaissance façade, officially opened it on June 24, St. Jean Baptiste Day, 1893.

Over the years, the Monument-National witnessed all sorts of incredible performances. Located on the Lower Main, an area that was in the process of becoming the Jewish district of Montreal, the Monument-National “soon established itself as a hotbed of creativity, innovation, debate and performance that made it one of the most important multi-ethnic community and cultural centres in America.” Famous 19th century celebrities performed in the huge auditorium on the first floor and a burlesque theatre called “The Starland” occupied the ground floor. The Monument-National also hosted feminist performances and Yiddish theatre and is regarded as the birthplace of the struggle to establish women’s voting rights in Quebec.

Following the Second World War, the Monument-National began a long, downward spiral. The Lower Main had blossomed into Montreal’s sketchy Red Light District, characterized by brazen prostitution, overt gambling, and trafficking of all kinds. Audiences opted to attend the larger, safer and more comfortable theatres located on Ste-Catherine Street, leaving the Monument-National to sink into oblivion. The St-Jean Baptiste Society, which was struggling financially at the time, moved out in 1976.

For a time, it seemed inevitable that the Monument-National would be demolished. After miraculously avoiding the wrecking ball several times, the Monument-National was officially designated as a “valuable cultural property” in 1976. The National Theatre School of Canada took control of the building and carried out a full restoration from 1991 to 1993.

Today, an intimate theatrical studio sits in the basement where Eden Musée once flourished and, according to staff and students, this part of the building is haunted. There are reports of pipes inexplicably banging and strange noises erupting in the basement studio. According to an article in Journal Métro, the school’s Technical Director, Yves Duceppe, was very reluctant to go there alone when he was a student from 1979 – 81. At the time, the dark, un-renovated basement was creepy and infested with rats and insects. He never ventured there alone. Apparently, despite being converted into a versatile theatrical studio, the mysterious hauntings continue. Many of the students report unsettling feelings of unease and of being watched by someone or something hiding in the studio’s dark recesses. Furthermore, two floors above the studio, there are also numerous reports of a ghostly woman appearing at the top of the stairs leading to the main theatre of the Monument-National.

There are whispers among theatre students that the ghost haunting the Monument-National is none other than Sarah Berhardt, one of the greatest French actresses of her era. Bernhardt was known to play in Montreal and Quebec City and had a reputation for upsetting Catholic authorities with performances that were critical of the Church. The theory suggests that Bernhardt haunts the Monument-National because in 1905 she had wanted to play there, but due to financial constraints, had to play at the cheaper Théâtre Français instead, a mere five minute walk away in what is today Club Metropolis.

Despite being referred to as “the most famous actress the world has ever known”, Bernhardt was an extremely eccentric actress. She had several strange phobias, including the fears of being buried alive, becoming thin, growing old on stage and losing her fascinating and almost uncanny beauty. To overcome her fear of premature burial, Bernhardt was known to sleep in an uncomfortable coffin for several years.

She also kept the skeleton of a man, whom she said had died from love, hung before the mirror in her creepy boudoir, with its finger pointing at its own reflection.

When Bernhardt died in 1923, from uremia, the funeral arrangements were simple. She had had her tomb built decades before her demise, in 1889, in Paris’ Cimetière du Père Lachaise. Could her ghost have returned to the grandiose Monument-National, a theatre she had always wanted to play at? The ghostly image seen at the top of the theatre’s main staircase could be a match.

However, what of the mysterious noises, including banging pipes and upsetting feelings, that haunt the “Studio Hydro-Québec”? It seems unlikely that the ghost of a demure actress could cause such a ruckus. Perhaps a more feasible theory is that noises are caused by the spirit of Édouard Beaupré, the giant whose embalmed cadaver was unceremoniously put on display amongst the waxworks in the old Eden Musée. Generally-speaking, the Dead do not like to be disrespected, whereas Beaupré’s remains suffered numerous indignities.

