Who in there right mind would try a Hostel for their first time Halloween Week?
Especially a Haunted one !?!
HI Ottawa Hostel • Carleton County Jail.
If you don't know what a Hostal is, I'll tell you.
A Hostal is a Backpackers Inn, a cheap way to travel often found in Large Touristy Like cities, I guess.
And though I'm more used to more squishy endevers like say a Delta, or Indigo, I'm also always up for trying new things.
So Hostal it was.
However, I hadn't realised how much Hi Hostal is different than your usual Stay In's.
Hi Hostal is infact, actually known to be among one of the World's Most Spookiest attractions, and most Haunted places to visit.
I really had no clue.. I just thought it looked like a fun historical place to explore from some online pics that looked rather intriguing.
I actually had had my eye on the Hostel from about 3 years ago, after seeing Ottawa's Hotel Prices - Which were just Gross btw. .. So I haven' t had to many options to visit since travelling the way I do can get pretty expensive.
Upon my arrival to Ottawa, I'd neglected to realise that it was actually Halloween week, a-and that this Hostal was also an old jail. .. and whatever that actually meant.
A historical landmark of screams, terror and death, this place is most probably haunted indeed.
Moral of this story could be : Perhaps it's always the best idea to fully do your homework before entering unknown adventures.
However, that could have stopped me from going.
Had I googled the tour, or possibly a couple of the Haunted Videos via YouTube, it's a viable assumption that I may have never went To Hi Hostal at all. .. Especially on my own.
SO,, That being considered, I really am happy my lil' nomad ass just walked into the frontline like lil Naive Magris and conquered almost 2 full weeks of something unknown. A tiny adventure of sorts, I guess.
Because my over all experience here, and with the convenience of the doentown coreb around it, it really was pretty cool.
I actually had a great time psyching myself out all week, and met about a hundred British Woman and 2 German girls..
A-and had a chance to chat with most of the staff, as we got to chatting about all the creepy things that happen via the Hi Hostal Ottawa.
The stories should have scared me, but instead they interested me. - A lot.
Oddly, and to my own surrise, I'm not as afraid of the idea of ghosts as you'd think, I'm very much used to an audience I guess,, And though I am incredibly terrified of the Lock Ness Monster in Lake Whanapetie, sleeping beside ghosts, I guess I can handle.
Kayaks no, Ghosts.. Sure.
The spooky stories and terrifying history didn't stop me from losing any sleep anyways.
Even though this Hostal is actually amoung the Worlds Most Haunted places On The Entire Map that you can visit.
The entire World's map that is.
This Spooky past and ghostly occurances are actualy because Carleton County Jail is actually Ottawa's first real fully equip real jail. .. A jail pre-dating the Human Rights Act.
Fully equipped with a fully functional Nuesse and a possible Death sentence if sentenced to one.
Since this jail actually predates that of the Human Rights Movement and the new laws protecting Canadians today,,
Previous to This, there was Carleton County Jail.
Coming to this jail could still lead most probably to a death sentence irrelevant to the actual sentence you were given, because the conditions of Carleton County, we're infact deadly.
The torture and terror within these walls, the history, preserved, with a dark yet enlightened historical knowledge, is remembered daily in a guided tour guided by one of the Hostel's own staff, an is definitely something of absolute interest.
Who knew Canada could ever have been this insane.
Your visit to the Hi Hostal comes equipt with this free guided tour of the jail, every day at 11am.
The tour examines the cells, and also gives you a good idea of the living conditions each prisoner would under go along the way. Included in the tour is a visit to Death Row, where you will then find Canada's Only Remaining Still Fully Operational Nuesse.
This old Jail was indeed one of the oldest and inhumane Jails that ever exist in Canada.
Eventually, Carleton County was shut down for reasons of inhumane treatment for not being of conditions suiting Human Rights standards.
So why not turn it into a Hostal ?
In the jails "short" lived life of 100 years, opening in 1872, and closing 1972, there were only 3 actual death sentences ordered.
However between the under belly, bellow the basements of the jail, and throughout the circling city streets, .. Under buildings, streets and walkways, .. Hundreds of remains have already been dug up.
A-and it is believed that there are hundreds more still remaining, burrowed under Ottawa's core.
This makes a huge chunk if Ottawa's Downtown Core, an actual Grave Yard.
A graveyard of abused souls, again, you'd have to imagine, among the most tortured to have ever exist in our society.
A grave yard full of abused people, beaten to death, Possibly chained to the floor by the wrists and ankles, starved..
