Haunted hotspots in Toronto
Halloween might be everybody’s favourite scary holiday, but Toronto's haunted homes and buildings will give visitors a fright all year round. If you fancy a scare, check out the local tours that will you guide you through the stories and corridors of these spooky spots around the downtown core.
Mackenzie House
82 Bond St, Toronto ON M5B 1X2This former home of William Lyon Mackenzie is said to be the most haunted house in the city. Apparitions of Mackenzie, his wife and children have been spotted around the second and third floors of the spooky tourist spot. The cheeky spirits have also been known to tamper with the printing press in the basement and turn taps off and on spontaneously during tours. The ghosts haunting this heritage home are even noted on official city documents; Anglican Archdeacon John Frank visited the house in the late 1960s in an attempt to exorcise the spirits.
The Keg Steakhouse & Bar
515 Jarvis St, Toronto ON M4Y 2H7Not just a popular eatery, this famed steakhouse also serves up some seriously scary ghost stories. The prominent Massey family owned the Jarvis Street mansion back in the early 1990s and there have been a number of accounts suggesting that some family members are still residing there. Ghostly children can also be heard running and playing on the upper floors and in the kitchen and an apparition of the family’s former maid has been spotted hanging from a noose above the main foyer in the restaurant. Ask the staff to see a binder detailing the frightening occurrences at the restaurant.
Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre Centre
189 Yonge St, Toronto ON M5B 1M4There have been plenty of first-hand reports of paranormal activity at this grand Edwardian stacked theatre on Yonge Street. The most notable ghost in residence is the Lavender Lady, an elegant blonde who haunts the upstairs Winter Garden theatre. According to legend, the woman was stabbed to death in the theatre washroom and today makes her spectral presence known with her lavender-scented perfume.Samuel the trombone player is the resident ghost for the downstairs theatre; the musician died after falling into the Elgin’s orchestra pit in 1918 and staff still spot his likeness from time to time.
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Pk, Toronto ON M5S 2C6You might not want to spend the night at this haunted museum on Bloor Street. Charles Currelly, the ROM’s very first curator, is rumored to wander through the East Asiatic collection at this famed Toronto landmark. Currelly would often burn the midnight oil at the museum, and today staff members feel his ghostly presence late at night — some report visions of him roaming the building in his nightshirt while others have heard the sounds of his vintage radio music wafting through the halls.
Cours de l’Ontario
60 Queen W, Toronto ON M5H 2M3One particularly mischievous poltergeist has a habit of tugging on judges’ robes as they walk up and down the rear staircase at Toronto’s former city hall. Visitors and staffers have also reported hearing footsteps along empty hallways and moans emitting from the empty cellars, which once held the city’s prisoners. Rumour has it Courtroom 33 is particularly sinister and haunted by Robert Turpin and Arthur Lucas, the last two men to be hanged in Canada.
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