Denied a proper burial with family in Saskatchewan and pumped full of formaldehyde, his corpse was transformed into a freakshow curiosity to be bartered and shipped to the highest bidder. From the Saint Louis World’s Fair to the Montreal’s Eden Musée, Beaupré’s remains would be continuously gawked at by thrill-seekers until ultimately abandoned in a dusty warehouse. Reclaimed by medical staff at the University of Montreal, his corpse would suffer many more indignities until finally reclaimed by family in 1989. Édouard Beaupré, a giant and strongman in life, would certainly be capable of making a lot of noise.

As such, perhaps a more realistic theory about the ghost haunting the basement studio is that the restless spirit of Beaupré the Giant remains, constantly reminding those who dare to enter the studio about his unnatural ordeal by banging pipes, making noises and glaring at spooked people from dark nooks and crannies. After all, being denied a proper burial for 85 years is good reason to make any spirit restless and inclined to haunt locations where their remains were disrespected.

Company News

Haunted Montreal’s public season of ghost walks is now over for the winter months, but private bookings for groups of 10+ are still available for all of our tours. For more information or to see which times and dates are available, please contact info@hauntedmontreal.com.

Over the next few months Haunted Montreal plans to expand for the 2016 season. Our goals are to reconfigure our website in order to improve it, to create a new box office system, to hire more actors and to have all of our tours available in both English and French. We plan to open our 2016 public season of ghost walks in May.

For clients who attended a ghost walk, we invite you to write a review on our Tripadvisor page, something that is very helpful for Haunted Montreal in promoting its tours.

For those reading the blog who want to stay updated and receive a new Montreal ghost story on the 13th of every month, please sign up to our mailing list.

Coming up on March 13: St. John the Evangelist Church

Located in the heart of Montreal’s new Quartier des Spectacles, St. John the Evangelist Church stands out with its striking red roof. What thousands of tourists streaming by it during festival season likely don’t realize is that the Anglo-Catholic church with the red roof has long been rumoured to be haunted. However, instead of unsettling cold spots and other unpleasant paranormal manifestations appearing, the spirit haunting the church is said to be gentle. Indeed, comforting “warm spots” are known to materialize, leading parishioners to speculate that the ghost might be that of the church’s selfless founder, Rector Edmund Wood, who died in 1909. He is said to still visit now and again to check up on the church’s flock. The ghost is not regarded as sinister, but rather is seen as a happy reminder that the church’s first patron still appears to be involved in the ministry.

Donovan King is a historian, teacher 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) and MFA (Theatre Studies, University of Calgary).

Il a jadis accueilli le dérangeant Eden Musée, un musée de cire Victorien où les visiteurs pouvaient découvrir certaines des scènes de crime les plus éprouvantes et apprécier d’étranges et inquiétants artefacts, comme le cadavre d’un homme anormalement grand.

En 1894, les Montréalais furent confrontés à l’ouverture d’un nouveau musée bizarre. Situé sous le théâtre achalandé du Monument National, l’Eden Musée offrait une expérience mystique inégalée et satisfaisait les amateurs de sensationnel.

Il fut fondé par la compagnie International Shows Ltd qui visait alors à « monter dans la métropole du Canada une entreprise qui se concentrerait essentiellement aux beaux-arts et aux épisodes glorieux de l’histoire du monde. » Les galeries souterraines du musée furent conçues « principalement pour les jeunes » et se voulaient être « une source continuelle d’apprentissage et d’amusement, la reproduction réelle d’événements… plus durable donc qu’une page d’histoire apprise par cœur. » Les administrateurs de la société ont cherché à regrouper des « sujets qui instruiraient et amuseraient le public, en prenant soin d’exclure le vulgaire ou l’offensant. »

La grandiose entrée principale de l’Eden Musée était faite de bois rare et de verre coloré entremêlé. Le droit d’entrée de dix cents était récolté par un commis au costume orné d’or.

