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Haunted Keg Mansion

(Haunted Keg Mansion - sightings of a boy's ghost and the ghost of a maid)

There is a place where they may not always know your name but the name of the place is known by many Torontonians and that of paranormal hunters.

Before we dig into the strange occurrences at The Keg Mansion in Toronto, Ont. let's see who owned the building. The original title of owner belongs to Lord William McMaster, (1811-1887) who built the mansion in 1867. If the name McMaster sounds familiar, it should. He founded Toronto's McMaster University (later the building moved to Hamilton. Ont.). In 1882, at a price tag of $33,000 the mansion was sold to another famous Canadian family by the name of Massey. Hart Massey (1823-1896) founded Massey Ferguson (farm equipment) and Toronto's Massey Hall. He had two famous grandsons, American actor born in Canada Raymond Massey, (1896–1983) and (Charles) Vincent Massey (1887–1967) who was the Governor General of Canada (the first to be born in Canada and served from 1952-1959).

In 1976 the mansion was converted into a Keg restaurant where it now sits. But enough of the history lesson, why does this building make my list of Canadian's Haunting?

Well, one of the paranormal events is that of Lillian Massey (1854-1915). Hart Massey's daughter. Lillian, who died of reasons unknown, at the age of 61, on the second floor in 1915. It's here that people have that "someone is watching me feeling". One day a customer went about their "daily duties" in the bathroom. The locked stall door unlocked and opened by an unseen entity.

One day a customer set her bag on the stall's hook only to witness the bag lift off the hook and set down by her feet.

The upper floor of the restaurant has their share of weird sightings. For instance, sightings of a boy's ghost have been seen running up and down the staircase and will at times stop and look at the crowd of people dining there. Staff and customers alike have seen ghostly domestic help walking about the mansion. But the famous ghost of all is a maid who hanged herself after hearing the news of Lillian's death. She hanged herself on the second floor oval opening in the main foyer. People have seen the maid with a noose hanging around her neck from time to time.

Since its creation, the mansion has appeared in various TV programs including Alfred Hitchcock Presents and movie Moonstruck (1987) starring Cher. Actors including Telly Savalas, Lindsay Wagner, Lee Majors, Tony Curtis, Tom Selleck, Cheryl Ladd and Kevin Bacon were just some of the rich and famous who visited the mansion.

It's been said many times before that Toronto has all kinds of things that go bump in the night.