Haunted Dark History Night Walking Tour Toronto

The Hockey Hall of Fame courtyard and the financial district

The Original Haunted Walk begins in the courtyard in front of the Hockey Hall of Fame, at the corner of Front Street and Yonge Street. The ornate stone building at its heart was built in 1885 as a branch of the Bank of Montreal, with a carved facade and a domed banking hall, and it carries one of the best-known ghost stories in the city, the tale of a young bank teller who is said never to have left.

From here your cloaked guide leads the group through the financial district after dark. Between the modern towers, older banks and offices survive from the nineteenth century, and the guide explains how this quiet business quarter grew from the small town of York. It is a striking contrast, glass skyscrapers above and centuries-old stories at street level, and the perfect start to a Toronto ghost tour.

The old town and its haunted theatres

The walk then heads into the old town, the historic core where Toronto's first streets, markets, courthouses and gallows stood. Your guide tells of early epidemics, public hangings and forgotten graveyards that lie beneath today's pavements, which is why so many people search for haunted places in Toronto and end up on this route.

Toronto's historic theatres are a major part of the story. Several of the city's grand old stages have their own resident ghosts, reported over the years by actors, ushers and audiences, and the guide shares those encounters in the dark streets around them. The stories are told with drama and humour but are based on real history and documented accounts, so you learn a great deal about nineteenth-century Toronto while you listen. It is also one of the most atmospheric things to do in Toronto at night.

Mackenzie House

The highlight of the Original Haunted Walk is Mackenzie House, a row house from the 1850s on Bond Street that was the last residence of Toronto's first mayor, a fiery newspaper publisher and leader of the 1837 rebellion. Today it is a small city museum with a working nineteenth-century print shop, and it has a long reputation as one of the most haunted buildings in Toronto.

Caretakers who lived in the house in the twentieth century reported footsteps on empty stairs, a piano playing by itself and the sound of a printing press running at night. Your guide tells these stories outside the house; the entrance fee to Mackenzie House is not included, but if the walk sparks your curiosity you can return during museum opening hours to see the rooms and the press for yourself. At the end, the guide can walk you back to the start or leave you to explore.

University of Toronto campus and Queen's Park

The Campus Secrets and Spectres option takes place on the downtown campus of the University of Toronto, founded in 1827 and today one of the leading universities in the world. Its Gothic and Romanesque stone halls, quiet quadrangles and tree-lined paths are beautiful by day and properly eerie at night, and several of its buildings have their own ghost legends, including tales from the masons who built them.

The walk also passes the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park, a massive Romanesque Revival building of pink sandstone opened in 1893, where the provincial parliament still sits. Your guide links the stories of the campus and the legislature to the history of the city, so this is a fine choice if you want a University of Toronto tour with a twist. It lasts 75 minutes and is priced like the original walk.

Distillery District and Black Creek Pioneer Village

The Distillery District, east of downtown, is a car-free quarter of more than forty Victorian industrial buildings of red brick and cast iron, often described as the best-preserved collection of its kind in North America. On the seasonal Ghosts of the Distillery District walk, your guide leads you by lantern light along the cobbled lanes, with tales of gruesome industrial accidents and of the War of 1812.

Black Creek Pioneer Village, in the northwest of the city, is an open-air heritage village of restored nineteenth-century houses, shops and workshops. On the Ghosts of the Village walk you explore it after dark, step inside historic buildings with a torch in hand and hear chilling true stories of the settlers who lived there. Both walks last 75 minutes; availability depends on the season, and the booking panel shows the dates offered.