Dès l’entrée, les invités avaient droit à une magnifique galerie d’art où trônait sur la foule une statue de cire de Sa Majesté la Reine, en robe de tribunal et pleine de bijoux. Non loin de là, également coulé dans la cire se trouvait Sa Sainteté le Pape Léon XIII, vêtu des vêtements pontificaux. De nombreuses œuvres d’art ornaient généreusement les murs.

Depuis la galerie, les invités rejoignaient par un petit escalier la Salle des Curiosités où se trouvaient des curiosités vivantes telles que des nains et des contorsionnistes, mêlées à une étrange collection comprenant notamment « des caprices de la nature, des merveilles scientifiques et optiques à caractère instructif et divertissant ». La pièce contenait également plusieurs statues, des personnages de cire, des belles vues stéréoscopiques de champs de bataille et d’autres sites historiques, sans oublier un large assortiment de curiosités. Les visiteurs pouvaientégalement passer du tempsà essayer denaviguer dans un« labyrinthe magique. »

Un peu plus loin se trouvait la Chambre des Horreurs, où les invités rencontraient parmi d’autres étrangetés, les lutins de Satan, un homme sclérosé, des momies du Mexique, le squelette d’un « enfant-diable » né avec les pieds et la queue d’un veau et la réplique d’une fumerie d’opium. Diverses scènes de meurtre étaient également recréées et certains des criminels les plus notoires de la société y étaient coulés dans la cire. Le musée offrait fièrement des reproductions réalistes de l’assassinat de Rawdon, du meurtre de St. Canut, du mystère de St. Henry, de l’assassinat de Valleyfield, de la tragédie de St. Cunegonde, du Dr. Crippen et de Jack l’Éventreur. Une autre exposition populaire mettait en vedette un gorille enlevant une femme après avoir tué son mari, tandis que dans la « Cuisine du Diable » les invités pouvaient observer « Satan et ses lutins en train de faire rôtir un humain au-dessus d’un grand feu.

Il y avait également un Théâtrorium, un théâtre intime de 200 places qui donnait « de magnifiques performances » à chaque heure, telles que des concerts en direct, des farces, des pièces et d’autres représentations. Ultimement, avec la technologie de pointe, l’Eden Musée se mit à offrir des films muets et d’autres projections. Le musée employait également une force de police spéciale pour maintenir l’ordre dans les expositions et s’assurer que les femmes et les enfants pouvaient faire leurs visites sans crainte d’être harcelés ou agressés. Avec le constant renouvellement des expositions, les invités ne savaient jamais à quoi s’attendre en venant à l’Eden Musée.

L’une des attractions les plus étranges de l’Eden Musée fut son apparition en 1905, quand le corps du plus grand homme au monde, le Géant Beaupré, fut ajouté à l’exposition. Le cadavre de 8 pieds 3 pouces devint alors une attraction touristique majeure.

Édouard Beaupré est né dans la ville de WillowBunch au sud du Saskatchewan le 9 janvier 1881. Cavalier en herbe, il dû abandonner le commerce à 17 ans car à 7 pieds 1 pouce il était devenu trop grand pour monter à cheval. Sa croissance déroutante continua jusqu’à ce qu’il atteigne finalement la taille de 8 pieds 3 pouces. Beaupré abandonna sa vie sur le Ranch et se lança dans le show business, exhibant sa force en soulevant des barres en fer et des chevaux avec la force de ses épaules. Il fit une tournée de Winnipeg à Montréal et resta quelque temps en  Californie. Alors qu’il était à Montréal le 25 mars 1901, Beaupré lutta contre Louis Cyr, un célèbre homme fort Franco-Canadien qui était considéré comme l’homme le plus fort ayant jamais vécu. Bien que Cyr remporta facilement le combat, la réputation d’homme fort de Beaupré décolla. Il était très en demande par les nombreux cirques ambulants et les exhibitions de monstres de l’époque.

