If you’re not afraid of what might lurk in the shadows, Northern Ontario is home to numerous eerie locations where ghosts are said to rise from the shadows like mist on an autumn lake. Some are haunted by their harrowing past, while others are anchors weighing souls to places that they held dear in life.
Here is a bucket list of some of the more spectrally active spots from across the region. Strike up the courage to visit them all.
Just don’t hold us responsible for what you might discover hiding in the dark.
Location: Silver Islet, Highway 587
The Silver Islet General Store is iconic to this one-time silver mining community on the southern extremity of the Sibley Peninsula. The oldest business in northwest Ontario, it has been serving the public since 1871. Today, in addition to a retail space, the General Store boasts a tearoom delighting guests with delicious pies and light lunches and a museum chronicling the history of Silver Islet and the mine—located on a tree-covered atoll a few miles from shore—upon which the community’s fortunes originally rested.
It is also home to a few special relics tied to Silver Islet’s past—tragic souls that may have left a piece of themselves in the building. Tales of a spectral ship’s captain run as deep as do the now flooded mines. He’s been seen for generations, peering out from an upper window with a mournful gaze.
Sharing the building with these out-of-time mariners is a ghostly woman in white. Spooked people claim to have seen her throughout the building and even roaming the surrounding landscape, as if desperately looking for something—or someone. Some believe she is waiting to be wed and will remain bound to the mortal plane until she is finally united with her lover.
Despite these restless spirits, don’t think twice about visiting the Silver Islet General Store
Location: 1116 Ottawa Street, Kenora
Claimed by many to be the most haunted site in all Kenora, the Mather-Walls Historic Tea House does not hide a dark and treacherous past as one might expect. Just the opposite, in fact.
John Mather emigrated to Canada from Scotland to become the leading figure in Keewatin (now part of Kenora). His Keewatin Lumbering and Manufacturing Company was the primary employer in the frontier village, and he served as the community’s first postmaster and schoolboard chairman. The home that is now the Historical Tea House was built in 1889 as a residence for Mather’s son, David.
Some say that he never left.
Members of the Lake of the Woods Historical Society that operate the museum report all manner of curious goings on. There is the sense of being watched even when alone, doors open and close on their own, and furniture is mysteriously rearranged as if to suit the preference of some unseen resident. People have reported hearing disembodied footsteps and whispers.
Once, painters working in the building made note of a mannequin standing in the basement. It was facing a door at the rear of the home, silent and lifeless. Later, to their collective horror, the men found the mannequin had turned itself around and was now facing another direction.
Many attribute this ghostly activity to David Mather.
Far from shying away from its haunted reputation, the Mather-Walls Historic Tea House embraces it with ghost tours throughout the summer.
Location: 360 Plouffe Street, North Bay
The North Bay Courthouse is stained by a dark past.
Before the death penalty was abolished in Canada, five men were stretched by their necks at the original North Bay Courthouse, which stood on the same site as the current one. That alone might be enough to mark a location with negative emotions, but there’s more suffering here. Three of the bodies were not claimed by their families for proper burial—perhaps out of shame for being associated with such heinous crimes—so they were interred in the courthouse grounds and remain there to this day.
The tormented spirits of these executed people now wander through the building and surrounding area, and consequently, there’s a lot of spectral activity. It’s reported, for example, that if you listen carefully, you can hear sobbing pleas for mercy and the echoes of a priest performing last rites on the condemned, or you might find yourself suddenly caressed by an unnaturally cold chill that seems to seep up from below—as if you had just trodden over a grave. These phenomena, and the many others of their like experienced within and around the courthouse, are residual remnants of these five hangings— the last as recently as 1954.
The best way to immerse yourself in the Courthouse’s macabre past is through the ghost walks hosted by the North Bay Museum. The museum, by the by, is itself said to be thoroughly haunted.
Location: Fairbank East Road, 20 km west of Sudbury.
Victoria Mines is a ghost town in both the literal and figurative sense of the word. It’s a faded community whose ruins are inhabited by the spirits of past inhabitants.
In the 1890s, Dr. Ludwig Mond was a metallurgist who perfected a way to separate nickel from copper. He was also an entrepreneur. In 1899, Mond acquired a promising nickel deposit and opened the Victoria Mine townsite. The town grew to include two schools, three churches, a barbershop, a butcher, four stores, a doctor’s office, a jail and even a bowling alley. At its peak, Victoria Mines numbered 1000 people.
