HGB Ep. 654 - Thurber House

Moment in Oddity - Standard Wing Nightjar

Most of our listeners know that Diane and I are animal nuts, and birding is one of our favorite things to do when we are camping. The Standard Winged Nightjar is a nocturnal bird that transforms into something otherworldly during the breeding season. Found in the savannas of Africa, the male of this species sprouts two absurdly elongated feathers from the middle of its wings. These feathers grow up to twice the bird's actual body length, ending in large fantastical, flat flags that trail behind it like flying kites. During courtship displays, the male flits through the sky at dusk, making these detached-looking paddles flutter above him to mesmerize nearby female Nightjars. When it lands, the bizarre appendages fold back awkwardly, blending in with its perfectly camouflaged, bark-like plumage. There are many bizarre courtship rituals in the avian world. But a bird that flies with its own trailing banners to find a mate like a cessna pulling an advertisement banner looking for love, certainly is odd. 

Thurber House

The Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio is a charming home that is now a museum and meeting place for those with literary interests. There is a tragic and haunted history to the abode. The house sits on the outer border of the former Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum, which burned down in 1868, killing seven women in the fire. Jeweler Thomas Tracy Tress accidentally shot and killed himself in the house when he lived here. Writer, humorist and cartoonist James Thurber lived in the house for a time and he had a ghostly experience that he wrote about. Spirits do seem to knock about the place. Join us for the history and hauntings of the Thurber House. 

Columbus is the capitol of Ohio.  The city is nearly smack dab in the center of the state and so it made sense to make this the center of the state government. It was planned in 1812 and named for Christopher Columbus and quickly absorbed the nearby settlement of Franklinton that had been founded in 1797. When a branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal opened in 1831, the city grew and this growth skyrocketed with the arrival of the railroad in 1850. Columbus would become one of the country's major manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles and the story of Columbus would continue to be one of transportation and industrial growth. The town took on the difficult task of caring for the mentally ill by building the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum. The original hospital building was completed in 1838. In 1868, a fire burned the asylum to the ground. Seven patients were killed and over 300 patients had to be moved elsewhere. A new building was built in the Kirkbride style and opened in 1877. It was the largest building in the US until the Pentagon was built in 1943. The hospital would remain open for over a hundred years, closing in the late 1980s. It was eventually demolished. The Thurber House was built on the outer edge of the hospital's property in 1873.

So clearly, the land beneath the Thurber House already had its memories long before the first brick of the house was set. There were the asylum patients who had died. But more tragedy would be added to that after the house was constructed.

Thomas Tracy Tress was born in 1865 and he worked hard in jewelry, becoming the owner of Tress Diamonds. He opened a jewelry shop in downtown Columbus. He and his wife were prominent members of the community. Tress was a member of the Mt. Vernon Commandery, the Columbus Club, the Board of Trade and the Aladdin Temple. He was also the President of a dancing club. We don't know when he and his wife moved into the house at 77 Jefferson Avenue, but they were living there on April 27, 1904.It was a few minutes before 8pm when he had returned home and was in an upstairs room having a conversation with his wife and a woman named Tine Ackerman. Dinner had just been announced and Tress told his wife that he wanted to change his collar and then he would be down for dinner. Before the women left the room, Tress walked over to the dresser and picked up an .38 caliber Iver Johnson revolver that was sitting on it. He whipped around with thew gun in his hand and scared his wife. He laughed and said that the gun wasn't loaded, but she insisted that he put the gun down. He said, "Why, it's not dangerous. Look at me." He put the gun muzzle to his left chest and pulled the trigger. The gun, unfortunately, was loaded. Tress managed to walk himself across the room to a couch and he laid down. He said that he had been foolish and then passed out. Medical help was called, but it wouldn't help. Tress died at the age of 39.

The house was named for its most famous resident. James Thurber was one of the foremost American humorists of the 20th century. He was born in Columbus, Ohio on December 8, 1894 to Mary Agnes "Mame" Fisher and Charles Leander Thurber. 

Thurber's father was a civil clerk and he used to change jobs a lot. Every time he would change a job, he would change the home they lived in. So they moved from house to house to house through most of his childhood. Much of Thurber's humorous writing was inspired by his mother because she was considered a brilliant humorist. Her jokes and theatrics were immortalized by Thurber in a lot of his own writing. Thurber had two brothers, an older one named William and a younger one named Robert. And it would be William who would shoot James' eye out. Apparently the guys were playing a childhood game of William Tell and as part of the game seven-year-old James turned around and waited for his brother William to shoot at him with what was apparently a blunt arrow. His brother was taking a long time so Thurber turned back around just as his brother let the arrow go and he was accidentally shot in his left eye which irreversibly blinded him and he had to have a prosthetic put in that eye. Later on in life Thurber would lose the vision that he had in his remaining eye due to a medical condition but he always continued to write and draw.

From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended Ohio State University and he wrote for the college paper, The Lantern. He also became editor in chief of the Sun Dial which was a humor and literary magazine. It was during this time when he was going to OSU that the Thurbers rented the house at 77 Jefferson Avenue. 

We'll come back to this time at the house as it entails the most famous ghost story about the house. Throughout the years Thurber worked for the federal government first in Washington D.C. then at the American Embassy in Paris. He eventually came back to Columbus in 1920 and worked for the Columbia Dispatch as a reporter. James got married and move to New York and in 1926 he began his career as a freelance writer. There he became friends with E.B. White who was the author of Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web and it would be E.B. White who would introduce him to the editor of the New Yorker, Harold Ross, and Ross hired Thurber. E.B. White and Thurber shared an office at the New Yorker and Thurber had been working on some drawings, which he ended up throwing into a trash can. White looked at them and thought they were pretty good, so he submitted them to the New Yorker for publication and they did publish them and this began Thurber's decades-long career of contributing drawings and writings to the New Yorker. The two men also worked on their first book together which was called "Is Sex Necessary" and it featured a number of Thurber's cartoons. Thurber collaborated in 1940 on a comedy play that  was called The Male Animal. This made its way to Broadway, became a hit, and then was turned into a 1942 movie starring Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland. In 1947, Thurber probably published one his most popular works, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and this was adapted into a feature film that starred Danny Kaye and Boris Karloff. 

Thurber was prolific and he wrote other plays and dozens of books. In his later years, he struggled with a thyroid condition and then he was stricken with a blood clot in his brain in October of 1961. While a surgery to deal with the clot was successful, James ended up dying on November 2nd of that year due to complications from pneumonia. He was 66 years old at the time. 

Now looking back at the Thurber House, when the Thurbers moved out of 77 Jefferson Avenue, the home changed hands many times. It became a music school, a beauty shop, and a boarding house. Eventually, it fell into disrepair and it was set to be demolished in the 1970s. But before the house could be torn down, attorney Arthur Worreys purchased all of the properties on the Jefferson Avenue ellipse and his intention was to restore all those homes and turn the block into a community of non-profit organizations. There were several historic Victorian homes. 77 Jefferson was going to take a lot of work because it had extensive deterioration. The woodwork had been painted over, the floorboards were rotted out and the fireplaces had been covered up. They have managed to restore it and Robert Thurber, who was the younger brother of James, helped with some of the restoration and actually donated some items from the family. So some of the items that are in the house today, did belong to them. It now looks the way it did when the Thurber family lived here from 1913 to 1917, with the same kind of wallpaper, antique furnishings, and the woodwork has been preserved. Today, the Thurber house is a non-profit literary arts center that offers creative programming for adults and children and has the James Thurber Museum that's available for public tours. Rooms on view include the former parlor, the living room and its alcove, the dining room, five bedrooms, and the bathroom that Thurber hid in to avoid the ghost running up the back stairs. Wait, did we just say "to avoid a ghost?"

Not only did James Thurber claim to have heard a ghost in the house on November 17, 1915 and believed to his dying day that the home was haunted, but other people who have visited and worked in the house have had experiences themselves. People believe there are several spirits, including the asylum patients, the jeweler Tress and some believe that Thurber returned to this home, perhaps because of his ghostly experience or because it is a museum dedicated to him and his writing. 

The museum embraces the fact that they have a haunted history here and talk about it on their website. People have experienced unusual phenomenon over the years which included a clock chiming despite not being operational, the glass in a picture frame inexplicably shattered all over the floor, there's been sightings of glowing orbs, a full-bodied apparition of a man in a collared shirt has been seen, disembodied footsteps have been heard, people have had the sensation of being touched or poked, and witnesses have report books flying from their shelves and disembodied footsteps on the back staircase, which is also where James Thurber had heard some ghostly footsteps as well. James Thurber wrote a short story about his experience and it was entitled, "The Night the Ghost Got In." Here's how the story went: 