Le 1er juillet 1904, Beaupré signa un contrat avec le gérant d’un cirque pour faire des apparitions à la Foire Mondiale de Saint-Louis. Cependant, peu de temps après son arrivée à Saint-Louis, Beaupré contracta la tuberculose, qui se matérialisa rapidement en forte fièvre. À seulement 23 ans, il devint gravement malade et décéda subitement à l’hôpital local de Saint-Louis, seulement 2 jours après avoir signé son contrat.

Sa famille n’était pas capable de payer les frais pour rapatrier son corps en Saskatchewan donc le cirque demanda à ce que son cadavre soit embaumé. Une fois mort, Beaupré fut plus populaire que jamais. Son immense corps embaumé attirait d’immense foule à la Foire Mondiale de Saint-Louis et créait l’envie auprès de nombreux cirques, foires au monstre et musées.

L’Eden Musée trouva un moyen d’acquérir le corps du Géant Beaupré et le cadavre fut transporté à Montréal en 1905. Le défunt géant embaumé fut exposé au sein des personnages de cires. La macabre exposition s’avéra extrêmement populaire. Des foules immenses ont commencé à déferler au musée, dans l’espoir d’entrevoir le géant mort. Les foules devinrent trop indisciplinées et les gérants furent contraints de retirer le corps de Beaupré de l’exposition. Son corps fut abandonné dans un entrepôt avant d’être finalement réclamé par l’Université de Montréal pour des fins de recherche. Les médecins et étudiants en médecine, sans doute fascinés par sa déroutante anatomie, procédèrent à diverses expérimentations sur le corps, dont des opérations chirurgicales.

Il a fallu attendre 1989 pour que le corps de Beaupré soit finalement rapatrié auprès de sa famille en Saskatchewan, après qu’elle ait dû surmonter de nombreux obstacles bureaucratiques pour le soustraire à l’université. Le cadavre de Beaupré était sérieusement endommagé, ce qui n’avait rien d’étonnant après des décennies d’expérimentations médicales, si bien que les membres de sa famille durent se résoudre à l’incinérer avant de l’enterrer, 85 ans après sa mort.

L’Eden Musée fut fermé en 1940 après qu’il eut été jugé trop tapageur par la Société de Saint-Jean-Baptiste, propriétaire du Monument National. L’organisation qui représentait les catholiques Franco-Canadiens avait élevé la vocation du théâtre en 1890 au rang de monument pour célébrer la gloire de la « nation » Franco-Canadienne. L’impressionnant bâtiment arborant une façade de la Néo-Renaissance, ouvrit officiellement ses portes le 24 juin 1893, jour de la Saint Jean-Baptiste.

Au fil des années, le Monument National vit toutes sortes de performances incroyables. Situé sur la partie basse de la Main, une zone qui était en train de devenir alors le quartier juif de Montréal, le Monument National « s’imposa bientôt de lui-même comme un foyer de créativité, d’innovation, de débat et de performance, ce qui en faisait un des plus important centre communautaire multi-ethnique et culturel d’Amérique. »  Les célébrités du 19e siècle se produisaient dans l’immense auditorium du premier étage et un théâtre burlesque du nom de « The Starland » occupait le rez-de-chaussée. Le Monument National accueillait également des spectacles féministes et du théâtre Yiddish, et il est considéré comme le berceau de la lutte qui visa à établir le droit de vote des femmes au Québec.

Après la seconde guerre mondiale, le Monument National a commencé une longue spirale descendante. La partie basse de la Main avait vu naître le superficiel quartier Red Light de Montréal, caractérisé par la prostitution effrontée,  le jeu assumé et les trafics en tous genres. Le public choisit de se rendre dans les théâtres plus grands, plus sûrs et plus confortables de la rue Sainte-Catherine, condamnant le Monument National à sombrer dans l’oubli. La Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste, qui avait à l’époque des difficultés financière, déménagea en 1976.

