Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Top 10 Toronto Ghost Stories: Toronto Mike'd Podcast Episode 1572

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

In this 1572nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Jeremy Hopkin who shares the top 10 Toronto ghost stories in this Halloween podcast spectacular. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Ridley Funeral Home, The Advantaged Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada, The Yes We Are Open podcast from Moneris and RecycleMyElectronics.ca. If you would like to support the show, we do have partner opportunities available. Please email Toronto Mike at [e-mail]

Welcome to episode 1572 of Toronto Miked, proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, a fiercely independent craft brewery who believes in supporting communities, good times and brewing amazing beer. Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA. Palma Pasta! Enjoy the taste of fresh, homemade Italian pasta and entrees from Palma Pasta in Mississauga and Oakville. The Advantage'd Investor podcast from Raymond James Canada.

Learn how to plan, invest, and live smarter. Season 7 of Yes We Are Open, an award-winning podcast from Monaris hosted by FOTML Grego. Recycle My Electronics.ca. Committing to our planet's future means properly recycling our electronics of the past. And Ridley Funeral Home, pillars of the community since 1921. Today, returning to Toronto Mic to count down the top 10 Toronto ghost stories is the official historian of the podcast, Jeremy Hopkin. A cat get away from a vision that brings Intimate glimpses of intimate things A voice in my heart like a tart singer sings I wonder who's kissing her now

The house is haunted by the echo of your favorite song Welcome back! Jeremy Hopkins, how you doing buddy? Pretty good. Thanks Mike. You're now a quarterly guest. Every quarter we count down the top 10 something, you're doing a great job. Oh, thank you so much.

I'm proud to have made it through a full four quarters. And happy Halloween to you. Happy Halloween. Now I took a photo with you by the Toronto tree and if people are listening to this podcast as an audio only presentation. I am recording the video. You can check that out on my YouTube channel. But yeah, thank you. Okay.

So I want to let the listenership know, check out the photo if you can't see the video because J-Ho, you brought it today, man. I was scared when I saw you walking down the street. I was a little frightened that I might think or I might make people think that death was coming for them. So. Well, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. You know the deal around here. And why don't we talk about that song off the top,

unless I'm stepping, so I don't know where you're gonna go with these stories, but am I stepping on your toes at all if I talk about that song I just played? No, not at all. It's just, I don't have as many details as I would like. I have some details. I think it was first premiered

for the Gold Diggers of 1933. I'm not sure which movie that was, but I don't know who wrote it, but I know a lot of people have covered that song, including Mel Torme, K-Star, but yeah, if you have a mind blow, I would love to hear it. I have a mind blow for you, off the top, okay, because this is top 10 Toronto ghost stories. And when I heard that song in a video you posted on social media, so you use that song.

Yes. That's where I heard it. And then I said, oh, I don't know what this song is called. The House is Haunted, very appropriate song. But I'm like, that's a pretty good song for our Halloween spectacular here. But then I did a little research. I'm like, I don't even know, Jeremy,

if you know how perfect that song is. Oh, that's amazing. Do you know who the artist is? Behind that version we just heard right now. Oh that version there is the casaloma orchestra. Yeah Just soak that in okay. Yes, that's glen gray And the casaloma orchestra they were originally in 1927 that band was known as the orange blossoms and they're a detroit group They're not a toronto group. They're not a Toronto group They're a Detroit group, but then they got an eight-month engagement here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

At Casa Loma. This is in 1929 when it was a hotel it was a hotel Uh-huh, and they changed their name to the Casa Loma Orchestra and That's how they got the name. So the name the cast Casa Loma Orchestra, of course is in tribute to our Casaloma Orchestra and that's how they got the name. So the name the Casaloma Orchestra of course is in tribute to our Casaloma. The song is called The House is Haunted. I can't think of a better song to open up this Halloween episode with Jeremy Hopkins. Amazing. Well I'm glad it had even more of a backing there. I did know about the

Casaloma Orchestra but it's nice that you tied it in even a little more there and brought that up. Look I have to do something around here, J-Ho. I can't let you do all the work. For sure. And before we get to the top 10 Toronto ghost stories here, I want to congratulate you. Of course, you have been nominated for a Heritage Toronto Award. Yes, yes. I did a project almost a couple years ago now where I colorized the oldest panorama that we have of the Toronto skyline that was taken in, they think around 1857 or 1858.

So for years I've been seeing this panorama and loved it and then realized there's actually 13 pieces. So this is a huge panorama. They don't quite line up and the gray levels are all off too. So no one would notice if you didn't tell us. Unless you told them, but when you try to match them all up into one big panorama, it's really difficult. So I did a lot of work on that.

My eyes were bleeding by the end of it. Matt Blackett from Spacing Magazine had sort of the same idea. He was like, you know, I've seen your colorizations. You want to try? And we went ahead and did it. And it became a big feature in the 20th anniversary magazine for spacing magazine so it's in there in a bunch of pages and these

awards tomorrow night am I right is it no it's a it's tonight not too long after this I'll be heading over there I copied this yesterday so it was tomorrow yesterday but tomorrow never comes you know this and I hope you win. If you win a public history award, that just means I picked the proper Toronto historian for the Toronto Mike Podcast. I have some definite tough, tough competition though. Who do you want me to take out? Who are you going up against? Do you want to take out a good old Retro Ontario? Is that right? I'm up against him. I'm torn. No, I actually I think the exhibit that you went to on kids TV shows, I think that's up for an award.

Mr. Dress Up and all that good stuff. Okay, it's hard to beat the great one. Everyone nominated, did some amazing work and there's some that has a lot more research than what I did. But then again, you never know. It all depends on. Who else is up?

So those are two valued FOTMs for this prestigious award. Right. I think they gave you a lamp, a leg lamp. Shout out to tie the Christmas guy who, by the way, I'll do this off the top here. I'm going to get into scary, creepy, spooky Halloween stories. But November 30th at noon, which is a Saturday. So noon to three p.m., We're collecting for TMLX 17 at Palmer's Kitchen. And Ty the Christmas guy says, not only will he be there,

he's gonna bring something special, okay? I don't know if he's gonna bring a leg lamp, I don't know, but he's all about Christmas, Ty the Christmas guy. So he'll be there. And then I remembered last time we collected there, that's when I met you, right? At TMLX 14?

Yeah, at Paul Miskitchen. Yes. And he also brought something special that day. Yes, he did. He brought the rifle and then we were worried that the cops would come and we brought out the rifle at Paul Miskitchen. And he was also very nice with his company RetroFestive.

He brought moose mugs for everybody. I thought it was just for Moose Grumpy, but no, it's for all of us. That was amazing. So I picked up one there and I'm very happy to have one of those. It was just for moose grumpy. No, it's for all of us. That was amazing. So I picked up one there and I'm very happy to have one of those. It's really cool. I have one too.

And so everybody's invited. If I haven't been clear, it's free of charge. Okay. You don't pay. I don't get any money from you, but you do get a free Palma pasta meal. Jeremy, I have a large lasagna in my freezer for you right now. Amazing. Thank you so much.

But also I'll bring some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery. And you can have yourself a beer if you're over 19 years of age. Wonderful. I also have some fresh craft beer for you to take home, Jeremy Hopkins. Thank you so much.

And thank you Great Lakes and Palma. It's been amazing having both your products over the past year and my family too have enjoyed, not the beer, but the past. I bet those kids at Christie Pitts remember, I don't think they're over 19. I'm going to have to check some ID, but they can have a hot pot. The very first time being at the Great Lakes Brew Pub was pretty cool. Monday, how was that for you?

That was TMLX 16. I absolutely loved it. Got to meet a lot more FOTMs that I only knew online before and because I wasn't in the suit, they didn't know who that guy was at first. But yeah, so we're nice enough to come by and check and talk to me. And we all chatted and stayed there pretty late.