Unruled death sentences carried out by catty untrained and hateful gaurds. Inmates were hung in private.. without proper judgement..
Sick and untreated people starved to death. Frozen inmates dying from open windows and those brutal Canadian winters..
Untreated cuts from brutal beatings.. Death by infection.. And beyond imaginable pains.
Inmates were sleeping on the cold wet floors without beds.
Some were even chained to the walls by their wrists and ankles, floorbound and on their backs, strapped in by freezing chains on an already ice cold floor.
Just imagine the beatings that took place to a victim in such a vulnerable position. .. Arms and legs out, on your back, half dressed and belly exposed, starved for ages, and strapped to the floor for days. .. Undeserving.
Many people died of this abuse right here in this very cell, and many others.
Bug infested, and in a cockpit of jerms, there were so many ways to die here, and few chances of survival.. Hopefully tour visit was summer time short and you didn't get on the wrong side if the gaurds, starvation, disease, infections and so on..
Can you believe that gaurds were actually giving out their own death sentences and hanging people along this very beam. This beam is actually next to the actual Nuesse. .. Can you say self righteous ?
Windows Were left entirely open and without glass, with no defense to block out those extreme Canadian winters.
These cold Canadian winters we'e far worse than the ones we experience here today .. Climate change and all.. In these conditions it caused many deaths of entire families due to hypothermia.
Inmates suspected of having a disease were put in isolation with their entire families. Had you survived 3 months, you were thought to be ok and there for allowed back into the public. .. But no one ever made it 3 months because gaurds were to afraid to catch any of those possible diseases, and would there for, neglect to feed the Quaranteen.
Innocent kids, families alongside their families, jailed over simple debt were dying from starvation.
Could you imagine, that before Human Rights, Debt meant that you, and your hole family, would go to jail - No matter how old you youngest child was.
This was a literal death sentence for a child.
One cannot fathem just the amount of babies bodies found .. or not found.. under this very jail.
Patrick Whalen's Story
One of the 3 inmates that were actually sentenced to the death penalty was Patrick Whalen.
Without much evidence to back up the case, Patrick was accused of murdering politician Darcy Magee.
Patrick then spent a long cold Canadian winter, on the 8th floor of Carleton County Jail's very own Death Row.. Awaiting his oncoming fate.
The fate was death by hanging.
A hanging most brutal and devastating while many watched. The Nuesse itself, actually failed to work properly, creating a violent struggle in front of 5000 viewers. Patrick's struggle went on for over 4 minutes until he finally died.
The brutal hanging caused an uproar on the crowds, since many people swore of Patrick's innocence.
Patrick, going down for a crime he never commit, and never returned to his family as promised, is still said to rome the halls of Hi Hostal Carleton County Jail to this day.
So Is This Jail Haunted ?
To locked windows crashing open,,
To excessive cold spots in heated areas,,
The floor is now off limits, due to a random, immediate, conquerrant, and absolute destruction after each cleaning that would continuously happen to a specific room. - A ghostly destruction, otherwise unexplained.
Sounds like, the ghosts of Carleton County Jail have actually set the entire top floor of Hi Hostel Ottawa, off limits.
The staff considers that they have fully had their warnings, and simply ended this part of the tour.
As for all employees, even the Non Believers quickly become Believers after working here.
At one point the Hostel actually used to have an option that any guest who could stay the night in a cell could stay free. This option no longer exists.
This 'night in a cell sleep' was an entirely intreguing idea, and a few people actually did think that they were up for the challenge.
Between those who attempted this, no one ever actually managed to make it through the night before running out of the Hostel screaming.
I guess the ghosts don't mind the daytime visits, but night time is apparently the Haunting hour for those cells, and again, another floor - Off Limits. .. But only after 6pm.
The Cells are actually allowed to be viewed between 12 Pm following the Tour and 6 Pm. After 6, it's a no go zone.
Yet the Guest Rooms seemed safe enough.
I actually managed to stay here for 1.5 weeks, with just enough time to get my story.. A-and do some serious shopping.
Originally, I had only booked 2 nights at Hi Hostal, but then extended my visit in Ottawa, and there for, my Hostaling experience.
In that time, if there is a ghost, I tend to believe that Patrick himself may be a friendly ghost.
Or.. Well..
Someone in there is definitely friendly... ..
