Perhaps.
One of the reasons I believe in ghosts and that there are people who are more likely to experience ghosts is because I, like Hamlet, believe that there are “more things in heaven and earth … than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” There are certain math problems whose answers I just can’t see. Elements of physics and chemistry fall outside my ability to comprehend. There are a multitude of languages that other humans speak which I fail to grasp; just as there are computer codes and algorithms that I couldn’t even begin to build an understanding of. But just because I can’t comprehend or explain those things doesn’t mean they don’t exist, or that others can’t understand them. And, while science hasn’t yet offered us any proof of the existence of ghosts or what they might be, it might be something that comes, with time.
Another thing I know is that virtually every culture on this planet has some sort of legend, belief, or religion that includes spirits or spirit-like entities, such as animals or objects. So, I remain open-minded.
However, I am also aware that charlatans exist, those who are more interested in tricking others, either for money or attention. And so, when researching ghosts, I approach each subject with an open mind but a skeptic’s reservation. I look for logical or mundane explanations for a phenomenon. Where one is found I do try to shine a light upon it. But I also enjoy the speculation that comes with unsolved mysteries, and the “what if?” questions that sometimes arise.
This book doesn’t just talk about ghosts, but also the ghastly events that are often found inside a rich and intriguing ghost story. Think about the beheading and dismemberment of poor Mary Gallagher, whose ghost and legend lingers in Griffintown. Sometimes these ghastly events have no accompanying ghost stories. These tales shock, stun, and disturb us. But, like ghost stories, we are drawn to these dark and nasty tales. Does that make us evil or disturbed? Or is it merely an element of human nature to seek them out? Some might argue that what draws us to pay attention to these types of stories stems from an element of human survival — instinctive behaviour that we have little control over. Truly bad or negative experiences help teach us what’s not good for us.
Historically, people do respond in a deeper way to tragedy or darkness. The emotions and memories associated with a dark event seem to imprint themselves in a more intense way than even positive emotions such as joy. For example, let me ask you something that might be meaningful if you are of a certain age. Perhaps part of the Baby Boomer generation.
Where were you when JFK was killed?
If you ask someone who was alive then, they are likely to tell you, in intense detail, where they were, who they were with, how they found out about it. Perhaps if you’re closer to my age (I’m in my midforties as I write this) you have a similar experience when reading one of the following questions:
Where were you when U.S. president Ronald Reagan was shot?
What do you remember about the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion?
Or maybe, if you are a bit younger than me, the following questions dredge up rich personal stories or details:
Where were you during 9/11?
Where were you when you learned about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting?
Tragedy, disaster, and macabre events stick out in our minds; they plant intense memories that can truly disturb us. But they can also have an effect of bringing people together. When people share personal details about a historic event, they share with one another and feel closer to the people they are with. Traumatic events can also bring out the best in humanity. During 9/11, for example, strangers welcomed displaced travelers into their homes. They can also remind us of the limitless compassion that people can have for one another. And, ultimately, despite the tragic and terrible things that can happen, there can be love and hope, and we can learn from, and hopefully seek to prevent, such tragedies from occurring again.
Shayna and I hope that, in reading this book, we helped you to explore some of the fun and eerie tales that Montreal has to share. We hope that you have gained a new appreciation for a truly world-class Canadian city. Perhaps we have shared a few tales in this book that made you think. Perhaps some of the stories inspired you to keep an extra light on, or had you quivering a little beneath the sheets at some odd and unexplained sound that woke you in the middle of the night. And perhaps after reading something within the pages of this book, we helped you to learn something fascinating about Montreal and its dark, ghastly, and sometimes macabre history, that you came away with a nugget of a story to share at a dinner party or a social event.
I know that, after the intense and fascinating research that we engaged in while collecting these stories, both Shayna and I have a whole new understanding of the richness, the complexity, and the history of the people and places that make Montreal so wonderfully unique.
Mark Leslie
Appendix
More Than Just a Little Fresh Air and an Eerie Perspective: Haunted Montreal Walking Tours
One of the things that makes the process of putting a book like this together both easier and more pleasurable is being able to share stories with groups that specialize in local hauntings. Walking tour groups allow for an immersive experience, where history and ghostly lore come together through both eyes and ears.
During the research phase for this book, Shayna had the pleasure of going on several of the Haunted Montreal ghost walks in order to get into the proper mood, and for inspiration. As we continued our research, both of us found ourselves returning to the website and blog Haunted Montreal, which were created to share research into ghost sightings, paranormal activities, historic hauntings, and unexplained and strange local legends.
Donovan King, the owner of this company, was not only kind enough to write the foreword to this book, but he also shared with us some of the inspiration and motivation behind wanting to establish such a company in Montreal.
A native of the city, King credits an inspirational high school drama teacher with lighting a fire under him. Then, in 1994, King was unexpectedly bitten by the haunted acting bug when an Oscar award–winning special effects specialist named Robert (Bob) Short was in Montreal to set up a haunted house called Chateau Greystoke.
Donovan King, owner of Haunted Montreal, in character and sharing one of the city’s eerie tales.
Enjoying this role, King realized that this type of haunted acting was a lot of fun. He described it as having more flexibility, improvisation, and interaction than a standard piece of traditional theatre, and the clients experienced much stronger emotions, usually fear. “It opened my eyes,” he says, “to a whole new way of doing theatre!”
In 1995, King moved to London, England, and landed a job at the famous London Dungeon. King worked there for two years, sharpening his skills in the haunted acting genre.
King eventually returned to Canada, spending a few years doing a master’s degree in theatre studies in Calgary. When he arrived back in Montreal, he did some smaller haunted projects, including one called Scare Stories. In 2006, not long after King returned to Montreal, he began working for Fantômes Montréal Ghosts, a company that offers Old Montreal ghost walks led by professional actors. This group, formed in 1999, was the first business to develop the concept of evening street performance theatre, with actors performing as ghosts of the past to convey historic knowledge for the audience. (You can learn more at fantommontreal.com.)
King began roaming the mountain and discovered many more ghost stories, soon realizing that there were enough stories to create a ghost tour of the area. He began researching and constructing a script, with the initial idea of conducting it just once for that year’s Halloween season. Haunted Montreal began unofficially in 2011 with one ghost tour on Mount Royal in English, which was