Is the Haunted Walk Of Ottawa actually scary?
It definitely surprised me when I signed up for a Haunted Walk of Ottawa tour on a recent evening. It was one of those perfect early-summer evenings when our city is at its best, with the setting sun casting a golden glow on the historic limestone buildings surrounding the National War Memorial.
Our group of seven on this particular walk consisted of a young couple from Ukraine and a family of three from South Africa, the dad being in town on business, plus me and an adventurous friend. Our guide was Caroline, a storyteller with a flair for the dramatic who wore the Haunted Walk's trademark long, black cloak and carried a battery-powered lantern.
The tours take place almost every evening. Because this one was an early-week booking, between Monday and Wednesday, each of us saved $5 on the usual cost of $29.99 per person. Even if you don't have a ghost-busting bone in your body, it's well worth it, not only for the historical content, but also for a fresh perspective on a part of the city we residents often take for granted.
We started at the old Central Post Office at the east end of Sparks Street and learned that the ground underneath the street was once a cemetery. Most of the remains were relocated when the area was redeveloped, but it's almost certain that some of the bodies are still there, all but forgotten except, perhaps, on dark and stormy full-moon nights.
Leaving the restless souls of Sparks Street behind, the tour continued across the street. Our next stop was the grand memorial to Canada's war efforts and another gravesite, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We paused for a moment to pay our respects to the thousands of Canadians killed during wartime.
As we strolled between sites, several other groups of Haunted Walkers filed back to the starting point, most of them students on school trips trailing behind their own black-cloaked tour guide.
Glen Shackleton, founder and CEO of the Ottawa-based business, said the school trips were helping to fill the calendar until the summer tourists started to make plans. Tourism in Ottawa has been on a comeback since the COVID-19 shutdown five years ago.
'It's been a slow start for tourism in general in Ottawa this year,' Shackleton said, 'but, honestly, I think that has more to do with the weather than anything. It's been pretty unusual, the inhospitable weather, but we're optimistic for a very good summer and fall.'
Dealing with weather-related setbacks is nothing new for Shackleton, who was a Queen's University student when he started offering guided historical walks in 1996, initially in downtown Kingston. The company expanded to Ottawa in 1996 and to Toronto in 2012.
When I asked if he was a theatre kid growing up, he laughed. 'I think I was more of a history kid, and I had to learn about the dramatic, theatrical part of things,' he said, adding that most of his staff had some acting experience.
Our guide was no exception. She did a great job of projecting her voice over the sounds of the city, which that night included sirens, motorcycles, trucks, bicycle bells and other traffic noise, and she never failed to engage the audience of seven. To the delight of the young lad from South Africa, the stories were rich with creepy details and delivered with suspense.
'Okay, now I'm terrified,' the pint-sized horror fan declared with glee.
After pausing for a postcard-perfect photo of the Château Laurier and a fascinating tidbit about its connection to the Titanic, we strolled along the Rideau Canal, glancing back for another ideal sunset photo, the golden glow framed by the curve of Sappers Bridge. To round out the peaceful scene, a mama goose calmly eyeballed us from her nest in a planter box alongside the National Arts Centre's elegant, canal-side restaurant.
Historically, the picture was much different 200 years ago. We learned the Rideau Canal was a brutal construction project that claimed scores of victims. If it wasn't the cold, swampiness or the mosquitoes that aggravated workers, it was malaria. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of workers died during its construction, and many of them would have been laid to rest along the Canal, far from their homelands and loved ones.
While the tour my friend and I joined was billed as the 'Original' haunted walk, it was actually a descendant of the original. For almost three decades, the Haunted Walk showcased Ottawa's old jail on Nicholas Street, showing off the cramped prison cells to thousands of people each year.
But two years ago, the management of the jail, which runs it as a youth hostel, opted to use the cells to accommodate visitors in keeping with its prime mandate. The last Haunted Walk at the jail took place at Halloween in 2023.
The loss of their main stage, so to speak, at the same time as they were recovering from the pandemic disruptions prompted a flurry of creativity from Shackleton and his team in coming up with a new original tour to anchor their lineup.
While they were at it, they developed an entire series of tours, including ghost walks at the ByTown Museum, an indoor Secrets of the Château Laurier tour at the castle-like Fairmont hotel property, a quirky and light-hearted Hidden Ottawa tour and paranormal investigations at the Billings Estate Museum, to name a few of the offerings.
'Finding the stories is definitely one of the things that I love about my job the most,' Shackleton said. 'I love doing that research and delving into the quirky stories. It's a passion, definitely, for me and for all of us.'
The final stops on our tour were Lisgar Collegiate High School, Grant House (now Beckta restaurant) and the old teachers' college (now the part of Ottawa City Hall housing the mayor's office), all of which are believed to be haunted.
By that point, almost a couple of hours had passed and the light was fading. Although we hadn't covered much ground, the visitors left with the impression of a beautiful city with a deep history.
So was it actually scary? The all-ages and family-friendly excursion probably wasn't going to give anyone nightmares, but at the same time there were some compelling stories that left me with a chill. In the future, I'm sure I'll be thinking twice about going near the old teachers' college, for example, especially after dark.
lsaxberg@postmedia.com
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Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
