7 haunted places in Edmonton that will leave you with some serious chills
Edmonton adores its ghost stories, but only the most dedicated know the legends surrounding the city’s most haunted places.
With the leaves starting to change and the days getting shorter, we’re closer and closer to the spooky season, so we thought we’d round up a few haunted Edmonton locations that every Halloween lover should know.
The Fairmont Hotel MacDonald
Jeff Whyte/Shutterstock
Over 100 years ago, during the construction of this castle, a horse dropped dead while the foundation for the hotel was being poured. To this day, guests on the eighth floor have reported hearingĀ galloping, a horse-drawn carriage, and other strange sounds. Enjoy your stay.
The Princess Theatre
The Princess Theatre/Facebook
Built in the early 1900s, a devastated bride hung herself in the rooming house above the theatre after being abandoned by her lover. It is said her ghostly figure has been seen in the projection room, stairs, and lobby.
Pembina Hall, University of Alberta campus
View this post on Instagram
Following the First World War, the Spanish Flu pandemic hit the Edmonton area, and in response, Pembina Hall on the U of A campus was converted into a makeshift hospital. Reports say 72 people died at Pembina Hall during this time, and today, people say they see ghosts of men dressed in soldier’s garb and nurses wearing old-fashioned uniforms.
Charles Camsell Hospital
Darren Kirby/Wikipedia
Opened in the early 1900s as a Jesuit college, it was converted into a military hospital for tuberculosis and other respiratory illnesses in 1945. Many patients sent to the hospital never returned home. Empty since 1996, this Edmonton haunted hospital has had reports of screams, flickering lights, and even elevators moving without any electricity. The building is now guarded by security to keep the public out. Beware.
Gibbard Block (formerly La Boheme Restaurant Bed & Breakfast)
Edmonton Historical Board
Bed and breakfasts are usually the perfect couple’s retreat. This one, not so much. As the story goes, the couple who originally owned the building were anything but perfect. The owner is said to have murdered his wife in jealousy, only to drag her body to the basement and burn her remains. He was eventually convicted of murder after employees found bone fragments. Unexplained noises, flickering lights, and the appearance of a ghostly woman have been reported ever since.
McKay Avenue School
Jeffery J. Nichols/Wikipedia
Once a school and home to Alberta’s first two legislative sessions, this downtown building opened in 1905 and is now a museum, rumoured to be haunted. Objects are said to move around mysteriously, and lights often turn on and off on their own. It’s claimed that an employee used an Ouija board to communicate with a spirit, who claimed to be a worker who fell off the roof during construction and died.
Firkins House, Fort Edmonton Park
View this post on Instagram
Known as Fort Edmonton Park’s most haunted house, the Firkins home was once owned by the esteemed dentist and adventurer Dr. Ashley M. Firkins. Many myths and legends have been told about strange occurrences inside the house, from the spirit of a woman floating by a bookcase, a ventriloquist doll appearing in cupboards, or a resident ghost that sometimes takes the shape of a sickly young boy.
With files from Laine Mitchell