Leslie - Creepy capital: ghost stories of Ottawa and the National Capital Region

I love ghost stories. And Ottawa, my hometown, is no stranger to the paranormal.

This first thing most people think of when they picture Canadas capital city is that its home to the prime minister and many of our national institutions. Walk Ottawas streets and youll come across museums, galleries, the Royal Canadian Mint, the Department of National Defence, and, of course, the Parliament Buildings. Many of these imposing gothic buildings are older than Canada itself. As calm and peaceful as the city is today, it used to be a rough and lawless community. Following construction of the Rideau Canal many of the immigrant workers from England, Ireland, Scotland, and France formed gangs in an attempt to secure work. With little police presence, these gangs were largely left to their own devices and settled disputes without the authorities getting involved. As you can imagine, many of these disputes ended with the spilling of blood. So it should come as no surprise that, although Ottawa now enjoys a reputation as a safe and quiet city, there are many restless spirits haunting its streets.

The city, with its dark history hidden around every corner, is a major source of my fascination with ghosts. During the past few years Ive spent a great deal of time researching and writing about the countrys paranormal population for Scholastic Canadas bestselling Haunted Canada book series. Im an advisor, writer, and researcher for Canada Posts new line of Haunted Canada stamps. On the day the first set of stamps were released (Friday the 13th, naturally) I appeared on CTVs Canada AM to share the stamps famous ghost stories, such as the ghost bride of the Banff Springs Hotel. And if that wasnt enough, I voluntarily checked into one of the most haunted hotels in the country, Niagara-on - the -Lakes Olde Angel Inn, and filmed myself through the night as I searched for spirits. Needless to say, I got very little sleep.

I have no doubt this paranormal preoccupation stems from my Ottawa upbringing and, even more specifically, a class trip to one of its most haunted locations, the Ottawa Jail Hostel, formerly the Carleton County Gaol.

With multiple reports of ghost sightings and a dark reputation as a site of sinister past deeds, the jail might seem like an odd location for a fifth-grade field trip. But thats the type of city Ottawa is none of the adults who had a hand in the planning of the trip, from the teachers to the tour guide to the parents who happily signed the permission forms, blinked an eye about sending a group of young and impressionable children to a building with an unmarked grave thats choked with bodies hidden beneath its parking lot.

Youll read more about the Ottawa Jail Hostel in this book, but if you ever have the opportunity to visit or, better yet, spend a night in the hostel dont hesitate. Stepping through the stone archway into the jail was something of a transcendent experience for me at the tender age of ten. The guide took a morbid pleasure in sharing tales of public executions, the horrible conditions in which the inmates lived, and the stairwell that is rumoured to have been the location of secret executions unrecorded killings that created a surplus of bodies that needed to be hidden so into the ground beneath the parking lot they went.

Those macabre stories werent necessary to conjure up ghosts in my imagination the building is creepy enough to do that on its own. And so is much of Ottawa. Take a trip with this book as your personal guide and youll see what I mean.

By the time you return home, chances are youll never view Ottawa in the same light again.

Joel A. Sutherland

A 1971 statue of Lieutenant-Colonel John By (17791836), founder of Bytown, overlooks Parliament, the Rideau Canal, and the Bytown Museum from Major Hills Park, behind the Ch teau Laurier.