I was sitting at my computer, slapping at the keyboard in a frantic effort to set up interviews, edit whatever, take words out, put words in, scribble an illustration, when my blessed editor Greg, probably exhausted from talking to a glorious and endless stream of new volunteers about what exactly we do here at Nexus, approached me.
“So, what are your plans for the Halloween issue?” he asked.
He continued with a list of what we did in previous issues, giving me suggestions, talking about ghost hunting… I started looking around the office. The lights were flickering. Bats were screeching outside. A chill autumn breeze was blowing through the room although the windows were closed (and the office was already cold as it was). A thousand spirits began singing old hymns, pumpkins sprouted from the floorboards, and spiders crept up the walls. And Greg kept talking.
We decided, finally, to explore some of the most haunted areas of Victoria and create Nexus’ own special ghost guide for students. The hymns stopped. There was no autumn breeze, no bats, no pumpkins. I got to work.
After slogging through a rapid and yet dreadfully slow beginning of the school year, I needed the break to go lurk in a graveyard or communicate with the dead. So begins my ghost hunting extravaganza. After much research, I’ve found the top spots for spooktacular ghost sightings in Victoria, and our journey starts in Fan Tan Alley.
Fan Tan Alley is small—I’m surprised that it has one of Victoria’s best ghost stories. The story here is that Chan, a man in Chinatown, had killed a woman in the alley after she rejected his advances. There are variants of the story in which she’s either a prostitute (very possible, as the alley was originally home to brothels) or a very pretty woman that he proposed to. Today, visitors in the alley may feel him violently push past them as he runs through. Fan Tan Alley is already a transformative experience to go through, and you can definitely feel the history in your bones. The ghost of Chan is just another addition to a very intense experience. My rating here is that it’s very spooky, but that could just be the claustrophobia and shifting perspective while walking down the alley giving me a fright.
Market Square is the next haunted hot spot to hit up, as it’s still haunted by the ghosts of the brothel workers that originally resided there (yeah, there’s a bit of a theme here). If you sit in the centre of Market Square, you might hear the footsteps of saloon patrons and ladies of the night from eras past. Apparently, a murder occurred in this very area back in the late 1800s. This spot is highly recommended to visit in the early evening as opposed to later, before the outdoor patios at the restaurants start blaring their music, which the ghosts certainly don’t appreciate. One funny thing about ghosts is that they’re actually quite shy, and stay away from loud noises… or maybe we just can’t hear them. This one gets a reasonable rating on my spook list, but the area absorbs a lot of sound, so it requires the perfect time and place to visit.
Bastion Square is another necessary landmark to hit. This is definitely a favourite of mine, as it connects the modern with the old. Originally, the backyard of a jail built there was used as the spot to watch public hangings. Now, the square is filled with offices for lawyers (plus the market). With the sound of footsteps, maybe a few thrown objects in the court building, the executed folks show that they’re, evidently, still bitter over their deaths. As a nice bonus, Bastion Square houses the building that used to hold the Maritime Museum, declared Victoria’s most haunted building. Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie, the “Hanging Judge,” likes to hang out in the building, reminiscing about the executions and such in his area. Even if I didn’t see any spooky ghosts, the history of the area is morbid enough to give me the creeps, and seeing how empty it is in the night certainly provides the chilling atmosphere needed for ghost hunting. Meanwhile, Garrick’s Pub, the place where you would go for a drink before watching the hangings, is haunted by former owner Michael Powers. He likes to warm himself by the fire, which makes me think that he’s probably the best ghost to get along with.
There’s also Helmcken Alley, where prisoners would be kept before being hanged. Apparently, one of the prisoners was beaten to death as he was being transported from point A to point B, and you can still hear his chains rattling as he walks through the place he is eternally doomed to wander. Yikes.
As a quick detour, if you’re going along Government, you can dip into the original Roger’s Chocolates, where the ghosts of Charles Rogers and his wife Leah often visit. While Leah is a bit easier to get along with (she likes rearranging the chocolate on display), Charles is notable for pranking the workers and “misplacing” his less favoured chocolates. The workers would definitely have stories to tell, but Charles Rogers reserves his tormenting for the employees, not the customers. Not cool, Charlie.