It quickly faded, however, as the larger Coniston mine site leached away its prosperity, and several tragedies at the mine hastened its demise. Today, Victoria Mines is a ghost town bisected by Highway 737. The streets have little more than paths leading off into fields and regenerated forest, and piles of smelter waste rock.
Some people believe that the ghosts of past residents stand guard over Victoria Mines, tied to the land for one reason or another. People claim to hear the sounds of a bustling community while walking the disappearing streets—horse and wagons rattling past, children at play, neighbours in conversation. Others report seeing orbs dancing amidst the trees, or ethereal figures floating past and then suddenly disappearing as if entering a building that no longer exists.
Whether you are into history or haunts, Victoria Mines is worth a visit…though perhaps in the daytime.
Location: 1 Canal Drive, Sault St. Marie
When it opened in 1895, the Sault St. Marie Canal linking Lake Huron and Lake Superior was something of a technological wonder. Measuring 274 m long and 18 m wide, it was the world’s largest lock at the time. More than a century later, it remains very much in use.
The Canal was designated a National Historic Site in 1987. The designation extends to the complex of buildings that surround it, which include the 1897 Superintendent’s Residence, the Powerhouse, the Administration Building, the Canalmen’s Shelter, and the Stores Building. Together, they form a remarkable heritage complex.
They are also said to be remarkably haunted.
The Superintendent’s Residence and Administration Building are thought to be a hub of paranormal activity. Strange sounds and missing items are often attributed to them.
So, who are these restless souls?
One is the ghost of a young girl, in a frilly dress and with a cute-as-a-button smile. Sometimes she giggles and disappears, other times she is a silent witness to a world that is no longer her own. Some have reported hearing a crying child, the sound so despondent that it rends the heart. The other entity is the shadowy form of an adult male who silently glides through these buildings or across the grounds outside. Is he a former superintendent who has taken the notion of dedication to his job to unusual lengths? We’ll never know.
Location: 150 Main Street East, North Bay
The Capitol Theatre has been among the community’s most important cultural and entertainment venues for a century. It’s only fitting, therefore, that it’s also said to be among North Bay’s most haunted structures.
Famous Players opened the doors to the theatre on June 1, 1929. With state-of-the-art technology, elaborate decorative touches, the Capitol was described as a “palace of splendour” and was easily the grandest theatre in town. North Bay residents flocked there to watch the likes of Mary Pickford and Rudolph Valentino in style.
After six decades of entertaining moviegoers, in 1985, the building was sold to the North Bay Theatre and Arts Community Centre. Remodelled and renamed the Capitol Centre, it now hosts live performances in the Betty Speers Theatre and art exhibits in the WKP Kennedy Gallery.
The Capitol is said to have several ghosts that put on paranormal performances for startled staff and patrons. The most famous has been nicknamed Harold, though in truth, no one knows his identity. Most legends say he was a former projectionist who fell hopelessly in love with a box office attendant named Abigail. Sadly, when he confessed his feelings, Harold was rebuffed. Harold retreated into a lonely life, rarely leaving the projection room. His lovelorn spirit remains there to this day.
Some people are too terrified to even enter the projection room due to the eerie atmosphere, moving shadows, and thumping noises experienced there. But Harold isn’t confined to this single room. His ethereal form has been spotted throughout the theatre. His wanderings are sometimes marked by the sound of heavy disembodied footsteps.
Location: Cobalt
The Town of Cobalt is said to be as haunted as it is historic, but it’s not just ghosts that scare you here. The forests hide something primeval.
Bigfoot (or Sasquatch) is virtually synonymous with the forested mountains of the Pacific Northwest. But this towering, hairy hominid is not confined to the west. Reports of a large, hairy, ape-like creature haunting the forests near Cobalt are numerous and stretch back to the earliest years of human habitation in the region.
This elusive beast seems to be a subspecies of Sasquatch, with light-coloured hair covering its head, neck and shoulders. It is from this distinctive coloration that the creature’s nickname, Yellow Top, derives.
Northern Ontario’s unique subspecies of Sasquatch emerged from the shroud of myth and folklore in September 1906 when a group of prospectors began building the Violet Mine. The ringing of the hammers must have disturbed something that lurked in the forest; an ape-like creature emerged to investigate the unusual sounds. Sniffing the air and shuffling nervously on bowed legs, the beast observed the work crew intently for long minutes before losing interest and shuffling back into the forest.
Numerous encounters followed. An April 1946 sighting by a mother and young son was taken seriously enough that the North Bay Nugget reported a party had been formed to hunt down the beast. Yellowtop proved elusive.
They say it is still out there, lurking in the forest just beyond our sight.