"The ghost that got into our house on the night of November 17, 1915 raised such a hullabaloo of misunderstandings that I'm sorry I didn't just let it keep on walking and go to bed. Its advent caused my mother to throw a window of the house next door and ended up with my grandfather shooting a patrolman. I'm sorry therefore, as I've said, that I ever paid any attention to the footsteps. They began about a quarter past one o'clock in the morning, a rhythmic quick cadence walking around the dining room table. My mother was asleep in one room upstairs, my brother Herman in another. Grandfather was in the attic in an old walnut bed which, as you will remember, once fell on my father. I had just stepped out of the bathtub and was busily rubbing myself with a towel when I heard the steps. They were the steps of a man walking rapidly around the dining room table downstairs. The light from the bathroom shone down the back steps, which dropped directly into the dining room. I could see the faint shine of plates on the plate rail. I couldn't see the table. The steps kept going round and round the table. At regular intervals, a board creaked when it was trod upon. I supposed at first that it was my father or my brother Roy, who had gone to Indianapolis, but were expected home at any time. I suspected next that it was a burglar. It did not enter my mind until later that it was a ghost. After the walking had gone on for perhaps three minutes, I tiptoed to Herman's room. Psst! I hissed in the dark, shaking him. Ah, he said in the low, hopeless tone of a despondent beagle. He always half suspected that something would get him in the night. I told him who I was. There's something downstairs, I said. He got up and followed me to the head of the back staircase. We listened together. There was no sound. The steps had ceased. Herman looked at me in some alarm. I had only the bath towel around my waist. He wanted to go back to bed, but I gripped his arm. There's something down there, I said. Instantly the steps began again, circled the dining room table like a man running, and started up the stairs towards us, heavily, two at a time. The light still shone palely down the stairs. We saw nothing coming. We only heard the steps. Herman rushed to his room and slammed the door. I slammed shut the door at the stairs' top and held my knee against it. After a long minute I slowly opened it again. There was nothing there. There was no sound. None of us ever heard the ghost again. The slamming of the doors had roused Mother. She peered out of her room. What on earth are you boys doing, she demanded. Herman ventured out of his room. Nothing, he said gruffly, but he was, in color, a light green. What was all that running around downstairs, said Mother. So she had heard the steps, too. We just looked at her. Burglars, she shouted intuitively. I tried to quiet her by starting lightly downstairs. Come on, Herman, I said. I'll stay with Mother, he said. She's all excited. I stepped back onto the landing. Don't either of you go a step, said Mother. We'll call the police. Since the phone was downstairs, I didn't see how we were going to call the police, nor did I want the police, but Mother made one of her quick, incomparable decisions. She flung up a window of her bedroom, which faced the bedroom windows of the house of a neighbor, picked up a shoe, and whammed it through a pane of glass across the narrow space that separated the two houses. Glass tinkled into the bedroom occupied by a retired engraver named Bodwell and his wife. Bodwell had been for some years in rather a bad way and was subject to mild attacks. Most everybody we knew or lived near had some kind of attacks. It was now about two o'clock of a moonless night. Clouds hung black and low. Bodwell was at the window in a minute, shouting, frothing a little, shaking his fist. We'll sell the house and go back to Peoria, we could hear Mrs. Bodwell saying. It was some time before Mother got through to Bodwell. Burglars, she shouted, burglars in the house. Herman and I hadn't dared to tell her that it was not burglars but ghosts, but she was even more afraid of ghosts than of burglars. Bodwell at first thought that she meant there were burglars in his house, but finally he quieted down and called the police for us over an extension phone by his bed. After he'd disappeared from the window, Mother suddenly made as if to throw another shoe, not because there was further need of it but, as she later explained, because the thrill of heaving a shoe through a window glass had enormously taken her fancy. I prevented her. I think I love his mother. The police were on hand in commendably short time, a Ford sedan full of them, two on motorcycles, and a patrol wagon with about eight in it, and a few reporters. They sent out the cavalry, it sounds like. They began banging on our front door. Flashlights shot streaks of gleam up and down the walls, across the yard, down the walk between our house and Bodwell's. Open up, cried a hoarse voice. We're men from headquarters. I wanted to go down and let them in since there they were, but Mother wouldn't hear of it. You haven't a stitch on, she pointed out. You'd catch your death. I wound the towel around me again. Finally the cops put their shoulders to our big heavy front door with its thick beveled glass and broke it in. I could hear a rending of wood and a splash of glass on the floor of the hall. Their lights played all over the living room and crisscrossed nervously in the dining room, stabbed into hallways, shot up the front stairs, and finally up the back. They caught me standing in my towel at the top. A heavy policeman bounded up the steps. Who are you, he demanded. I live here, I said. Well, what's the matter, you hot, he asked. It was, as a matter of fact, cold. I went to my room and pulled on some trousers. On my way out, a cop stuck a gun into my ribs. What you doing here, he demanded. I live here, I said. The officer in charge reported to Mother, no sign of nobody, lady, he said. Must have got away. What'd he look like? There were two or three of them, Mother said, whooping and carrying on and slamming doors. Funny, said the cop. All your windows and doors was locked on the inside tight as a tick. Downstairs we could hear the tromping of the other police. Police were all over the place. Doors were yanked open, drawers were yanked open, windows were shot up and pulled down. Furniture fell with dull thumps. A half dozen policemen emerged out of the darkness of the front hallway upstairs. They began to ransack the floor, pulled beds away from walls, tore clothes off hooks in the closets, pulled suitcases and boxes off shelves. One of them found an old zither that Roy had won in a pool tournament. Looky here, Joe, he said, strumming it with a big paw. The cop named Joe took it and turned it over. What is it, he asked me. It's an old zither our guinea pig used to sleep on, I said. It was true that a pet guinea pig we once had would never sleep anywhere except on the zither, but I should never have said so. Joe and the other cop looked at me a long time. They put the zither back on a shelf. No sign of nothing, said the cop who had first spoken to mother. This guy, he explained to the others, jerking a thumb at me, was naked. The lady seems historical. They all nodded but said nothing, just looked at me. In the small silence we all heard a creaking in the attic. Grandfather was turning over in bed. What's that, snapped Joe. Five or six cops sprang for the attic door before I could intervene or explain. I realized that it would be bad if they burst in on Grandfather unannounced or even announced. He was going through a phase in which he believed that General Meade's men, under steady hammering by Stonewall Jackson, were beginning to retreat and even desert. When I got to the attic, things were pretty confused. Grandfather had evidently jumped to the conclusion that the police were deserters from Meade's army trying to hide away in his attic. He bounded out of bed wearing a long flannel nightgown over long woolen underwear, a nightcap, and a leather jacket around his chest. The cops must have realized at once that the indignant white-haired old man belonged in the house, but they had no chance to say so. Back, you cowardly dogs, roared Grandfather. Back to the lines, you goddamn lily-livered cattle. With that, he fetched the officer who found the zither, a flat-handed smack alongside his head that sent him sprawling. The others beat a retreat, but not fast enough. Grandfather grabbed Zither's gun from its holster and let fly. The report seemed to crack the rafter, smoke filled the attic. A cop cursed and shot his hand to his shoulder. Somehow, we all finally got downstairs again and locked the door against the old gentleman. He fired once or twice more in the darkness and then went back to bed. That was Grandfather, I explained to Joe out of breath. He thinks you're deserters. I'll say he does, said Joe. The cops were reluctant to leave without getting their hands on somebody besides Grandfather. The night had been distinctly a defeat for them. Furthermore, they obviously didn't like the layout. Something looked, and I can see their viewpoint, phony. They began to poke into things again. A reporter, a thin-faced wispy man, came up to me. I'd put on one of Mother's blouses, not being able to find anything else. The reporter looked at me with mingled suspicion and interest. Just what the hell is the real low down here, bud, he asked. I decided to be frank with him. We had ghosts, I said. He gazed at me a long time as if I were a slot machine into which he had, without results, dropped a nickel. Then he walked away. The cops followed him. The one Grandfather shot, holding his now-bandaged arm, cursing and blaspheming. I'm gonna get my gun back from that old bird, said the zither cop. Yeah, said Joe. You and who else? I told them I would bring it to the station house the next day. What was the matter with that one policeman, Mother asked after they had gone? Grandfather shot him, I said. What for, she demanded. I told her he was a deserter. Of all things, said Mother. He was such a nice-looking young man. Grandfather was fresh as a daisy and full of jokes at breakfast next morning. We thought at first he'd forgotten all about what had happened, but he hadn't. Over his third cup of coffee, he glared at Herman and me. What was the idea of all them cops, tarry-hooting around the house last night, he demanded. He had us there." 

Thurber always maintained this happened and he changed the address of the house so that it wouldn't bring too much attention to the original house. We have to wonder what was all that running around the table about? And boy, what a commotion it started there. We find it interesting that it never seems to have happened again while they were there.

Anne Touvell, who was the Thurber House Deputy Director, told the Columbus Monthly in 2015, "... a ghost group came in here once, and the electronic voice phenomenon they recorded was clear as day. They asked the air, 'Did you accidentally shoot yourself in this house?' And, I swear, the voice came back on the recorder saying, 'Ask her.' A volunteer named Jan Williams stated in the same article, "Our cleaning people, who also clean the other buildings on the block, they say they've had stuff happen. They won't clean at night anymore. One of our writers had a dog, and it kept barking and barking at the corner in the front room; it wouldn't let her near that corner." Amy Drake shared in a Medium article about a short film that she shot in the Thurber House called Showdown in Amherst. She wrote, "I silently asked for Mr. Tress’s blessing for our filming. As it turns out he had quite a sense of humor. We used authentic late 19th century clothes from my personal collection as costumes for the film. The man’s coat, worn by actor Douglas Fries, had secure buttons when it left my house. During the shoot, one of the buttons fell off. The back of the button was engraved with the name Tress(e), as, I discovered, were all the buttons. After the shoot, I was notified via email that a bookseller had a silk advertising ribbon from Tress Diamonds for sale on Ebay. I purchased and framed the ribbon. In the film credits, I thanked Mr. Tress for his cooperation. I believe he just wanted to be remembered and involved." 

Tom Moore wrote in a News and Sentinel article about visiting the museum and the docent "began telling us a few things that have happened there including the clock that opened on its own, along with people claiming to have seen a gentleman standing behind them with a white collar when they look in the mirror above the fireplace in the parlor."

Did James Thurber really have this ghostly experience? Have other people experienced unexplained stuff here? Is the Thurber House haunted? That is for you to decide.

HGB Ep. 653 - The Life and Afterlife of Jimi Hendrix

This Month in History - The Lawrence Massacre

In the month of August, on the 21st, in 1863, about 450 irregular Confederate raiders attacked the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas. The bushwhackers were led by William Quantrill, with the group being known as 'Quantrill's Raiders'. They were a brutal party of men that operated along the Missouri-Kansas border. The band of partisan rangers were created to fight Union forces and pro-Union civilians using ruthless tactics. Some of the more infamous members were the future outlaws, Frank and Jesse James, as well as Cole Younger. The notorious Confederate guerrilla group targeted Lawrence, Kansas due to the location being a center for anti-slavery Jayhawkers, and also a Union stronghold. This attack became known as the Lawrence Massacre. It resulted in the deaths of roughly 150 men and boys, as well as the burning of much of the town. The raid led Union authorities to issue the General Order No. 11. This determined the fundamental rules governing the actions of military sentries, covering duties, safety, and conduct. The order forced the depopulation of rural areas in several pro-Confederate counties in western Missouri to cut off support to the guerrillas. The U.S. Army also built temporary military posts around Lawrence to protect the area. Despite the immense devastation, the surviving residents of Lawrence refused to abandon the settlement. Instead, they rallied and rebuilt their city. 

The Life and Afterlife of Jimi Hendrix 

Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. His band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was just that, an experience. They blazed a path through music like none other with Jimi leading as band conductor, conjuring music magic. Hendrix music genius burned intense, but not for long as he entered the storied 27 Club when he died at the age of 27. Many claim that Jimi's spirit continues on in the afterlife, haunting several locations. Join us for the life and afterlife of Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix was born as Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942 to James Allen Hendrix - who went by Al - and his wife Lucille in Seattle. The couple had married on March 31, 1942, three days before the senior Hendrix was sent off for basic training after being drafted into the Army during World War II. Johnny was born eight months later. The military didn't allow Al to go see his newborn son. As a matter of fact, he wouldn't meet Jimi for three years and Lucille struggled to raise Jimi on her own. She gave him to family members for those first couple years. In 1946, Hendrix's parents changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix to give him his father's first name and his uncle's first name became his middle name. 

These early years for Jimi Hendrix were tough with his dad unable to find good work after getting out of the Army. Both Al and his wife Lucille were alcoholics. This led to violent fights that would have little Jimi hiding in his closet. Jimi was joined by four younger siblings: Leon, Joseph, Kathy and Pamela. 