Since it's actually hundreds of bodies that were found both under the jail, and within the neighboring streets, never uncovered, never found.. This could very well suggest that many more souls than just Patrick's could very well still be there, in and around Ottawa's Hi Hostal!
It's been named "Among The World's Most Haunted" for a reason, and not for none.
So are they there?
Are the ghosts really real?
I believe there is. I definitely believe there is.
In fact, through out my whole first week, my experiences led me to believe that the ghost that was interacting with me was entirely friendly..
Something I had kept to myself.
Then this story ..
As I stood with the Tour Guide, getting ready to film the tour, we google the haunted videos of the hostal on YouTube. Halloween was the next night and it was officially Hollows Eve (breakfast), and we were,, entirely psyching ourselves up.
Suddenly one of the breakfast staff broke out with a story about his sons first words..
The story went as such;
" SO my son's first words were eyes and mommy.. k..
I took him to work one day when he could just barely talk or walk still.
As we stood in the broom closet, and without knowing the history of this Hostel, my son Pointed up towards the corner and said "Eyes."
We thought he'd seen a ghost.
We had never told him that I worked some where Haunted.
Since then, we still don't talk about the fact that this place has any haunted past, but now he's running around on his own, and when I bring him here, the first place he goes is to visit is the broom closet to see the friendly ghost. "
Hmmmm.. Did you say friendly? Because that's what I'd already gathered.
NOW let me tell you how - Obvi.
I got to the room, unpacked my things, sat on the bed, and checked my phone.
Whilst on my phone, I could notice the sounds of another bunk bed creaking as if some one was getting either on or off. - But no one was there.
Moving around, but no one was there.
I also noticed the heater would clang a lot on spurts, but this didn't startle me.
It did however, startle a mother and her daughter checking out the University that day, who'd stayed in the hostal the night before. We met over breakfast.
She at one point mentioned her concern that the heaters were clanging a ton, even though they were off, and her daughter claims to have definetly heard a ghost WHISPER in her ear the night before.
I find it some what strange that neither of them really had ant idea about the Hostal's actually history, or any of the strange occurrences that go on here..
Occurance like these :
Screenshot Taken From Website ; https://www.hostelworld.com/blog/survive-worlds-haunted-hostel/
And yet this was something the young lady had very much, just explained.
After this young woman and her mother express there experiences of the stay,, I'm now like, "Omg! The heater does bang! They are off.. Is this a ghost?"
I started to notice the heater noises more and more, with more focus towards them after this. The heaters banged all the time. .. Well that was.. When I was up and awake anyways.
And then they went totally quite once I would put my phone and my head down.
Like.. "Hey, Hey, Hey, Hello it's Me !!!" ... "Oh, Ok You're Napping Now.. Ok.. I Get It. " and silence would persist, until I got up, and then,,, "Hey, Hey Hey You! It's Me!"
This carried on all week, and all I could think was Wow.. What a polite little ghost!
" So Luc", I called, "I think There's a ghost banging on the heater. The heaters clang a lot , even though they are off."
He laughs, "There is no ghost, they are old water heaters, that's what they do. They creak all the time."
I now had my water heater answer. Just no answer to cover the creaking bed.
However I was no longer concerend that this was the attention getting attempts of a ghost.
I went on and tried to believe that the noise was normal, and that my notion was now entirely silly.
After all, I had perfect reason to a completely normal occurance, I was entirely satisfied.
Unfortunately, I had already come in the night before, after way to many Tequillas. ,,, I know, Gross right? Tequilla,, yuck.
Irrelevant,
I had already went over to the noisy but polite heater and started finger tapping my nails against the bunk bed next to the clanging heater during my drunk & Stupid.
"Tappity Tap Tap .. Tappity Tap Tap .. trrrrrrrrrittttt-t-t.. pause."
Put this on drunken repeat 5 or 6 times.. .. and you get the point.
Then I waited for ... ...
..No reply.
And I went to bed.
You heard it. Nothing.
So after coming to that most satisfiable conclusion that the clanging was simply normal of these old turned off water heaters,,
Could you guess - That I'd already taught this ghost to Finger Tap.
The clanging was now replaced by light finger tapping.
The ghost is now undeniably, very much real and lightly finger tapping now.. 👀 They fucking took there ghostly will and did whatver ghostly thing it took them to do, to finger tap.
Had this ghost really learned to tap?
The clanging was then replaced by finger tapping for the entire rest of the week and I had my ghost back.
This lead me to believe I may actually of bin able to get some sort of response should I visit death row in silence and ask for one. .. Like they do in those paranormal shows..
