The following contains a brief history of the building, reported
'ghost' phenomena, and our recent investigation.
The Du Maurier Theatre - Harbourfront Centre
This historic Toronto, Ontario
structure along with it's 'sister' building 'The Power Plant' were originally constructed in 1926 as part of Queen's Quay Terminal, which at that time was known as the Toronto Terminal Warehouse. They were both used to house heating and refrigeration equipment, with the now Du Maurier Theatre quite literally used as a giant ice house.
Since 1992, and upon extensive reconstruction this former industrial building has been home to the theatre arts centre and apparently at least three different 'ghosts' as well.
Our friend Ian and PRO
investigator, a long time employee of Harbourfront Centre initially reported his rather eerie experiences at the theatre to The Toronto Ghosts And Hauntings Research Society. His original report can be viewed by clicking here. Please note you
will need your bowsers back button to return to this page.
Whilst at the theatre on Nov. 4th 2001 members of P.R.O, H.R.G, and a small group of
investigators from Keswick Ontario were fortunate to interview two additional employees whom shared similar and corroborating stories.
The three reported ghosts (seen as full & solid apparitions) are a
male who appears
to be in his mid-30's of ordinary dress, a woman who has spoken aloud at least once, and a child who seemingly is playing an eternal game of "hide & seek." In all cases 'their' manner of dress does not seem to give an approx. era.
Our investigation:
We arrived at the theatre at
7 pm. and met as group in the lobby area. We were greeted by Ian and a fellow co worker who in turn gave us a history of the building, discussed it's present usage, and some of the first and second hand accounts of haunting-type phenomena experienced by both staff (including security) and visitors.
We were then taken on a tour of the building and pointed out
areas where these 'apparitions' had been sighted. After setting up our equipment (video - the decision was made not to attempt EVP recordings at this time) we formed into smaller teams of three and proceeded to explore and observe.
Two sensitives from H.R.G (Dee & Anita) were separated and used note pads to write down there impressions as opposed to verbalizing
them. Later in the evening when we gathered as a group Anita's notes on the exact description of one apparition with detailed specifics (previously unknown to her or our group) closely matched that of a staff member. Similar impressions of a male 'entity' with a marked "sense of humour" were noted by both.
One area of the theatre particularly stood out as several members of the team experienced identical sensations of difficulty in breathing while we were separated into small groups. This was contained to one small
area of a few sq. ft. on the third floor.
One member of P.R.O and staff simultaneously witnessed an "amber ball of light" pass by them at close range while in the stage area.
Please click here for photos. Video was taken and
have yet to be analysed. Anything of interest will be added to this page shortly.
We would like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks to Ian Harper and colleagues. Any future updates will be posted to
this page.
Update: December 10th 2001
On Dec. 2nd, 2001 members of
P.R.O accompanied by other investigators/researchers affiliated with the now defunct O.P.R.C (Ontario Paranormal Research Coalition) returned to the Du Maurier Theatre.
We returned again in May 2005 with nothing out of the norm occurring at that time.