Joseph, Kathy and Pamela were given up to the foster system and adoption. Leon was bounced around quite a bit as well, occasionally being reunited with Jimi who obviously lived in constant fear of separation from Leon and his parents. Jimi would later tell a girlfriend that he had been sexually molested by a man in a uniform, so he had that on his plate as well. When he was nine, his parents divorced and Leon and Jimi went to Al. It was at about this time that Al started noticing that Jimi had a serious interest in music. Young Jimi would sit on the end of his bed and as Al shared, "I used to have Jimmy clean up the bedroom all the time while I was gone, and when I would come home I would find a lot of broom straws around the foot of the bed. I’d say to him, `Well didn’t you sweep up the floor?’ and he’d say, `Oh yeah,’ he did. But I’d find out later that he used to be sitting at the end of the bed there and strumming the broom like he was playing a guitar." Jimi was interested in B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Holly, and Robert Johnson. Al found an old one-string ukulele and he gave it to Jimi, so he had something better to strum. Al saved up some money and in the summer of 1958, he bought a five-dollar, second-hand acoustic guitar from a friend. Jimi practiced on it and learned some licks from a guitar playing friend named Billy Davis and then joined his first band, which was named The Velvetones. The acoustic guitar was hard to hear over the rest of the band. Jimi decided to leave the band a pursue his own interests.

The year 1958 would also bring the death of Jimi's mother from cirrhosis. He was fifteen at the time. His father poured him and his brother Leon some whiskey and told them that was how men dealt with loss. A little later, Jimi started begging his dad to buy him an electric guitar. At first, Al refused, but he finally relented and bought a Supro Ozark 1560S. Jimi then joined The Rocking Kings.

That electric guitar ended up getting stolen backstage a few months later, but Al was so proud of what his some was doing, he bought him another guitar, a red Silvertone Danelectro. When Jimi wasn't playing, he was getting himself into a bit of trouble. His friends liked to hotwire cars and he was caught in stolen cars twice. The authorities told him that he had two choices when he was 19. He could go to jail or he could join the Army. He opted to enlist in the United States Army in 1961. Jimi did well and in November 1962 earned the right to wear the “Screaming Eagles” patch for the paratroop division. Music was still his thing while he was enlisted and at Fort Campbell in Kentucky he Jimmy formed The Casuals with bassist Billy Cox. Jimi wrote his dad about his experiences at Fort Campbell, "There's nothing but physical training and harassment here for two weeks, then when you go to jump school...you get hell. They work you to death, fussing and fighting." Then came a parachute jump that didn't go well and Jimi broke his ankle. The injury was bad enough that he was medically discharged. At least according to some reports. There doesn't seem to be any official records reflecting this and there are other stories that he was discharged because his platoon sergeant, James C. Spears, filed a report that said, "He [Hendrix] has no interest whatsoever in the Army...It is my opinion that Private Hendrix will never come up to the standards required of a soldier. I feel that the military service will benefit if he is discharged as soon as possible."

Whatever was the true story, Jimi was out of the army. Billy Cox was a fellow service member who had been in The Casuals with Jimi and when he was discharged, he joined up with Jimi and they reformed the group and changed the name to King Kasuals. 

They performed in Tennessee and while there, Jimi saw a guitarist playing with his teeth. After watching another guitarist do the same thing, Jimi took it up. He said of this, "The idea of doing that came to me...in Tennessee. Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot. There's a trail of broken teeth all over the stage." For some time, the group played small venues for very little money and then they decided to head to Nashville and they set themselves up on Jefferson Street, which at the time was the heart of the rhythm and blues music scene and where the black community gathered. The street served as a legendary stop on the "Chitlin' Circuit" and a place that began to fuel the Civil Rights Movement. The Jefferson Street Sound Museum's website shares, "Retail, restaurants, pharmacies, funeral homes and churches were opening on Jefferson. You could be born, marry, raise your family, and be buried without ever leaving your Jefferson Street neighborhood." Locations like The Silver Streak ballroom featured Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, and Ella Fitzgerald and the Blue Room at Del Morocco had Little Richard, Ruth Brown, Nat King Cole and Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald performed here as well. The Golden Age of Jefferson Street lasted from the 1930s until 1965. The King Kasuals had a brief residency at Del Morocco.

Jimi needed extra money and he worked as a session guitarist under the name Jimmy James for acts like Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard. Jimmy parted ways with Little Richard to form his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, shedding the role of back-line guitarist for the spotlight of lead guitar. 

In 1964, Jimi decided to break out on his own and he ended up in Harlem. There he met Lithofayne Pridgon who went by Faye. The two started dating and with Faye's connections to the music scene in Harlem, he made some friends. Faye encouraged him to compete in an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in February 1964 and he won first prize. Shortly after that, Ronnie Isley gave Hendrix an audition and the Isley Brothers asked him to become their guitarist. He toured with them for most of 1964 and then jumped to Little Richard's touring band. It would be during a performance with Little Richard's band on Night Train in July of 1965 that Hendrix would have his first live footage of him performing. Later that month, Little Richard's brother Robert would fire Hendrix for tardiness, wardrobe and the way Jimi conducted himself on stage. Hendrix joined Curtis Knight and the Squires and played with them for eight months. Hendrix got a recording contract with Sue Records that lasted for two years, but before it was over he signed a three-year contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin. This would cause legal problems for Hendrix later. 

In 1966, Hendrix moved to Greenwich Village and he played the rounds of smaller venues there. During a July performance, he met the Animals’ bassist Chas Chandler during a performance at Caf‚ Wha? and he was impressed with Jimi’s performance. In September, Chandler returned and signed Hendrix to an agreement that would take him to London to form a new band. 

It was at this time that Chandler had Jimi change his name to the J-I-M-I spelling. Drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding were brought on board and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born. London fell in love with the group and they soon became the talk of the town. Jimi had formed his style and material shortly before this in a short lived group he put together called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. This style was described as mesmerizing and would become his trademark. The Experience recorded their first single, "Hey Joe" and it spent ten weeks on the UK charts, topping out at spot No. 6 in early 1967. This gave the band the encouragement they needed to record a full-length album, which would be "Are You Experienced." This was a psychedelic musical compilation with the tracks “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Foxey Lady,” “Fire,” and “Are You Experienced?” Purple Haze opens the album with those first strums of the signature Hendrix chord on the electric guitar and before long you are kissing the sky in a purple haze. This isn't about drugs although many people assume it is. Rather, it's a dreamlike love song. The song is from the perspective of a man infatuated with a woman to the point of being dazed and confused. The descriptor of purple haze probably was inspired by the science fiction he liked to read. A Philip Jose Farmer story called "Night of Light," Farmer describes sunspots that produce a purplish haze that has a disorienting effect on people. Purple haze also appears in Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead." Purple Haze would be the second single released by The Experience. 

Some of the inspiration for the love songs on the album, specifically "Foxey Lady," came from writer Kathy Etchingham whom Hendrix met in London and the couple dated for nearly three years. This would be his most significant relationship. When they met in 1966, she was a DJ in London and knew everybody there was to know in music at the time like The Beatles and The Who. The couple drifted apart at the end of 1968.

Hendrix second album was "Axis: Bold as Love" dropped in 1967 and is lauded for its melodic guitar work and revealed that Hendrix was a poetic genius of songwriting. "Castles Made of Sand" really reveals this. The album is a psychedelic and funk trip that generated controversy over its album cover featuring Hindu religious iconography. That imagery actually was not from Hendrix and he publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with it. The album was certified platinum and is ranked number 92 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Hendrix returned to America in June 1967 and performed at the Monterey International Pop Festival. His performance of "Wild Thing" drove the crowd nuts and from then on, The Jimi Hendrix Experience became one of most popular and highest grossing touring acts in the world. The iconic image of Hendrix setting his guitar on fire and conjuring flames from it came from this festival. Rolling Stone's Alex Vadukul wrote of this moment, "When Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival he created one of rock's most perfect moments. Standing in the front row of that concert was a 17-year-old boy named Ed Caraeff. Caraeff had never seen Hendrix before nor heard his music, but he had a camera with him and there was one shot left in his roll of film. As Hendrix lit his guitar, Caraeff took a final photo. It would become one of the most famous images in rock and roll." 

Back here in America, Jimi built himself a studio in New York City named Electric Lady Studios. The album "Electric Ladyland" dropped in 1968 and would be Jimi Hendrix's third and final studio album and it is considered his best. This was a double LP and the top single off of it is a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower." This would be The Experience's only number one album. 

The demands of touring and studio work really took a toll on The Experience and by 1969 the band had disbanded. The band members were tired of Hendrix's unpredictable work ethic and he could be a tyrant in the studio wanting everything his way. The band had mostly just become a back-up band and they wanted more. There last performance together was at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival hosted at Mile High Stadium. The show got crazy with police having to use tear gas on the audience and fans nearly crushed a rental truck that had to carry the band away. The break-up wouldn't hurt Hendrix at all. He was the world's highest-paid rock musician at that time. In the summer of 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was hosted and Hendrix headlined the line-up. Jimi was joined by Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Juma Sultan, and Jerry Velez. He was apprehensive about playing when he heard how large the crowd was because he liked to play in more intimate settings. The mud-soaked audience loved the performance.

Hendrix formed a new band with bassist Billy Cox and Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles and they called themselves the Band of Gypsys and they did four New Year’s performances that were compiled and later released on the1970 album Band of Gypsys. Billy Cox stuck around and Mitch Mitchell came back and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was reborn. 

There were some bad feelings about this because Noel Redding had not been told that Jimi had no intention of having him in the re-formed Experience and so he showed up in NYC expecting to participate in rehearsals and was told Billy Cox had replaced him. Redding had every reason to be shocked as he had just been interviewed by Rolling Stone with both Hendrix and Mitchell and they talked about how they were re-forming. Albums have been released posthumously. One of the best that reveals the direction that Jimi was probably heading was "Blue Wild Angel at the Isle of Wight." This was a live album released in 2002. It's a great listen and Hendrix almost sounds like he has a bit of an English accent he has adopted. One of my favorite performances of Hendrix is his "Star Spangled Banner" at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. It's cool how he wove in pieces of "America the Beautiful" and "Taps" in the feedback and distortion he played. Woven through all of this success was a demon the Hendrix couldn't beat. He started off like his parents in 1962 with alcohol. Alcohol was described as the scourge of his existence. It would drive him to occasional outbursts that could get violent. Pot, hashish, heroin and amphetamines were other drugs he used throughout the 1960s, with a little cocaine here and there. There are discrepancies as to when Hendrix first took LSD, but there is no doubt that he was on it at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Kathy Etchingham wrote of his use of LSD, "Like most acid-heads, Jimi had visions and he wanted to create music to express what he saw. He would try to explain this to people, but it didn't make sense because it was not linked to reality in any way." Some intoxicated outbursts got him arrested and he even once hit a girlfriend above the eye with a vodka bottle and she needed stitches. It would be these drugs that were blamed for his death.

