M.A. Kleen

A woman dressed in black is believed to wander the halls of this beautiful French Victorian-style bed & breakfast.

• John and Harriet McIntyre built this home in 1879.
• Private entrepreneurs converted the mansion into a bed and breakfast in 1985.
• Passersby have reportedly seen a ghostly woman wearing a black, Victorian-style dress sitting in a chair by the front window.

This charming, 21-room French Victorian mansion stands at 24 Sydenham Street in Kingston, Ontario’s historic Sydenham District, just a few blocks from Queen’s University. Today, it operates year-round as an upscale bed and breakfast.

Guests come for more than quiet evenings and comfortable rooms, however. The Hochelaga Inn is widely believed to be haunted by several spirits, including a woman in black and a spectral child.

John and Harriet McIntyre built the home in 1879. Harriet was a relative of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, a towering and controversial figure remembered as much for his drinking and corruption as for his role in Confederation.

After John McIntyre’s death, the Hochelaga Foundation, a branch of the Bank of Montreal, purchased the mansion to house traveling employees. The property’s stables once stood behind the home, where the carports are located today.

Private owners converted the mansion into a bed and breakfast in 1985, and Ron and Anne Boyd assumed management of the inn in 2002. Since then, guests have reported a variety of ghostly encounters, and the Hochelaga Inn has become a regular stop on local ghost tours.

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Hey, Sleuthhounds!

Research the Victorian era in Canada and create a scrapbook or digital collage showing what life might have looked like when the Hochelaga Inn was first built in 1879.

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According to The Journal, Queen’s University’s student newspaper, a ghostly woman dressed in black Victorian clothing is often seen sitting beside the front window. Other guests describe the unsettling sensation of her dress brushing past them on the stairwell.

Another guest thought she saw one of her daughters standing at the foot of her bed, but the next morning, both girls swore neither had entered the room that night. Others have reported seeing the ghost of a blond-haired boy.

When writer Linda G. Hill stayed there for several nights in 2013, she said the fire alarm inexplicably went off again and again. On her last night at the Hochelaga, she had some fun with its haunted reputation by wearing a white sheet and standing in the window as a tour group passed by.

Kingston, Ontario, is a modern city with old-world charm. The Haunted Walk of Kingston is a popular tour and frequently stops at the Hochelaga Inn.

Still, the best way to experience this beautiful mansion and its ghosts is to stay there yourself. Its first-class accommodations are perfect for a romantic getaway or weekend retreat. Perhaps you, too, will encounter its mercurial lady in black.

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