Completed in 1899, Old City Hall was designed by Toronto-Architect E.J. Lennox. The construction took 10 years, and the equivalent of $53 million in today's money. This upset city councilors who refused Lennox a plaque proclaiming him the architect, so Lennox had stonemasons carve his name into the building. Look up and you can see EJ LENNOX ARCHITECT AD 1898 cut into the stonework below the upper eaves. Take that, city council.

 

The building is widely considered to be one of Toronto’s most haunted, and houses a number of apparitions. The rear staircase is haunted by a poltergeist that enjoys tugging at judges' robes. At night it walks up and down the stairs where its echoing footsteps can be heard. If it’s dark out, listen closely…….   Do you hear the footsteps? I do.

 

There are holding cells in the  basement of Old City Hall, which once kept prisoners awaiting sentencing. There are many reports of wailing and moaning emanating from these now empty cells. These cells once held Robert Turpin and Arthur Lucas, the last two men sentenced to hang in Canada. 

 

29-year-old Turpin was a small-time thief who shot a policeman while fleeing a restaurant robbery.  54-year-old Lucas was convicted of killing an FBI informant. Lawyer Ross MacKay represented both men, and he believed them to be innocent. This did not save them from the hangman's noose. Now, these vengeful spirits are said to haunt Courtroom 33. A pair of reporters attempted to spend the night in the courtroom one halloween, but they fled in terror by 4 am. The reporters told of "cool fogs" and weird noises that left them, at times, glued to the floor.

 

We suggest you try spending a night in the courtroom. Do you think you can make it the whole night through? If you do, give us a call. We’ll be expecting you.