The standard narrative around Jimi's death is that he overdosed on drugs, which caused him to choke to death on his own vomit. But many people dispute this as the cause. The main witness to everything was a German artist named Monika Dannemann (DAHN eh mehn). On September 17, 1970, Hendrix was staying with her at her apartment in the Samarkand Hotel in London. Dannemann made dinner for the couple and they shared a bottle of wine at 11 pm. Jimi wanted to go to a party at a friend's house, so she drove him there around 1:45 am. After about an hour, he called her to come pick him up and the two arrived back to her apartment at 3 am. They stayed up and talked until around 7 am and then decided to get some sleep. Dannemann said she thought that Hendrix took around nine Vesparax sleeping pills.  Dannemann woke up around 11 a.m. and found Hendrix unconscious and unresponsive, but still breathing. She called for an ambulance at 11:18 am, and it arrived nine minutes later and they took Hendrix to St Mary Abbots Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:45 p.m. on September 18th. An autopsy by Coroner Gavin Thurston revealed that Hendrix had aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates. But he ended it with "insufficient evidence of the circumstances." This left an open verdict. Hendrix embalmed body was flown to Seattle and funeral services were held at Dunlap Baptist Church with his body being interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, Washington where his mother was buried. He was exhumed and reburied under a better memorial in 2002. His father and step-mother were buried in the vault there with him.

But not everybody believes that Hendrix died from an accidental overdose. With an open verdict on the autopsy, it left doubts. Then Dannemann’s story changed multiple times with changing timelines, inconsistencies and conflicting statements. The paramedics who responded to her call said that she wasn't in the apartment when they arrived. 

There seemed to be a significant delay of several hours before emergency services were contacted. Kathy Etchingham disputed claims Dannemann made about her relationship with Jimi. Dannemann claimed they were engaged. A friend named Philip Harvey had been talking to Jimi at the Samarkand around 10 pm when Dannemann stormed out of the place screaming that she was leaving. Hendrix followed after her wondering what was going on and the couple fought outside, making a scene. Harvey went out and asked them to come inside and Dannemann told him to mind his own business. He said, "At around 10:30 p.m. Jimi came back into the house alone and walked into the reception room. … He apologized profusely for Monika’s behavior and said that she was very embarrassed. He said he didn’t really know what was wrong with her but she had obviously had too much to drink. He said that Monika refused to come back into the house and that, as he couldn’t abandon her, he would have to leave with her. … Monika was still screaming at Jimi as they left and she did not say a word to me. The time was about 10:40 p.m.” How could she be making dinner for him and drinking wine at 11 pm if they had already left? A woman at the party named Angie Burdon wrote a letter to Kathy Etchingham that said, "That chick [Dannemann] came back about half an hour later. Jimi got Stella [Douglas] to put her off. She called up on the intercom. She came back again. Jimi put her off his time. By then he seemed quite uptight. I know Jimi, so I knew what he was feeling. She came back again. He got angry because she wouldn’t leave him for long enough. In fact, she was begging him...He asked Stella again to put her off. Stella was rude to her, and the chick asked to speak with Jimi. Well, when he finally got to the intercom, he mumbled something, and then without saying anything, just got into the lift and split. That was around 3 a.m." 

The picture we are getting here is that Dannemann is unreasonable and extremely jealous, thinking that she and Jimi have some kind of relationship that they do not have. Some people claim she was simply an employee who assisted him by driving him places. A breakdown of Jimi's last few hours reveals inconsitencies in Dannemann's version of events. 

After getting back to her apartment, she said she made a tuna fish sandwich for Jimi. The autopsy only revealed long grain rice in his stomach from a vegetarian meal served to him at the party. There was no tuna in his stomach. The coroner based the time of death at 5:30 am because of the level of digestion of the rice. At 6:30 am, Dannemann starts making calls to friends, the first a woman named Alvenia Bridges who isn't available. She then calls Eric Burdon who said in an interview later that “It was still dark” when he got the call and that Dannemann was distraught because she said Jimi was unconscious and she couldn't wake him. Burdon tells her to call an ambulance. He then said, "She argued about it, saying that there were incriminating things in the flat, which I guess she took care of." In a deposition, Dannemann claimed that Jimi was awake at 7 am and that she took a sleeping pill and went to sleep at that time. She claimed to awaken at 9 am. 

A former roadie of The Animals who was friends with Hendrix, dashed off to a hotel called the Cumberland where he thought Hendrix was staying because he had heard Jimi was having trouble. This was between 8 and 9 am. When he doesn't find Jimi, he heads over to Burdon's hotel and hears him on the phone with Dannemann telling her to call an ambulance at 9:30 am. So we have a timeline issue here. It wouldn't be dark at 9:30 am, so was Burdon misremembering? 

Mitch Mitchell is told Jimi is dead at 9:30 am, but he hasn't been to the hospital yet. Dannemann claims to awaken at 10 am and she leaves to get cigarettes with Jimi sleeping soundly. So she couldn't be on the phone with Burdon and him telling her to call an ambulance at 9:30 am. Unless she's lying about her timeline. On the day Hendrix died, Dannemann told the police she woke up at 11 am and Jimi had vomit on his face and she couldn't wake him up. She retracted that in a 1994 deposition in Seattle. We know for sure that an ambulance was called for at 11:18 am based on phone records. The ambulance arrives at 11:27 am. Dannemann reports that the paramedics check vitals and say everything is fine, nothing to worry about. The paramedics remember the event quite differently. One said, "It was horrific...He was covered in vomit. There was tons of it all over the pillow – black and brown, it was. His airway was completely blocked, all the way down. His tongue had fallen back...John ran up and radioed for the police. He got the aspirator too. We felt his pulse between his shoulders, pinched his ear lobe and nose, shone a light in his eyes. But there was no response at all. I knew he was dead as soon as I walked in the room." The other paramedic said, "I knew it was hopeless. There was no pulse, no respiration. We knew he was gone...But we are not doctors. It’s our job to keep trying until we get him to the hospital. As soon as the police arrived, we were off. When they arrived, the door was wide open and no one was with Hendrix. The vomit was dry, so they figured he had been dead quite a while. 

Now why would somebody lie about these events? Could Hendrix have been murdered? Some people think that is the case. Brad Schreiber co-authored the book "Becoming Jimi Hendrix" and he thought that Hendrix was murdered and claimed evidence suggested large amounts of red wine were forced down his throat, and the wine filled his lungs, leaving little in his stomach. 

Did Dannemann kill him in a jealous rage? Some people think it was his manager, Mike Jeffrey, who was facing financial ruin. He may have owed the mob money and so he decided to cash in on Hendrix's life insurance. A roadie named James “Tappy” Wright said that Jeffrey had confessed to him that he arranged Hendrix’s death. What is the truth? We'll probably never know. Maybe that's why his spirit is hanging around. We will say that the sleeping pills were from Germany with German directions, so if Hendrix helped himself to them, he didn't know how much he was taking. And if he was already drunk or high, his judgement would be marred. Jimi Hendrix had a strong connection to the paranormal. He seemed to have a premonition about his own death. He knew he wasn't going to live a long life. He knew he would never see 30-years-old. Hendrix seemed to carry a sense of doom and he liked to call himself Jinx Hendrix. Some of his lyrics also reflected his sense of an early death. 

Hendrix actually had encounters with UFOs. Jimi and his brother Leon claimed they saw a UFO with pulsating lights over their home state of Washington when they were young boys. Another experience was in 1965 when he was a member of Curtis Knight and the Squires. The group was stranded in a blizzard near Woodstock, New York when they saw a glowing cone-shaped UFO land nearby. The UFO had a door that opened up and out walked a tall, yellow-skinned being that radiated heat. The heat melted the snow and they were able to get their van out of the snow. Knight said that Hendrix claimed to have a conversation with the alien telepathically and that he thanked the being for its help. Or were they just all on some acid trip? 

Electric Lady Studios was Hendrix's beloved studio in Greenwich Village. It started as a nightclub called The Generation that hosted Big Brother & the Holding Company, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Dave Van Ronk, and Sly & the Family Stone. When it closed, Hendrix wanted to buy it and reopen it as a club, but a couple of advisors suggested that he convert it into a professional recording studio. The studio was unique in that it was the only one owned by an artist at the time. Today, it is considered hallowed ground for recorded music. The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, and Patti Smith all had sessions here in the 1970s. Modern sessions include Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar. Jimi is said to still be here. Staff have claimed through the years that the televisions will suddenly go to static. They have heard doors slam on their own and heard disembodied footsteps. A shimmering figure has been seen. Michael Brauer is a Grammy-winning mixer and he told the New York Post in 2024, "Pretty much every assistant I know has had some kind of sighting late at night when they are alone." He thought his assistant had walked into the lounge and he said, "I called out to him because I needed him to patch something, but he didn’t respond. I called out again, nothing, so I got up and as I was heading to the door, [my assistant] came walking in from the other direction. I [investigated] the live room; it was empty. My assistant had been in the bathroom." Nearly every artist who has recorded here from the 1970s until now, claims to feel Jimi’s presence guiding them. 

The Handel Hendrix House is located at 23 and 25 Brook Street in London. This is where Jimi lived while in London from 1968 to 1969. This is two houses separated by a wall. Hendrix lived in the upper floor of 23 Brook Street and 200 years previously, Handel lived in 25 Brook Street. Today, this is a museum featuring live music and tributes and displays to both musicians. It was here that Hendrix met the ghost of Handel. A legend claims that Hendrix was brushing his teeth one night and he saw Handel’s ghost in the mirror. Rather than feeling fear, he felt inspired. 

Jimi Hendrix has an amazing grave at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton. It features a towering marble dome gazebo. There are several engraved granite tombstones around the burial. People leave flowers, guitar picks and incense. Ghost hunters have attempted to contact Hendrix’s spirit using EMF detectors and spirit boxes and some interesting things have come through. Speaking of trying to contact Hendrix, Guitar World magazine and ABC’s Good Morning America staged a séance on the 23rd anniversary of his death in 1993. They had an amulet that was formed from some of Hendrix's hair and one of his Flying V guitars to use as trigger objects. No answer seemed to come from Hendrix. A bronze statue of him on the Isle of Wight is said to have Hendrix's music sometimes playing around it from the beyond.

There is no doubt that Hendrix was a master of funk grooves. His playing and production was innovative and has inspired scores of musicians. He died far too young. Is that why his spirit might still be hanging around? Is Jimi Hendrix hauntings these various locations? That is for you to decide. 

HGB Ep. 652 - Haunted Toronto

Moment in Oddity - Old RIP the Lizard

There is a tradition of encasing items in the cornerstones of new buildings as a symbolic time capsule. This dates back to Egyptian and Mesopotamian times. The usual items encased are newspapers of the day, coins, photographs and documents listing the architects of the building. It is meant to preserve the history of the era for future generations. In 1897, there was a very unique object placed inside the cornerstone of a new courthouse in Eastland, Texas, during its construction. Thirty one years later, on February 18th, 1928, the courthouse was torn down and the cornerstone was opened before a large crowd. What was found inside was a flat, dusty lizard that was showing signs of life! Let me introduce you to 'Old RIP'. RIP was a Texas Horned Lizard, the species is also often called horny-toad or horned toad. At the time of the encasement, there was a local folklore belief that horned lizards could hibernate for over a century without air, food or water. The county clerk of Eastland decided to test that theory with his son's young lizard named 'Blinky'. The clerk sealed the pet inside the cornerstone of the new courthouse. Upon emerging from the cornerstone, Ol' RIP was renamed for Rip Van Winkle. The lizard became a famous national celebrity. He even traveled across the country to visit President Calvin Coolidge at the White House. Sadly, the celebrity lizard died just under a year later from pneumonia on January 19th, 1929. His little body was embalmed, placed in a small velvet-lined casket, and put on permanent display in the new Eastland County Courthouse. Time capsules can be an interesting and fun look into the past. But encasing a live lizard who emerges alive 31 years later, certainly is odd. 

