Haunted places guide ยท Victoria, British Columbia
Haunted Places in Victoria, BC: 9 of the Most Haunted
Two Dunsmuir castles, a square built over the city’s first gallows, a grand hotel and a legislature both said to be haunted by their architect, and the narrowest alley in North America. These are Victoria’s best-known haunted places, checked against the records.
Victoria likes to call itself one of the most haunted cities in Canada, and its stories are woven through a compact old town you can walk in an evening. The coal-baron Dunsmuir family built both Craigdarroch and Hatley Castle, Francis Rattenbury designed both the Empress and the Parliament Buildings, and Bastion Square stands on the site of the city’s first jail and gallows. We have checked each place against official sites, historic records and local news, and we say where a story is tour lore rather than history.
Where to look The 1889 courthouse at 28 Bastion Square, Helmcken Alley, the arch at Government Street
Reported ghosts Judge Matthew Baillie Begbie; men hanged here; chains in Helmcken Alley; a lady in white
Visiting Public square, open at all hours; the old courthouse is closed
Tours Evening ghost walks by local companies such as Discover the Past
This pedestrian square in the heart of old Victoria stands on the site of the city’s first jail and gallows. Its centerpiece is the provincial courthouse built in 1889, which housed the Maritime Museum of British Columbia from the 1960s until 2014, when it closed for seismic work. The square was laid out as a pedestrian mall in 1963 and today hosts a public market and the Art Walk.
Tourism Victoria calls it the city’s most haunted spot. The story goes that men hanged here were buried beneath the courthouse foundations, that chains rattle in narrow Helmcken Alley, and that a bearded figure seen at the courthouse windows is Judge Begbie, the so-called hanging judge. Local ghost walks have started here for years, and the stories are tour lore rather than recorded events.
Haunted Rooms tip: Come after dark and walk from the Government Street arch through the square and into Helmcken Alley, or join one of the nightly ghost walks that start downtown.
Where to look The main staircase, the ballroom, the upper bedrooms, the tower stairs
Reported ghosts Joan Dunsmuir in a ball gown; a little girl; a maid; running feet on the stairs
Visiting Museum with admission; self-guided visits
Hours and season Wednesday to Sunday, 10 am to 4:30 pm
Coal baron Robert Dunsmuir built this 37-room sandstone mansion on a hill above Victoria between 1887 and 1890, but he died in 1889 before it was finished. His widow Joan lived here until her death in 1908. The castle then served as a military hospital, Victoria College, school board offices and a music conservatory before opening as a museum in 1979. It has 17 fireplaces, a tower reached by 87 steps and some of the finest Victorian stained glass in Canada.
The museum does not acknowledge any haunting, but staff and volunteers have long reported a little girl, a maid and a woman in a white or ball gown on the main staircase, taken by many to be Joan Dunsmuir. Visitors describe music with no source, children crying and a pair of feet running down the stairs. Tourism Victoria lists it among the city’s most haunted places.
Haunted Rooms tip: Climb all 87 steps to the tower, then stand at the foot of the main staircase, where most of the sightings are set.
Where to look The Ross family plot, the seaside paths along Dallas Road
Reported ghosts Isabella Ross, whose farm became the cemetery; an elderly couple
Visiting Public cemetery, open in daylight
Tours Old Cemeteries Society: Sunday history walks (mid-February to mid-December) and an October ghost tour
Victoria’s great Victorian cemetery opened in late 1872 on 27.5 acres beside the sea, on land that was once part of Isabella Ross’s farm. She was the first woman in British Columbia to own land, and she is buried here along with Sir James Douglas, Emily Carr and gold rush figure Billy Barker.
Tourism Victoria counts it among the city’s most haunted places. Isabella Ross is the ghost most often named, and others claim an elderly couple and figures among the stones. The Old Cemeteries Society leads history walks every Sunday afternoon for most of the year and an annual ghost tour each October.
Haunted Rooms tip: Join the Old Cemeteries Society’s Sunday history walk or its October ghost tour, then walk the Dallas Road seawall at dusk.
Address 721 Government Street, Victoria, BC V8W 1W5, Canada
Where to look The sixth floor, the staircase to the lower lobby, the older hallways
Reported ghosts Lizzie McGrath the chambermaid, a man with a cane said to be architect Francis Rattenbury, an elderly woman looking for her room
Visiting A working hotel; the lobby, tea lobby, restaurants and bar are open to visitors
Victoria’s ivy-clad grand hotel opened on January 20, 1908, facing the Inner Harbour, and is a National Historic Site. Francis Rattenbury designed it, though he was replaced as architect just before it opened. Local ghost-walk lore says a slender, mustached man with a cane, taken to be Rattenbury, is seen in the halls, along with a maid still going about her rounds and a young girl.
The best-documented story is Lizzie McGrath, a chambermaid who historian Terry Reksten found had died in a fall in 1909; guests on the sixth floor describe a woman in a white cap and apron passing through a wall. An elderly woman is also said to knock on doors asking for help finding her room. The hotel does not promote its ghosts, but local historians tell the stories freely.
Haunted Rooms tip: Have afternoon tea in the Lobby Lounge, then walk the older public corridors and the harbor causeway in the evening when the lights come on.
