Haunted Places in Toronto and in Vancouver

University College
The U of T campus’ most famous ghost, a Russian stone mason named Ivan Reznikoff, may still wander the halls here. He was supposedly murdered by a fellow mason who was cuckolding him, Paul Diabolos, during construction of the College in the 1850s; Diabolos buried the corpse under a stairwell, where it was found after a fire in 1890. Look for the axe mark (which Reznikoff allegedly made during the fight) on the door next to Croft Chapter House, plus the two spooky gargoyles outside of Croft Chapter House: one is reputedly Reznikoff, the other Diabolos laughing at him.

Royal Ontario Museum
The ROM is said to be haunted by its original director, Dr. Charles Currelly, clad in a nightshirt and wandering through the East Asiatic section. In addition, the now-closed McLaughlin Planetarium next door is rumoured to host a sad little girl spirit who used to sit among the seats, watching the shows with living audience members.

 

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
Toronto’s main LGBTQ theatre space, which was once a warehouse, is said to house a poltergeist that causes bumps in the night, along with mysterious footsteps and various cold spots.

The Keg Mansion
This popular restaurant on Jarvis was once home to the fabled Massey family. It was in the main foyer that a grief-stricken housemaid hung herself from the oval vestibule after the death of Lillian Massey – and a few Keg patrons have reported seeing a gruesome hanging apparition there. Additionally, phantom children’s voices and laughter have been heard from the upper floors.

Osgoode Hall
Osgoode is the headquarters for both the Law Society of Upper Canada and the provincial Supreme Court. It’s also, reportedly, the eternal home of a ghostly woman seen walking along the halls, as well as a chatting group of people in an empty chamber – the doors of which are known to slam by themselves whenever somebody outside the room hears these invisible voices.

 

Lower Bay Station
This hidden subway station just below Bay is used mainly for storage and film shoots, but there’s one TTC passenger who still rides by on occasion: a ghostly lady in a long red dress, said to float along the rails near the tunnel entrances. Most eerily, she doesn’t appear to have any legs – and one source says she has “black holes” where her eyes should be.

Tunnel between York Mills and Sheppard Stations
More than five hundred years ago, the Huron and Iroquois tribes fought each other in the area now known as Hogg’s Hollow. Today, it’s been reported that if you’re in the subway tunnel below where the war occurred, late at night after the last train has left, you may hear ghostly voices reciting an ancient Iroquois prayer for the dead – and also the sounds of wailing, crying and distant battle drums.

Hockey Hall of Fame
The hockey shrine’s current building, which once housed a Bank of Montreal branch, is famously reputed to be haunted by Dorothy Mae Elliott, a nineteen-year-old bank teller who shot herself in the upstairs ladies’ washroom in 1953. Employees and visitors have encountered flickering lights, doors and windows opening and closing by themselves and even the sounds of moaning or screaming. Some employees have refused to go to the upstairs floor due to eerie feelings of being watched.

College Park
It’s on the seventh floor of this unfinished art-deco building from the 1920s where the ghost (or ghosts) is said to roam, especially in and around the auditorium and nearby staircases. Among the reported phenomena are the unexplained sounds of footsteps, whistling and a woman’s voice speaking to nobody in particular.

Fairmont Royal York Hotel
Downtown T.O.’s classiest hotel reputedly has two guests who simply refuse to check out. One is the spirit of a grey-haired man, wearing a maroon smoking jacket and wandering around the eighth floor; the other is a hotel employee who hung himself from a stairwell railing on one of the top floors. Weird noises, such as loud footsteps and even screams, have been reported from that particular stairwell.

Casa Loma
Toronto’s famous modern castle looks as if it ought to be haunted, but firm, substantiated reports have been rare to date. Still, a few staff members and visitors claim to have had weird experiences there; there are a few reports of the mysterious sound of trotting horses within the underground tunnels.