Haunted Toronto

Canada is home to some great haunts and Toronto is one of those cities harboring several locations with ghosts stories. We've covered Keg Mansion (Ep. 303) and Queen's Park (Ep. 57 & upcoming Redux) in previous episodes, but there are many other haunted locations in the city of Toronto and on this episode, we are going to explore several of them. There are theaters and jails, but also several little shops and restaurants that seem warm and inviting until one realizes you may be joined by the unseen. Join us for the history and hauntings of the city of Toronto.

Toronto was originally settled by the Wyandot (WHY-an-dot) People and then the Iroquois. A Frenchman named Etienne Brule (ay-TYEN broo-LAY) was the first to explore the area in 1615 and that is why the French would be the first Europeans to settle. Brûlé served as an interpreter and guide for Samuel de Champlain. As an aside, Brûlé would later betray his native France, helping the English capture Quebec City. This same kind of behavior against the Huron people, with whom he lived later, would lead the Huron to stab and dismember him and then eat him. The first European settlement was established in 1750 as a French trading fort known as Fort Rouille (roo-ee). In 1787, the Toronto Purchase happened and this was basically the Mississaugas (missuh-SAW-guh) tribe giving up the land to the British Crown. In 1793, the Town of York was established by Governor John Graves Simcoe, named for Prince Frederick, who was the Duke of York. It would be the capital of Upper Canada. The first post office opened here in 1833 and the name was changed to Toronto in 1834 when the city was incorporated. Toronto came from the Mohawk word tkaronto, which means "where there are trees standing in the water. Gas street lights were added in 1841 and the city grew and flourished. The railroad would come, as well as horse drawn streetcars that eventually were electrified. In 1867, Toronto became the capital of Ontario. The city would suffer its own great fire in 1904 and the Depression would hit it hard, but following World War II, the city rose to prominence. Today, it is the most populous city in Canada

The Grange

The Grange is the 12th oldest building in Toronto and was built in 1817 in the Georgian style for D'Arcy Boulton who was a well known resident of the city and came from a powerful family in the city. The name came from the family's property of the same name in England. The house was two storeys and made from bricks formed on the land. The front door opened into a central hall with a dining room, drawing room and bedrooms on the first floor and bedrooms on the second floor. The attic had servant rooms. The kitchen and scullery were in the basement. 

D'Arcy and his wife Sarah Anne had eight children. Their home became the social center for Toronto for a time and D'Arcy made a living running a dry goods store. When he passed in 1846, the house passed to his William Henry Boulton and his wife Hariette. William was the mayor of Toronto at the time. He died in 1874 and he left the house to his wife Hariette who remarried to a prominent scholar named Goldwin Smith. The house was bequeathed to the Art Museum of Toronto in 1910. The St. George Church was also on the property as the Boultons founded it, but it burned down in 1956, leaving only the tower and Sunday school building. The grounds became Grange Park. The house was restored in the 1960s and eventually renamed the Art Gallery of Ontario. Today, the Grange houses the Norma Ridley Members' Lounge and exhibit spaces and tours are offered, although it isn't furnished as a museum. Visitors and staff have seen a man in a yellow velvet coat that likes to roam the hallways. He has been witnessed walking straight through solid walls in the conservatory where it is believed there used to be some doors that are no longer there. A woman in black hangs out near a second-floor bedroom. The ground floor kitchen has a lady in white haunting it. People believe the ghosts of Goldwin Smith and weird fiction writer Algernon Blackwood are in the house. Blackwood had visited the house several times as he was friends with Smith.

Humber Polytechnic's Lakeshore Campus

Humber College's Lakeshore Campus is next to the shores of Lake Ontario and is part of Humber Polytechnic. This campus is one of three and was established in 1967. There is a lot of interesting architecture as it sits on the grounds of the former Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital and Lakeshore Teachers' College. And interesting art like the sculpture of Persephone created by Harley Valentine in 2013. The Greek queen of the underworld was placed in the front plaza of the L-Building, which opened in 2011. There are several cottages around the L-Building. The psychiatric hospital was built in 1888 and originally named the Mimico Asylum. The cottages are left over from the asylum that was designed in the cottage system. The buildings and cottage were done in the Gothic and Romanesque style. The patients helped to build most of the buildings and they worked the farm on the grounds. This was basically forced labor. There was overcrowding and some mistreatment and violence among the patients. The hospital had a cemetery, which contained the bodies of 1,511 patients, most of them unmarked. It remains about a mile away from the hospital. There was a big renovation in 1959, but when another was needed in 1979, the decision was made to close the hospital. The hospital made appearances in most of the Police Academy movies and recently in 2020, it was the setting for the Matheson Academy on Netflix's Locke & Key. Humber College began leasing the property in 1991 and renovated the building and cottages. 

A story claims that a nurse hanged herself on an apple tree near the hospital and makes appearances as a ghost now. She has been seen walking the halls at night. Strange scents are reported in the F Building that had once housed the morgue. In the cottages, objects move on their own and chairs roll on their own. Phantom handprints have been seen on the windows.  

Chris Kelterborn was a community and justice services student who wrote when asked if he experienced anything weird in the residence hall, "F**k yes, toiletries randomly flying off the shelves, cutlery randomly clattering in the sink and lights turning on and off at random." Cece Courtemanche, another student, reported the following from her time in the residence hall in 2015, "Yeah, I do have a couple stories, definitely the weirdest one though was that I used to constantly hear stomping sounds, almost like someone running, nearly every night without fail, at 3am. Just someone running on the floor above me. And it wasn’t just me, other people on my floor heard it too. But the part that didn’t make any sense was the running would only ever happen at 3am. It was so bizarre, and to this day I don’t have any sort of explanation for it!" Another student said that random stuff would disappear from their kitchen and be missing for days and then in one case, they found the spatula in the middle of the room on the floor. 

Dentistry Building on the George Brown Campus

George Brown founded the Toronto Globe and was one of the Fathers of Confederation. The college was named for him and established in 1967. The dentistry facilities were located at the Casa Loma Campus before moving to the Waterfront Campus. This left a building abandoned and apparently, it had some paranormal activity.

Snoo22214 wrote on Reddit, "Used to go in there all the time on official business. Its dangerous to be in there, so you have to go with someone. We rounded a corner and saw someone standing in the hall watching us. They vanished into thin air. We decided to call the visit short after that. Phone calls also come from that building from a woman despite the phones being disconnected." Random flushing in the empty building was a thing. Another comment from Reddit reads, "I hated that building so much! I worked security at GBC long time ago and that was part of our daily patrols. Luckily I never saw anyone but I would always hear random toilet flushing and felt like I was being watched the whole time. Scary!" 

Colborne Lodge 

The Colborne Lodge is a unique looking cottage nestled in High Park that was built in 1837 by Toronto architect and High Park founder John Howard and his wife Jemima. The two were painters and quite eccentric and they filled the home with their art, drawings and inventions that still remain today. The style of the cottage is Regency Picturesque and the exterior is stuccoed. 

Jemima became the first documented case of breast cancer in the city of Toronto and rather than help his wife to battle the disease, Howard tried to have her committed to a Provincial Lunatic Asylum. The Asylum denied the request, so he locked in her room where she stayed until her death in 1877. She spent most days looking out the window, which faced the tomb he had built for the couple to share. The couple gifted the property to the City of Toronto upon their deaths. The ghost here is believed to be Jemima, who has been seen standing at a bedroom window. The first person to record seeing this was a police officer patrolling the park in 1969. He went into the house thinking someone had broken in and he found it empty. There are also reports of phantom soldiers in the park, although we don't know what that would be from. Perhaps a very early squirmish?

Gibraltar Point Lighthouse

We love lighthouses around here and they all seem to harbor ghost stories it seems. Gibraltar Point Lighthouse is no different. There was a long, finger-like peninsula that extended out into Lake Ontario from Toronto and this formed a natural harbor that needed defending. Fort York was built for this purpose - we'll get into that location next - and John Graves Simcoe, who was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, named the peninsula Gibraltar Point. This was probably wishful thinking for Simcoe as he wanted to give the impression that it was "fortified so as to be impregnable." 

A blockhouse was built on the point with Fort York across from it. A few years later, in 1803, the Parliament of Upper Canada decided to put a lighthouse on Gibraltar Point. The lighthouse was completed in 1808 and is today, the oldest standing lighthouse on the Great Lakes. The lighthouse was constructed from limestone and built in a hexagonal shape and was 52 feet when finished. In 1832, it was raised to 82 feet. Simcoe was wrong about the point being fortified as the lighthouse actually helped guide American forces in an attack on Toronto. The first keeper was John P. Radelmuller (Radel mule er) and he would end up being the first death here. And, it was murder. The York Gazette reported on January 14, 1815, "Died on the evening of the 2nd of January, J.P. Radelmuller, keeper of the lighthouse on Gibraltar Point. From circumstances there is moral proof of his having been murdered. If the horrid crime admits of aggravation when the inoffensive and benevolent character of the unfortunate sufferer are considered, his murder will be pronounced most barbarous and inhuman. The parties lost with him are the proposed perpetrators and are in prison." The York Gazette reported three months later, "No conviction of the supposed murderers of the late J.P. Radelmuller." Unfortunately, these accounts give no details as to what happened, but tradition holds that soldiers from the York garrison came to the lighthouse for beer. Radelmuller was making bootleg beer in his free time and he either refused to sell to them or overcharged and they got angry and killed him. He disappeared and was never seen again. The next keepers would be James Durnan and his son George and they worked there until 1905. They often talked of the murder and even claimed to have found a human jaw bone. In 1915, the lighthouse got its fourth-order Fresnal lens and was electrified in 1917. Before this, the lighthouse went through a time using candles, then sperm oil and coal. With electrification, the light's last keeper, Blake Matthews, left in 1918. The flashing white light became green in 1945. The light was deactivated in 1959 and replaced by a tripod tower with a red flashing light. There had been a keeper's cottage here that was built in 1808 with the lighthouse, but it was demolished in 1950. Occasional tours are offered.

Reports of ghost stories go way back and the CBC even ran a special back in 1958 about the stories. They said there were hundreds of reports of ghostly happenings in and around the light. There were strange blood stains that would show up on the staircase. There were unexplained lights in the windows and shadowy figures seen. Many visitors have claimed to see Radelmüller’s ghost climbing the tower, probably in search for his body parts.

