Discover The Past: Ghostly Walks

Ghost tours, lectures and programs in Victoria, B.C. Canada

Descriptions and Detailed Schedule of the Ghostly Walks Routes

All Ghostly Walks tours (except at Halloween) start at the Visitor Info Centre at 812 Wharf Street (corner of Government Street). There are six basic routes which cover every corner of downtown Victoria and around the Inner Harbour. Take one or all and discover for yourself why Victoria is the most haunted city in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

Note: occasionally routes may vary
depending on weather or downtown events.

Route 1: Old Town and Bastion Square
June 20 to September 16: every night at 9:30 pm;
September 21 to October 21: Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30 pm;
November 1 through February 28, 2009: Saturdays at 7:30 pm.

Route 1 winds through the narrow streets and back alleys of Old Town, past the site of Fort Victoria. It includes the ghosts of Rogers Chocolates, the poet Robert Service, phantom footsteps in Helmcken Alley and the many ghosts of the Maritime Museum and Bastion Square (where public hangings took place in the 1860s). During December a variation of this route is offered entitled "Ghosts of Christmas Past."
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Route 2: Empress Hotel, Helmcken House, St. Ann's Academy
June 20 to September 16: 2008: Tuesdays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm

Route 2 includes stories of Lizzie McGrath, the Empress Hotel chamber maid who plunged six stories to her death in 1909, architect Fransic Mawson Rattenbury, the mystery of Lady Douglas's pocket watch at the Royal British Columbia Museum, the many ghosts of Helmcken House (BC's oldest house), spectral nuns at St. Ann's Academy and a grisly phantom in Beacon Hill Park.
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Route 3: Parliament Buildings and Gatsby Mansion
June 20 to September 16, 2008: Wednesdays at 7:30 pm

Route 3 passes the Fairmont Empress Hotel, then heads behind the massive stone Parliament Buildings. The ghost of architect Francis Rattenbury stalks its corridors and statues of many famous people who have come back as ghosts line its outside walls. It finishes at the Gatsby Mansion, the haunted former home of the Pendray family whose paint factory stood on the Indian burial ground at nearby Laurel Point.
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Route 4: Old Burying Ground
June 20 to September 16, 2008: Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 pm

Route 4 starts along old Kanaka Row where the ghost of a Hawaiian murderer seeks revenge for his hanging. It then proceeds past the Chateau Victoria and the former site of the Cherry Bank Hotel. After discussing an amazing duel fought to the death in 1858 the tour ends in the Old Burying Ground with its two famous resident phantoms featured on the Creepy Canada TV series.
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Route 5: Harbour, Red Light District and Chinatown
June 20 to September 16: Sundays at 7:30 pm

Route 5 starts with stories of native spirits along the shore of Victoria Harbour, passes behind the spooky old Customs House and pauses to discuss the many ghosts in the historic stone warehouses along Wharf Street. It then heads up to Johnson Street, the heart of Victoria's old red light district which has plenty of ghost stories, including the famous Belle Adams and Charlie Kincaid. It finishes with the story of Chung, the Chinese boy who cut off the head of his girlfriend.
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Route 6: Royal Theatre, St. Andrew's Cathedral and the Titanic
June 20 to September 16, 2008: Thursdays at 7:30 pm

Route 6 starts on Kanaka Row then passes the Strathcona Hotel, the site of Victoria's first haunted house. It includes the Royal Theatre, the story of a haunted book from a Fort Street shop, then stops at St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Cathedral for the amazing story of a political assassination on the church steps after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, 1890. A story of Emily Carr's ghost is next, then the tour finishes with an amazing story about a strange coincidence involving the sinking of the Titanic, ghosts and Victoria's former Balmoral Hotel.
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Ghostly Walks - EXTREME!
For private bookings only at this time

Ghostly Walks - EXTREME! is a new route in the summer of 2008 that has been developed for those who want a truly scary experience. The route is secret, but starts at the Visitor Information Centre. Not suitable for young children or those of a timid disposition.
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Halloween Route
October 25 to October 31, 2008: Every night at 6:30, 7:30, 8:30, 9:30 pm

At Halloween we follow a special route close to Bastion Square and the very haunted centre of Old Town. Tours start every night inside the lobby of the Bedford Regency Hotrel, iteslf a very haunted building and finish inside our haunted meeting space in the former Burnes House Hotel off a back alley near Bastion Square.
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Christmas in Old Victoria
December 2008: Saturdays at 7:30 pm, plus every night
from December 27 through 31. (Yes, we do a tour on New Year's Eve!)

Christmas in Old Victoria has become an annual favourite in Victoria. We start at the Visitor Information Centre and stay close to Government Street where the Christmas lights add a little glitter to the spooky stories of ghosts associated with Christmas. We include the story of the slaying and resultant ghost on the steps of St. Andrew's Cathedral after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve 1890 and in Boomerang Court we tell about the ghost of Adelaide Griffin, one of the first documented ghosts in the city (1861). The tour ends inside our haunted meeting space in the former Burnes House Hotel off a back alley near Bastion Square.
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To make a ghost tour booking or inquiry, please contact us at:
tel: (250) 384-6698; fax: (250) 384-2833
discoverthepast@telus.net
Note: all tours start outside the Visitor Information Centre,
corner of Government and Wharf Streets, except our Halloween tours from Oct. 25-31 (which start at the Bedford Regency Hotel).