Spooky Kingston: The dark history behind the Frontenac County Court House

Many publications call Kingston Canada’s most haunted city and it’s hard to disagree.

From Kingston Penitentiary to Fort Henry and even Skeleton Park, Global News was able to tag along with the folks from The Haunted Walk of Kingston to discover the spookier side of the Limestone City.

Jax Harripersad is the manager of the Kingston office. We joined her behind the Frontenac County Court House.

“The courthouse and jail were built in 1857. Behind me here is the jailer’s house which used to be attached to the jail until 1974 when it was torn down,” Harripersad said.

“All of the public hangings took place here after 1857 and they were a quite popular event. What we do know is that after the men were hanged here, they were buried in the prison yard.”

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She says when it was time to tear down the jail, they thought it would be a rather nice idea to remove these bodies, but unfortunately accurate records were not kept and they didn’t know how many bodies they were looking for or where they had been buried.

Harripersad says the authorities were able to remove several bodies but not all of them. No one knows for sure how many are still buried under what is now a parking lot.

“Hangings were quite a popular event in the 1800s,” Harripersad explained.

“The prison yard would be completely filled on the day of a hanging and in some cases they would actually have to put benches on the stables across the street to add additional seating.”

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Harripersad says there are plenty of ghost stories surrounding the area, including one in which a man appears to be standing against the prison wall on a full moon.

Upon further inspection, you would notice that he was pale and had a noose around his neck. If anyone attempted to approach him, he would vanish.