Fort York

And as we just mentioned, Gibraltar Point had Fort York, which is today known as Fort York National Historic Site. The first permanent fort was built in 1793 and was mainly a bunch of cabins. Two log barracks were added and then a stockade and sawmill. The following year, two blockhouses were built and a guard house. In 1798, many original buildings were replaced and a stockade was built around the property. Artillery batteries were added as were furnaces so that fire heated shot could be used. This is where British soldiers, First Nations warriors and Upper Canadian militiamen tried to hold the Town of York, which was Toronto's original name, against an American attack during the War of 1812. The Battle of York took place on April 27, 1813 and was a defeat for the British and Canadians. The British were led by Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe and they were outnumbered by the American led by Major General Henry Dearborn. The Americans had an entire Naval flotilla with them, numbering 14 ships. Not only were Sheaffe's forces outnumbered, but a company of Glengarry Light Infantry got lost on the outskirts of York and were unable to assist the Native tribes who were where the Americans were landing. Fort York was heavily bombarded and Sheaffe soon decided that the battle was lost, so he ordered the regulars to retreat and they set fire to a wooden bridge over the River Don so that the Americans couldn't pursue them. The militia was left behind with many of the citizens of York. They were described in the paper as "standing in the street like a parcel of sheep." Sheaffe told the militia to try to get the best terms they could with the Americans. He also had the HMS Sir Isaac Brock that was under construction at the York Naval Shipyard burned. The magazine was also blown up, which caused a large number of American casualties. Even after Sheaffe vacated the fort, the Americans kept firing because the British left their flag up as a ruse. The Americans had 320 casualties to Britain's 475. York was burned and plundered and the Americans occupied it for two weeks. As the Americans left York, they burned the structures in the fort, except for the barracks. The fort was rebuilt in 1813 and was in use until 1932 with many years of peace leading to decay and many years of preparing for hostilities leading to refurbishment. Fort York officially was handed over to Canada in 1870 by the British. The fort was reopened as a museum on Victoria Day in 1934. Recently, the fort hosted the 2026 Toronto FIFA Fan Festival. 

Fort York embraces its haunts. They occasionally host evening lantern tours, especially around Halloween. There is a soldier wearing a red coat that is seen near the fort's entrance and one of the old barracks. Unexplained noises are heard as well as disembodied footsteps and whispers. Cold spots are felt. A female spirit is seen roaming around the Officer's Quarters. And the ghost of Lt. Zachariah Mudge is said to be roaming about because he unalived himself in 1831 and was denied a proper Christian burial. Visitors and staff claim to get the eerie feeling of being watched.  

Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre

Elgin and Winter Garden Theaters are a pair of theatres that were built as the flagship of Marcus Loew's theatre chain in 1913. Architect Thomas W. Lamb designed them as Edwardian double-decker theaters and they started with vaudeville and short silent movies. The Elgin Theater was originally named Loew's Yonge Street Theater and had a gold-and-marble, domed, hard-top theater. This was the lower theater. Winter Garden was the upper theater and was set up as an atmospheric theater. The interior resembled a country garden under the stars, painted with murals of plants and garden trellises. There were lantern lights and the columns were designed like tree trunks. In 1928, the Elgin was converted into a sound theater for the new Talkies. The Winter Garden was closed at that time and stayed closed for 60 years. In 1969, Loews sold the Elgin to Famous Players and by the 1970s, the Elgin was showing mainly B movies and soft-core pornography. The Ontario Heritage Foundation bought the structure from Famous Players in 1981. The 1980s brought improvement with real theater. Cats ran here from 1985 to 1987 and was very successful. restoration was done to both theaters in 1987 and they reopened in 1989.

There are disembodied footsteps up in the balconies and doors open and close by themselves. There is a story that a girl allegedly was stabbed in the Winter Garden washroom on the 5th floor and she managed to drag herself to the elevator before she died on the floor. Today, staff and guests say the elevator travels by itself to the fifth floor. And they think she is a ghost they nicknamed the Lavender Lady who leaves behind the scent of lavender. The Winter Garden is haunted by Sam the Trombone Player who is said to be a friendly ghost.

Massey Hall

Massey Hall is one of Toronto’s most beloved concert venues. Hart Massey was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist who built the Massey Ferguson agricultural equipment firm. He decided he wanted to build a music hall that was secular and this was the Massey Music Hall, which was built in the neoclassical design with Moorish arches under the direction of architect Sidney Badgley. the interior was inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Spain. The hall was completed in 1894 and debuted with a choral performance of Handel's Messiah. A bar was opened in the basement in 1994 to commemorate the hall's 100th anniversary. There was a major renovation in 2013 and a new addition was added in 2022. The place has hosted musical performances, political speeches, speaking tours, memorials and even boxing. The future King George V and his wife Queen Mary visited in 1901. 

There have been various reports of spectral visitors. One of these spirits is a man in period clothing who wanders around the backstage area. People believe this man may be a custodian who had lived in an apartment behind the stage. A ghostly elderly couple have been spotted in the aisles late at night. And there is a female ghost who may belong to an opera singer that likes to watch performances from the audience. She seems to like it when a soprano takes the stage.

Old City Hall

Toronto's Old City Hall was one of the largest buildings in Toronto when it was completed in 1899. It was designed by Edward James Lennox in the Richardsonian Romanesque style and took a decade to complete and cost over $2 million. This is a magnificent building made from several types of stone: sandstone, grey stone and brown stone. This is an enormous Square quad with a courtyard in the middle and a tall clock tower that is slightly off center. There were carvings of animals and humans all along the exterior of the building. Three large oak doorways lead into a two-storey main hall with murals and stained-glass windows. This was the city's grandest interior space at the time. Lennox made sure to have the stonemasons put his name in corbels under the upper floor eaves because the councilors of the city were angry with cost overruns and wouldn't allow a plaque to be added to the building proclaiming him as the architect. Four gargoyles were part of the Clock Tower when it was finished, but they had to be removed due to erosion in 1938. Bronze casts of the gargoyles were reinstalled in 2002. The city hall proved to be inadequate so a new one was built in 1965. The old one was supposed to be demolished and replaced with a retail building, but community outcry saved it and it became a dedicated courthouse. The courts have since moved and the city is still working on its next steps. It probably will be a temporary home for the Ontario Legislative Assembly.

Judges claimed to feel mysterious tugs at their robes by things they couldn't see. Disembodied footsteps have been heard, especially at the building’s rear staircase. For some reason, muffled moans are heard coming from the attic. Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were sentenced and charged here in Courtroom 125 (formerly 33) and were the last two Canadians executed in Canada. Their ghosts are said to haunt the courtroom. In John Robert Colombo’s book Haunted Toronto, he tells of a pair of reporters that almost managed to spend the night but gave in by 4am. But then the reporters experienced what they described as “cool fogs” and weird noises that left them, at times, glued to the floor and they decided to pack up and leave. 

Christie Mansion

William Mellis Christie was known as the cookie baron. He had emigrated from Scotland to Canada when he was a teenager in 1848. In Scotland, he had been an apprentice to a baker and so he quickly found work in a bakery in Ontario. At night, he would bake bread and then sell it from a handcart in the mornings. This grew into his own company and then he partnered with his old boss to form Christie, Brown and Company and they opened up a factory that took up an entire block. Christie won multiple awards for his cookies. By the end of the 1800s, Christie employed two out of every three people in biscuit making in Canada. He built a fortune and then built his mansion across from Queen's Park. Christie died of cancer in 1900 and the mansion passed on to his son Robert. And apparently, Robert had a secret. There is a legend that claims that Robert had a mistress and that he had the audacity to keep her at the mansion in a secret room located behind wood paneling in the library. A servant was bribed to take food to the mistress and keep quiet about the arrangement. After awhile, Robert got bored with the woman and ignored her and she became despondent and hanged herself from a rafter with a bedsheet. Robert moved the body out under the cover of darkness and rumors claim the mistress was buried over at Queen's Park. The guilt whittled away at Robert and he soon was in the grave. And the Christie cookies were bought by Nabisco. The mansion became home to the local chapter of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s. Today, it's Regis College, the Jesuit School of Theology affiliated with the University of Toronto.

The ghost of the mistress is said to haunt the mansion. The door to the former secret room slams shut by itself and would lock itself, trapping students inside. The mansion eventually became a female dorm for University of Toronto students, and there have been reports of a spirit haunting the mistress’s hidden room. An uneasy presence is felt in the room, that is referred to as Room 29. While no one can find evidence that the mistress story is true, there is really a secret room built into the framework of the building. 

Mackenzie House (Covered on a BonusCast)

The second occurrence of a ghost being listed in an official government document, happened in relation to Mackenzie House in Toronto. This is reputed to be the most haunted house in Toronto. It was once the home of firebrand and reformer William Lyon Mackenzie. He died in the home. And apparently, his spirit never left. 

The name Mackenzie comes from Clan MacKenzie of Scotland. This was one of the most powerful clans during the 17th Century. One of their members was William Lyon Mackenzie who was the first Mayor of Toronto. He had been born in Dundee, Scotland in 1795 and he emigrated to Canada when he was twenty-five. Mackenzie got involved in politics and served in the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada. He aligned with the Reformers who were seeking to get corruption out of the government. This activity led to the Upper Canada Rebellion, which ended in defeat for the rebels. Since Mackenzie had been a leader, he was forced into exile in the US where he resided until 1850. He returned to Canada penniless and his friends helped him to purchase the Mackenzie House. Mackenzie lived there with his family until his death in 1861. His wife and daughters continued to live in the house for ten more years even though it was seized by the Sheriff of Toronto because of unpaid financial obligations. Another man named John Taylor bought the property and allowed the Mackenzies to stay. Mackenzie's wife Isabel was able to buy back the house four years later. The Mackenzie House was located at 82 Bond Street and was one of several row houses on the street. It stood two stories and was designed in the Georgian architectural style. In 1936 when William Lyon Mackenzie King, Mackenzie’s grandson, was Prime Minister, the house was saved from demolition when its neighboring row houses were destroyed. By the 1940s, the house was being renovated into a museum and that's what it is today. The site features furniture from the nineteenth century, an 1845 printing press and artifacts from its former print shop. When the house was being converted, various caretakers resided in it and that's when the first reports of ghostly activity started.

There were many a story told of the ghost that lived in MacKenzie House. People heard footsteps creaking on the stairs and playing of the piano. Spirits were seen standing over those who were sleeping. Mackenzie’s body is buried at Toronto Necropolis, but some believe his spirit returns to his former home. The apparition of a small, bald man in a wig and frock coat is often seen around the home, especially in the third floor bedroom. This would be an apt description of the former famous occupant. 

