Discovering Victoria's Spirited Streets, One Ghost At A Time.

Spirited stories come alive in Victoria, British Columbia, during a memorable ghost walk.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase, we may get a small commission. This experience  was  part of a sponsored press trip.

If you're a Canadian of a certain age, you are undoubtedly familiar with the following words:

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Robert Service's haunting poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee, was required reading for me and just about every other Canadian school kid in the 1980s and 1990s. Little did I know that Service himself experienced a harrowing, haunting moment of his own - and that he may have been the source of someone else's ghostly encounter.

Oh, and of course, there's an ice cream shop involved. Welcome to ghost stories, Victoria-style.

The lush, blooming, sun-dappled city of Victoria, British Columbia, doesn't look like it should know all that much about ghosts. If there was a contest for the prettiest, cheeriest cities in Canada, it would surely be at the top of the winners' list. But as I learned from Emily and Asher of Discover The Past Walking Tours, looks can be deceiving. Victoria is actually the most haunted city of Canada's west coast. Significant portions of have been built over Indigenous burial grounds. The charming streets that visitors now love were once part of a rough and tumble town during the gold rush and it seems like minerals were often more valued than human life. Rough justice and slap-dash construction meant there were plenty of reasons for spirits to be restless. 

As Emily told our group, it's not a case so much of what buildings are haunted but rather which are not.

I don't want to ruin anyone's the spine-tingling fun so I won't share all their stories here. My absolute favourite tale from the tour was that which focused on Robert Service's early life. It was an excellent reminder to me that, behind every famous name, there is a real person who lived a rich, full life filled with near-forgotten stories. I also loved learning about the city's landmark Empress Hotel (you might want to think twice about staying in the 6th floor of the tower if you have a chance to spend the night) as well as the ghostly mischief that occurred at Rogers' Chocolates, leading the company to seek out a rather unorthodox, only-in-Victoria solution. You'll have to join a tour for yourself to see what I mean!

Like all the best ghost walks, Discover The Past Walking Tours doesn't rely on gimmicks to scare or startle their guests. The guides share well-crafted, well-researched stories with their own dramatic flare, encouraging their guests to think of the city in a new way and dig a little deeper into their understanding of Victoria's history. (On second thought, maybe "dig" is the wrong word. There are plenty of streets and floors I'd rather leave undisturbed here!)

Visitors can expect a gentle walk and plenty of engaging conversation... and perhaps a touch of uncertainty when they get back to the hotel room. Emily's words, about the widespread prevalence of spooks and spirits, came back to me as I made my way home. Thankfully, I slept like the dead!


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