Hochelaga Inn - Haunted Hotel in Kingston, Ontario

Located at 24 Sydenham Street in Kingston, Ontario, the Hochelaga Inn was built in 1879 as a grand Victorian residence for John and Harriet McIntyre. John McIntyre held the distinction of being Kingston's first mayor and was a prominent attorney, while Harriet was a relative of Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. The McIntyres built their home on land inherited from Harriet's family, creating an elegant estate befitting their social standing. After John McIntyre's death, the property was purchased by the Hochelaga Foundation, a branch of the Bank of Montreal, which operated it as a boarding house for traveling bank employees. The building was sold in 1933 and converted to apartments, but in 1985 it was carefully restored and converted into the Bed & Breakfast it remains today, complete with Victorian furnishings and uniquely themed rooms. The inn has become a frequent stop on Kingston ghost tours due to its most famous permanent resident. Harriet McIntyre was not ready to leave her home and land when death came. Known as "The Woman in Black," Harriet's spirit continues to occupy the house she built with her husband. The most common sighting places her sitting in a chair by the front window, perhaps still watching the street as she did in life, observing the comings and goings of Kingston society. Guests frequently report feeling her dress swish past them in the hallways—the sensation of fabric brushing against them accompanied by the rustle of Victorian-era clothing, though no one visible is present. One particularly frightening encounter involved a female guest who woke in the middle of the night to find Harriet standing at the foot of her bed, the Woman in Black staring silently at the sleeping visitor before vanishing. These manifestations of Harriet McIntyre, always dressed in black mourning clothes, suggest she maintains a presence in death similar to the dignified bearing she held as the mayor's wife in life. A second, less frequently seen spirit also roams the Hochelaga Inn—a blonde-haired boy whose identity remains a complete mystery. This child ghost sneaks around the hotel, occasionally glimpsed by guests, though sightings of him are far less common than encounters with Harriet. Whether he was a child of the McIntyre family, a young servant who worked in the house, or connected to the building's later incarnations as boarding house or apartments is unknown. His presence adds another layer to the inn's paranormal activity. Beyond the apparitions, poltergeist activity plagues the property. TV sets turn on and off randomly, cycling through channels or powering up in empty rooms. Objects get thrown across rooms by invisible forces, flying through the air and landing feet from their original positions. Throughout the building, giggling can be heard—whether this childish laughter comes from the blonde-haired boy or represents yet another spirit is unclear. Guest rooms decorated in Victorian style with themed furnishings now start at $382 per night and include daily breakfast. Despite—or perhaps because of—its haunted reputation, the Hochelaga Inn maintains its popularity as both a comfortable bed and breakfast and one of Kingston's most reliable locations for paranormal encounters, where the spirit of the mayor's wife refuses to abandon her beloved home.