Where to look The castle corridors, the old cadet dormitories, the kitchen, the gardens
Reported ghosts Laura Dunsmuir searching for her son; a white figure; a crying girl
Visiting Inside the castle only on a guided tour; the formal gardens are free
Tours Daily guided castle tours in summer (May to early September)
Hours and season Gardens 10 am to dusk
James Dunsmuir, son of Craigdarroch’s Robert Dunsmuir, bought this estate in 1906 and had Samuel Maclure design a 40-room Scottish baronial castle. After Laura Dunsmuir died in 1937 the government bought it, and it was Royal Roads Military College from 1948 to 1995. Royal Roads University now uses it, the castle and 565-acre estate are a National Historic Site, and it stood in for Xavier’s School in the X-Men films.
The ghost most often named is Laura Dunsmuir, said to wander the halls looking for her son, lost in the First World War; former cadets told of her waking them at night and pulling blankets off their beds. Others describe a white figure and pots banging in the empty kitchen. The university has run a student ghost tour in the castle, with a security guard sharing his own experiences.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a guided castle tour in summer (the only way inside), and wander the formal gardens, which are free from 10 am to dusk.
Address 270 Government Street, Victoria, BC V8V 2L2, Canada
Where to look First-floor bedrooms and the pub (the men's room)
Reported ghosts Painter Emily Carr
Visiting A working hotel; public areas, restaurants and bars are open to visitors
This 1911 Edwardian building a short walk from the Inner Harbour has a famous link: celebrated Canadian painter Emily Carr died here in 1945, when the building was St. Mary’s Priory, a nursing home. Her old room is said to be part of what is now the men’s room in the pub, and legend says she is not amused.
Guests and staff blame Carr for most of the activity: phones ringing in rooms in the middle of the night with nobody on the line, a figure watching guests sleep, and sightings in the pub and the first-floor bedrooms. One story says she is hardest on people who criticize her art. It is a friendly, good-value base in a historic neighborhood where Carr grew up.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a first-floor room, and visit Emily Carr House, her childhood home, a few blocks away.
Where to look The halls and the front steps facing the Inner Harbour
Reported ghosts Architect Francis Rattenbury
Visiting Working legislature; free guided tours year round
Francis Rattenbury was a 25-year-old English immigrant when he won the competition to design British Columbia’s legislature, built from 1893 to 1897 on the Inner Harbour. He went on to design the Empress across the water. Free guided tours run year round, and at night the facade is outlined in thousands of lights.
Rattenbury’s own end was grim: he was murdered in Bournemouth, England, in 1935. Local lore says his ghost walks the halls of his most famous building, still seeking recognition, and that he also haunts the Empress. The story is told on ghost walks and in Tourism Victoria’s haunted list, not by the legislature itself.
Haunted Rooms tip: Take the free daytime tour, then come back after dark to see the facade lit up across the harbor from the Empress.
Address Fan Tan Alley, between Fisgard St and Pandora Ave, Victoria, BC
Where to look The narrowest stretch of the alley, the old gambling hall doorways
Reported ghosts A presence that pushes people aside, said to be a man named Chung
Visiting Public alley, open at all hours
Tours Included on local evening ghost walks
In Victoria’s Chinatown, this brick alley is less than a meter wide at its narrowest point and is called the narrowest commercial street in North America. It was lined with opium factories until opium was banned in 1908, then with gambling clubs named for the game fan-tan, which police raids closed in the 1950s and 1960s. Restored from the 1970s, it is now full of small shops and studios.
Local ghost lore says a presence pushes people aside in the alley, and some tellers name it as Chung, a man said to have killed his girlfriend and fled this way. Tourism Victoria notes that the famous secret tunnels are a myth, but lists the alley and its old opium dens among the city’s haunted places.
What investigators report
One local writer reports calling out aloud in Fan Tan Alley to ask if any spirits were present and hearing a loud bang from above with nobody in sight.
Where to look The shop floor and the mirror above the door
Reported ghosts Founders Charles and Leah Rogers; a child's handprint on a mirror
Visiting A working shop, open daily
Victoria’s oldest chocolate maker was founded by Charles and Leah Rogers in 1885, and has sold from this two-storey brick Queen Anne style shop at 913 Government Street, designed by Thomas Hooper in 1903, since 1917. The City of Victoria designated the building a heritage property in 1975, and its wood-panelled storefront and stained glass are still intact.
The couple are said to have lived and slept in the back of the shop, and the story goes that they never left: Leah is blamed for rearranged displays and Charles for chocolates found on the floor. Staff have also told of a small child’s handprint appearing on a mirror high above a door. Tourism Victoria calls it the city’s most haunted chocolate shop.
Haunted Rooms tip: Stop in during the day on your way between the Empress and Bastion Square, and look up at the mirror above the door.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Victoria?
Tourism Victoria calls Bastion Square and Helmcken Alley the most haunted part of the city. Craigdarroch Castle and the Fairmont Empress are the best-known single buildings.
Is Craigdarroch Castle haunted?
The museum does not acknowledge a haunting, but staff and volunteers have reported a little girl, a maid and a woman on the main staircase, along with music and running feet.
Can you take a ghost tour in Victoria?
Yes. Local companies run evening ghost walks through Bastion Square, Chinatown and the old town, and the Old Cemeteries Society runs a ghost tour at Ross Bay Cemetery each October.
Who haunts the Fairmont Empress?
Stories name chambermaid Lizzie McGrath on the sixth floor, a man with a cane taken to be architect Francis Rattenbury, and an elderly woman looking for her room.
Can you go inside Hatley Castle?
Only on a guided tour, which runs daily in summer. The formal gardens are free to visit from 10 am to dusk.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team are paranormal researchers who write about historic haunted places across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