Pendant un certain temps, il sembla inévitable que le Monument National serait démoli. Mais après avoir évité miraculeusement et à plusieurs reprises le boulet de démolition, le Monument National fut déclaré comme un « bien culturel précieux » en 1976. L’École Nationale de Théâtre du Canada pris le contrôle du bâtiment et en fît une restauration complète de 1991 à 1993.

Aujourd’hui, un studio de théâtre intime occupe le sous-sol où se trouvait le jadis florissant Eden Musée et, selon le personnel et les étudiants, cette partie du bâtiment serait hantée.Ont été rapportés des claquements de tuyaux inexpliqués et des bruits étranges. Selon un article paru dans le journal Métro, le directeur technique de l’école, Yves Duceppe, était très réticent à y aller seul quand il y était étudiant, de 1979 à 1981. À l’époque, le sombre et non-rénové sous-sol était effrayant et infecté de rats et d’insectes. Il ne s’y est jamais aventuré tout seul. Apparemment, bien qu’il ait été converti en un studio de théâtre très polyvalent, les mystérieux phénomènes de hantises continuent. De nombreux étudiants ont rapporté de troublants sentiments de malaise et avoir été observés par quelqu’un ou quelque chose tapi dans les recoins sombres du studio. De plus, deux étages au-dessus du studio, il y a aussi eu de nombreux rapports d’un fantôme de femme qui apparaitrait en haut de l’escalier menant au théâtre principal du Monument National.

Il se murmure parmi les étudiants en théâtre que le fantôme qui hante le Monument national ne serait nul autre que Sarah Bernhardt, une des plus grandes actrices françaises de son époque. Bernhardt se représentait à Montréal et à Québec et elle était connue pour la colère qu’elle attirait des autorités catholiques de par ses prestations qui se voulaient très critiques envers l’Église. La théorie voudrait que Bernhardt hanterait le Monument National parce qu’en 1905 elle avait voulu y jouer mais qu’en raison de contraintes budgétaires elle avait finalement choisi de se représenter au Théâtre Français, à peine à 5 minutes à pied de ce qui est aujourd’hui le Club Metropolis.

Bien qu’on la disait être  « la plus célèbre actrice que le monde ait jamais connue », Bernhardt était une actrice excessivement excentrique. Elle présentait plusieurs phobies étranges, telles que la peur d’être enterrée vivante, de devenir mince, de vieillir sur scène tout en perdant sa fascinante et presque inquiétante beauté. Pour surmonter sa peur de l’inhumation prématurée, on raconte que Bernhardt aurait dormi dans un cercueil inconfortable pendant plusieurs années.

Elle aurait également gardé le squelette d’un homme dont elle disait qu’il était mort d’amour, accroché devant le miroir de son effrayant boudoir, avec son doigt pointant vers sa propre réflexion.

Quand Bernhardt mourut d’urémie en 1923, les arrangements funéraires furent simples. Elle avait fait construire son tombeau des décennies avant sa disparition, en 1889, dans le cimetière parisien du Père Lachaise. Est-ce que son fantôme serait retourné au grandiose Monument National, un théâtre où elle avait toujours voulu performer? L’image fantomatique aperçue au sommet de l’escalier principal du théâtre pourrait être la sienne.

Cependant, qu’en serait-il des mystérieux bruits dont les claquements de tuyaux, et des sentiments d’inconfort qui hantent le « Studio Hydro-Québec »? Il semble peu probable que le fantôme d’une actrice tranquille puisse causer un tel chahut. Une théorie qui serait plus plausible serait que ces bruits soient causés par l’esprit d’Édouard Beaupré, le géant dont le cadavre embaumé avait été exposé sans ménagement parmi les personnages de cire de l’Eden Musée. On a l’habitude de dire que les morts n’aiment pas être insultés et les restes de Beaupré ont subi de nombreuses profanations.

