On a hill above Toronto stands a castle that was never meant for war. Casa Loma, built from 1911 to 1914 for financier Sir Henry Pellatt, held 98 rooms, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two secret passages, and an 800-foot tunnel running underground to the stables. It cost $3.5 million. Pellatt lived in it for less than ten years.
His fortune collapsed. The city raised his property taxes from $600 a year to $1,000 a month; he auctioned his art and furnishings, left in 1923, and lost the house to the city the next year. He died in Mimico, never living in his castle again. The story most often told is a child’s. At an outdoor event, a boy separated from his parents felt a sudden chill on a warm day and saw an angry, bald, elderly man in old-fashioned clothes glaring from a second-floor window. The floor was locked and empty. Shown a photograph of Sir Henry Pellatt, the boy nodded. Staff report movement in the empty conservatory and children’s laughter in vacant rooms. Some speak of a lady in white, and of voices, and hands pulling hair, in the tunnel.
Casa Loma is open to the public today, its towers, tunnel, stables, and gardens all part of the visit. Walk the tunnel and listen. Then step into the garden and look up at the second floor.
Story Source: articles.ghostwalks.com
Address: 1 Austin Terrace, Toronto, ON M5R 1X8, Canada
Accessibility Rating: Open to All — Freely accessible to the public with no advance requirement. Includes hotels, restaurants, bars, and public historic sites where visitors may walk in without prior booking.
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What Others Have Experienced
Exploring the basement tunnel on their own, a visitor sensed a strange presence pressing in around them. Photos they took showed what looked like a dark shape at the far end of the tunnel, and they were unsettled enough to send the images to paranormal investigators.
— from TripAdvisor
On a guided paranormal investigation, a self-described skeptic and their companion were alone in the tunnel when they heard what sounded like a huge explosion. None of the roughly twenty other people nearby heard a thing, and the pair left wondering what they had actually witnessed.
— from TripAdvisor
Hoping for a ghostly encounter, a blogger spent three hours roaming the castle on their own, finding the basement tunnels unnerving to walk alone. They lingered in the third-floor hallway where a lady in white is said to appear, but nothing showed, and they left with history and architecture in place of a sighting.
— from Mashed Thoughts
