Haunted walks and tours in Toronto and the GTA

by Jeff Cottrill

Toronto and its surrounding suburbs may look like pretty clean, safe places ... but who knows what dark secrets lurk underneath the surface? Actually, the guides who run the haunted walks know. They can tell you all about the murders and executions of the past and the lingering, restless spirits that still walk the earth as a result. This Halloween, explore the creepier side of the Greater Toronto Area’s history on one or more of the following haunted walking tours. You’ll hear some great spooky stories, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll make contact with someone on the other side. [Photo of Mount Pleasant Cemetary via iStock]

The Original Haunted Walk of Toronto
For more than twenty years, The Haunted Walk’s cloak-clad, lantern-carrying guides have led groups among downtown Toronto’s spookiest places, including haunted theatres, historical sites, the Hockey Hall of Fame and more. Around Halloween, some tours will also explore mysterious Mackenzie House, the last residence of Toronto’s first mayor and reputed to be one of Canada’s most haunted buildings.

• When: Daily until November 25
• Starting point: Hockey Hall of Fame
• Price: $19.75 adults, $16.75 youths aged 10 to 17, free for children under 10 (must be accompanied by an adult); special Mackenzie House tours are $21.75 to $23.75 for adults, $18.75 for youths
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Ghost Walks: Toronto North
By “north,” this tour means the University of Toronto area, not Willowdale. But there are plenty of scary stories to be shared around University College, Trinity College, Queen’s Park, the Soldiers’ Tower and Regis College – the latter being the former Christie Mansion, where one of the cookie heirs may have kept his mistress locked in a secret room until she killed herself.

• When: Fridays and Saturdays until October 28
• Starting point: Ontario Legislature
• Price: $17 adults, $15 seniors, $10 kids under 14
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Ghosts and Spirits of the Distillery
This Haunted Walk tour explores the historic Distillery District, which – with its Dickensian buildings and cobblestones – is the perfect setting for some nineteenth-century ghost stories by lantern light. Presumably, you will become acquainted with the tale of James Worts, who drowned himself in the area out of grief for his wife, and of the gruesome hanging apparition at the former Boiler House.

• When: Fridays and Saturdays until November 11; Thursdays until October 26
• Starting point: Segway of Ontario
• Price: $19.75 to $21.75 adults, $16.75 to $18.75 youths aged 10 to 17, free for children under 10 (must be accompanied by an adult)
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Haunted High Park
Toronto’s biggest park has its own share of ghostly rumours, with sightings ranging from old-timey soldiers to a mysterious man in black. Colborne Lodge (said to be haunted by its former mistress) is holding this tour that explores the area’s allegedly supernatural connections, and for a little extra cash, you can also join a Victorian-style séance by Doc Wuthergloom of Eldritch Theatre inside the Lodge.

• When: October 19 to 20, 22, 27 to 29 for adults; October 21 and 26 for families
• Starting point: Colborne Lodge
• Price: Adult tour: $20; Family tour: $15 adults, $7.50 children
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The Haunted Walk Experience at Black Creek Pioneer Village
The Haunted Walk folks also guide a tour of this group of authentic pioneer houses and buildings from around the province, and if the spirits don’t scare you away before it’s over, you’ll receive a souvenir flashlight. The original Stong residence and the Burwick house are two of the buildings rumoured to have long-term supernatural residents.

• When: Saturdays until November 4; and daily October 27 to 31
• Starting point: Black Creek Pioneer Village
• Price: $24.75 to $29.75 adults, $24.75 to $29.75 youths 17 and under
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Ghost Walks: Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake isn’t just the home of the Shaw Festival; it’s been called Canada’s most haunted town, which makes sense when you consider that the War of 1812 was fought here. Ghost Walks guides you to such paranormal centres as the Prince of Wales Hotel, the Royal George Theatre and the Angel Inn. Perhaps you’ll even hear the cries of Sobbing Sophia, General Isaac Brock’s long-gone widow.