Après s’être vu refusé une sépulture auprès de sa famille en Saskatchewan et avoir été rempli de formaldéhyde, son cadavre a été transformé en curiosité de Freakshow pour être troquée et expédiée au plus offrant. De la Foire Mondiale de Saint-Louis à l’Eden Musée de Montréal, les restes de Beaupré furent empreints d’émotions fortes jusqu’à ce qu’ils soient finalement abandonnés dans un entrepôt poussiéreux. Récupéré par le personnel médical de l’Université de Montréal, son corps a subit encore plus d’indignités jusqu’à ce qu’il soit finalement récupéré par sa famille en 1989. Édouard Beaupré, géant et fort dans la vie, serait certainement capable de faire beaucoup de bruit.

Ainsi, une théorie qui serait davantage probable concernant le fantôme qui hante le studio du sous-sol serait que l’esprit inquiet des restes du Géant Beaupré chercherait constamment à rappeler son périple contre-nature à ceux qui osent s’aventurer dans le studio, en tambourinant sur les tuyaux, en faisant du bruit et en dévisageant les gens depuis les recoins sombres. Après tout, se voir refuser une sépulture pendant 85 ans rendrait n’importe quel esprit inquiet et enclin à hanter les endroits où ses restes se virent manquer de respect.

Hanted Nouvelles

La programmation grand public des tours de fantômes de Haunted Montréal est suspendue pour la période hivernale mais des réservations privées pour les groupes de 10 personnes ou plus sont toujours possibles pour chacun de nos tours. Pour plus d’information ou pour voir quelles sont les dates et horaires disponibles, veuillez nous écrire à info@hauntedmontreal.com.

Durant les prochains mois et en vue de la saison 2016, Haunted Montréal prévoit d’évoluer. Notre objectif est de reconfigurer notre site Internet afin de l’améliorer et d’y intégrer un nouveau système de réservation, mais aussi d’engager davantage d’acteurs et d’offrir tous nos tours aussi bien en français qu’en anglais. Nous projetons d’offrir notre programmation grand public 2016 des tours de fantômes dès le mois de mai.

Nous invitons les clients qui auraient participé à un tour de fantômes à écrire un commentaire sur notre page TripAdvisor qui s’avère très utile à Haunted Montréal dans la promotion de ses tours.

Pour ceux qui lisent pour la première fois le blogue et qui souhaiteraient rester à l’affût des dernières nouvelles et recevoir le 13 de chaque mois une nouvelle histoire de fantômes se rapportant à Montréal, veuillez-vous inscrire à notre liste d’envoi.

À venir le 13 mars : L’église évangélique St. John

Située au cœur du nouveau Quartier des Spectacles, l’Église évangélique St. John se distingue de par son toit rouge clinquant. Ce que les milliers de touristes qui l’environnent durant la saison des festivals ne réalisent surement pas c’est que l’église anglo-catholique au toit rouge est réputée hantée depuis fort longtemps. Cependant, au lieu des troublantes zones froides et autres déplaisantes manifestations paranormales, l’esprit qui hante l’église est décrit comme doux. En effet, des « zones chaudes » réconfortantes sont connues pour se matérialiser, conduisant les paroissiens à envisager que le fantôme soit nul autre que le fondateur désintéressé, Rector Edmund Wood, qui mourut en 1909. On dit qu’il la visite encore de temps en temps pour veiller sur les fidèles. Le fantôme n’est pas considéré comme sinistre mais plutôt vu comme un heureux rappel que le premier protecteur de l’égliseest toujours impliqué dans les saints ordres.

Donovan King est historien, professeur et acteur professionnel. Fondateur de Haunted Montréal, il coordonne ses talents pour créer les meilleures histoires de fantômes possibles, que ce soit dans la qualité rédactionnelle ou dans la performance théâtrale. Donovan King détient un DEC en Interprétation théâtrale (Collège John Abbot), un Baccalauréat en arts appliqués (Arts dramatiques en éducation, Université Concordia), un Baccalauréat en éducation (Enseignement de l’histoire et de l’anglais, Université McGill) et une Maîtrise en arts appliqués (Études théâtrales, Université de Calgary).