Haunted Toronto
Ghost Stories from Ontario's Capital City
The answer to that depends on whether or not you think it is, says Richard Fiennes-Clinton, founder of Muddy York Walking Tours.
“If you use your imagination, you will have a lot more fun.” he says.
Haunted Tours
Fiennes-Clinton sets out daily on one or more of 15 different tours, including The Haunted Streets of Downtown Toronto and The Ghosts of the University of Toronto.
With his red hair in a black top hat with matching cape and gloves, Fiennes-Clinton takes groups around to different locations and tells eerie stories of omens, betrayals and deaths.
Fiennes-Clinton says he believes some stories more than others, but is most drawn to the story of “Celeste,” a little girl in a white dress with long blonde hair. “Celeste” roams the McLaughlin Planetarium beside the Royal Ontario Museum, says Fiennes-Clinton. Although he has not seen the girl, he says a tour participant once informed him that a little girl in a white dress with long blonde hair was standing on the stairs to the planetarium before he had told the crowd the story of “Celeste.”
Don't get Scared
Fiennes-Clinton, who has been running tours for 10 years, says he tries to stay objective about the stories and not discuss whether or not there are physical explanations. He explains that he wouldn't want to get so scared of the stories himself that he couldn't do the tours anymore.
However, tour participants still seem to cringe and squirm during the stories.
“It’s good to see the creepy side of Toronto,” says participant Imran Pirani.
Ghost Research
There are around 300 ghost stories about the city says Mathew Didier, Director and Founder of The Toronto and Ontario Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society.
Didier founded the nonprofit group in 1997 after having personal experience with strange phenomena in his own house. His father died of a heart attack in the master bedroom, as had the previous two owners of the house, he says. Other events followed, including hearing power tools and a radio in the workshop which would stop when someone entered, he says.
Although Didier says he believes in ghostly phenomena, he doesn’t think all strange occurrences are the result of the dead.
“There seems to be varying levels of what people are experiencing,” says Didier, who goes to two or three paranormal observations a month.
Looking for a Spirit
It may be hard to tell if you do see a ghost, as Didier says the majority don’t look particularly strange.
“I’m sorry, the sheet-wearing, transparent specter is non-existent,” he says.
Unless, of course, it’s Halloween.
Richard Fiennes-Clinton on a haunted Toronto tour
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