There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of places around the world that are rumored to be haunted. A lot of them have of the same characteristics: Flickering lights, strange, disembodied noises or even apparitions. But some supposedly haunted spots have dubious claims behind them. Let’s talk about Mount Pleasant, a cemetery that may or may not actually have ghosts living there.
the history
Located at 375 Mount Pleasant Road in Toronto, this cemetery was established in 1876. It’s part of the Mount Pleasant Group, an organization whose first cemetery, Potter’s Field, was established in the early 1820’s to provide Toronto’s first burial ground for non-Catholics. Before this, only Catholics and Anglicans could officially be buried inside the city limits.
Once called ‘the Central Park for midtown Toronto,’ Mount Pleasant is known for its arboretum, with hundreds of trees in one of the most impressive collections in North America.
the hauntings
The earliest writing about Mount Pleasant’s hauntings I could find online was from 2009. A group called G.H.O.S.T. Club, which I assume is a paranormal group, went there to do an investigation, having already heard a few unspecified stories. According to their blog, the land Mount Pleasant now sits on was once inhabited by superstitious people who used it to practice black magic, which could account for some paranormal activity. But after a thorough investigation that produced no evidence of ghosts other than a few potential orb photos, they concluded it probably wasn’t haunted.
Then, in August 2010, a photo was taken at the cemetery that appeared to show a phantom face over a grave. The cemetery and the area around the grave were subsequently investigated by the Ontario Catholic Paranormal Research Society.
At first, OCPRS members thought the figure could actually be a demon. They did EVP recordings around the grave but found very little. One strange sound was picked up, with a line that they believed might have been ‘I’ll be watching you.’ They knew the sound wasn’t natural, but weren’t sure just what it was or where it came from. They also investigated the Massey tomb, which was across from the Pollock’s tomb where the original photo had been taken. The Massey family used to live at Keg Mansion, another famous haunted place in Toronto, so maybe they thought this grave had something to do with the paranormal activity. But, much like G.H.O.S.T. Club’s, this particular investigation found very little out of the ordinary. You can watch their video on the investigation here.
Other reported paranormal activity at Mount Pleasant includes strange noises, electrical problems, weird lights and disembodied voices. One employee claimed to be pushed off a tractor by an unknown, invisible force. Mount Pleasant is also the final resting place of Mackenzie King, a former prime minster of Canada. According to the website Streeter, King was secretly a spiritualist who was said to regularly talk to his dead mother during his time in office. I couldn’t find any Mount Pleasant hauntings attributed to him, but he is said to haunt his old home, the Mackenzie King Estate in Ottawa’s Gatineau Park. So maybe he pulls double duty sometimes and causes mischief around his final resting place.
conclusion
There’s obviously not much information online on this one, but I'm always interested in stories of haunted places that don’t have much evidence behind them — or where a lot of the hauntings have seemingly been debunked. Is all this paranormal evidence really just people’s minds playing tricks on them? Or is it really haunted and, for whatever reason, stories and other details just aren’t talked about much — at least on the internet? As always, I will let you decide for yourself what you believe.