There are umpteenth ghost stories that are shared in Toronto — tales that leave psychic scars on the places they haunt.
That deep well of lore is why historian and author Adam Bunch has so much material for his Ghost Stories of Toronto lecture series with the Toronto Public Library.
Starting September 18 and running through December, Bunch will sort the city’s hauntings into four themes: Colonial Spectres, Victorian Spirits, Séances and the World Wars and Modern Phantoms. All four talks are on Zoom.
“I’ve been doing a series of lectures with them since early last year, and it’s been a different theme every time,” he said. “We’ve got Toronto’s Most Notorious and Toronto’s Most Scandalous.”
He even covered baseball over the summer. This fall, the library and Bunch settled on Ghost Stories of Toronto, familiar territory for the writer of The Toronto Book of the Dead. That book will supply much of the material as he shares Hogtown’s darker secrets with digital audiences.
“I’m always looking for stories that are going to grab people’s attention and lure them in to learn more about the history,” said Bunch. “Ghost stories are — whether you believe in the truth of ghosts or not; whether you think they’re actual physical things that exist — an incredibly powerful way to talk about the history of communities.
“We tell stories about the supernatural that so often are connected to dramatic and unsettling moments or aspects of a place’s history.”
Colonialism, urban sprawl, transit infrastructure and historical figures who left their mark will be among the themes.
“They’re a great way to dig into the history of the city,” the 45-year-old said. “You can tell the story of the Gibraltar Point Lighthouse and of the ghost of the lightkeeper.
“While you’re talking about the supernatural stories people tell about it, you’re also getting to talk about the War of 1812, the islands, the lighthouse and the early city after its founding, and even those times of colonialism,” he added. “People are learning that history sometimes even without really realizing they’re learning it, because they think they’re just listening to a ghost story.”
Bunch points to the University of Toronto’s St. George campus as having one of the highest concentrations of ghost stories in the city. Physical clues still feed tales such as that of stonemasons Ivan Reznikoff and Paul Diabolos.
Robertson Davies, founding master of Massey College from 1963 to 1981, made a Christmas tradition of inventing ghost stories about the college. He argued Canadians needed such tales because the country was “a little too rational.”
He called the condition “the rational rickets” and said fantastical stories work like a dietary supplement — a healthy dose of the supernatural in what can otherwise feel like a dry culture.
Poet Earle Birney, quoted in the lecture series syllabus, put it another way: “It’s only by our lack of ghosts we’re haunted.”
Anyone looking to get a taste of Toronto’s supernatural side can catch the first Zoom lecture, Colonial Spectres, on September 18 at noon. The remaining talks are October 9, November 13 and December 11.
Recordings will later be available on the Toronto Public Library’s YouTube channel.
Photo courtesy of Adam Bunch