By Sarah Sussman
With Halloween just around the corner, now is the time to get out and explore some of the spookiest digs in the city. Edmonton is home to quite a few ghostly inhabitants who have made their presence known at hotels, historic sites and more. Here’s where you can find them – if you dare. [Photo credit: Darren Kirby]
La Bohème Restaurant Bed and Breakfast is located in the city’s northeast in the historic Gibbard Block. The building was built in 1912 as a luxury apartment building that was also the crime scene for a brutal murder that some say still haunts the site to this day.
The story goes that one of the building’s former caretakers murdered his wife and dragged her body down the stairwell so he could cremate it in the furnace. Employees and guests have reported all sorts of paranormal activity including flickering lights, tugging on bedsheets and (probably the spookiest of all) the sound of a body being dragged down the stairway.
One of the most luxurious hotels in Edmonton is also supposedly one of the most haunted. The century-old historic Fairmont Hotel Macdonald is a hub for guests – both living and dead. It's been said that the sixth floor of the hotel has a mischief-making ghost who likes to call the front desk. When staff go to investigate the source of the call, they always discover the room is vacant.
Guests on the eighth floor often hear the ghost of a horse galloping through the hallway. As reported by the Edmonton Sun, the ghost is believed to be that of a horse that died from exhaustion in 1914 while the hotel was being built.
And if you’re staying in an executive suite, keep your eyes out for a man sitting and smoking a pipe. The ghost is believed to be the spirit of the “boatman” who sailed the North Saskatchewan River in 1913.
The former CKUA building on Jasper Avenue is supposedly haunted by a building caretaker for the 1950s named Sam who likes smoking cigars and singing opera music. The story goes that Sam was lobotomized after he threatened to kill the premier. Sam likes to hang out near the main control room – but if you smell cigar smoke, it’s a sure sign he’s near.
Located on the University of Alberta’s main campus, Pembina Hall is said to be home to ghosts of nurses and soldiers from the First World War. During the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the residence was converted into a hospital where at least 72 people died.
As reported by the Edmonton Journal, people walking through Pembina Hall have had reported ghostly encounters with soldiers and a lady dressed in an old-fashioned nurse uniform.
This historic Whyte Avenue cinema screens movies with an unexpected side of paranormal activity. The former rooming house is said to be the last home of a woman who hung herself after being jilted at the altar by her lover. The ghost of a woman dressed in white has been reported in the theatre’s projection room and has also been seen walking around the lobby and down the staircase.
Despite being vacant for years, the Edmonton General Hospital is still home to many undead. It’s been reported that the old B-wing of the hospital still smells like sick people. And visitors have reported hearing cries of children coming from the old pediatrics floor.
If you dare go down to the basement, you might encounter the ghost of a construction worker who was killed on site. And a lady has been known to wander the halls crying for her dead child. If you approach her, she’ll disappear.
For a bone-chilling late night adventure, head to the Mt Pleasant Cemetery on the south side. The site is said to be home to all sorts of undead and visitors have reported sightings of ghost children and unexplainable hazy lights.
The most notoriously chilling haunt in the city, the Charles Camsell Hospital was an institutionalized hospital for First Nations patients in Alberta who had tuberculosis. There are all sorts of horrifying stories about the experiments performed on the patients, as well as an alleged mass grave for children and infants that died in the hospital (this allegation has been denied by officials).
The hospital closed in 1968 and even though the building is vacant, it’s still said to be home to all sorts of ghosts. The Huffington Post reports that people have claimed to hear cries in the building and have also reported feeling watched from the building’s windows.
If you’re looking for a fright this year on Halloween, get out and explore Edmonton’s haunted hot spots and dive head first into the unsettling parts of the city's history they don’t teach you in school. And if you’re lucky (or not), you may land yourself a ghostly encounter.
