Strangely, there exist numerous fascinating locations that are haunted in Canada. From castle-like motels to seafood restaurants to ordinary parks, eerie phenomena, apparitions, and ethereal beings roam freely. From battlefields to fortresses, there are several historical attractions considered as haunted places in Canada, with many spine-chilling tales based upon them.
15 Haunted Places In Canada
We have handpicked the most hair-raising places that Canada has to offer, so that you can discover if any of these spooky narratives have something special to offer. Here are the haunted locations in Canada – are you courageous enough to pay them a visit?
1. Keg Mansion
At present, this establishment is one of the many branches of the Keg steakhouse franchise. However, the Keg Mansion was once the private residence of the tycoon Hart Massey and his family. According to the tale, in 1915, after the passing of Lillian, Massey’s beloved daughter, one of the housekeepers was so despondent that she took her own life by hanging. Another version of the story suggests that the maid committed suicide out of fear that her rumored relationship with Massey would be exposed. Regardless, the ghostly apparition of a maid hanging from her neck has been spotted over the years by more than one visitor to the Keg Mansion.
Location: Toronto, Ontario
2. Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
Did the Bates Motel in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho or the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining scare you? The Banff Springs Hotel might just be one of Canada’s most picturesque hotels, but it is also renowned for being incredibly haunted. Constructed in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway, this hotel is home to numerous spine-chilling ghostly encounters, including reports of a murdered family in room 873 and a bride who tragically fell down the hotel’s grand staircase to her death. Additionally, a retired bellman named Sam McAuley has continued to haunt the hotel while wearing his full uniform.
Location: Banff, Alberta
3. Fairmont Chateau Laurier
Magnate Charles Melville Hays employed Fairmount Château Laurier but tragically passed away a few days before the grand opening of the hotel in 1912 on board the Titanic. Since then, the presence of Hays has been widely speculated to be observed wandering around the property. If we had invested our time and finances in the construction of the extravagant castle, only to perish a few days before its completion, we would probably be inclined to return.
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
4. The Old Spaghetti Factory
It appears that the apparition of a locomotive operator still haunts this renowned restaurant established on the former underground track. Inexplicably cold gusts and mysteriously rearranged table configurations serve as the departed conductor’s distinctive mark. Truly turning things topsy-turvy is a photograph of the dismantled electric trolley in the dining area of the restaurant in the 1950s. The picture reveals traces of an eerie figure, presumed to be the train conductor, standing on the trolley steps.
Location: Vancouver, B.C.
5. Hockey Hall of Fame
Before becoming the shrine of Canadian hockey, this edifice was formerly the Bank of Montreal. Legend has it that a desolate bank accountant named Dorothy met her demise after the bank manager rejected her amorous advances. The ghost of Dorothy is now believed to reside in the Hockey Hall of Fame, with some visitors claiming to have heard incomprehensible sounds of sobbing from a woman throughout the building.
Location: Toronto, Ontario
6. Craigdarroch Castle
Established in the 1890s for coal miner Robert Dunsmuir and his family, this mansion of the Victorian era has become an uncommon tourist destination in Canada. Tales of a piano playing by itself and sightings of a foreboding white woman have frequently been reported. Many attribute the mystical inclination of the castle to Dunsmuir’s untimely death a year before the construction was completed.
Location: Victoria, British Columbia
7. Plains of Abraham
In 1759, Major General James Wolfe and British soldiers carried out a three-month siege against the French army of Quebec City, resulting in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Being the site of one of the most significant skirmishes in Canadian history, it is unsurprising that ghostly soldiers have been observed in numerous fields and tunnels. Both Wolfe and French Major General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm were slain in the battle—and we can’t help but wonder if their spirits are still battling this conflict today.
Location: Quebec City, Quebec
8. Maritime Museum of British Columbia
The departed souls appear to have an affinity for the city playfully referred to as the “newly-wed and almost-dead” place. The Maritime Museum, formerly the location of the city’s prison and guillotine, is situated in Victoria’s renowned Bastion Square. Some individuals claim that when you gaze through the windows at the entrance to the museum, you can catch sight of a shadowy, agile figure with a Van Dyke beard swiftly descending the main staircase. It is believed to be the enigmatic apparition of Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, the notorious “Hanging Judge” of Victoria.
Location: Victoria, British Columbia
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