Yeah, it was an amazing time. So thank you to always always a fun time. The GLB Brew Pub is a rare TMLX event where Palma is not feeding us because they have a great kitchen there. So we enjoyed their food, which was delicious and their fresh craft beer. But now I'm going to turn the channel

and it's gonna get a little spooky and then I'll give you more gifts maybe. Maybe after the fifth ghost story, I'll give you more gifts for making the trek here. But less of me, more of you, are we going 10 to 10 to 1 yes we're going 10 to 1 I have got a real list this time usually I'm a little mixed up but I've actually got one the first one is the the only personal one I have everything else is a famous ghost story but this one is one that is the closest to a ghost story that I personally have so number Number 10. I'll do that okay. I'll do that. Number 10. Okay number 10 is the

Cornell Campbell House. Now you might know downtown there's the Cornell House. There's lots of Cornell's and Campbell's in Toronto and just Canada wide. But this is one house that's out in Scarborough right smack dab beside Scarborough Village Arena. And I don't know, if you don't know where it is, that's right at the foot of Markham Road, right at Kingston Road. So at one time, this was a close to 200 acre farm. Over the years got whittled down to about three acres. And there was the Cornell family that lived there

for a number of years, including James G. Cornell, who was a Reav of Scarborough. He had a famous dairy business that he eventually created with George S. Henry that was called Farmers Dairy. They merged became Acme Farmers Dairy and it was a huge dairy downtown right by Casa Loma. So eventually that was sold off. James G. Cornell passed away. The house goes to his niece because he has no kids and it turns out the niece is married to Albert Campbell who is the first Metro Chairman of Toronto and but before then he was also a reeve of Scarborough for a number of years. So lots of family in this house, lots of history built up over the years. Eventually Albert Campbell passes away in the 70s from he had cancer and passed away.

His wife lived until 95 though and passed away in 2005. So here's where I come into the picture, that the house sat vacant for a little while and some people were looking after it, but they said for insurance purposes and also just for sound mind, we need somebody there all the time. And they asked around and said, oh, there's this guy at the Scarborough Historical Society.

He's not living anywhere. Why not ask him? He likes old stuff. So I said, hell yeah, sure. I'll go in there. You were living under a bridge. What's going on? I wasn't living under a bridge.

I was at the time. I was just sort of transient once in a while with my parents. I dig that like a hobo. All over the place. Yeah, a fashionable hobo. There you parents. I dig that, like a hobo. All over the place, yeah. A fashionable hobo, there you go. I dig that vibe, why not? Live while you can. Yeah, so I was going through school and a bunch of other stuff.

So yeah, and I was with the Historical Society for about 15 years, so they trusted me. So I got to live in there for, it turned out two years because they were waiting for, they basically put this house forward and said to the city, do you wanna buy it? We would like it to stay with the city and stay as it is as this little three acre farm sort of place with barns and all that kind of stuff. And eventually they did,

but they were going through an election. So it took a lot longer. So luckily for me, I got to stay there for a while. And then I got to know the family and started talking. So then one day my girlfriend was over there, and she's in the kitchen of the place, and I'm upstairs. And then I came downstairs, she goes, is anybody in the building besides us?

Like, what the heck's going on in this house? And I said, what? She goes, there was like a woman singing a song and walking up and down the halls. I didn't see a thing though. Where is she? And it's three acres and you have a sight line everywhere. So it's not like anyone could hide

after running out of the house. But she wasn't pulling your leg. No, she wasn't pulling my leg. She's very sincere and there had been other times too where she was like, there's just something weird about this place or other things like that, right? She wasn't pulling my leg. And she said, I said, no, no, and we looked all over the place,

didn't see anybody and it was a big house. Originally it was a farmhouse that was built in the 1830s and over the years around 1910, they bricked it over. So it was a much bigger building. So yeah, months passed and the Campbell's, Albert Campbell's kids would come by the house for Christmas time. And I said to them, whatever, it's your house.

I'll move out while you guys are here. And so they moved in, but we got along and we chatted about the history of the place and all that. And then one day I was talking with David Campbell and this is the youngest son of Albert Campbell. And he started talking to me about all this stuff. And I said to him, you ever heard anything about a woman singing

or anything like that in here? And he goes, oh, that would be May. And I went, what are you talking about? He goes, well, May was singing and walking around the house one day. And she came into the kitchen here and she got up on that very stool right there.

A lot of the old furniture was still there and she stood up on that, was cleaning the ceiling here and we don't know if she had a heart attack and fell down and died or fell down and died as a result of the fall. But she fell right here in this kitchen right where we are. And I went, oh my God, the the two stories she didn't know anything about it he didn't know anything about her seeing that so I went that's the closest to a ghost I'll ever see well that's closer than I've I've come and there's some historical backing to it too because Mae Cornell was um James G Cornell's sister who was a spinster she never got married so she ended

up living at the house and just living there until she died that day. Wow, made the ghost. Okay, and your girlfriend at the time. That was spine tingling, yes, at the time. And I told her and she just, she was like, yeah. She was witness to this ghost. I knew something was going on. She didn't see it, but she heard it and.

Okay. Yeah. So. You know, I'm like like Fox Molder over here. I want to believe so this is a roaring start that you have a personal anecdote on a Toronto ghost story. Yes and yeah so that's it's not a big famous place but it does have its ghosts and David said. And you were there.

As brother Bill would say you were there. I was there and I should have I wished I actually I was kind of willing at saying, please visit me ghosts. I wanna talk to you. I wanna know about the little tidbits about stuff, but I've never seen a ghost in my life, never heard a ghost. And so there you go. There's one of them.

Okay. Love the personal anecdote off the top here. And in my big radio voice, cause you know I spent many years in radio. Yes. No, I didn't know that. Come on. That's me wishing when I was a kid. I wish I could be Tom Rivers. Oh, your voice is just fine.

All right, Jeremy, you ready? It gets the job done. Let's see what he does, ready? Yes. Number nine. Oh, number nine, here we go. Now, this is a story of the lighthouse that I've been showing in my promos.

Which is a great promo, by the way. Oh, thank you so much. It's a- I showed it to my eight-year-old. Oh, cool. And she thought it was, because you have that ghost coming out by the way. Oh thank you so much. I showed it to my eight year old and she thought it was because you have that ghost coming out of the lighthouse. Yes. And it's like you're like George Lucas over here. Okay.

You got the effects. That was a pretty cheap effect there but thank you very much. If it works. All right. So that's when I got trapped on the island one day and I thought, since I'm trapped here, I was there trying to track down this boat that is older than the Titanic and they were bringing it from around the Owen sound area and dragging it through the lakes to Kingston. And so I tried to track it there and I got some pictures of it, but not what I wanted. So I was stuck on the island.

So I thought I'm going to stuck on the island. Like the, the fairies were done running. Yeah. Well it stuck cause it would take a while to get back onto the, you didn't have your kayak with you. No. And I said, I'm gonna... It stuck on the island like the the ferries were done running? Yeah well it stuck because it would take a while to get back on the island. You didn't have your kayak with you? No and I said I'm all dressed up what the heck I ended up walking from one island to the island to the other and in this suit and yeah got some good video though doing that but let's get back to the story of the lighthouse. So the lighthouse has been there for a number of years. It was built in, let's see, in the late seven,

or early 1800s, but in 1815, the lighthouse keeper that was there was John Paul Radomuller, or Radomuller? And he was a lighthouse keeper there for a number of years, but he was rumored to keep some beer on site. And the soldiers that were in the block house in the area would every once in a while come by and visit him and have a drink with him.

