Every old city has one street that everyone talks about. In Montréal, that street is Rue Saint-Paul, a street that’s older than Canada itself & one that has a rather dark past. It’s no wonder so many people claim to have seen ghosts here.
In fact, it’s regularly said to be the city’s most haunted street. But why? What’s the history behind this street, and what spirits have people apparently seen? That’s what we’re going to find out.
Key takeaways
Here’s what you’ll learn about:
- The street’s long history and how it became Montréal’s oldest
- The devastating 1734 fire
- Marie-Josèphe Angélique’s trial
- The ghosts people say they’ve seen on Rue Saint-Paul
Montréal’s oldest street
It’s impossible to walk through Old Montréal without hitting Rue Saint-Paul. The street works as the neighborhood’s spine.
It first appeared in the 1600s, long before Canada even had a name on maps. Early merchants & sailors used it as their main street, and the city laid the stones underfoot in 1672. Some of the buildings still have their original foundations.
The best place to start exploring is near Bonsecours Market. Follow the curve past Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel and you’ll be walking down the same path that people did more than three centuries ago. Yes, the street is old. But it’s also continuously alive.
A fire that started on Rue Saint-Paul
The most destructive colonial fire in Montréal began on Rue Saint-Paul. It happened on a windy April night in 1734. Flames swept through the lower town & wiped out dozens of homes. The fire nearly destroyed the entire Hôtel-Dieu hospital. The wind massively helped to spread the fire, and eyewitnesses claimed they saw embers flying across rooftops.
The city was half ash by sunrise. But the drama wasn’t over. Out of the embers came one of New France’s most infamous trials, and it was one that began, quite literally, on Rue Saint-Paul.
The Angélique case
At the center of the trial was Marie-Josèphe Angélique. You may recognize her name because it still appears on walking tours & museum plaques in the city. She was accused, without solid proof, of starting the fire. What happened to her next was brutal, even by the standards of the time.
Angélique was tortured & forced to confess. Following her “confession,” she was paraded through Old Montréal. Why? Because the townsfolk wanted to shame her for her “crime.” In June 1734, Angélique was executed.
You can still follow the path she went down along Rue Saint-Paul. She went through the same square where tourists now sip their coffee & take photos of the carriages. No wonder people claim to have seen her ghost.
The ghosts people still talk about
Let’s move on to the other ghosts. Some stories claim you can see the shadow of a woman moving between the old hospital site & the Bonsecours Chapel. Other stories involve people apparently hearing faint crying when the wind goes down the street. Could the fire’s victims still be here, mourning their own deaths?
The majority of sightings happen close to where the 1734 fire started. The reports haven’t stopped coming. In fact, a few tour guides say that even skeptics start to quiet down when they go near the corner of Rue Saint-Paul & Saint-Vincent. There’s something so haunting about being there.
Place Royale and other hotspots
Place Royale is another place with plenty of stories. People walking here late at night claim they’ve seen 18th-century merchants & heard boots on cobblestone when no one’s around. It makes sense. The area is older than most of downtown Montréal & the buildings around it have seen practically everything.
It’s a similar story in the Auberge Saint-Gabriel inn. Apparently, staff have heard giggling from the upstairs hallway after the place is locked up. Some have heard the piano playing soft notes, too.
Centaur Theatre’s crew is also used to experiencing strange nights. There are stories of lights turning on after shutdowns & doors opening by themselves, despite them being latched shut. The building used to be the Montréal Stock Exchange. Several workers say they’ve seen the “man in the suit” continuing to work even now.
Landmarks that hold the city’s oldest memories
The street’s landmarks tell a lot of the story. At the end is Château Ramezay, with stone walls that are older than many countries. Further down the way is Marché Bonsecours, a place that survived fires & floods, as well as political unrest. Just a few doors down is the Pointe-à-Callière Museum. It’s built on top of the old city’s remains.
All this history is part of the reason the street feels so heavy. What’s standing is as important as what’s buried underneath. The past on Rue Saint-Paul never really got sealed off.
Try stopping here at night, after the tourists are gone. You might feel what generations before you did. It’s a street that has seen everything and maybe, just maybe, still remembers.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.