Looking for a fright this Halloween? Here are some of Canada's spookiest historical haunts
At Vancouver's Old Spaghetti Factory, 'you get a side of ghost with your garlic toast'
Halloween isn't just about dressing up and gorging on mini chocolate bars or shrunken bags of potato chips.
For thrillseekers, it's a chance to go ghost hunting and explore haunted homes.
Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson, co-hosts of CBC Podcasts' The Secret Life of Canada, have uncovered some of Canada's spookiest places — at least, according to urban legend — for the brave among us.
Bowen and Johnson told Day 6 about the stories behind these creepy spots.
Read on — if you dare. Otherwise, may we suggest Hocus Pocus?
Bathurst Ghost Ship
Witnesses have described seeing a flaming ship full of passengers in Chaleur Bay, near Bathurst, N.B.
As soon as they get close, however, it disappears.
"The legend is that there [were] Portuguese explorers who came to the shores and captured a group of Mi'kmaq people and tried to force them into slavery," Johnson said.
The Mi'kmaq people fought back and the ship left. When it returned a year later, they set it on fire.
"I mean, this is what happens when you enslave people," Bowen said. "You get burnt alive in a ship. For eternity."
St. Francis Xavier University
Students staying in St. Francis Xavier University's Gilmora Hall in Antigonish, N.S., are said to be haunted by a ghost known as the "Blue Nun."
"The dorm is a building that used to be a ladies' college, which was run by nuns in the past," Bowen said.
"The story has it that one of the nuns fell in love with a priest and they began an affair."
Overcome with guilt, the nun is said to have jumped to her death from a balcony. The priest, devastated by the nun's death, took his own life as well.
Now students report lights that turn on and off, slamming doors and shadowy figures.
Old Spaghetti Factory
The Italian-style family restaurant in Vancouver may fill you up with its unlimited bread and soup, but you might also get a chill from a phantom presence.
"There is the ghost of a train conductor that haunts the restaurant," Johnson explained.
The restaurant houses a replica train in its dining room.
According to legend, the conductor who haunts the Old Spaghetti Factory died in a terrible train crash in the early 1900s.
"You get a side of ghost with your garlic toast," Johnson added.
Le Chȃteau Frontenac
Despite being one of Canada's most luxurious haunts, Bowen says it might be tricky to fall asleep in this Quebec City hotel.
A ghost is said to roam the chȃteau's rooms.
The mysterious "woman in white" supposedly climbs into guests' beds while they are sleeping.
"People have reported rolling over to find a very unwelcome surprise next to them," Bowen said.
"It becomes a cold, horrific sleepless night that you've paid a lot of for because those rooms are not cheap."
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