Quote from Angela on March 8, 2022, 7:27 pm

The Ottawa Jail Hostel, in Ottawa, Canada, is a former historic jail now renovated as a 19th century hostel accommodation unit.

If you stay here it is said 'you are literally sleeping with history under your pillow'.

This location is rumored to be actively haunted and holds a truly tumultuous past.

In 1842 the basement of the town Court house was converted as a temporary lockdown unit housing a whole range of offenders ranging from thieves to murderers.

Many who were sent here, were never seen again.

However, local communities disputed the lock up being in such proximity to homes and soon after the jail was closed down.

Subsequent renovations were carried out, and the site was later purchased by Hostelling Inc. and reopened its doors once more in 1973. The establishment soon after received a State visit from the late Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh. 

The courtyard has since been converted into a licensed bar with fully functioning gallows still on display. The sites popularity grew when it was featured on the television series ‘Mystery Hunters’.

Hundreds of guests continually report alleged paranormal phenomena from mysterious knocking sounds, to objects seen flying across rooms and creepy footsteps at his location.

Near the hanging gallows, many describe strange scratching sounds. On February 11th, in 1869 Patrick Whalen was hung here for his part in the assassination of Thomas Darcy McGee.

McGee was returning to his boarding house in the early morning hours of 7 April 1868. Smoking a cigar and fumbling with his key in the lock, he was greeted as the owner Mary Ann Trotter. At that moment, a muzzle flash erupted in his face, and as a .32 calibre bullet tore through McGee's neck and through his jaw, 

However the hanging of his killer, Patrick Whalen, did not go to protocol it is said his spirit is forever at unrest. Before his crime, on 17 March 1868, Whelan acted as the Assistant Marshal of the St Patricks Day Parade in Ottawa.

Within the original solitary confinement space, formerly known as ‘the hole’ many have felt a palpable malevolence about the room.

Others have heard disembodied cryings and ghostly manifestations known to reach out and physically attack the living.

Are we encountering spirits of unrest at this location today?

What do you think?

Please feel free to visit our Boise City Ghost Hunters Live Chat room for anyone interested in further discussion on any of our topics, or to put forward any questions you may have.