Also, a woman with long hair has been spotted around the second and third floor areas. Cold spots and poltergeist activity have occurred. The printing press in the basement starting up on its own has been reported by the staff and many of the tourists. Apparently, one of the more interesting things is the ghosts' reported near obsession with something that is relatively new in the house, the indoor plumbing. One of the caretakers in the 1950s was named Mrs. Edmunds. Mrs. Edmund one night claimed that she was awoken by a soft touch on the shoulder. When she opened her eyes, Mrs. Edmund said there was a lady there bending over her, looking into her face. But a few seconds later, the lady vanished. A few weeks later, Mrs. Edmund claims it happened again, but this time, Mrs. Edmund said the lady drew back her hand and slapped her in the face before vanishing. In 1960, this house was donated to the City of Toronto. Part of this bequest was an inventory of all the artifacts that were in the house at that time and at the bottom of this list were the words, ‘One ghost. It was then decided to try to exorcise the house. A blessing was performed on the house in 1960 by Anglican Archdeacon John Frank to remove any spirits who were currently residing there. The haunting activity has continued, so it apparently didn't work. The Toronto Daily Star ran an article on June 28, 1960, which derided the allegations: “Ghosts in Toronto? No, ghost writers.” It quoted officials from the Mackenzie Homestead Foundation, which then owned and operated the house as a museum, as admitting they “dreamed up” the story with the Telegram to drum up interest. Caretaker Alex Dobban appeared to backtrack on the tales of spirits, telling a Star reporter, “There’s nothing to it.”

A seance was held two days after this story with seven spiritualists and they said, "The guest of honor failed to show up. He wasn’t even there in spirit." Medium Harold Hilton told the Star, "This proves definitely that the Mackenzie House isn’t haunted." In 1988, Toronto Star reporter Catherine Dunphy visited the house with the psychic Elizabeth Paddon and a professor who was a paranormal investigator named Ian Currie. Paddon apparently went into a trance and became the medium for the spirit of Mackenzie’s wife, Isabel Baxter Mackenzie. Currie claimed to have convinced her to move on to the world where her husband awaited.

Spadina (Spa dine ah) House

The Spadina House was once a sprawling country estate built for Dr. William Warren Baldwin in 1818. The original house burned down and had to be rebuilt in 1836. Baldwin called his estate Spadina after the Ojibwe word Ishpadinaa, which means "sudden rise of land." This was fitting as the house sat on top of a steep slope. The founder of The Dominion Bank, James Austin, bought the house in 1866 and 80 acres of the original 200 acres. The area had grown into the wealthiest neighborhood in Toronto. James gave the house to his son Albert in 1892. Albert added a third floor to the house in 1912. Albert's daughter Anna Thompson inherited the house and she lived in it from 1942 until 1982. The family donated the house and all its furnishings to the city of Toronto. The house opened as a museum in 1984 and features a mix of architectural style, Victorian, Edwardian and Italianate. The keystones feature botanical themes and the property is known for its gardens. The central hall has a floating staircase and there are 55 rooms. Stuffed wolves were found in the family's archives and they have been placed at the entryway of the museum.  

The Toronto & Ontario Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society claims that visitors and staff have seen a foggy grayish apparition that darts around the children’s bedrooms and in the hallway on the third floor. No one died in the house, but people wonder if this apparition might the spirit of one of the wolves. They think this because the wolves were sent off for restoration and when they were returned, that is when the gray mass started showing up.

Don Jail

The Old Don Jail was designed by architect William Thomas with directions to model it after the Pentonville Prison in London. The jail was done in the Renaissance Revival style and completed in 1864 from bricks out of the Toronto brickyards and stone from quarries from Ohio. Thomas incorporated an innovative heating and cooling system that consisted of a network of ducts and flues and two ventilation towers. This was the largest reform jail facility in North America when it opened and it eventually became notorious for poor treatment of the prisoners. It started out with inmates sleeping in small cells and working during the days on an industrial farm or in workshops and this trained them for better lives after release. Over time, this switched away from work programs and inmates would just be stuck in their cramped cells all day with more than one inmate in a cell at times. The overcrowding led to illnesses like tuberculosis sweeping through and the entire facility was vermin infested. There were executions conducted here with 34 hangings that included Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas who were hanged side by side in 1962 as the last executions in Canada. A new modern wing was added in 1958, bringing the capacity of the jail up to 550 inmates. The doors closed in 1977, with the new wing staying open until 2013, and the building was used for storage until Bridgepoint Health commissioned the complex for restoration as a new healthcare center in 2012. They transformed the place into welcoming and functional administrative space with modern office spaces. There are self-guided tours offered during the week with 10 cells restored to their original state. 

Some of the famous inmates here were from the bank-robbing Boyd Gang and the Polka Dot Gang. This crew got their nickname from the bandanas they wore as masks. The committed a bunch of violent break-ins and payroll robberies in 1945. There are supposedly several ghosts here, two of which are Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas. There is also an agitated blonde woman who wears a white gown and floats or paces around the second level of the central rotunda. She was an inmate here in the 19th-century who died by suicide in the women's west wing. Disembodied cries are heard as well as phantom noises. 

Opposite_Smile6780 wrote on Reddit, "I worked at the Toronto Jail from '08 til its closing in 2013. When they were refurbishing the Don Jail (original building from 1865) for Bridgepoint hospital, we would sometimes go inside the building on lunch break to look around. Definitely eerie. I've had quite a few experiences. On night shift, the kitchen was closed and locked. It was located in the basement of the building and many times while I was standing outside the kitchen waiting on the elevator, I would hear sounds from the kitchen, specifically that sound of the floor drains throughout the kitchen. They made a certain noise if you stepped on one and I would hear that exact sound in the locked kitchen. When 1 of the murders happened inside, there was one in particular who liked to show up. Inmates would tell me stories of seeing this particular inmate pass by the cell doors at night, make noise etc. I had no previous issues with the deceased inmate, always got a long. One day I'm working the unit he was murdered. I was in the control room and mind you, the control room doors where not flimsy. They were fairly heavy and had to be shut forcefully. So I'm standing there looking into the living unit and the door is open behind me and suddenly it starts to slowly creep its way closed. I watched for a second and then said out loud "knock it off insert inmates name" And the door stopped. Early morning shift, unit is still in night mode, inmates are all sleeping and I'm working alone in a very dimly lit area. There was a secure walkway around the entire perimeter of the living unit, where our desk was located and since we were still running in night mode, inmates must remain locked within their cells, within the living unit. As I sat at my desk doing some paperwork, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye down the hall to my right. I saw a full figured (though unidentifiable as the figure didn't have face) apparition dressed all in orange, turn the corner and begin walking down the hall toward me. I panicked because there should not be any inmates out at all within the living unit, let alone the secure area where I was and I whipped my head around and stood up, there was nobody there. There was nothing but a hallway with brown tile and walls of blue and white. One lone light at the end of the hall casting a horrible white light. NOTHING orange. Nothing that I could explain why I saw anything orange in my peripheral. I a few units, some more than others, I would often see shadow people within the groups of inmates I was in charge of that day." 

Hockey Hall of Fame

The former president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, James T. Sutherland, established the Hockey Hall of Fame in Kingston, Ontario in 1943. The point of the Hall of Fame was to honor great hockey players and raise funds for a permanent building. They weren't able to get the funds and the NHL pulled their support until the project moved to Toronto in 1958. 

The first Hall of Fame shared a building with the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. By 1986, it was outgrowing its space and needed a new place. This place would be one of the former locations of the Bank of Montreal. That building at Front and Yonge Street was built in 1885 by Darling & Curry in the Beaux-Arts style. The Hockey Hall of Fame moved into it in 1993. The HHOF is the home of the Stanley Cup today. 

And it is home to a ghost reputedly. People have experienced doors opening and closing on their own, lights doing their own thing and the disembodied sounds of a woman. The spirit that haunts this location goes by the name Dorothy. The Star researched the back story on Dorothy and found some real evidence. They believe she was named Dorothea Mae Elliott and was a 19-year-old who shot herself in 1953. She survived long enough to make it to the hospital where she died 22 hours later. There were inferences  that she was sad over a broken love affair. Her boyfriend had left to work on the boats.

The Toronto Star reported in 2009, "In the early 1990s, a few years before the Hockey Hall of Fame moved into the historic building that had been a Bank of Montreal branch for close to 100 years, Toronto musician Joanna Jordan saw a female ghost looking down on her from a second-floor ceiling. Jordan, who was playing the harp at an event being held in the building’s Great Hall, was unaware at the time that a ghost purportedly haunted the space. 'I remember it so vividly,' she says, 'because it’s one of those things you’ll never forget.' Jordan refused to go up to the second floor by herself when she played at the Hall, which opened in 1993, some years later. 'It was just too spooky up there.'" And also, "Rob Hynes, who formerly worked at the Hall as a special events supervisor, had an encounter that spooked him. While preparing for an event, he entered a narrow kitchen that runs behind a second-floor conference room to get some coffee urns at around 6 a.m. A strong feeling, as if being watched by someone, 'but different than that,' enticed him to enter the conference room, which was in darkness. 'One of the chairs, and this is the God’s honest truth, was turning, as if a breeze was in there,' he says. 'It actually moved right into my hand. I’m rather skeptical about ghosts, but I just freaked out and ran out of there.' Despite all the reports, only one other person is believed to have actually seen the spirit. One summer a young boy was visiting the Hall of Fame when he started screaming, 'Don’t you see her, don’t you see her,' says Jane Rodney, who was the Hall’s coordinator of resource center services at the time. 'He claimed a woman with long black hair was going in and out of the walls.'" 

Toronto is a city full of history and historic buildings. The residents have made an effort to preserve many of their old spaces and that is a wonderful thing. Hopefully the spirits appreciate this. Are these locations in Toronto haunted? That is for you to decide!  

HGB Ep. 651 - Mont-Saint-Michel or "The Nest"

This Month in History - Birth of Cecil DeMille

In the month of August, on the 12th, in 1881, iconic American filmmaker, Cecil B. DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts. Cecil Blount DeMille's parents were playwright father, Henry Churchill DeMille, and educator and play-broker mother, Matilda Beatrice Samuel. Older brother William C. DeMille would also become a director and playwright. Cecil attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York starting in 1898. He worked as a stage actor and playwright in the 1900s. By 1912, Cecil co-founded the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company alongside Jesse Lasky and Samuel Goldwyn. Known as the "Master of Spectacle," he directed and produced roughly 70 films, spanning both the silent and sound eras. Cecil shaped the cinematic landscape with grand biblical epics and lavish historical dramas. By 1914, Cecil's co-founded company evolved into Paramount Pictures with which he won the Academy Award for Best Picture with his production, 'The Greatest Show on Earth' in 1953. He was known on-set as a strict, jodhpurs-wearing "director-general" who demanded absolute authority. Cecil B. DeMille died of heart failure in January 1959, at the age of 77. He is still honored yearly as a founding father of American cinema, and the quintessential Hollywood showman, by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association via the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. 