The Empress and Legislature Buildings have to share their ghost—the architect Francis Rattenbury, who can be described as being a real creep. At the Empress, he tends to hang around the staircases going down to the lower lobby, or walk through the lobby halls. How he got here, considering he’s buried in England, I don’t know, but he’s probably admiring his own work and criticizing the modern updates (rest in peace, ivy on the walls! Gone but never forgotten). He obviously has a favourite, as the most I’ve heard for the Legislature is that sometimes he’s in one of the windows. His face appeared to me in one of the Empress windows, but maybe that was just a trick of the eyes. Rattenbury has his own misfortunes, after being stabbed to death by his second wife’s lover, but he also had his own affairs, so should you really feel that sorry for him? (Probably—the guy got stabbed, after all.) The Empress obviously gets a higher rating for actually being haunted.
Actually, the Empress has a few other ghosts. For example, there’s some lost old woman asking for directions (which isn’t that odd), and her story is a bit of a tear-jerker. Initially, she haunted the room she rented out, but since then the room has been demolished. With nowhere to actually stay, she looks around for her old haunting grounds again. She gets a special rating, because I hate the idea of having my private room taken from me. She’s also brave enough to ask people for directions, which I can’t do. There’s also a maid, still doing her duty after a century of being dead, and the shadow of a hanged man on one of the ceilings (in a room since converted to a luxury suite).
Speaking of areas in Victoria sharing ghosts, guess what St. Ann’s, Beacon Hill Park, and the Emily Carr House have in common? They’re haunted by the same ghost, and using your powers of deduction, I bet you figured it’s none other than Victoria’s favourite painter, Emily Carr herself. In fact, there are even more areas she visits.
St. Ann’s Academy is an already gruesome and uncomfortable building to even look at. It’s said to have the ghosts of nuns walk across the campus on early mornings, just before sunrise, and Carr can be seen in the building’s windows in the dead of night. This is another one of my favourites because of how out of place it is. Victoria is a real quilt of all things historically Victorian, but St. Ann’s really captures that darker side of the city. Its ornate architecture and imposing size make me cringe just thinking of it. As a bonus, if you get there early enough to see the nuns making their rounds, the blood-red sunrise really sets the tone for the building. For an extra, extra bonus, sometimes there’s a lone bell toll, when no one should be operating it.
Beacon Hill Park, which is said to have a ghost doppelganger who screams in silence (I swear I heard her, but it could have been a peacock), also has its own visits from Carr and her little pet monkey Woo. There are plenty of stories of a seemingly corporeal woman in Victorian garb with a monkey on a leash, or her shoulder, walking through the park. Perhaps she’s looking for some inspiration, or mourning the loss of what used to be a natural burial ground. There was also the case of the aforementioned Beacon Hill Doppelganger, where a woman with dark skin and light hair was seen with arms outstretched to the sky near Southgate and Douglas. A few years later, in the same spot, a body was found, and a woman with light skin and dark hair mimicked the same gesture as the earlier woman.
Of course the most obvious choice for Carr to haunt is her own house. This one requires a tour of the residence, where you might witness visions of a solemn woman walking through the building. Plus, whenever workers are trying to hang up new pictures, Carr just happens to take them down again… And when I say take them down, it’s more like throwing them down. I guess she likes things the way she left them. While Carr’s house is more for the enthusiasts, St. Ann’s and Beacon Hill have more opportunities for multiple ghost sightings.
Carr also stayed at the James Bay Inn, where she suffered two strokes, the second of which ultimately killed her. Her portrait hangs so all the visitors can pay their respects, and if visitors don’t pay their respects—or if they make rude comments about her art—she’ll make sure they get an extra spooking. She also watches everyone in the building, which leads to a bit of paranoia from the visitors. This is one of my higher ratings, as I relate to petty ghosts.
Craigdarroch Castle is my absolute favourite for a few reasons, one of them being the classic case of a piano playing by itself. But I also like the building because it’s full of history. Being a military hospital, music conservatory, college, and government building at various times, there are plenty of souls that wander through the castle. Joan White, Robert Dunsmuir’s wife, often wanders the building, and she brings the smell of burning candles with her, even when there aren’t any around. She might play the piano for a little while, or just look out the window. The absolute best part of Craigdarroch is that you can take a virtual tour to look for her. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home for some ghost hunting!
