Ghosts of St. Clair West
Halloween, All Hallow’s Eve, Samhain – October 31st is fast approaching, as skeletons and witches decorate neighbourhoods across Toronto. To celebrate the spooky season, we’re taking a look at some of the ghostly stories that have originated in the St. Clair West area.
Interior of the Vaughan Theatre (Mandel Sprachman Fonds, City of Toronto Archives)
The Vaughan Theatre Ghost
The story of the ghost that haunted the old cinema on Vaughan has taken many forms over the years, and Peter Mohan recalls his memories of the legend in his oral history interview.
“The story behind it was that the night the cinema opened, the projectionist hung himself in the projectionist booth, and so forever afterwards, every business that had been in there, people would see this projectionist wandering around the halls… they say that’s why a lot of the businesses failed.”
Toronto historian Doug Taylor also discusses the Vaughan Theatre ghost in a BlogTo post – however, “the only goose-bumps [he] experienced in the theatre were from the air-conditioning”. The theatre was unfortunately demolished in the 1980s.
A Final Resting Place
Our neighbourhood still has some ghosts of bygone times however – Wychwood Barns used to be known as “The PCC Graveyard”, the final resting place of the Presidents Conference Committee streetcars, or the Red Rockets. When the cars were removed from regular use, they would end up in the Wychwood Barns depot.
“As the eighties came to a close, these cars were decommissioned, stripped of usable parts, and put out to pasture.”
Pictures of these old forgotten souls can be seen on the Transit Toronto website:
Brett Lamb, transittoronto.ca
Image by TR Group by eXp Realty
Not Haunted…?
More recently, a Toronto realtor found a creative way to market a Northcliffe Boulevard property – by letting buyers know it was definitely “not haunted”.
The home, near St. Clair Ave and Dufferin, has “seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, and three kitchens” and was occupied by the previous owners since 1958. After that many decades, the sellers were sure their home didn’t have any ghostly occupants who might not want to leave!
Local Scares
St. Scare West’s Corso Italia BIA are hosting their annual Halloween Trick-or-Treat street crawl on Saturday October 28 for little ghouls and goblins, and the Kids Paradise Halloween Party Extravaganza is happening on October 29th from 4pm - 6pm.
The interactive Legends of Horror also returns to Casa Loma, with a Zombie Apocalypse escape room for those with nerves of steel!
However you choose to celebrate, we hope you can support local businesses and community events.
Happy Halloween!
Vintage Kresge’s Halloween poster – oldepinehillprimitives on Ebay