she is a fit subject for an asylum. Sarah Jane Thomas has not yet been certified to be a lunatic and at the time of my visit appeared to be quite sane, although was evidently of weak intelligence.”
The Carleton County Gaol closed in 1972 because of lack of sanitation, poor lighting, and unsavoury conditions. In 1973 the building became the Ottawa International Hostel and it is now known as the Ottawa Jail Hostel. Portions of the interior were renovated to accommodate overnight guests but much of the jail remains as it was, including the cell blocks, the gallows, the hole, the stairwells, the secret tunnels, and death row.
Wade Kirkpatrick was the friendly Operations Manager of the hostel. Although Wade had never seen a ghost, he had experienced unexplained activity. “My wife, Crystal, and I lived here for four months before we bought our first house. We lived in an apartment on the seventh floor. We often heard voices and banging on the pipes, although no one was to be seen. People often claim to hear cell doors closing behind them as they walk down death row, which is on the floor above the apartment. One time we went away for a week and shut the water off to our apartment. When we returned from our holidays the water was turned on and hot water was now coming out of the cold water tap.”
Guided tours of the building are offered. Carol Devine, one of the tour guides, discusses its history, its mystery, and the hauntings of the jail. I joined Carol on her tour. Come along.
Unmarked graves are said to occupy the courtyard area. It was here jail guards burned the bodies of quarantined Irish immigrants.
The tour began in the basement. Carol usually does not take a group here because it is nerve-wracking. A set of stairs leads down to a room that has the appearance of a black hole. The lights were not working. It was chilling and oppressive. This area had been used as a quarantine station for newly arrived immigrants in the mid-1860s who were thought to be suffering from scarlet fever. In most cases the whole family would be sentenced to the basement of the Carleton County Gaol for no less than three months.
Carol said, “This is where thousands of people died. Whole families would be shoved into this space and left to fend for themselves. Most of the jail guards were afraid to enter the area for fear of catching the disease. I assume their honey buckets (pails that served as toilets) were never removed or cleaned, but rather were dumped in the corner of the room. When residents died, the guards would remove their bodies and burn them in the back courtyard. No one ever received a proper burial.”
On we went to debtors’ prison. People who could not afford to pay their bills were impounded here. They were sentenced to work in the kitchen and other areas of the jail. Many came with their families who were housed in dormitory-style cells. This section of the building was converted to a chapel shortly after 1920, when the Canadian government abolished such prisons.
Down the hallway there is an entranceway to a tunnel which leads to the courthouse next door. Part of the tunnel has been filled. Carol remarked, “People hear moaning coming from the tunnel. I am certain prisoners were taken down into the tunnel and abused. No one would ever hear their screams.” A door seals the sight but not the sounds!
Next, Station 2, solitary confinement, nicknamed “the hole.” Six cells were used to house troublesome inmates and they have remained intact to this day. Here inmates were placed for anywhere from one day to six months. All privileges, including visitors, exercise, and chapel, were taken away. Prisoners were forced to use honey buckets instead of toilets. The cells had two doors. The second door was made of solid wood, and no light came through. Prisoners were often stripped of their clothing and shackled, spread-eagled, on the floor. Once a day the guard would unchain them for 15 minutes to eat their only meal and to use the honey bucket. Many inmates died in that darkness. The unlit cells and shackles are still as they were. The suffering in those cells is palpable. Scratch marks are visible on the walls and floors.
At one end of solitary confinement is “A” and “D,” now also referred to as Station 3, where the admittance and departure of inmates took place. Here prisoners were stripped of their clothes and personal belongings, taken to the shower, given prison clothing, tobacco, a comb, and a toothbrush without a handle. This is now a kitchen!
Station 4 was originally the visiting area. There are metal screens on the staircase that act as anti-suicide bars. They run up the entire staircase. Although not often actually seen, a spirit haunts this area. The “presence” follows visitors up the stairs and imposes pressure from behind. In 1910 two inmates overpowered a guard and threw him to his death in this stairwell. A menacing presence has remained. I experienced it myself, very strongly.
Station 5 was originally cell block one and two and is now a residence for female visitors. The cells have been enlarged to create dormitories. Sleep well!
Station 6 was the former residence of the governor of the jail, known as the governor’s mansion. This is the eeriest place of all. Carol’s story gets darker now. A strange spirit, referred to as “the vampire” haunts the back stairwell of this section. For years, prisoners referred to this spirit as a creature who “tries to push your soul out of your body.” Carol said, “My grandfather had heard about this vampire. They say it feeds on the sick. No one knows for sure whether this creature’s territory extends throughout the jail or not.”
Carol recounted the experience of two young men who stayed in the governor’s mansion in 1994. “One night one of the men retired early for the night. He awoke suddenly to see a shadow standing in the doorway. He turned the light on, but the bulb shattered. The shadow quickly skirted across the room and disappeared in the corner where a set of lockers stood. Workers later discovered a secret passage right where the shadow had vanished.”
Does the “vampire” travel the building through the many secret passageways?
An ominous inscription was discovered on the stairwell during renovations of the building in 1972. It reads, “I am a non-veridical Vampire who will vanquish you all. One by one I will ornate your odorous flesh with famished fangs. But Who? Are there 94 or 95 steps to the ninth floor? A book on the top shelf will lead you on the right path.”
This quote is accompanied by a circle with inverted letters. Carol explained that it was decided to preserve the inscription but added, “No one is sure what all this means. We do know that a bookshelf did exist at one time on the ninth floor in the matrons’ quarters. The inscription has been here for many years.
“At one time a warden moved into the governor’s mansion with his family. His eight-year-old son often played in the stairwell. By the time the warden left the prison with his family, the son was eleven. The child’s personality had drastically changed and he was terrified of the dark.”
The stairwell is a very strange place to explore. There is a sensation of being watched and there is a heaviness in the atmosphere. Reading the inscription makes the hair on your neck stand up.
No one could be prepared for the visitation of a spirit in the sixth floor stairwell. Here in the stairwell is an arched alcove with a ledge where security guards could chain a prisoner who was giving them difficulty. It is a space now bricked up except for a hole between two bricks.
Something remains hidden behind this wall. A frigid draft can be felt escaping from the dislodged bricks.
In 1994 the authorities invited a group of psychics to investigate the hauntings. They claimed that 13 active spirits existed in the building and another 150 souls returned there on the anniversary of their deaths. This is a phenomenal amount of activity for one building and particularly for a
