Saskatoon's Bessborough Hotel to share spooky secrets on Halloween night

The old secrets held inside the walls of the Bessborough Hotel will be shared with the public on Halloween night.

Stefan Deprez, director of sales and marketing at the Delta Bessborough, said people expect to find some character in the classic railways hotels. "People want this place to have spirits, so to speak."

Whether they are truly spectral events, or tricks of the imagination, there is something about the Bessborough that inspires some of the tales.  

"It's amazing the kind of sounds and things and shadows that an old building will cast," Deprez said. "How they're interpreted by staff? Yeah sometimes they're interpreted as ghosts."

He gave an example of a story told by an employee who has served at the hotel for many years. 

It's amazing the kind of sounds and things and shadows that an old building will cast.- Stefan Deprez, director of sales and marketing, Delta Bessborough

"Someone took a picture of him coming down one of the stairs, and when they developed the picture there was this apparition in behind him. and he swears to this day it was a ghost," Deprez said. "But Pat's been here a lot time, so we take it with a grain of salt," he said with a chuckle. 

One of the legends people talk about is that of the fallen bellman. As the story goes, he was running with luggage down a set of stairs and he tripped and fell and died. There is a section of broken marble on one of the staircases, some believe you can see the ghost of the bellman at this spot. 

Another story is the man with the grey fedora. As the tale is told, some guests and staff say they have seen a figure moving through the Terrace Lounge. The space is now a banquet room, but before the lounge was a space where hotel guests would congregate to read the paper, send letters and interact in general. It was turned into a banquet room many years ago, but the legend is that the man in the grey fedora keeps walking the floor looking for his friends.

The tours will be given by Andy, "a former hotel employee who we are not sure is really still alive," the hotel said. Andy also bears a striking resemblance to the director of sales and marketing.

The hotel's Monster Bash and Haunted Halloween tour is geared for adults. Admission is free, but the tour sizes are limited, so people should arrive early. It runs between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m.