And about this one night in 1815, they say that somebody got into an argument with him over he maybe cut them off, didn't let them have any more booze and they ended up beating him to death and killing him. But two people were tried for it. They were never convicted. And they were, they were actually soldiers that were out of Fort York that were at the

blockhouse. But yeah, nothing else really was spoken about it. Some subsequent lighthouse keepers found bones. Um, not. They didn't know if it was linked to him or not and also thought they found graves, but who knows whose grave those were or that was. But there are some official documents though and some historical backing and more recently a few people have gone into Ratl Mueller's history. He was a German man who was in the service of a lot of English aristocracy, also some

noblemen. And eventually he grew older and just wanted to retire someplace in Canada. He heard about a lot of the German settlers that were going to Markham, Ontario. He wanted a piece of that and applied and petitioned for land up in Markham, Ontario. But all they could give him really, they said, well, we don't wanna do that, but you know, there's this lighthouse that we need keeping of. So he spent out the rest of his life there. And so there's a few things that you can prove

that he existed, that there was a trial, but as far as how his body was disposed of and what happened, it's still unknown. And he's the spirit we saw in those videos? Yes. Yeah. I mean so he's haunting that lighthouse? Well, he lived in a cottage that was just beside the lighthouse that that doesn't exist anymore. It lasted until the 20th century but they eventually tore it down. But so that's where

the incident occurred but a lot of rumors and a lot of things also circulate the lighthouse and people say they see his spirit going up to light the lighthouse. And there's also some myths about the 13th step. If you step on the 13th step, that's what he haunts. So over the years, it's grown and grown and grown into this urban legend. I remember it as a kid that we were told the lighthouse on the Toronto Island was haunted. Oh yes. So it does have an attachment to the lighthouse and they do, people do see spirits going up that lighthouse.

Usually after a few Great Lakes, you have a few GLBs and you see the spirits. That's the thing. A lot of it's. When you think about a lot of these ghost stories, I always like it when there is some historical backing like that. It would be nice if there was a little bit more, but that's part of the mystery that grows. Love it. Now you can get, you can actually climb up this lighthouse. Like how do you get in there to hit the 13th step? Well, it's now not a functioning lighthouse. Fairly recent. Every once in a while, if a door is open, it'll be featured. And then you can get up to the top.

Or certain special events where someone will do a walking tour and get permission to go up into the lighthouse. Okay, don't mess with that lighthouse. Now, at TMLX16, Mark Carey was there. He's the gentleman. I rode around the perimeter of Toronto on a bicycle with Mark Carey. Just to do it. It was amazing. It was a great ride.

I think in total, I'm trying to remember now 140 kilometers or something in total to go around the perimeter, but he pitched an idea to me at the GLB brew pub after a couple of Great Lakes beers, he said, Hey, you have a kayak now, because of course I have a kayak now, Jeremy Hopkins. Oh yeah.

Yeah. In fact, I'm looking at it right there. It's right. I had to bring, I think I might be done for the season. With that kayak. I'm not sure that kayak wants to go out in the freezing cold, but anyways, which is fine. I'll pick it up again in April or something.

But he said, why don't we this time, like next spring or whatever, why don't we paddle around the Toronto Island? Oh, that'd be amazing. Yeah, like this instead of, so we did the bike ride around the perimeter Island. Oh, that'd be amazing. Yeah, like this instead of, so we did the bike ride around the perimeter of Toronto. Next thing to do naturally is to paddle. And I think he's got like a different kind of a boat,

but I'll be in my kayak and we'll paddle around the perimeter of the Island. And this is my goal for spring, summer, 2025. That would be incredible. I guess the only real problem you'd have is on the outside of the island where there's more waves than on the end. Well, that's just, we gotta pick the right day

because you're right, the lake can get choppy and then I'll need that lighthouse and I know it's haunted. So, and if I can break in, I'm gonna just hammer that 13th stair because I wanna talk to this guy. Amazing, yeah. Amazing number nine.

Okay, you ready Jeremy? Yes, number nine. Okay. You ready, Jeremy? Yes. Number nine. Number eight. Oh, yes. Eight.

I'm keeping track over here. That's my job as host. Well, speaking of the urban legends that some of these tales can grow into, there's one of the biggest ones where there is no real proof that these people existed, and that's your alma mater, I guess, U of T, with Reznikov and Diablos. Love this story. So the tale goes that just before, I don't know, late 1800s, that these two stonemasons were,

let's see what their full name is, Paul Diablos and Ivan Reznikov. They basically got into a fight over a woman, came at each other with axes and weapons and to this day you can still see a big chunk out of one of the doors where they had a fight and there was rumors also that one of them, one of their bodies, whoever won, dumped the body of the person that lost into the walls of U of T which apparently when they had a fire at U of T at, what is that? Hard House?

University College, sorry. University College, yeah. University College. They had a fire that basically gutted that whole building and there was some tales that basically they found a body in the walls and they thought it was one of them, whoever lost. So that's one of the places where stone masons went largely undocumented back in the day. So really there is no record of these two people existing. They do a lot of ghost tours and the university actually is very proud of this tale and it's

kind of their spooky ghost story they tell to everybody. But yeah, there really hasn't been too much proof behind it yet. So that that's a shame I have documented what I know to be obviously you say there's no documented proof and you're the official historian but I'm now looking on Toronto Mike calm I wrote the name of this entry is you have tea ghost story Diablos and resnikov and I you know I biked over fairly recently to take a photo by that door mm-hmm with the chunk of the door missing because of an axe allegedly and of course they they named the that you can drink at Diablos at U of T's so that was named in honor but this is a quite the story around there they were

sculptors by the way working on the construction of University College, I believe. So Reznikov was a Russian from Poland. The other one was Greek? The other was Greek, yeah, from Corinth. And basically this confrontation, Diablos had a knife and killed Reznikov. And then're right, dumped his body there down a well and he was denied a proper burial and that basically has caused him to be haunting the college ever since. I, again, Fox Molder, I'm gonna shine on,

I'm looking at all these great photos I took by the way. Good job, Mike, oh my goodness. It's, there's another legend there that the Axe battle continued to top the soldier's Memorial Tower and that's where Reznikov fell to his death or whatever. So I want to believe this to be true, Jeremy, so I hope this story is true. It's a great story. The Soldiers Memorial, wasn't that made in World War I or just after World War I?

Well, you're the official- Or am I confusing my memorials though? I'm looking at it now, but we'll dig into that. But by the way, I think Diablos is a coffee bar, so they were drinking coffee there so you know how they got into a fight over a coffee I was the only one sipping Great Lakes beer there but he brought a knife to a to an axe fight a knife to a gun fight he's bringing a knife to an axe fight so I'm so glad you included this story a great U of T story that I've been hearing forever for sure it's legendary and it

is just amazing you can actually go and you can touch the, where the allegedly that axe hit the door. It does look like an axe hit that door. So I don't know what the real story is, but. I've heard a lot of the people on the tour actually tell you if you touch that you're cursed. I've done that. I've touched it.

Well, that explains everything. Oh no. J-ho that explains everything. Okay. Love this. We went into the Toronto Island now and that's a story I grew up hearing. Now we got the U of T story. Number seven. Yes. Okay, love this. We've been to the Toronto Island now, and that's a story I grew up hearing. Now we got the U of T story.

Number seven. Yes, this is the Keg Mansion. And if you've been to the Keg Mansion, it was, you probably see a little bit or hear a little bit about the history where it started off as a mansion built by Arthur McMaster. But when the Masses came there in 1882, they expanded the building and made it their own.

Massey, you'll probably know his name from Massey Hall, but that was his foundation that gave money towards Massey Hall. He was passed away by that point. So his relatives and everyone continued on to make great things like that. He was a industrialist. Eventually his company.

What's this? Is this Vincent Massey? This is actually Hart Massey. Hart. Okay. So Vincent Massey is another Massey. Yeah, that's only because I got a shout out. Andy's on the live stream and Andy's the biggest Degrassi fan I know.

And the Degrassi junior high, the facade is in this neighborhood, New Toronto, and it's Vincent Massey School. You can go there now. We could walk over there and take a photo by it. But it's a different Massey. Please continue. Very cool. Yeah.

Eventually, it became, his company became Massey Harris, which made tons of farm machinery across the country and was huge. So eventually the building was given to U of T Victoria College. Is it Massey Harris or Massey Ferguson? Oh sorry it became Massey Ferguson after Massey Harris. Okay that's a fun fact. It's evolved over the years. So Massey Harris had a huge factory here in Toronto in Liberty Village and there is still a few of the offices left over and also part of the old jail that used to be there, the central prison. Wow. So let's see here. Oh, the building was also the first home of CFRB and Canada's first radio less battery.

