Canada’s Haunted Hockey Hall of Fame

This ornate building in Toronto that houses the Hall of Fame was used for over 100 years as a branch of the Bank of Montreal.

For the past 60+ years a ghost known as Dorothy has haunted this building. There have been numerous books and articles written about this female ghost with countless witness reports.

One popular backstory has been circulated for years as to why Dorothy haunts this building.

It was believed by many that Dorothy was a teller at the bank. She became involved in an affair with the branch manager--a married man. Later, when this romance soured this man jilted her. She then committed suicide on the upper floor of the bank in the mid 1900s.

A newspaper article written by The Star in 2009 revealed their research about this well known haunting.

They discovered the popular backstory about Dorothy was actually true.

The Ghost of Dorothea Mae Elliott

Dorothea was only 19 year-old when she shot herself early one morning in 1953. She was transported to St. Michaels’s Hospital where she died later.

Dorothea was orphaned at the age of 9 when both her parents died within a few years of each other.

Employees that worked with Dorothea at the bank remember her fondly. She was a popular colleague who was bubbly and beautiful. Her looks were compared to a Hollywood star of the time--Rita Hayworth.

One female employee noted that she was tall and buxom, sophisticated and well liked by the men. This same employee noted that the morning Dorothea committed suicide her blue dress appeared to be wrinkled and untidy.

Finding herself rejected by this branch manager Dorothea took a .38 caliber revolver from a drawer it was kept in at the bank and went to the 2^nd floor women’s washroom where she shot herself.

Since her death, there have numerous reports of strange activity occurring in this building--first when it was still the bank and later when it became the location for Canada’s Hockey Hall of Fame.

An Active Haunting

For many years staff and employees have refused to be in this building after 6:00 p.m. Most refuse to go up to the second floor.

Common activity reported includes: cold spots, lights flickering on and off and doors opening and shutting without cause.

Other reports include: hearing moans and screams throughout the building as well as people hearing footsteps.

Some witnesses state a phantom hand touched their shoulders.

One former Hall of Fame employee, Rob Hynes who was an events coordinator had a scary encounter with this ghost.

He was in a kitchen on the 2^nd floor behind the conference room when he got a strong feeling someone was watching him. When he entered the conference room he saw one of the chairs moving around. There was no breeze in this room.

He quickly exited this room when this chair headed for him.

One young male visitor to the Hall of Fame started to scream, “Don’t you see her, don’t you see her.” He stated that he saw a woman with long black hair walking through several walls upstairs.

In the early 1990s before the Hall of Fame was located in the building a musician by the name of Joanna Jordan was playing her harp for an event being held in the Great Hall.

She looked up and saw a ghost looking down at her from the ceiling. She had not heard about this haunting beforehand. In later years, when she visited the Hall of Fame she refused to go up to the 2^nd floor.

45 foot high ceiling

More Sightings

On the site Toronto and Ontario Ghosts and Hauntings Mathew Didier wrote about the Dorothy haunting. He at one time worked as a teller at this bank branch. His post solicited many comments.

One man who left a comment was an employer of the bank in the 1980s when it was used as office space for the bank's computer department.

He states that there was a lot of poltergeist activity and cold spots in the building when he worked there. He and his fellow workers did not share what they experienced at the time afraid of dismissal.

Because of the building’s history he and others did not like staying after 6:00 p.m. or going up to the 2^nd floor. They found Dorothy liked to play pranks.

He and forty other employees worked in cubicles on the main level. One day he left his desk to copy a paper two cubicles down from his. He was only gone a few moments but when he returned he found his space in disarray.

His desk was messed up and his coffee cup was spilled. He also found his filing cabinets were locked. None of his colleagues were close enough to have done this in the short time he was gone.

There are many more stories about sightings of this ghost on the research society site mentioned above.

Then Who Followed You?

According to the person who first told this story it is true.

Our aunt took my older brother and I in when our mother died but when she remarried her new husband arranged for us to move to a rental property he owned.

It suited us well for it was in the inner city as opposed to the suburbs so it was close to my brother’s work and my art school.

The home was a traditional bungalow that was built in the mid-1920s. It was one and a half stories with an old-fashioned veranda and full cellar.

As it turned out this cellar came in handy for a year after moving in I formed a “garage band” and this cellar was an ideal place for us to practice.

Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon my band members would come over and we would practice until the early evening--my brother liked this because he was at work and didn’t have to put up with the our “noise.” After practice we then would go out and grab a bite to eat and see if there were any girls who caught our eye.

My members often complained that it was a pain to set up their equipment. They had to carry their instruments, amps etc. up the porch steps and in through the front door and walk back through the living room and dining room to the kitchen and then tote everything down some steep steps. To break down everything was the same pain but in reverse.

One late Saturday evening as I listened to their expected ribbing about what a chore this task was it started to rain lightly. Fortunately, most of the equipment was already packed inside a car but some equipment was in the bed of one friend’s truck so it was exposed.

I went back into the house to retrieve a tarp from the cellar. Once down the stairs I heard a noise--I looked across the large room but the boiler and heater that sat in the middle of the cellar blocked my view. Feeling uneasy I wondered if I should just leave.

I then saw a dark shadowy figure dart from one side of the room to the other out of the corner of my eye. I had always been told that if ever I saw a ghost I best ignore it and walk away.

But I became angry because I was afraid--I unwisely decided the best course of action was to be assertive. So I turned toward where I had seen the figure and announced out loud, “Would you just get lost. I do not have time for this nonsense right now.”

Acting upon a false sense of bravado I found the tarp and walked back up the stairs and grabbed the long string that turned off the exposed light bulb I slammed the door shut behind me. I turned the rest of the lights off as I walked from room to room.

I didn’t stop for I felt a presence at my back. I did not dare turn around.

As I reached the front door I turned off the last light inside. The streetlight flooded the entrance to the house as I quickly shut the door and locked it.

As I made my way down the porch steps I felt silly that I had gotten “spooked.” I convinced myself it was just my overactive imagination. I took a deep breath and walked to the truck.

It had stopped raining but I covered the bed with the tarp just in case. I opened the door and sat down. As I fastened my seat belt one band member asked, “Wait, isn’t your brother coming with us?”

Perplexed I told him, “no my brother is still at work."

The other band member in the truck then asked me, “Then who was behind you as you left the house?”