Mount Royal
And its spooky legends
Continuing our theme of exploring haunted places in Montreal (or the province of Quebec, to be more specific) this week on i hope it’s a ghost: we’re getting back to nature!
Kind of.
One of the most haunted places in Quebec includes Mount Royal, a majestic mountain located directly west of Downtown Montreal.
While you can enjoy many different outdoor activities throughout the park, Mount Royal is a popular destination for many thanks to the supernatural sightings, spooky legends, and eerie tales associated with different mountain areas.
Is Mount Royal haunted? So far, all signs point to yes, so keep reading to learn more!
Mount Royal - A Brief History
Let's take this way back, shall we?
Mount Royal formed around 3000 BC from retreating glaciers. This mountain isn't just a mountain. It's a group of three large hills.
Its impressive views, lush forests, and stone (to make sharp-edged tools) helped make it the perfect home for indigenous peoples.
Then Jacques Cartier arrived. He sailed up the St. Lawrence River and met with the villagers of Hochelaga. The indigenous people showed Cartier the mountain's stunning views. So he renamed the mountain Mont Royal.
By the 1870s, Montreal had become a thriving city. As a result, many became concerned that the developments that had already sprung up around Mount Royal would continue to creep upward and destroy the mountain's natural beauty.
In 1876, Montreal established the area as Mount Royal Park, a place for the community to explore nature via cycling, boating, skating, skiing, bird watching, picnicking, or jogging.
What are the Most Haunted Places on Mount Royal?
Mount Royal has plenty of paranormal activity— at least according to most experts, which means that a visit to Mount Royal may come with more than a few ghost sightings!
Based on the accounts I've read, the ghosts of Mount Royal like to hang out in a couple of hot spots, including,
The old Furnicular trail
Mount Royal Cemetery
The cliffs and surrounding bluffs near the cemetery
Simon McTavish's mausoleum
What are the Spooky Legends Surrounding Mount Royal?
So who are the ghosts of Mount Royal? And what spooky legends surround the mountain?
The Haunted Funicular Trail (AKA: the Ghost of John 'Jack' McLean)
Here's one of the spooky legends of Mount Royal.
You can walk along a trail between Mount Royal's fire station and Olmsted Road. This path used to be the location of the Funicular Rail.
In 1884, the brand new Furnicular meant you could reach the top of Mount Royal and its majestic views in just 3-4 minutes.
John 'Jack' McLean used the Furnicular daily. He had to because of a horrific railway accident that took both his feet.
While he wore prosthetics and no one he worked with could tell, the accident meant he could no longer participate in sports, which devastated him.
Jack started drinking. He would take the Funicular to the top of Mount Royal, watch the joggers running up the same route, and become jealous over their ability to move so freely. Jack's jealousy grew to the point where many people believed he drove himself mad.
On September 5, 1906, a park officer found Jack's body in an orchard near the base of the Funicular rail. He had wrapped a scarf tightly around his mouth. It smelled sweet and tarry, the telltale sign of carbolic acid (which is highly toxic when ingested or touched but was a household staple during the Victorian Era). The state of Jack's badly burned lips and mouth only proved this true.
Since Jack's death, the city has dismantled the Funicular. People, however, still use the trail.
Here's the thing: as the legend goes, you should stay off the path, especially near sundown.
According to the website Haunted Montreal, One McGill student didn't believe the spooky legend. She took this path home one night from a party. When she reached the Furnicular trail, she noticed a man stumbling through the brush toward her.
The man seemed keen to follow.
He got closer and closer until she heard him make a series of gurgling sounds. The scent of something sweet filled the air. Eventually, the man reached her, and when he reached out to grab her, she could see his teeth, jaw, and tongue through the flesh around his burned mouth.
Terrified, the student turned to run but fell down the slope to the side of the path. She broke a fence in her desperation to escape before returning to her residence, vowing never again to take the haunted Fernicular trail.
Eerie Tales of Mount Royal Cemetery
You'll find Mount Royal Cemetery on the north side of Mount Royal. It's tough to miss, as it covers 165 acres.
The city mapped out the modern part of the cemetery in 1852 (and if interested, some of the older sections still have spaces available). However, it's crucial to know that archeologists have also found evidence of older burial sites. The indigenous peoples who lived on the land thousands of years ago also buried their dead in several areas.
Is it any wonder Mount Royal Cemetery is considered one of the most haunted places in Montreal?
The cemetery is particularly spooky at dusk and night (as is true for most burial grounds). So for those interested, this is when most experts and visitors have recorded mysterious events on Mount Royal.
One spirit, in particular, is often sighted wandering along the cliffs and bluffs near the cemetery. That is the spirit of an Algonquin Warrior.
(I wish I could tell you more, but I couldn't find much about his origin story.)
Do you know something about the haunted history of Mount Royal Cemetery? Let me know in the comments!
Simon McTavish’s Mausoleum
Simon McTavish moved to Montreal from Scotland at 25. He became a fur baron, founding North West Co. (a direct competitor of the Hudson’s Bay Company).
He used his wealth to build McTavish Castle on Mount Royal and a nearby mausoleum. Unfortunately, he died at 54, leaving his young wife to remarry and move back to England.
With his castle boarded up and abandoned, rumors started swirling. Locals claimed to see McTavish’s ghost dancing on his roof, flying through windows, and, my personal favorite, taking toboggan rides down the mountain in his coffin.
In the 1870s, the city buried the mausoleum to deter grave robbers. But, rumor has it, the city also had the mausoleum destroyed to stop eerie tales of Mount Royal from circulating.
Is Mount Royal Haunted?
We’ve covered a lot in this episode of i hope it’s a ghost.
But is Mount Royal haunted?
It’s not difficult to see why Mount Royal makes every list of the most haunted places in Montreal. Many Montrealers, for example, describe the cemetery as a “City of the Dead overlooking a City of the Living,” which is an utterly perfect description.
Having spent some time exploring the park (and by that, I mean mostly the cemetery, of course), I can see where a lot of the eerie tales of Mount Royal come from.
From the haunted trails of Mount Royal to the supernatural sightings on Mount Royal, I can say one thing for sure.
While beautiful, the mountain certainly carries the weight of thousands of years of history on its land.
I believe that this makes the haunted history of Mount Royal something worth paying attention to (that’s for sure!).
Any advice on how to experience paranormal activity on Mount Royal? Leave a comment!
As always, thanks for reading. ✌️🖤👻