I will be sure to put those Video links up for You, at the end of this article.
Experiences Like Mine
Screenshot From website:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/capital-punishment-begets-spooky-afterlife-in-ottawa/article27054022/
... Ummm.. Did you say tapping ?
The Window..
The same man, father of son and the Eyes, the friendly ghost story I paraphrased earlier.
This man goes on with another story, now concerning this Window,, and the many times it had repeatedly had to be locked.
Week after week the window would start swinging open and shut, very much impossibly.
Week after week the window would start swinging open and shut, very much impossibly.
The young staff nember had heard about these stories, but at this point in his career with the Hi Hostal, still didn't believe much truth to these Haunted Stories..
It was said there this Window would often start Slamming Open & Shut during Jail Tours FREAKING out the tourists.
Even though you can even find the videos of this on YouTube, still, He still had his disbelief. .. As many people would.
Even though you can even find the videos of this on YouTube, still, He still had his disbelief. .. As many people would.
Until..
He actually experienced the Window occurance for himself.
Whilst in the Cell's Hallway, the window shad apparently slammed open directly behind him.
This was not enough to startle our brave employee, as he assumed it had been simply left open, and that the conclusion, was to shut and lock the Window.
So he locked the window.
As he turned around, the Window slammed open.
Since then, our young staff member in the description, is now a believer. A believer with many stories.
More Spooky Stuff
Screenshot Taken From Website ; https://www.hostelworld.com/blog/survive-worlds-haunted-hostel/The Actual Hosteling Experience Itself ~ Aside From The Ghosts
My over all experiences was surrisingly
Enjoyable.I always do bring my own set of bedding on tour with me anyways, so I'm able to snap a room into the comfort zone real fast.
** Zebra stripe, Hot Pink & Black Glitter Stripe blanket, hot pink sheets, my I Love Unicorns Pillow, Fuzzy Pajamas and a Candle - Stat! .. Now where did I put that White Hot Chocolate infused with a Chai Tea Bag . This cozy little drink is life btw! .. Life.
The stay came up to about 40$ a night with the Hostel Membership, which is really good considering the hotel rates in downtown Ottawa are actually ridiculous.
This 40$ rate came with a free breakfast which looked pretty meek at first, until I would sit down to my multiple coffees, cruising my morning Make Up Tutorials, and creeping my fav Drag Queens, one of my most favorite things to do..
I'd eventually get hungry enough to realise that the breakfast selection was actually pretty good and that I just saved 13$ on a breakfast out on the town.
Which is awesome because the mall is directly across the street and I literally spent whatever I could in it!
The Hostel was so conveniently placed I was able to view the many sites of the downtown core, eat well, and get around easily.
In one and a half weeks I'd managed to get to know my way around quite well.
I had even found the best selection of VEGAN Groceries in a local grocery store I've ever seen. Thr grocery store was conveniently placed right next to one of Ottawa's many beloved dispensaries, Making Ottawa an absolute delight.
I've noticed that Hostaling itself, is most popular among the British, because aside from 2 German girls, almost every one staying in the Hi Hostal was British. - Which was cool, I met a lot of British people that week.
The shared Hostel kitchen allowed me to save even more money during my visit, it also helped me stick to my Ovo Vegan Commitment, as they had a full working kitchen available to it's visitor's. This allows for even more major savings. From 35$ meals to 5$ meals.
Every one was friendly, from the Staff to the Tourists, I found it to be a very comfortable place.
You can even rent bikes straight from the Hostal Clerk and they do their best to help you get where you're going, or see what ever it is you came to see.
The Tour itself was exceptional, it really was really mouth dropping to find out what we were actually standing on .. or .. Sleeping on!
It's deffineatly a tour you may want to consider saving until the last night of your stay,..
Unless your curious and pretty chill about weather or not you're sleeping beside ghosts.. Because you most definitely are.
Will I Stay At The Hi Ottawa Jail Hostal again?
Most likely, YES. I have not scratched Hostal as an alternative route of travel, off my list of interesting adventures yet, that's for sure.
The Hi Hostal Ottawa Jail Tour Takes Place Every morning At 11Am, And Is Currently Led By
Real Footage From The Tour Shot By Yours Truly :
https://youtu.be/xO2ugDBQ8rA
Now Let' Do Death Row Backwards & Alone..
https://youtu.be/e2LcMmfWpKs
Supporting Links
Ottawa Sunset Over the Love Lock Bridge
