Halloween haunts for both ghost lovers, entry-level scare seekers
Ghosts, zombies, haunted houses on offer Halloween weekend
Montrealers looking for a fright this Halloween can check out some of the city's downtown haunted spots or take in a family-friendly activity, like a haunted house in the woods of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
For more Metro-accessible frights, local horror-expert Donovan King, founder of ghost tour company Haunted Montreal, will be leading a Red Light District tour on Halloween night.
He says it's the best night of the year for ghost-spotting since Halloween is based on the Celtic festival of Samhain — a time when Druids believed the living and dead inhabited the earth simultaneously.
For those who prefer a self-guided ghost-spotting tour, King recommends the Monument National on lower St-Laurent Boulevard, the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde on Ste. Catherine Street and the Cinémathèque québécoise on De Maisonneuve Boulevard.
All are "pretty haunted," he says.
There's also De Bullion Street, which King called a "ghost street." The street was once called Cadieux but became infamous for booze and brothels. It was renamed after a French philanthropist to dissociate it from its legacy of vice.
Most famous haunting
Anyone wanting to see the home of Montreal's most famous ghost, Mary Gallagher, can go to the corner of Murray and William streets in Griffintown. It's there that she was killed and decapitated by her best friend in 1879.
Gallagher is said to haunt the spot on the day of her death, June 27, every seven years, which means another sighting isn't due until 2019.
But for those who don't want to wander the streets searching for supernatural sightings on a Monday night, there are plenty of other activities in the days leading up to Halloween.
Haunted forest
Halloween at the Morgan Arboretum in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is offering trick-or-treaters a trail to collect candy through the woods. They are also turning their Chalet Pruche into a haunted house.
Frights at La Ronde
La Ronde amusement park will be haunted until Oct. 30 with zombies trailing guests all over the site, mazes and haunted houses for its annual Fright Fest.
Zombie walk
The annual zombie walk, which starts in Place des Festivals, is scheduled for Oct. 29. The walk has been a high point on the undead social calendar since 2005. There will be a makeup tent on site. Being dressed as a zombie isn't necessary, but is encouraged.