Do I have that right? Our first radio battery list. Canada's first radio battery list. Canada's first. Radio battery list? CFRB. I can Google this one, but I'm pretty sure it's something like radio. Canada's first Rogers battery list. I think, I thought the R was originally, like before it was, they decided to like reinvent it

as Rogers, but it was radio-less battery. I will Google the original column. Battery-less radio. Rogers was the first in Canada to have a battery- list radio where you could actually plug it into a wall or Event early on there was only light sockets that you could plug these radios into okay, so there Depends on your source, but it seems to mean Canada's first Rogers battery list Okay, always got to stick Rogers in there. They did it to sky dome and they did it at CFRB Yeah

That was that was their company and there a lot of companies snuck their names in there or their catchphrases whenever they own these radio stations. And now there's a Rogers Stadium coming to Downsview Park. Will that be haunted? It could be by some of the old aviators that were there. You never know. You know, we've got to keep our eye on that. So who's sorry.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, I got off track. You know, I know, I know, because I jump on these tangents, but I just need I need to know who is the ghost and what are they doing? No worries. So eventually became Julie's Mansion and then became the Keg the Keg Mansion in the 70s. And ever since it had anyone really there visiting, there was a lot of a lot of the staff that's there and a lot of the visitors were just seeing weird things and reporting it. a lot of the staff that's there and a lot of the visitors were just seeing weird things and reporting it and eventually these stories added up and People would see ghosts and eventually they attributed some of the ghosts to some of the the Massey family that were living there including um, let's see here there is uh

one of the big ones there is the Lillian treble Massey who was the uh, the daughterian Treble Massey, who was the daughter of Hart Massey. She eventually took over the house. When she died, she was in her 60s. Apparently it was a very traumatic death and even her maid was traumatized by this and hung herself. So people say that they see Lillian Treble Massey, but they also see her maid too, who died

by hanging on one of the railings in the mansion. So apparently at the entrance way, every once in a while someone sees someone swinging. And yeah, and they they also noticed temperature changes when they're eating, which is a signature of ghosts in a lot of places where the temperature will drop down low and then people see spirits and certain things happening. There's also a boy ghost rumored to be floating around there that was claimed to be a visitor of the Masses. Was his name Casper? It wasn't Casper, but I've heard he's fairly friendly. So they have sightings of him on the staircase and also there is a sound of children playing upstairs all the time.

That's the sound of children playing when there are no children to be seen. That is the creepiest sound in the world. It is. Oh my gosh. You know what? I'm really in the mood right now. We are recording this just for the record. It's October 28th today and it's a Monday. And Halloween is on Thursday. it's I'm really feeling it right now this might be might be my favorite holiday of the year is Halloween same here it's one of mine Christmas and and Halloween I could watch stuff from Christmas and Halloween all year round it's entertaining and we're only four deep here and I'm feeling it I can't believe we got so

many more to go okay okay number six number six we've actually some of these we've already talked about in other References, but this is their first episode of Jeremy Hopkett because after this episode listeners are gonna go back and hear your previous three visits because you visit every quarter and you'll be Back the first quarter of 2025. Oh amazing. I love to and will you be at tmlx? 17 at Palma's kitchen. I didn't get an answer will you be at tmlx17 at Palma's Kitchen? I didn't quite get an answer from you. Okay. Yeah, for sure.

I've answered your Facebook request and everything for that. Yeah. I'm out of the loop. Listen, cause I'd cancel it if you weren't able to make it here. Well, thank you. And here, before we get to number six. Yes.

I did already shout out Andy on the live stream, but I want to shout out Ian Service on the live stream. I want to shout out Midtown Gord who popped in. He just checked in to see what condition our condition was in. No, just kidding. He just popped in to say, sorry, you can't stick around. But he says Halloween is his favorite time too. I think it's because there's no religion involved. I mean, the origins are religious, but we've stripped all the religion out of it. So it's kind of like everyone can participate and it's the kids love it because they dress up and go door-to-door trick-or-treat and it's just it's a vibe I can really get

into it's a time of year where I mean we might have I don't know if you've checked the forecast but this could be like close to 20 degrees or something when we're trick-or-treating on Thursday yeah which is a stark difference to how it's been in the past and well remember as a kid we'd put our costumes on over our winter jacket. Yeah, yeah. You go to all that trouble to make a costume and then you got to throw a winter jacket on it.

It kind of spoiled it. Okay, so shout out to Midtown Gourd. Midtown Gourd, I have a book for you. I did some spring cleaning down here and even though it's autumn, okay, we'll call it autumn cleaning. And I found a book that to me it's an amazing book. It was gifted to me by somebody. I don't want to spoil it for Midtown Gourd, but it looks like it's custom-made for this guy

And I'm gonna and he lives near Casa Loma. Okay, so it all comes back to Casa Loma, but I'm gonna get this to you Midtown Gourd I want to shout out moose grumpy and I want to shout out left bridge Wayne Wayne as well He's a big Hebsi head and I used to come out for every single Hebsi on sports and shout out to you know, we're speaking of things that have passed away. Hebsion sports, shadow to Ridley funeral home. Jeremy, you got a measuring tape. Don't forget to take that home. You can measure everything and anything.

I'm gonna have four now. You got, you know what? You can collect the whole set. They're like pogs or something like that here. You got to collect them all. Oh, that's Pokemon. So what do I know? All right, my friend, number six.

Okay, number six. We number six we've mentioned we already talked about this one but we didn't talk about the ghosts the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre. It's a national historic site the only double-decker Edwardian theatre in all the world and we're lucky to have it here in Toronto and it's really cool that they've made it viable. The only thing is though by making it viable they've stirred up some old ghosts, the only thing is though, by making it viable, they've stirred up some old ghosts that have never really quite left the place. Apparently they, uh, it was built in 1913, but, um, after

they restored it in the 1980s, a lot of the people that work there started to notice these weird things happening all the time. Um, to the point where they actually got a Ouija board and started, uh, just seeing if they could summon anyone and find out some names so one day they uh went on the Ouija board and they asked and it turned out someone named Sam was there and he was a trombone player at some something that played in 1918 at the theater and he just never left so they talked to him and it was yeah just it just kept moving on its own and they found out

that with the Ouija board they haven't really heard too much from Sam since but every once in a while they do hear weird noises. But you know there are bands and there are performances that are practicing off to the side but when even there's no one practicing they still hear these strange sounds every once in a while that sound like people are there. Geez, Louise. And as I recall, we went into detail about this venue when we were talking about the shape of water, right? Yes.

They filmed the shape of water. In fact, you mentioned Massey Hall earlier. Yes. She lived in Massey Hall or something. Yeah. And then they would show Elgin Winter Garden Theater. Yeah, with that, they felt it was more appropriate to have the front as her place and also, and that was the front of Massey Hall, but when you go inside it's the theatre at Elgin Winter Garden.

Who would know except for us, right? It's just the Toronto heads that'll know what's going on. You know the sculptures there and that's not quite, no that's not Massey Hall, it's got to be somewhere else and yeah, there you go. So, I mean, you're not a ghost expert, you're an official historian here. But Sam is just hanging around, like Sam doesn't have a vendetta against, nobody tried to kill him or anything, he's just hanging around.

No I think he just liked playing and he's just still hanging around. Sometimes people think that ghosts aren't really, they're not really haunting, they're more of an echo of someone that had been there as well. So these things that we're hearing are just sort of the energy being given off

at random in certain spots. So there's a lot of theories behind what ghosts are or if they even exist. Obviously, we don't have definitive proof of Sam. Yeah, no. And again, all of this is therapeutic. Like, I want to believe. But these are fun stories for a Halloween episode of Toronto Maked. But Sam, if he could perform, they would sell out that place every night who would want to go see a ghost before me at the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre a huge

attraction okay so shout out to Sam so there's a few other ghosts flying around there too there's also a very famous one called the lavender lady who apparently when you she appears at the grand staircase and also in the elevators which are the original Elevators from 1913 that they've repaired and they have running still there so in Any of these accounts when people do see her again the temperature goes down low and then people will spy a vision of her either at the staircase or the elevators and then people will spy a vision of her either at the staircase or the elevators.

