Toronto’s Haunted Walk is digging up ghosts much like William Taylor did when he unearthed clay for a fence post on his property back in 1889.
Taylor’s discovery turned out to be brick-quality clay, and he and his brothers, John and George, soon opened a quarry and factory along the banks of the Don River. The resulting Brick Works supplied the masonry for many of Toronto’s most iconic buildings, including Massey Hall, Old City Hall, the Ontario Legislature (Queen’s Park), Osgoode Hall, Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum.
But where there’s industry that predates the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1914 or the Canadian Labour Code of 1967, there are often stories of untold tragedy. That’s what drew The Haunted Walk’s creative director, Jim Dean, and his team to explore the site’s history. It’s the first time they’ve designed a tour in an industrial location.
“I think it’s a really interesting site,” Dean said. “We did find some older ghost stories from the general area that even predate the Brick Works being established.”
The Ghosts of the Don Valley at Evergreen Brick Works doesn’t focus on clay extraction or brick production but on the lives lost in the process. It also touches on stories that predate the site’s industrial history, when the Wendat, Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe nations lived in the region. The Mississauga later surrendered most of the surrounding land to the British, paving the way for York’s creation and the dawn of industrialization.
“This industrial past, of course, when they didn’t have labour laws or had very lax labour laws, led to a lot of accidents, including deaths on site and even kids as young as 12 or 13 working at the Brick Works,” Dean said. “We have this area that already had a little bit of ghostly lore attached to it, and then we add in all the heaviness — the tragedy of the lives that were affected.”
Past trauma on loop
Many workers suffered serious injuries, including musculoskeletal damage that left one arm longer than the other. As for child labour, it wasn’t until 1907 that Canada began passing laws to limit it, and by 1929, children under 14 were finally barred from working in factories and mines.
“What we discovered is there are ghost stories on site from when the Brick Works was still operational,” Dean said, adding that one particularly eerie tale involves the ghost of a night watchman seen carrying a lantern.
“They see this figure walking the route as if some of the older buildings, which have been torn down, were still there,” he recalled. “He stops, unlocks doors in the middle of an empty space and walks a very strange path. When you overlay the old floor plans, it seems like this figure is following the routes of the original buildings.”
The Brick Works closed in 1984, and the land was expropriated by the City of Toronto and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Even so, the site was never truly abandoned. It became a playground for urban explorers, partygoers, graffiti artists and photographers.
Eventually, Evergreen took over the property, transforming it into a year-round sustainability hub. Construction began in 2008, and the site opened to the public in 2010.
The former quarry was partially filled in using material from the excavation of the downtown Toronto location of the Scotiabank Tower.
Stone tape theory
With such a long and haunted history, it begs the question: could the bricks themselves, sent to some of Toronto’s landmarks, be haunted too?
Dean points to the “stone tape theory” — the idea that traumatic events can imprint energy onto inanimate materials such as stone, or in this case, clay bricks.
“Is it possible that these bricks carry something, not only of the land as they’re made of clay from this area, but also, somehow, it was baked into them something that lingers? Something that carries on?” he asked.
Getting the approval
Nomi Walsh, who worked with Haunted Walks to bring a tour to the Don Valley, said the idea first came from the team at the Village at Black Creek. After discussing it with colleagues, she reached out to Haunted Walks.
“I’m a big fan of what Haunted Walks does because I love all things Halloween, but I also really appreciate that Haunted Walks grounds everything they do in research,” Walsh wrote in an email. “After seeing what they’ve uncovered, this isn’t some ‘woo-ish’ walk experience. They’re talking about real history.”
Several of her colleagues have experienced unexplained events on the Brick Works grounds. The tour raises questions about what hauntings truly attach to — a location, an object or a person.
The collaboration between Haunted Walks and Evergreen Brick Works focuses on keeping history alive. And it’s for a limited run.
“Learning about something bonds you to it, and as an organization that enables the creation of better public spaces across Canada, we want people to develop a sense of connection to the Brick Works and other public spaces,” Walsh said. “We want people to continue coming back again and again to build community and be in nature.”
The Evergreen Brick Works plays host to many different events, including a farmer’s market.
These days, the Brick Works has been reborn as a community hub focused on sustainability. Visitors can explore its trails, meadow and ponds — all part of the lush Don Valley landscape.
“Long story short, there is a long history here of life and death, suffering and joy, and a lot of mystery too,” Walsh said. “It’s the ugly and unnerving side of our history that we don’t always like to explore. I’m so intrigued to learn more about it now that Haunted Walks has cracked open that door.”
Tickets for Ghosts of the Don Valley at Evergreen Brick Works on October 17 are available through the Haunted Walks website.