• When: Daily until October 31; Fridays and Saturdays through November and December
• Starting point: Ghost Walks Gift Shop
• Price: $15 adults, $10 seniors, $5 kids under 14
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Ghost Tours of Fort George
Candlelit haunted tours of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s War of 1812 fort start in May, but it’s near Halloween when the guides let you explore the officers’ quarters and tell stories they deem “too frightening” for the summer walks. It’s said that the spirits of soldiers haunt the fort, as well as a lady in old-fashioned clothes. Highly recommended by the Ontario Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society.

• When: October 13 to 29, Friday to Sunday; daily October 30 and 31
• Starting point: Fort George
• Price: $20
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Burlington Ghost Walks
Burlington may not seem very spooky, but this series of haunted tours has been running since 2001, and won acclaim from the Toronto Star and Ontario Tourism. Paranormal investigator Patrick Cross leads you to many sites, presumably including Ireland House, Paletta Mansion and the docks where Jem Horner supposedly still screams in pain.

• When: October 13, 20 to 21, 26 to 29, 31
• Starting point: Emma’s Back Porch
• Price: $12
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Ghost Walks: Downtown Hamilton
Ghost Walks is hosting a handful of Hamilton tours this year, to keep up with Steeltown’s ample haunts. This one wanders the streets and alleys of the downtown core, stopping at such places as Whitehern Mansion, Royal Connaught Hotel, Pigott Building and Hamilton Place Theatre ... and it will fill you in on how Jack the Ripper himself may have begun his killing career here in the 1850s.

• When: October 14 and 26
• Starting point: Royal Connaught Courtyard, corner of John Street and King Street East
• Price: $15 adults, $13 seniors, $10 kids under 14
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St. Catharines Full Moon Ghost Walk
The St. Catharines Downtown Association leads you around the most haunted sites of Church, Ontario and Yates Streets. This family-friendly tour takes little more than an hour, so your feet shouldn’t get too tired. Stops include the old courthouse and its fountain, the site of the Russell Hotel and the apartment where the notorious St. Catharines Poltergeist terrified the Page family in 1970.

• When: Friday to Sunday, October 13 to 28 and October 24
• Starting point: Market Square
• Price: $10
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Oakville Historical Society Ghost Walks
Oakville’s historical-preservation group follows its hour-long tour with free refreshments, while guides dress up as real people from the town’s past. Long-gone personalities you’ll meet in story form – and maybe in spirit form? – during the tour include Mary Sumner, Esther Thomas and ship captain Robert Wilson; the latter helped American slaves reach their freedom in Canada.

• When: Monday to Saturday, October 16 to 30
• Starting point: Oakville Historical Society
• Price: $12 adults and teens, $6 children under 13
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Haunted Mississauga
This annual heritage tour runs for only one evening, but you still get your choice of seven different start times, and you can enjoy hot refreshments to boot. Founded in 2002 by the late Terry Boyle, author of the Haunted Ontario books, the event has evolved into a full theatrical tour with volunteer actors playing notable folks from Mississauga’s history.

• When: October 13
• Starting point: Trinity Anglican Cemetery
• Price: $5 adults, $3 seniors and youths
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All Hallows’ Eve Tours at Old Fort Erie
Another historical fort from the War of 1812 days – and the site of a very brutal battle that left more than two thousand soldiers dead – Old Fort Erie provides a guided Halloween tour with ghost stories and seasonal traditions, followed by the burning of a Guy Fawkes effigy and a themed movie. You may even spot one of the two ghostly soldiers reputed to wander the battlefield.

• When: October 21, 27 and 28
• Starting point: Old Fort Erie
• Price: $13.84 adults, $8.98 children aged 6 to 12
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Peterborough Downtown Ghost Walk
Organized by Trent Valley Archives, which preserves historical archives in the region, this walk features costumed guides lighting the way to Peterborough’s haunted buildings by lantern. Runs rain or shine, except in extreme weather. Hope for a stop at the famous Peterborough Lift Lock, which is reputed to be haunted by a woman who was burned to death and some other spirits.

• When: October 19 to 20, 23 to 26
• Starting point: Confederation Park
• Price: $17
• Schedule
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