Toronto’s Quiet Hauntings: Eight More Places Where the Past Still Lingers

Coming back from Toronto, what stayed with me wasn’t just the games or the crowds, but how many of the city’s older stories sit quietly alongside everyday life. Some of the places I passed through during the trip were familiar names, others I only learned more about once I was home, but they all shared the same quality. They were locations people move through without thinking, unaware of the reports attached to them or the history beneath their feet. These stories don’t announce themselves. They surface later, when you start connecting places to accounts that have been repeated for years by people who had no reason to invent them.
continue to be reported, regardless of who is passing through.

Lower Bay Station, the sealed subway platform beneath Bay Station, has long been associated with unusual reports. It was open only briefly in the 1960s before being closed and later used for training and filming. Over the years, TTC workers and others familiar with the space have described unexplained movement on the platform and sounds resembling a train arriving on tracks that are no longer in use. These accounts most often surface during late-night maintenance shifts, when the station is otherwise quiet.

On the University of Toronto campus, Christie Mansion is tied to a story that has circulated for decades. According to those familiar with the building, a woman was kept hidden in an upstairs room and died there. Since then, students and staff have reported hearing footsteps, crying, or voices when alone in the building, particularly late in the day. The details vary between witnesses, but the experiences themselves continue to be shared by people with no connection to one another.

The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre holds a long-standing place in Toronto’s ghost lore. Performers and staff have spoken for years about a woman in Edwardian-era clothing appearing in the balcony or auditorium, often accompanied by the scent of lavender. Other reports include lights flickering during rehearsals or seats found lowered in otherwise empty sections. These experiences are well known among those who work in the building and are generally described as brief and calm rather than disruptive.

Old City Hall carries its own set of accounts tied to its former use. The building once held jail cells in its lower levels, and security staff working night shifts have reported unexplained sounds in those areas, including footsteps, sudden bangs, and movement in empty corridors. Some have described hearing a voice call out when no one else was present. These reports tend to come from people familiar with the building after hours.

On the Toronto Islands, Gibraltar Point Lighthouse remains linked to one of the city’s oldest stories. The lighthouse keeper, John Paul Radelmüller, disappeared in 1815 under circumstances that have been debated ever since. Over the years, people near the lighthouse at night have reported seeing a dim light moving along the shoreline or a figure near the structure. Bones discovered nearby decades later added to the sense that something unresolved remains tied to the site.

The Keg Mansion on Jarvis Street is another location where stories have endured. Diners and staff have spoken about seeing a figure on the staircase or sensing movement on the upper floors when no one was there. The most common version involves a former servant associated with the house during its time as a private residence. While details differ between accounts, the experiences themselves continue to be reported.

Casa Loma also has a history of strange encounters. Staff working late have described seeing a woman in a white dress near the gardens or stables. Others have spoken about heavy footsteps in the long tunnel connecting the main building to the stables, loud enough to make them stop walking. Doors opening or closing on their own have also been mentioned by those locking up after hours.

The grounds around Queen’s Park complete this group of locations. Over the years, people working nearby at night have shared accounts of figures moving across the grounds, including reports of a rider on horseback who disappears without sound. Inside surrounding buildings, staff have described footsteps or movement echoing through empty corridors. These accounts continue to surface among people familiar with the area after dark.

Looking back on the trip, it’s clear how easily these stories coexist with the modern city. Subways run, theatres fill, offices close, and parks empty out after dark, all while these reports quietly persist. None of them ask to be proven or dismissed. They remain because enough people have experienced something in the same places, often in the same ways, for the stories to keep being told.