Probably the biggest shock to me was the Victoria Golf Course. A woman who was killed by her husband hangs around the seventh hole, either dressed in a brown suit or an all-white gown. The superstition with her is that if an unmarried couple sees her, that couple will not marry. “The April Ghost,” as she’s known, gets a good rating from me—I respect the bitterness she has.
I also want to give attention to the Bent Mast, which, while now a pub, used to be a brothel and erotic art gallery. There’s a series of ghosts here, including a gross, perverted, and grumpy old man, a young child, and a kind matron figure. What a cast! Like with the Fan Tan Alley ghost, visitors feel like they’re getting dizzy and pushed around, usually on the second floor. Big shout-out to this one for its history and ghosts actually doing something a little more than wandering.
For our honourable mentions, the first one goes to Old Morris Tobacconist.The upstairs area has creaking floorboards, slamming cupboards, bursting light bulbs, and a mysterious smoke emitting from the window. That’s definitely not a cigar, we swear.
The original Murchie’s Tea and Coffee has its basement poltergeist, who often throws the stock around and has been seen enjoying an elevator ride. Evidently, technology has come a really long way since his time.
The Tapa Bar in Trounce Alley has its own sightings of a period-dressed prostitute, who can be seen hiding under the tables. That’s just weird, but I appreciate that she’s trying.
Helmcken House has perhaps the most classic spooky tale, as John Sebastian Helmcken’s daughter Dolly can be heard playing piano into the late hours. She is also known for wandering around (like every other ghost), but an unseen figure playing piano is definitely a more memorable story.
The Royal Theatre deserves a special mention, and a good rating, as the ghost of a murdered theatre-goer haunts there. They were stabbed to death (yeah, there’s a lot of that), so witnesses today may see a lone man and get a feeling of being stabbed themselves. If you’re going to be a ghost, you should at least make it an immersive experience, after all.
The Point Ellice House deserves a mention, as the O’Reilly family who lived there still gives tours to visitors. That’s right, ghost tours from an actual ghost. It’s fitting, and it’s a very polite thing to do when your soul is cursed to the same home for eternity.
Ross Bay Cemetery has many ghosts that still visit their graves. You can get a wide variety of ghosts, which is nice, and the cemetery has its own tours every Sunday, with the topic changing each time. Drop in soon for some Halloween-appropriate themes!
The biggest honourable mention goes to the ghostly deer I met on Mount Tolmie. Far off from downtown, I know, but if you saw a nearly albino deer literally just appear in the middle of the road and begin walking off, dissolving in the process, you’d want to find him again. This was a sight that I wasn’t even looking to witness, but it really goes to show that ghosts often appear when you least expect them to.
Overall, the thing I learned most from these ghost-hunting experiences is that Victoria is a pretty gruesome city, yes, but it’s more than that. The most exciting part of exploring Victoria is beyond the ghosts and the history. There’s something about seeing your city in a new light; it feels as though you’ve transported yourself to another world. Going out at night with a bunch of friends (highly recommended, as downtown Victoria is much scarier when you’re in reality and alone, not in the supernatural realm with pals), looking for evidence of lost souls trying to communicate with you gives you a new outlook and appreciation for the place you live in.
It makes me ask, why do we want to witness these spirits? Is it to be closer to the history of the land? Is it for a good scare? Is it a sign of our greater human want to speak to what cannot be contacted? Does it make us feel like we’re part of a greater, non-physical universe, where we can witness stories centuries older than us and still appreciate them?
Whether you’re looking for a good scare for the Halloween spirit, or you really want to know the stories behind each ghost, Victoria has no shortage of ghostly go-tos. It’s really marvelous how rich the history behind this city is, and there are so many ghosts here it could make a cynic believe they exist. So this Halloween season, grab a friend and a copy of Nexus, get out there, and find some ghosts! They definitely want to share their stories, or at least screw around with your head for a little while.