The district of Scarborough, in eastern Toronto, is home to many ghosts. Its haunted sites include a Native burial ground, a bridge, a restaurant, a school, and a movie theatre, among others.
TABER HILL PARK
Taber Hill Park is an Iroquois burial ground located on the east side of Bellamy Road, north of Lawrence Avenue East. The mound dates to 1250 A.D. and contains the bodies of about 472 people. Taber Hill was a spiritual site for the Iroquois people. Modern area residents have reported numerous apparitions of Aboriginal people, as well as the smell of fish.
THOMSON PARK
Thomson Memorial Park, at Lawrence Avenue and Brimley Road, contains a museum in which there are two haunted buildings: the white Cornell house, and the McCowan Log House. Also reputed to be haunted is the cemetery at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. The shack at the back of the cemetery is known as the Sexton’s House, named after a former caretaker.
THE HAUNTED BRIDGE
There are a number of ghost stories associated with Old Finch Avenue, but the best known is that of a haunted bridge near Morningside Avenue. The site is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl who was murdered there. If you visit Old Finch, check out the Hillside Church and Cemetery at Reesor Road, which some believe to be haunted. (However, the “strange sounds” reported there could very well be coming from the Toronto Zoo.)
SISTERS RESTAURANT
Sisters Restaurant is located at 4 Old Kingston Road. The building has been haunted by the ghost of a woman since the 1980s. Staff and patrons have reported poltergeist activity involving dishes and silverware.
R.H. KING ACADEMY
This school at 3800 St. Clair Avenue East is haunted by the ghost of a woman. Caretakers often report smelling her perfume in certain rooms after the school is closed.
THE HAUNTED MOVIE THEATRE
The Cineplex Odeon Eglinton Town Centre Theatre is located at 22 Lebovic Avenue, near the intersection of Warden and Eglinton Avenues. The theatre is said to be haunted by three spirits: an adult man, a young boy, and a young girl. Reported poltergeists include moving garbage bins, and doors opening and closing by themselves.
THE GUILD
The Guild is a public park containing remnants of historic buildings. It is located at 191 Guildwood Parkway, at the foot of Galloway Road, overlooking the Scarborough Bluffs. The Guild Inn was built in 1914 by Harold Bickford. Over the years, the building served as a summer home, a boarding school, a “Guild of All Arts,” a training centre for the Women’s Royal Naval Service, and a military hospital. The property, now a “sculpture garden,” has its share of ghosts, including shell-shocked soldiers who stayed at the hospital following World War II.
SOURCES INCLUDE:
Brown, Ron. Toronto’s Lost Villages. Toronto: Polar Bear Press, 1997.
Colombo, John Robert. Haunted Toronto. Toronto: Hounslow Press, 1996.
Demchuk, David. “Toronto’s Haunted Hotspots.” Torontoist.com. October 30, 2012.
Reid, Brooke. “Sister’s Restaurant Haunted?” The Toronto Observer. October 26, 2008.
Taylor, Bill. “Checking Out the Spirits.” The Toronto Star. March 30, 2006.
The Toronto Ghosts and Hauntings Research Society. http://www.torontoghosts.org