And one thing in particular with her is that they always smell flowers or like a lavender smell that was just her perfume or something. Could be worse, right? That's not so bad. Yes, from what I've heard from some ghosts, they leave a pretty nasty smell. So what's your signature scent?

You know, you decane raccoons and all, cause she smells like lavender. Yeah, yeah, not bad. It's sort of like freshly baked croissants or something. I want that to be my signature scent. Give me a break. Or fresh chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven or something.

Very cool. She got famous to the point where so many people had seen her that Canada Post even put out a stamp with her on it. So, and it was not too long ago, maybe 10 years, 10 something like that. Hey, you know what? I'm gonna borrow a plot point from one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time, Miracle on 34th Street. Once Canada Post recognizes you exist, you exist, right? Putting the Lavender Lady on a stamp, that's enough proof for me.

In the court of law, we deem the lavender lady exists right on oh that reminds me of another fact with the the lighthouse the lighthouse actually mentioned the ghosts on the historical plaque and it's the only historical plaque that ever mentions it's enough for me man and so that's kind of official there too but it was to the point where people were angry about it back in the 50s when they put it there so right just just an aside of it. They're like, that's not historical. Well, you know, that's a fun conversation to have, like, can historians have fun with these kind of legends and myths? Or do they need to stick to the facts?

And if they veer off into the, you know, a Halloween special talking about a ghost that maybe there's no definitive proof exists? Does that detract from all the proper factual history that that historian is sharing with the masses? You know it very well could. I don't care. Well come back tomorrow. We'll do 90 minutes on this. I'll do 90 minutes. No no I mean I don't care in that. You have to have fun with this kind of stuff and it makes it interesting for people because if you just drawn on about history, it puts everyone to sleep.

But if you can make it interesting and throw that in, that it's good. You know, to borrow a line from Mary Poppins. So my eight year old learned about Mary Poppins from The Simpsons because she loves the Sherry Bobbins episode. So I'm like, we got Disney Plus, you're watching The Simpsons on it right now.

Let's watch Mary Poppins. And we watched it. And of course, one of the great songs is Sp spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. And I feel like these ghost stories, that's the sugar. And you're wrapping around these stories. You're wrapping around bona fide historical facts and people will come for the ghost stories and they won't even know you were teaching these people. Yes, I like your thinking on that. They won't know that they were learning. I learned everything from Mary Poppins, okay.

Very cool. There is a couple other ghosts that are floating around there too. Let's hear about all of them. You just tap your nose when it's on to the next one. Okay, there's a voice in the dark apparently that every once in a while there's a woman that just calls to people.

I think that's Cynthia Dale. She knows your name apparently because she'll actually call you by name and you look around. There's nobody in the place. And it just keeps happening there. So they don't know who it was. They don't know what it is. There's no one playing tricks.

It's just, yeah, nine playing tricks on me. During the production of Cats, there was a man with a bowler hat spied outside in the crowd. Oh, not the crowd, sorry, in the stands in the seats. And it was a man with a bowler hat spied outside in the crowd Oh, I'm not the crowd. Sorry in the stands. Okay in the seats, and it was a closed set there was nobody allowed in the place there was no guests and They kept seeing this person to the point where the production manager said well if they're gonna be sitting there we got to charge them at least and

They went to go see the guy and say hey, who are are you? And he just disappeared. And apparently have showed up a few other times too, kept disappearing on them. And they say, well, there's- Bowler hat you say? I think that man was Jeremy Hopkins. It could have been, you'd never know. Actually, I don't have a bowler right now. I need to get one of those again.

You know, it's funny, I said bowler hat and in my mind, I'm not even sure exactly. Is it round on the top? Yeah, it's round on the top, like the tramp, like Buster Keaton. Oh yes, Buster Keaton, got you now. Actually, Actually no he had more of a flattened one. Yeah. See I don't know my hats like I feel like I need a hat expert on to explain all these different hats. I know pork pie hat because there's a couple of FOTMs have

been rocking it lately. That's what Buster has pork pie. Pork pie hat. See I think if I become a hat guy I think I'll become a pork pie hat guy. Oh very cool. Okay keep rocking with this Elgin Winter Garden Theater hauntings. Well it turns If I become a hat guy, I think I'll become a pork pie hat guy. Oh, very cool. Okay. Keep rocking with this Elgin Winter Garden Theater haunting. Well, it turns out that's the last ghost that I had, but there is a lot of other weird things that have happened there that people have mentioned and they haven't given a name to that ghost yet.

So who knows? Eventually there might be some trends where more ghosts evolve out of the place. Number five. Number five. Number five, Osgood Hall. It's one of the buildings that actually features prominently in that panorama that I got from 1857 to colorize. It has been there since 1832,

one of the longest standing Toronto buildings. It started off as basically the main regulatory body for all lawyers in Ontario and eventually has become home of the Ontario Law Society and also had courts in there for years. There's supposed to be several ghosts floating around in Osgoode Hall as well. Including there's a man that keeps appearing who looks like he's studying very, very vigorously in the library beyond the time it closed. And lots of security guards after hours

have gone to tell this person, hey, you can't study here because they just think they've stayed in past the closing time and didn didn't realize and the person just disappears on them and in into into thin air. So it happened numerous times to the point where he became a known person that was there. But enough about Lauren Honigman. Let's get back to the ghost. So there apparently the head librarian and security and a few other people have seen that ghost.

There's also some in Convocation Hall that appear from time to time where it sounds like there's a party going on, which is parties are going there all the time, but not a person is in there. Well, I can tell you my graduation ceremony took place at Convocation Hall and that day it was definitely haunted. Because Ivan Reitman was giving a speech and Norman Jewison was on the stage when I went up to get my diploma. An intimate setting, me and like 2000 other graduates. What a great day.

Ivan Reitman though, wow. Yeah, he was a keynote speaker for- Inspiration for some of the ghosts? Well, you know what? Yes, thank you for bringing it all. But it all comes back to Ghostbusters. You kidding me? Now his kid Jason's taking on the mantle.

Jason Reitman, absolutely. Although I did watch this Jason Reitman Ghostbusters. And I will say this, and I'm gonna sound like I'm Abe Simpson, but I'm watching it. And I'm like, I guess I know why we keep rebooting things because not everybody is my age there's a new gen and all this stuff but what's the point of this I'm like people should just watch the

original but then I realized oh I'm talking like a 50 year old okay my 20 year old daughter is more likely to tune into the new the new reboot than the than the the 1984 or whatever the hell it was well you're not as bad as a lot of the 50 year olds that talk about the one with all the women in it. What's that one? They've they've erased that one off the face of the earth. Funny you mention that because there is a character who there's hints that this this woman is is gay. OK, there's hints like super hints.

Yes, yes. And to me, it's almost like obvious, but they don't go all the way. It's like, go all the way. They just, they hint at it, they play with it, they put it in your mind, but they don't actually state it or give you, they sort of like these goats, okay? We think there's a ghost at Osgood Hall, okay?

But we don't have any video of this ghost. We can't say definitively there's this ghost. Yeah, that's the thing. For a number of years there were a lot of people that claimed that they had recorded ghosts, but it just turned out, you know, they were like, oh, that's the spirit. That's their orb floating around. But really it's just a piece of dust. Or a flaw in the film. That's lit up into the camera and it looks like something, but yeah. They said all these UFO sightings declined when everybody had a camera in their pockets.

Like once you had a video camera in your pockets, there were far fewer UFO sightings. Some people wanna believe so hard that they see stuff. Enough about Fox Molder. By the way, that's a show I'll say. Oh, X-Files. I love that show. It was appointment viewing for me. I love the dynamic between M was appointment viewing for me. I love the dynamic between

Fog Molder and Scully and I like the whole idea of monster of the week and I like that there was also this like thread throughout I kind of like that style where you could drop in and watch an episode it would stand alone But there were threads that were What's the term I'm looking for? When something is no, you know, builds, it's not, they don't stand alone. Oh yes.

