Fairmont Empress Hotel - Haunted Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia

The Fairmont Empress opened in 1908 as the first hotel built in Victoria, British Columbia, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada. Designed by the renowned architect Francis Rattenbury, this charming hotel overlooking the harbor welcomed world leaders, royalty, and showbiz elite throughout its history. The hotel underwent two major expansions, first in 1910-1912 and again in 1928, cementing its status as one of Canada's grand railway hotels. Yet behind its elegant Victorian facade lurk multiple spirits who refuse to leave this historic property. The most frequently encountered ghost is that of the architect himself, Francis Rattenbury, though his spirit arrived under tragic circumstances. Rattenbury took great pride in his masterwork, frequently visiting to hear patrons praise the building's beauty and grandeur. However, his personal life descended into scandal. In 1923, while attending a dinner in his honor at the Empress, the architect met Alma Parkenham, a beautiful woman in her early twenties known for smoking and drinking in public—scandalous behavior for the era. They fell passionately in love and began a public affair. When Rattenbury requested a divorce, his wife Florence initially refused. He resorted to cruel tactics, bringing Alma to the family home and loudly making love where Florence could hear, then moving out and cutting off heating and lighting. Florence finally agreed to divorce and died of cancer shortly thereafter. The scandal destroyed Rattenbury's career in Victoria, forcing the couple to move to England, where he became a reclusive alcoholic as his finances collapsed. The final betrayal came when 38-year-old Alma began an affair with 17-year-old George Stoner. In 1935, Stoner bludgeoned Rattenbury with a mallet, knocking out his dentures; he died hours later in hospital. Both were charged with murder, but Alma was quickly acquitted while Stoner was convicted and sentenced to death—though after public outrage, his sentence was changed to life imprisonment, and he served just seven years. Alma, distraught, stabbed herself to death before learning of the commuted sentence. Now Francis Rattenbury's spirit roams the Empress Hotel, described as a slender man sporting a mustache and carrying a cane, most often seen walking down the halls and on the staircases, eternally hoping to hear praises of his architectural achievement. The hotel's sixth floor hosts a dedicated maid who loved her job so intensely that death couldn't stop her from completing her rounds. This unnamed spirit continues her daily cleaning routine, seen throughout the hotel going about her eternal duties. A young girl's ghost appears in one particular room, though her identity remains unknown. Most disturbing is the spirit of a construction worker who, in 1960 during work on the west tower, claimed to see a black shadow form that began to swing toward him. Shortly after this encounter, the worker hanged himself in the building's west tower, and his troubled spirit continues to haunt that location.