Kingston Ontario Tourism - Haunted Kingston Guards St. Lawrence River

Ghosts are only one of Kingston’s claims to fame

Dark, disturbing secrets lurk within the shadowy history of Kingston. Unsettled spirits, grave robbers and chilling happenings haunt this eastern Canadian city that guards the St. Lawrence River and Rideau Canal.

Steeped in three centuries of Canadian history, Kingston is the oldest city in Ontario. There are other claims to fame: Kingston was home to Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, and was briefly the nation’s capital. The “Limestone City” also has the country’s oldest university, a well-preserved naval and military history predating the War of 1812.

It also has ghosts.

Narrow red-brick homes, limestone buildings and majestic Victorian-era architecture betrays the city’s history under British, or “Loyalist,” control.

But probe Kingston’s shadows and you’ll find something more sinister. And, if you dare, you’ll discover the darker side of this city through the Haunted Walk of Kingston.

The ghost tour starts at the Tir Nan Og Irish Pub, found at the Prince George Hotel on Ontario Street.

Here, you’ll learn of the mysterious happenings on the third floor -- specifically Room 304 -- of this 190-year-old hotel.

“Some people say they’ve seen a shadowy figure upstairs,” says guide Jayne Griska. “One couple who stayed in the room say they saw one of the beds floating in mid-air.”

It’s a spine-tingling opening to the tragic story of Lily Herchmer, a young girl who lived with her folks in a building that once stood where the hotel was later built in 1809.

Lily was having an affair with a sailor who frequented Kingston’s waterfront. On lonely nights, she’d hang a lantern in her window to beckon her lover.

But one night Lily fell asleep and a gust blew the lantern into her room. The floor ignited and Lily, tragically, died in the flames. Could the strange goings-on in this hotel be Lily? We’re left guessing as we start our 90-minute evening tour through Kingston’s streets. Standing on the steps of St. George’s Cathedral, we’re told the story of the “Resurrectionists” who would steal fresh corpses from graves in the late 1800s and sell them to Queen’s University medical students.

As Canada’s oldest university, Queen’s has creepy tales of its own.

Near campus, our guide tells us of the “ghetto house” where an unnerving presence reveals the supernatural.

A woman who briefly lived in this house felt chills on the staircase and once, Griska recounts, “fell to her knees trembling and shaking, it was so cold.”

She’d feel a cat’s claws kneading her, but she had no pet. She’d find recurring stains on the upstairs floor that she thought was red wine. It was blood.

You’ll hear about hangings at the old courthouse, hidden graveyards and one of Canada’s most famous ghost stories.

Standing at the alleyway on Kings Street near Rochleau Court, we’re told of the death of Theresa Beam. Many believe she’s still here. “This is where lots of hauntings take place in restaurants, shops and apartments in the area,” Griska says.

In 1976, a photographer was determined to uncover the past to explain the strange knockings and odd sounds in his King Street studio. He and his assistant used an Ouiji board and “connected” with ... something.

An unearthly presence claimed she was Theresa Beam, a woman murdered by John Nepier in 1868. “She told them she hadn’t had a proper Christian burial and that’s why she was calling out,” Griska says. The spirit gave instructions on how to make things right, including where her bones lay.

The photographer gave up when the studio’s dimensions didn’t match the description gleaned from the Ouiji board. Shortly after, he moved out. The next tenant, a political party, tried unraveling the mystery. They even dug up the basement floor, but found nothing. Years later, renovations exposed a sealed doorway linking the studio to the neighboring business -- now a trendy cafe called The Town Crier, and another haunt of Theresa Beam.

The cafe owner, however, has no interest tearing up their floor for a ghost hunt. While the hauntings continue to this day, no one has ever found Theresa’s bones and fulfilled her beyond-the-grave wish.

If you go:

Take comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather. The Haunted Walk of Kingston is held on selected evenings from May to Halloween. For more info, call (613) 549-6366.

Author: Doug Alexander