Another haunting, or more accurately, another set of hauntings, but ones that carry no known narrative, verifiable or otherwise, is to be found not far from the university, on the grounds of the seat of our provincial government itself- Queen's Park.
There are multiple ghosts said to haunt Queen’s Park, but there are three in particular, all women, that I will go over for now. They are the lady in white, who, as her name suggests, is periodically seen wandering the halls of the Queen’s Park, weeping. There is the Maiden, who wears a chequered dress and hides her face in her apron. And there is the Hanging Woman, who is sometimes seen hanging from a hook in one of the basement tunnels.
If any of you are fans or at least watch the show Murdoch Mysteries, there was an episode inspired by the Ghost stories of Queen’s park, entitled, imaginatively ‘The Ghosts of Queen’s Park’ where the ghosts turn out to be someone who was pretending to be a ghost by painting themselves in fluorescent paint a la Hound of the Baskervilles or after every single episode of Scooby Doo ever made. The episode, I should say, was written after a suggestion by former lieutenant governor David Onley, who was a fan of the show. Filming at Queen’s Park is heavily restricted, but Onley spoke to the speaker of the house, who was also a fan of the show, and somehow permission to film was found. Both Onley and the Speaker appear in the show, the speaker as the speaker of the house. Funnily enough, the speaker’s uniform has not changed between the time period in which the show is set and now, so he simply wore his work clothes.
Back to the subject at hand. The ghosts of the three women aren’t from the Queen’s Park era. There was another building on the site prior to Queen’s Park being built.: the Temporary Lunatic asylum. What should be noted is that the asylum was built for women- and thus the three female ghosts. It was in operation from about 1851 until it was torn down in the late 1880’s early 1890’s to make way for the Ontario Legislative Building.
A little trivia- the ground the building stands on belongs to the university, and the Province has leased it from the university for $1 per annum on a 999 year lease. Here’s another fun fact- the asylum was torn down, but this was done in an age when nothing was discarded if it might be of further use. I mean, if you see photos of the aftermath of the great fire of Toronto, you will see people going through the rubble making stacks of bricks from the wreckage of the collapsed buildings, the stacks ready at hand to begin the rebuilding process. It was a way of life back then. Use everything until it could be used no more. Then find a purpose for its materials and keep using them. They would look at the most ardent recyclers of today, and think they looked cute.
My point is, the building was taken down, but its bricks and stones were then recycled- and used in the foundations of the government building. (Jokes about tearing down a lunatic asylum and using its materials to make a seat of government practically write themselves. Something about lunatics running the asylum may seem appropriate, or perhaps some quip to the effect that exchanging a lunatic asylum for a provincial parliament may not be as big a change as one may think.) And with that, it suddenly makes sense, if you believe in the paranormal, why Queen’s Park is haunted. I have been entertaining you with some mysterious or grisly yet light hearted glimpses into our past. But what went on at the asylums of that period- now that is the stuff of true nightmares, horrors so deep, it isn’t at all hard to believe they are imprinted into the very stones themselves.
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