It's, uh, it's, it's not episodic. It's sequential or I'm not sure. Oh God. What is going on? Jeremy, I'm not fixing this. I'm post. We're going to be embarrassed, but I loved your, your number five here. You ready for number four?

Uh, sure. There's one more ghost. Okay. Hit me. Um, at convocation hall, there's also a woman in white that apparently goes there in a white dress and just weeps at the foot of one of the portraits and cries over and over again and then disappears

and comes back and cries again. So I'm not sure if they've come with any kind of historical backing on who that would be or what, they didn't really say what portrait it was either. So I'd like to dig into that a little more. Dig into that because maybe next October we can do like another 10 and then you could kind of fill us in on those cracks here. And that's one thing I love about Toronto history is just digging in.

And I do a lot of my own research and dig into the old newspapers and books and accounts and try to actually get some more back into all these stories But sometimes it's a wild goose chase and there's nothing out there, but hopefully I find something possible the term I was looking for is progression but Not sure that's actually the word I was looking for. I feel like my word started with an a but yeah not episodic but Progression. Okay, so there's a there's a building progression in there so that it builds on the story. Like the wire, okay? The wire episodes don't stand alone. There's an arc that continues

throughout the five seasons. Yeah, the characters are actually characters. They've built up a history. And shout out to Molly Johnson, whose brother created the wire. Everybody knows this. Okay, that ain't no ghost story. I ain't afraid of no ghosts and the Huey Lewis Oh, is it Huey Lewis stole? I want a new drug from the great Parker juniors Ghostbusters song Is that the story? Oh my god a ghost story. I know that's pretty but I'm gonna I'm gonna say that okay And then I'll do a fact check later. I believe I want a new drug by By Huey Lewis in the news They had to either give a writing

credit or they had to compensate somehow or that they borrowed the tune from Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters. Oh wow. This is not a ghost story. That's another story. But I am going to take a moment to give you another gift, Jeremy. Oh very cool. Thank you. Did you get a wireless speaker in any of your previous three visits? I did, I think on the very first visit. See, because you come every quarter, you're picking up the Meneris sponsorship swag. But I have another one for you because I know you got kids. That is a wireless speaker from Meneris.

And the intent here is that you will go home and subscribe. Oh, you don't have to wait till you get home. Subscribe right now. Subscribe to Yes We Are Open, which is an award-winning podcast from Monaris hosted by FOTM Al Gregor. I already know Jeremy, you like a good story. You're a storyteller.

And Al has some great stories about small businesses across the country. It's pretty cool. It's very cool. He went to, Al Gregor went to Winnipeg. And things get spicy in episode 3 of Season 7 because Al visited Nikhil Dutt Owner of spice circle in Winnipeg his family opened the restaurant in 2019

Despite having no prior business experience if you want a scary story if you want a frightening tale Imagine opening a restaurant with no prior business experience. That's always frightening. Very scary. Now imagine doing it in 2019 when you know what looms in 2020. Okay, this is scary. I'm scared right now. But if you have the courage, subscribe to Yes We Are Open and enjoy season seven. Speaking of courage, okay, I did some autumn cleaning the other day and I have so many old laptops, old cables, just old electronics that I've been holding on to forever. Some of this stuff goes back to the eighties. You won't believe the junk I have and I am 100% going to recycle my electronics dot CA. I'm gonna stick in my new Toronto postal code

and find out where am I dropping this all off at to be properly recycled so these chemicals don't end up in our landfill and I urge everyone to do the same. Including you, Mr. Hopkins. Sounds good. But don't recycle that speaker, it's quality speaker. Okay, and you're gonna be listening to, yes, we are open. And now, without further ado,

I get to tell you we're doing number four. Yes, number four. Have you heard of the Atobico Poltergeist? I haven't, but I'm wondering now if this will somehow lead back to Commandant Lassard and the Mimico psychiatric hospital unfortunately, I left the the Mimico one is that for next year. That's for next year Okay, we got to keep some gold for next year. Yes. It does have some ghost stories for sure but this one is this one's a house at

184 Prince Edward Drive, okay, it's still there today and I looked on the maps, the old aerial maps and a few historical Goats atlases, and I saw that there was this one house that stuck out out of the whole neighborhood that existed there even way back when it was farmland. And it was this house. So this is an old clapboard house

that's in the middle of a neighborhood that was built in the 20s and the 30s. But in the 1960s, 1968, for 10 days, the family that was living there, it was a family, Roy and Carol Hawkins and their three children, they were plagued by a poltergeist for 10 days in a row, to the point where their psychiatrist

actually had them on sleeping pills and they just were having horrible things happen. Even the family cat got thrown against a wall, banging, crashing. If I may, Jeremy, and again I want to hear the full story, but if you're being haunted for 10 days, like firstly it takes me less than one day of being haunted before I'm in a hotel. Maybe that was a progression too. I just built up over the days. Who sticks it out over the days. It's day 10. Hey, they were tough.

They were from cats are being flown. You know, they're, they're, they're eating the cats. They're eating the dogs. Uh, I know it's been a tough week guys. We're going to go for week two here. Wow. And this, I know where Prince Edward drive is. I might make a bike ride over just to see one 84 Prince Edward drive.

So please continue your story. But I think sticking it out for 10 days, that. Yeah, they were tough. What year was this? They were from Newfoundland, very tough people. They came in there and they were like no we're staying. Say no more J-Ho, say no more. And this is 1968 so it was in between February, no sorry, April and May in 1968 and And it got to the point where the Toronto Star sent a couple of reporters out and they saw what was going on and they still claim even in more recent

Toronto Star reports about the house that yeah, what we saw that was happening. It actually was happening. So they sent Rosie DiManno in 68. Well, this was, let's see, Ben Rayner and John Gault. There you go. Ben knows his maritime. I know all. Mike, Mike, what did you learn from Heather Bambrick? He learned that Newfoundland is not the Maritimes. That's a Toronto mistake and you sound ignorant. It's Atlantic Canada. So yeah, the doctors put them on tranquilizers after the cat got

thrown on the wall and crowds of kids showed up at this place and adults just to see the next thing happening. And they eventually brought people into perform an exorcism. And they performed an exorcism on the place and apparently after that there was nothing happened. And even to this day, people are living living in it there's been no reports about anything happening in that area since. And what year was the Exorcist again? The Exorcist was in the same year 68. Any inspiration one to the other? I'm

wondering if there's some synergy here. I'm not sure. I know. When's the last time you heard about a good exorcism? It's been a long time and it's only really yeah in that time period. Exorcisms, by the way, by the way I'm just gonna connect some dots a good exorcism? It's been a long time and it's only really, yeah, in that time period. Exorcisms, by the way, I'm just going to connect some dots. So exorcisms seemed to peak in 1968 around that time. Also, the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey franchise peaks around that time. They were Stanley Cup champions in early 1968 because they last won the cup in 1967. So maybe there's a correlation here.

I don't know. I'm just suggesting. just think some drugs peaked around that time too. I don't know. Oh, give me some hair long beautiful hair. Love it. So thank you for an Etobicoke story. And I love that we're holding on to the lake. Sorry, Mimica had many names and had many names, but Mimico psychiatric hospital. This one's the Etobicoke poltergeist, but yeah, we will get back to Mimico though as well. And I love the fact we can do 10 more next October. For sure, and oh, there's, Toronto is a young place, but we definitely have a lot of ghost stories

connected to our building, so. And three big ones yet to come here. I'm trying to, my mind's racing, trying to guess what's coming, but I love knowing that whatever we miss this round, we're gonna pick up next year. Okay, so Jeremy Hopkins Okay, top 10 Toronto ghost stories. You still got more on number four there

I just have one little tidbit I actually checked the newspaper listings for after that poltergeist event happened and I saw a listing in July For that place to be up for rent So they could rent the haunted home in a topical rent it right after that the people moved out There was an exorcism the the ghosts left, but they were fed up and they left So love it. That's a local story. I love it so much. Okay, I thought I'd bring a little topical flavor in here I didn't have a new Toronto one though. I'll try to get one. You know, there's got to be a neutral actually I'll tell you one later. There was a hotel

third and Lakeshore It's funny cuz cause until fairly recently, it was a swingers club. Okay. Oh wow. Yeah. So it was a hotel and I believe the owner of the hotel was murdered in New Toronto. There's a wicked awesome New Toronto haunting ghost story.

