October 23: Sketching Haunted Ottawa

Inktober #18 sketch by Cindi Moynahan-Foreman of The Beckta, 150 Elgin

Join us Sunday October 23, 2016 from 1 to 4 pm to sketch some of the more notorious places in Ottawa that are rumoured to be haunted!

Map: Excerpt from Mark Leslie's book: Creepy Capital

As always, arrive whenever you can and stay as long as you like!

THE DETAILS

What: Sketching "Haunted Ottawa"
When: Saturday October 23, 2016 between 1 and 4 pm
Where: Meet at City Hall to sketch The Beckta House (150 Elgin) and/or The (Former) Ottawa Teachers College at City Hall. We will then move to  Lisgar Collegiate and finish at the Ottawa Jail Hostel.

STOP #1 

The Beckta House, 150 Elgin St. 

Grant House on Elgin Street in 2003:
Plates that go crash in the night.
BRIGITTE BOUVIER / Ottawa Citizen   

The former Grant House "was built in 1875 for James Alexander Grant, a politician and doctor who is said to have maintained a morgue in the basement and to have once dissected a human brain at a nighttime gathering. Grant died there in 1920, a month after falling and breaking a hip. The building later became home to Friday’s Roast Beef House, where employees told of hearing coughs in empty rooms (Grant was asthmatic) and of seeing plates mysteriously crash to the floor. The structure now is home to the Beckta Dining and Wine Bar." (Source: The Ottawa Citizen)

STOP #2 

The (Former) Ottawa Teachers College, 195 Elgin St.

1910 postcard of Ottawa Normal School (now part of City Hall) (Source: Toronto Library)

Eliza Bolton was a teacher at what was then called the "Normal School,"and reportedly (and unfortunately), "Miss Bolton still thinks it's a school. She's often seen by staff walking the first-floor hallway between classes in her long dress and shawl. They know its her because she's there, in an old class photo hanging in the building. One evening, Miss Bolton went too far, and confronted a security guard while in the attic on his rounds, scolding him to return to class. The guard resigned the next day." (Source: Metro News)

Read about the Ghost of the Normal School from the 1916-1917 Yearbook http://hauntedwalk.com/news/normal-school-yearbook-1916-1917/

Image source: Parks Canada - Historic Places (screen capture)

STOP #3 

Lisgar Collegiate,  29 Lisgar St.

1918 Postcard from Centretown blogspot

One of Ottawa’s top rated high schools is also home to a ghost. "Story goes that two people have died at Lisgar Collegiate Institute–one, who was a janitor, was murdered and a student who was killed by fallen ice. They are known to ‘protect’ the school, and it’s a known fact that multiple people have seen a young girl staring out of the window in the attic." (Source: Narcity)


The attic has a small window that overlooks the grounds and many students claim to have seen a young girl staring out at them.

STOP #4 Finish 

Ottawa Jail Hostel, 75 Nicholas St. 

http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetails.php/HI-Ottawa-Jail-Hostel/Ottawa/4647

What was once a jail home to many murderers, is now a hostel. "This forbidding stone building on Nicholas Street has long been home to the HI (Hostelling International) Jail Hostel Ottawa, which makes the most of the site’s reputation as “one of the most haunted buildings in all of Canada.” Invites the hostel: “Come hang with us!” (Source: The Ottawa Citizen)

Sketch Challenge: Try Another Angle?

Do  you want to try a sketching challenge? The first two locations (150 & 165 Elgin St.) can be seen from the terrace on the 7th floor of the Morguard's Performance Court office tower at 150 Elgin St. (attached to The Beckta) and  this terrace is open to the public!

Links

• Mark Leslie's book: Creepy Capital
• Haunted Walks Ottawa
• Top 5 Most Haunted Places in Ottawa
• Ottawa Spirits Guides: From Caspers to Cocktails

Jim Dean, creator of Haunted Walks Ottawa, says:

"ByTown, the first name of the city (Ottawa), was once considered to be one of the most dangerous places in North America. The gang warfare between the rival English, French, Irish and Scottish groups, contributed to significant violence, murder and riots in the city streets. The construction process of the Rideau Canal, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site, also claimed the lives of close to 1,000 workers along its banks. With such a dark and deadly past, Ottawa certainly has all the elements to be one of Canada’s most haunted cities.”   (Source: http://www.where.ca/ontario/ottawa/ottawa-spirits-guide-from-caspers-to-cocktails/)