Surprisingly, there are many interesting places in Canada that are haunted. From palace-like motels to seafood restaurants to common parks, ghosts, ghouls and spirits run rampant. From the front lines to the fort, there are many historical attractions to count haunted places in canadaAround which many Canadian horror stories are built.
15 haunted places in canada
We’ve rounded up the most thrilling places in Canada so you can find out if there’s anything to one of these spooky stories. Here are the haunted places in Canada – are you brave enough to go there?
1. Keg Mansion
Today it is one of several locations of the Keg Steakhouse franchise, but the Keg Mansion was once the private residence of tycoon Hart Macy and his family. According to the story, in 1915, after the death of Macy’s only beloved daughter, Lillian, a maid in the house became so grief-stricken that she hanged herself. Another rendition of the story is that the maid kills herself because she fears her romance with Maisie will be revealed. In any case, the spectral profile hanging from a maid’s neck was seen by more than one keg backpacker over the years.
Place: Toronto, Ontario
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2. Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
Did you think the Bates Motel in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho or the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining was scary? The Banff Springs Hotel is probably one of the most beautiful hotels in Canada, but it is also considered one of the most haunted hotels. Built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1888, the hotel is home to several spooky ghosts, including a murdered family in room 873, a bride who fell to her death from the hotel’s grand staircase, and a retired bellman named Sam McAuley, who performed devilish acts. Yes, are included. Hotel in full uniform.
Place: Banff, Alberta
3. Fairmont Chateau Laurier
Business tycoon Charles Melville Hayes commissioned the Fairmount Chateau Laurier, but he tragically died on board the Titanic in 1912, just days before the hotel’s grand opening. Since then, there has been widespread speculation that Hayes’ spirit has been seen wandering around the property. If we had invested our time and money in building a grand palace, and died a few days before its completion, we might have been willing to return.
Place: Ottawa, Ontario
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4. Old Spaghetti Factory
It seems that the ghost of the train driver still haunts this popular restaurant set on an old underground track. The unfathomable chill draft and haphazardly rearranged table configurations are the late conductor’s calling card. A photo of a broken electric trolley in a 1950s restaurant dining room really turns things upside down. The photo shows signs of a terrifying figure standing on the trolley stairs, believed to be a train conductor.
Place: Vancouver, BC
5. Hockey Hall of Fame
Before serving as the temple of Canadian hockey, the building was once the Bank of Montreal. Folklore has it that a destitute bank accountant named Dorothy died after the bank manager rejected her romantic advances. Dorothy’s ghost is now claimed to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame, with some visitors claiming they heard unexplained sounds of a woman crying throughout the building.
Place: Toronto, Ontario
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6. Craigdarroch Castle
Built in the 1890s for coal miner Robert Dunsmuir and his family, this Victorian-era mansion has become an unusual tourist destination in Canada. There have been frequent stories of pianos playing on their own and sightings of an ominous white woman. Many hold Dunsmuir’s untimely death a year before the building’s completion to be responsible for the castle’s mysterious leanings.
Place: Victoria, B.C.
7. Plains of Abraham
In 1759, Major General James Wolfe and British troops conducted a three-month blockade against French forces of Quebec City, resulting in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Being one of the most prominent skirmishes in Canadian history, it is no surprise that ghostly soldiers have been seen in many fields and tunnels. Both Wolfe and French Major General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm were killed in the battle—and we can’t help but wonder if their minds are still alive fighting this battle today.
Place: Quebec City, Quebec
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8. Maritime Museum of BC
Dearly Departed loves the town that’s slyly referred to as the “Newlyweds and Almost Dead” place. The Maritime Museum, once the site of the city’s prison and guillotine, is located in Victoria’s famous Bastion Square. Some say that when you look through the windows of the museum door, you can see a shadowy, pale Van Dyke-bearded figure descending the main staircase. It is believed to be the mysterious ghost of Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, Victoria’s infamous “hanging judge”.
Place: Victoria, B.C.
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9. West Point Lighthouse
The image of a lighthouse shrouded in darkness evokes all kinds of scary forebodings. Reports have long been circulating that the first lighthouse keeper, Willie, lives at the nearby West Point Lighthouse Inn. Talk about service you would never want!
Place: O’Leary, PEI
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10. Beacon Hill Park
This 200-acre park was established in 1882 and is a gem of downtown Victoria. The park was named after two masts on a hill, which act as a lighthouse for sailors approaching the city’s inner harbour. Gorgeous and well-kept, with overpasses, lakes, creeks and lawns, Beacon Hill Park also has dark gardens. The Screaming Doppelganger appears on a rocky cliff near the Douglas Street and Superior Street corner. It is the ghost of a woman who was murdered in the vicinity and is often seen at sunrise.
Place: Victoria, B.C.
11. St. Ann’s Academy
Ann Academy is a former convent school now fully owned by BC, and is located on Humboldt Street in Victoria. It was the first Roman Catholic cathedral in Victoria, constructed in 1858 and then transferred to the school in 1886. People claimed that the nuns were wandering in the grounds early in the morning. After all, the original cemetery remains on the grounds, and nine sisters are buried inside. Visitors also said they saw a glimpse of Emily Carr, the famous Victorian artist and writer. Emily Carr is said to haunt several locations in the city, such as her Government Street home and the James Bay Inn.
Place: Victoria BC
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12. Hatley Castle
Hatley Castle is situated in the middle of the Royal Roads University grounds, Hatley Park. The palace was completed in 1908 and currently serves as the administrative center of the university. If Hatley Castle looks familiar, you’ve probably seen it in both film and TV. It was most notably featured in the X-Men series. Although it is not home to mutants, the residence is haunted by the Dunsmuir family who built it. Personnel reported some very unpleasant incidents. These include a white figure flowing into the building, a woman pulling the blankets of sleeping cadets, the sound of pots and pans.
Place: Victoria BC
13. St. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University was originally created in 1853 and merged with Mount St. Bernard College (a local Catholic girls’ school) in 1894. It was one of the nuns working at Mount St. Bernard who fell in love and had a relationship. With the priest of St. Francis Xavier. Since his religion forbade this kind of thing, he was humiliated. It was reported that, unable to live with the guilt, she committed suicide by jumping from the balcony at Gilmore Hall. Staff and students now call them the Blue Nuns. She is believed to haunt the halls and residences of the campus, turning on taps, knocking on doors, knocking over books and sometimes even manifesting herself!
Place: Antigonish, Nova Scotia
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14. Dunvegan Provincial Park
Many paranormal activities are claimed at the site of Dunvegan Provincial Park, one of the first fur trading posts in Alberta. One of the most common accounts is that of the ghost of a woman who is believed to have died one fateful night while searching for her husband during an endless snow storm. Several eyewitness reports claimed that a lantern was seen flickering at some distance from where the woman’s body was found.
Place: Fairview, Alberta
15. Government House
One of Canada’s most notorious haunted houses – recently renovated to its former splendor in 1890, Government House was the estate of the former Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan. Today, guests can take tours and enjoy its history and distinctive architecture. If you’re lucky (or unlucky), you might stumble across one of its resident ghosts! A ghost named “Howie” may be waiting for you, as his ghost has been seen frequently, mainly in the kitchen. She is suspected to be the ghost of the former cook of Archibald Peter McNab, who was Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan from 1936 to 1945. Howie is also suspected to be the source of ghostly footsteps, doors opening and closing, and movement of objects.
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Already excited? Plan a trip to the United States and head to Canada to experience the spooky renditions of those horror stories you love reading in the dark of night. There are many more haunted places that are not mentioned here, and who knows, maybe that cute little inn you stay at during your trip will become another addition to this list!
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