And that plus the Mimico Psychiatric Hospital will be two of the 10 we discussed in October 2025. So keep that subscription to Toronto Mike because it's going to come in handy in 2025. Number three. Number three is Old City Hall, the where you had one of your marriages. One of my thank you for remembering one of my weddings. One of my marriages took place at Old City Hall.

And that's what caused it to be haunted. And now the ghost of that marriage is floating around that place. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. Shout out to Ridley Funeral Home. They can't all go along. No. So reports of ghosts being there began in 1965

when it also became a courthouse. There was more people in the building much later and people there, you know people in the building much later and people there you know in the holding cell so they started to get a lot of these creepy stories where they'd get ghost hauntings and that sort of thing. But one of the most famous ones is Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin are apparently still haunting that place. They were the last two men that were convicted to hang and that's where they were convicted. Apparently, uh, the court where they were sentenced courtroom, one two five, uh,

formerly courtroom number 33 is the courtroom that they're still haunting today. And a lot of reporters go by on the anniversary of their conviction and try to see if they can pick up on anything floating around there. So 1965 is the last time we had a capital punishment and sent sentence somebody to die by hanging. Yes. You know what I got to just we're not that far. You know we were born shortly thereafter in the relative timelines here and it's kind of wild to think that you could be sentenced at old city hall, you could be sentenced to death by hanging in 1965. Yes, yeah.

Wow. And I'm, you know, they were, one was convicted of killing a police officer. The other one killed an undercover narcotics agent. So they did some definite crimes where they took a life. But yeah, it's, it's a much different world now that that's been stopped because there are a lot of people convicted that really were wrongfully convicted and there's no turning back from a death sentence. So yeah.

Wow. Okay. And they're haunting the old. So what is, do you know the date? I don't know the date on the conviction. I want to take a bike ride over to old city hall and see what I can, if I can see Lucas or Terrapin. I can find that out pretty quick though, but, um, 1899 is when the place was built. So there definitely has to be some more ghosts than that around the area. Judges have also heard mysterious footprints, uh, foot footsteps. It might not be them. It could be some of the other ghosts of people convicted there. Uh, they've also felt the rubs being tugged from the staircase and keep it keep it clean

Jeremy I don't need to know the rubs being tugged. Oh robes. Robes, okay. Wasn't your first topic, so we again your fourth appearance on Toronto Mike, every quarter you're here, but didn't we did buildings that were almost destroyed but weren't. Is an old City Hall on that list that you talked with? That was also on the list of that one. It came very close and a lot of people protested and rebelled against it and basically made the city submit into saving it. Do you think Lucas and Terrapin were protesting against it?

Like that's their haunting grounds. Yeah, cause once the building's gone, you're kind of haunting air and people can't make a good sighting that way usually because when you think about it like a lot of the area that was Inhabited by indigenous people for years before us there if there's ghosts there has to be some of them Ghosting around as well. So, you know if you don't have a building location still there It's a little trickier to see them in the open

That is a nice way to tease another of your appearances was 10 Toronto buildings that we should not have destroyed but did. And I wonder if you're haunting a building, like an old building, and then Toronto decides in their wisdom to destroy that, to demolish that building. Where do you go? I don't know. If the ghosts are indeed attached to the physical material. And you know, some kind of an echo is attached to that. It goes to the dump, I guess. And do you really want to hump or hunt a dump for the rest of your life? I told you to stop working blue, Jeremy.

Sorry. But now I'm thinking now I'm thinking you're dying twice, right? Like that's a that's a double shock power. Ridley funeral home. Get it. Even the first ghost that I mentioned, the one that I experienced, or my girlfriend at the time experienced, even that one I was kind of thinking,

oh, so is she doomed to clean her whole afterlife? I hope not. So, yeah, who knows how ghosts work, but that would be odd. Maybe it's like it's a wonderful life where you just need to do that, you need to do something to get promoted or whatever, right? Yes, get your wings.

Yeah, get your wings. What do you think about? No, attaboy, Clarence. Okay, okay, jeez, we'll talk more on this. Merry Christmas, you old building bones. Oh my God. Oh, I love it. I love that movie so much. Even thinking about it now, I'm tearing up.

I think that is one of the greatest movies ever crafted. Some people call it Capricorn, but it's it it hits we watch it every year though Okay, but there's some people out there will be like oh in field of dreams when he plays catch of his dad It's so manipulative or whatever. I'm like no it makes me cry hook it to my veins. Okay, stop Raining on my parade over here. Okay, I need to be in touch. You gotta clean out the tear ducts once in a while. Yeah, it's good for you. Keep them healthy. Every single April when the leaves get swept in the first round, just kidding.

All right, my friend. All right. Number two. Number two is a museum in Toronto, the McKenzie House. And this was home for a time to Toronto's first mayor, William Lian McKenzie. He passed away there as well in that building and it's on 82 Bond Street,

so right in the heart of downtown. When it became a museum is when people really started noticing odd things going on after hours. And at night they'd see the printing press that's there operating on its own. And the ghost was, here's another official thing, the ghost was actually listed on one of the official contents inventories of the museum. They listed all these items that were in the museum and one ghost. So that's enough for me. And there's no longer

night staff at the museum. That might change depending on the time of year, but the spirits could still be there, but people aren't quite seeing them as much as they used to but that could also be because also there they did an exorcism there as well to to rid the place of the spirits and so maybe Mackenzie was was kicked out. I feel like we could do an entire episode on William Lyon Mackenzie. There's a lot of meat on that bone. Oh for sure there's there's definitely a lot with uh rebellions and a lot of a lot of the things he did were just, he just pushed right ahead. Well, you know what?

Take a note, because if you're coming every quarter for the next 20, what is your contract? 25 years? I'm watching the show on HBO winning time, okay? And they only made two seasons, but I love this show. And the guy, Jerry Bus, he gives Magic Johnson a 25 year contract, a million dollars a year for 25 years back when that was huge money. It's kind of a plot point or whatever. Not sure Kareem Abdul-Jabbar loves this, but it's all very interesting

about the primetime Lakers. And I just should just share with the listenership that I made a similar offer to you. 25 year deal, one million cans of beer and a bottle of pasta lasagna is what you're compensated. That's a pretty good deal. That's a lot of good food and good drink here. Okay, I'm gonna say this in my best Hep Z voice, you ready? Yes. Number one. The Hockey Hall of Fame.

Woo! Thought you might like some hockey in there as well. And shout out to FOTM Kevin Shea. Kevin Shea is actually the gentleman who introduced me to you and got us lined up. Do I know this story? You might not. I haven't told you. I don't know.

I went to a TMLX, the very first one, and Kevin writes me after it because he's followed me online for a long time. Wait, wait, wait, the first TMLx event? Yeah, I went to the, well, the first one that I went to was 14. Oh, number 14, so the 14th TMLx. So I'd never been to one before, but when he saw that I was here, he's like, he wrote me and said,

"'Have you ever been on Toronto Mic'd?' And I said, "'No, that'd be cool though. "'He seems like a cool guy to talk to, "'and yeah, I like his show.' And he was like, "'Okay, I'll see.' be cool though. It's, he seems like a cool guy to talk to and yeah, I like his show. And he was like, okay, I'll see. And next thing you know, I'm scheduled to go on Toronto Mikes. So.

So I don't remember that at all. What I remember is, I, you know, these TMLX events, you really never show, know who's going to show up. Oh, you meet so many people though. How do you remember it all? Well, you just, because I only have ever had one where I had RSVP, which was the most recent one at GOB Brewpub,

because they said I had to cap it at 40 because of the venue and the free drink and food and stuff like that. But for TMLX 17, which is November 30th, 2024, I don't actually play that game. It's like come or don't come. It's gonna be a great time. It's free.