Mont-Saint-Michel (moh-sahn-mee-shell) or "The Nest"

We once again were inspired to research a location that we saw on a series. This one is Mont-Saint-Michel from "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon." The location in the series is like a safe haven for the good people, at least that is the way it appears on the surface. The castle-like main building is so beautiful and large that it seemed like it had to be a creation of CGI, so we were shocked to look it up and find that it was a real place. And when we dug a little further to see if it was haunted, sure enough, it was! Join us for the history and hauntings of France's Mont-Saint-Michel.

Mont-Saint-Michel is actually its own island and is a village. An interesting aspect of the island is that it is ruled by the tides as to whether people can reach it from the mainland. The island was originally named Mont-Tombe (mohn tohnb-bay), which means Mount Grave, and is located off the northwestern coast of France off of Normandy. This island sits at the mouth of the Couesnon (KWAY-non) River and at high tide, the island is surrounded by water. The island is circular in shape and measures 3,000 feet around and is made from granite with this immense granite outcrop that stands 256 feet high. The name of the island was changed to Mont-Saint-Michel in the 8th century. It was at this time that the Bishop of Avranches (ah-vrahn-sh), St. Aubert (oh-BAIR), had 3 separate visions in 708 that he claimed were of the archangel Michael and he was told to build a small chapel there. It took three visions because the bishop thought the first two were just dreams. When the archangel showed up the third time, he pressed his finger into the bishop's forehead to let him know that this was the real deal. There is a relic that backs up this story, the bishop's skull. The Saint-Gervais (san zher-VAY) basilica in Avranches (ah-vrahn-sh) has a skull on display that bears a round hole and it has been venerated for centuries as St. Aubert’s (oh-BAIR's). The bishop built the chapel and it was consecrated on October 16, 709. When people were told that this chapel was inspired by the archangel, it became a pilgrimage site. There were so many manuscripts and books kept here that people started calling it "The City of Books." 

The bishop sent a community of canons to the chapel and they served for 250 years until Duke Richard I replaced them with Benedictine monks in 966. A Benedictine abbey was then built there and the Benedictine abbey lasted for 832 years, broken into two periods because the abbey was not without conflict. 

In 1067, the Mount supported William the Conquerer and he rewarded it with with property on the English side of the channel. King Philip II of France tried to capture it in 1203 and part of it was burnt in the melee. Fortunately, he apologized for the damage by building the monastery known as La Merveille (“The Wonder”) for the monks. The decision was made that the island needed to be fortified and so stronger walls were built in 1256 and it was able to resist sieges during the Hundred Year War between England and France (1337–1453) and the French Wars of Religion (1562–98). That Hundred Year War is the one that Joan of Arc became prominent during. But many years were spent in peace until the monastery went into decline during the 18th century. By the French Revolution, there were only seven monks at the abbey. The revolution caused its total dissolution for this first period of its Benedictine time in 1791. Napoleon I felt that the site would make the perfect prison as it was fortified and hard to reach. Mont-Saint-Michel would be a prison from 1791 to 1863, 72 years. The nickname "Bastille of the Seas" was given to it. A Wheel Room was built in the monks' former ossuary with an enormous wheel that could hoist food up to the prisoners held in the abbey. High profile political dissidents and revolutionaries were the main prisoners from the 1830s into the 1840s and this caused a lot of public protests. Writer Victor Hugo spearheaded a restoration campaign with writings that rallied the public to protest prisoners being kept in a place that was a medieval abbey that should be returned to such use. He wrote in a letter to the poet Louise Bertin on June 27, 1836 from Mont Saint-Michel, "Around us, everywhere as far as the eye can see, infinite space, the blue horizon of the sea, the green horizon of the earth, the clouds, the air, the freedom, the birds flying on all wings, […] and then, suddenly, there, in a crest of an old wall, above our heads, through a barred window, the pale figure of a prisoner. Never have I felt more keenly than here the cruel antitheses that man sometimes makes with nature." Public pressure worked at the prison was closed in 1863. 

In 1864, the Service des Monuments Historiques (sehr-vees day mon-y-muhnt eez-tor-eek) restored the building and opened it to the public. This proved to be a popular tourist spot and a road dike was built in 1879 to help with transportation. Five years before that, in 1874, it was classified as a historic monument. 

By 1901, a steam tramway was constructed from the town of Pontorson (pohn-tor-sohn) to the Mount. At this time, efforts were made to restore various buildings in the village that had fallen into disrepair and new buildings were also built in the Norman and Gothic Revival styles. The Mount survived both World Wars, but it was occupied by the Germans from 1940 to 1944. Towards the end of the War in August of 1944, an American Private named Freeman Brougher from Pennsylvania went to the Mount with two British reporters, Gault MacGowan of the New York Sun and Paul Holt with the London Daily Express and the men liberated Mont-Saint-Michel. Crowds were very happy and welcomed them and the mayor invited the American soldier to sign the Golden Book, the island's record of visiting nobility. The Benedictine monks returned in 1966 to celebrate the 1,000- year anniversary of the founding of their order. In 1979, UNESCO added Mont Saint-Michel and its bay to its list of World Heritage sites. The Benedictines stayed until 2001 when the brothers and sisters of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem replaced them at the site. They remain and welcome pilgrims and visitors from all over the world. Car parks were built on the mainland to facilitate visitors and the old road dyke is now a walkway bridge. Today, Mont Saint-Michael is a major tourist spot and a small village of about 50 people and there are 132 hotel rooms. What people will find here includes the prominent abbey church that towers over the island and has an imposing 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque nave. This was built over four crypts. The main entrance leads into a fortified guard room that was staffed during the Hundred-Years War.

Creating the abbey was an architectural feat that continued to be added upon. There was an elegant choir in Flamboyant Gothic style that was built starting in 1450. The tower and spire were added in the 19th century. The tower has a statue of St. Michael atop it that was created in 1897 by the sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet at the request of the architect Victor Petitgrand. The statue was restored in 1987 and regilded in 2016.

Saint Michael has always been considered the leader of the heavenly host and is the leading defender against evil, specifically the dragon. He is usually depicted with a sword and a set of scales. Medieval people believed Saint Michael was the one who guided the dead into the afterlife and weighed souls on the Day of Judgement. After the Hundred Years’ War, the French held Saint Michael to be a patriotic figure. There is a the west terrace that was the original forecourt of the abbey church and has a panoramic view of the bay. There is a rich biodiversity in the bay. The view also includes a view of the abbey church, the bays of the cloister and the spire under the feet of the archangel. The site also has the 1228 Gothic monastery known as La Merveille, translated as The Marvel that is a group of Gothic buildings. It has both a religious look and and a fortress look with a refectory that has high, narrow windows and a cloister with sculptures. The cloister is at the top of The Marvel and was built in the 13th century. It is trapezoidal in shape and has a garden and a covered gallery that runs around it. The garden is separated by an original colonnade, composed of 137 columns arranged in staggered rows and forming tripods, which support the vault and the roof of the cloister gallery. The garden being open to the sky and this high up, aided the monks in their meditations and feeling closer to God and heaven. A chapter house was supposed to be built off it, but this never happened. 

The Refectory with all of its windows is always filled with natural light and the monks would eat here in silence while another monk stood at the pulpit and read to them. The Guests’ Hall is beneath the Refectory and was used to house kings and nobles when they came to visit. 

St. Peter's Church was dedicated to the patron saint of fisherman and is a small parish church in the middle of the village just below the main abbey. It was built between the 15th and 16th centuries. The Grand Rue is a steep, winding main street that is lined with the houses and shops of the village. Everything is surrounded by the Ramparts that remind everyone that this place used to have to keep out invaders. The Almshouse is beneath the Hall of Guests and the monks welcomed the poor and pilgrims from all walks of life. The Lace Staircase is amazing and is the highest point accessible to visitors. It spans one of the flamboyant gothic buttresses and was built at the time of the reconstruction of the choir, which was completed in 1523. The staircase is a real piece of Gothic art. 

With the history behind this site, it isn't surprising that there are reports of ghosts here. After all, it was originally named Mount Grave. People refer to the waters and sands around the Mount as Red Sands. That red represents blood. The blood of fallen soldiers. Local folklore claims that on quiet, stormy nights, the tides turn red and the cries of fallen soldiers are heard. The sounds of battles are also heard. Sometimes there is the sound of chanting and praying as well. And there are even bells because a legend claims a great flood took out a forest and village that was once here.

There are several legends connected to the Mount too. A legend claims that Saint Michael and the Dragon had their battle here, not in Heaven. And another claims that Saint Michael and the Devil were neighbors here at the bay. Saint Michael had a bunch of sand, but the Devil had rich farmland. The two agreed to split the harvest and the Devil decided he wanted the top of the crops and so Saint Michael got the roots. The first year, up came onions, carrots, and turnips. There were no top crops, so the Devil chose the roots the next year. Up came wheat that year. The Devil was pissed and so he decided to fight Michael. Michael kicked him so hard, it is said the Devil ended up near Mortain and people say you can still see claw marks on the rocks where he fell. There is a legend linking Mont Saint-Michel to Dante’s Hell and this plays on the idea of subterranean chambers, hidden passageways, and the sensation of being trapped in an otherworldly space. In Dante’s Inferno, Hell is depicted as a series of descending circles, each reserved for different sins and punishments. Some modern myths and local folklore suggest that beneath Mont Saint-Michel, there are secret tunnels, caverns, or even portals that could lead to an underworld—a concept that aligns with the dramatic architecture and mystical atmosphere of the site. However, these ideas are purely fictional and have no basis in historical fact. Instead, they tap into the rich tradition of using Mont Saint-Michel’s remote, almost inaccessible position as a symbol of both spiritual transcendence and the darker, unknown realms that lie beneath the surface of human experience.

The walls of the Mount are still inscribed by men who were prisoners here and left their marks behind. Some of their spirits were left behind as well. Their disembodied voices are heard. 

One of the commanders at the abbey was Captain Louis d’Estouville (dess-toot-veel). He served during the Hundred Year War. He led his troops into slaughtering thousands of English soldiers and the ground was soaked with their blood. This was during a brutal battle in 1434 with the English being led by Thomas de Scales into a full assault on the abbey. The Captain had a force of only 300 and they managed to kill 2,000 English soldiers.  One of the things that helped is that the tide came in, trapping the English. Many of them drowned. When the English were finally able to retreat, they left behind two massive wrought-iron siege guns called bombards or Michelettes and these heavy cannons still sit near the entrance gate today. The Captain also seems to have remained, guarding the Mount in the afterlife. His apparition has been seen on the ramparts.

People also claim to see phantom monks that appear as shadowy figures wearing robes. These apparitions roam the ancient stone hallways and crypts and it is thought this is because their burials within the abbey had been disturbed through the years. 

Mont-Saint-Michel looks like a location straight out of a fairy tale. It's history has nothing to do with fairy tales though/ A place of spirituality became a place of imprisonment and is today a place to embrace spirituality again while enjoying the architecture and beauty near Normandy. Is Mont-Saint-Michel haunted? That is for you to decide!