You'll get food, you'll get drink, but I'm not gonna make you come. And you, you did just show up and I didn't know who you were, You know, it's going to be a great time. It's free. You'll get food. You get drink, but I'm not going to make you come and you You did just show up and I didn't know who you were but you were Interesting on the mic because we record live from palmas kitchen Yeah, and you popped on the mic and then i'm like, I like the cut of this guy's jib So I don't actually have any memory of kevin shay playing a role in this except my memory is You're at tmlx. You're on the mic, I found you interesting

and I thought we should do a deeper dive on this podcast. Yeah, yeah, so I think that's where it lined up but maybe, maybe, maybe not. But Kevin Shea is a sweetheart and he has brought on a couple of interesting guests on this podcast. For sure. Oh and even him as a guest just like the amount of stories he has about bands and like even his Nirvana involvement I couldn't believe he was basically wearing a diaper that brought them here as well. Well, yeah, he had to promote it to Canadian radio stations. Nirvana, he's got great weirdo Yankevich stories. He's got Motley Crue stories.

I think he's got some Guns N' Roses stories. But then you can say, hey, let's do a Bill Borilko episode or a hockey. He's your Bill Borilko guy Yeah, he's also got another book coming out too. He is very prolific with his book. So yeah Kevin Shea love it. I still haven't met him. I would love to meet him one day. Well, let me do my very he might He's a sweetheart. I will do my best to get Kevin Shea to come to tmlx 17 at Palma's kitchen here But hockey Hall of Fame. Yeah, the hockey Hall of Fame. A lot of people don't know that it originally was a Bank of Montreal, a big branch of the Bank of Montreal, very beautiful inside.

It was built in 1885. It was on the list of, you know, a lot of our buildings that were historically relevant and save for their architecture. So it became the hockey Hall of Fame. And I think they went on their 30th anniversary this year or last year that passed. They've been in there and because they were at the C&E grounds before. Yes, for a number of years they were there in one of the buildings that was there. It's no longer there now, but not the better living center.

No, no, it was its own building. And so there are a lot of rumors about a ghost being there. And there was one that was the most prominent. And everyone said, oh, that's the ghost of Dorothy. And for years, everybody said this ghost of Dorothy. It was a girl that shot herself and she died and she still haunts the bank or the the Hockey Hall of Fame now. And people keep having occurrences of running into her

just little appearances here and there, her on staircases just floating around. She worked there? And she worked. Well, that's the thing. There was rumors going around that this person worked there and this happened, but there was never any concrete evidence. And it always used to frustrate me because I was like, okay, great. You made money by publishing that.

But like, there's nothing to back it. So it's just just is it real? Thankfully in 2007 the Toronto Star said yes, it's real and here's her actual name. It's Dorothea May Elliott and She was an actual person. She was working there back in 1953 and She became very distraught and she became very distraught, took the 38 caliber gun that was there for guarding the bank, and shot herself in one of the upper floor, apparently in a bathroom, and early in the morning, March 11th, 1953. So the family wanted to keep that story about her silent and basically said to all media don't say what her name was say Dorothy that's fine but nothing else but in

2007 they finally were felt felt okay to reveal it they said we didn't want people making fun of Dorothea and you know the troubled life that she had and what happened and I can understand that when you know but I kind of feel like also that if that information had come out earlier, there wouldn't have been so many rumors and the story wouldn't have gathered that much attention because a lot of people unfortunately commit suicide and people die every day. And it's not until tales like that grow that they really become iconic and become legendary

or an urban myth. So you know the story is out now and they now have a there's a face to put to the the ghost. So has Kevin Shea ever encountered Dorothea? You know he's blogged about Dorothy and Dorothea and then and wrote about the whole story. I tried to contact him about it before this and I wasn't able to get in contact with him, but hopefully soon I'll be able to see if he has a busy man. If he has a personal story of that because yeah, he's been at the Hockey Hall of Fame for a number of years helping them out.

Love it so much. There is one building that we also saved for 2025. And that's why off the top, when I played the song from the inside info from before mentioned Midtown Gord. Midtown Gordourd who will receive this book that I'm gonna share with him at some point and I mentioned he lives near Casaloma. He worked at Casaloma for 12 years and he says he spent many many hours alone in Casaloma in the middle of the night and he is 100% certain there is no ghost at Casa Loma. So it sounds like we don't have a ghost story to share with the masses in 2025. I think part of it might be because Henry Pellet didn't didn't pass away in

the house and I don't think his wife did either. He actually died in his, what was it, his gardener's house. He took pity on him when he lost all of his money and let him live in his house. So sometimes, even with Dorothy, the last ghost that we mentioned, she actually didn't pass away in the bank, but they think maybe that's where her spirit left her. So that's, you know. Also, I'm wondering now if there will be ghosts haunting the Ontario Science Centre kiosk that will be showing up at the sure way gardens because when Doug Ford's government said we're gonna close Ontario Science Center, and then I joked on Twitter I Joked that the future Ontario Science Center will be a kiosk in the Cloverdale mall

And I didn't realize how close I would be to being correct because I heard it's going at least One of the two locations that will be kind of moving to is sure way gardens here in Etobicoke So I'm not sure if it'd be a kiosk. That's me adding a little comedic effect We'll find out but I didn't realize at the time that's spooky How close I was with my my satire there. So is it haunted stay tuned? Jeremy Hawke what I like about your appearances is I'm reminded how interesting this city is and what a rich history we have. And basically how much I love history. I'm actually a history major. So I have a double major at U of T.

One of the majors was history. Always loved history because you know what I love? I love a good story. Amazing. I could tell it a little bit through your blog because you would go to a lot of doors open places and write a lot about history through your blog because you would go to a lot of doors Open places and write a lot about history. So I've stumbled across your writing a lot of times Well, I love your writing and I wish you nothing but good luck tonight. Where is the award ceremony tonight? It's at one of the buildings we talked about before one of the ones that was saved was the you know, the car loo, of course Yeah, it was a 10-year-old in the collegeloo. Of course. And it was Eaton's College Street.

So they, I think they pretty much take over the whole area of carloo and, and have the awards in the auditorium portion, but everybody schmoozes around the hallways and in the other rooms. So yeah, that's going on there tonight. So that'll be nice. I actually, I even brought a piece of it here that one day. Oh my God. Yeah.

You've been a welcome addition to the TMU, the Toronto Mikes universe. You're a valued FOTM and we're gonna do this again in the first quarter of 2025, but I'll see you at Palma's kitchen on November 30th. For sure. And thanks again for having me. And it's been a great year.

Thank you for everything. It's been nice being welcomed into the TMU family. Ha ha. ["The T.M.U. Family"] And that brings us to the end of our 1,570 second show. That brings us to the end of our 1,570 second show. You can follow me at torontomike.com. I've been writing there for, I don't know, since 2002. What's that, Matt? 22 years. Jeremy, where's the best place to follow you?

You can follow me on at Hopkin Design or Jeremy Hopkin at pretty much any social media out there, except I'm not on Mastodon yet, but I'm thinking about it. me on at Hopkin Design or Jeremy Hopkin at pretty much any social media out there except I'm not on Mastodon yet but I'm thinking about it. Who's got time for all these Twitter wannabes? I don't have time for it but I'm trying to spread out. Blue Sky is my alternative. When I leave Twitter, Blue Sky is where I'm going. Blue Sky is getting better and better every day and a lot more people are coming over

lately in surges. Every time Elon does something weird, they come over. What time is it? He's probably done something weird today. Much love to all who made this possible. That's Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, RecycleMyElectronics.ca, Raymond James Canada, Minaris, and Ridley Funeral Home. See you all later this week when my special guest in person in the basement is Canadian musician, legend Chantel Previzhik. That's a big deal, right, J-Hole? See you all then and have a happy Halloween. I can't get away from a vision that brings intimate glimpses of intimate things. A voice in my heart like a tart singer sings, I wonder who's kissing her now. The house is haunted by the echo of your favorite song

The place is cluttered up with roses that have lived too long, much too long The ceiling is white but the shadows are black A ghost in my heart says you'll never come back. The house is haunted by the echo of your last goodbye.