Amongst the plethora of attractions offered by Niagara Falls, Ontario, stands a distinctive edifice that is draped with tales of ghosts and spectres – The Prince of Wales Hotel. Every evening after dark hotel staff gather guests in the lobby to share the ghost stories tied to the hotel. 

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Besides its fascinating history, the Prince of Wales Hotel is also known for the numerous chilling accounts of spectral guests who seemingly chose never to check out. While some stories may stem from imaginative patrons, others come with such authenticity and details that they are hard to dismiss. And some are actually documented.

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The Lady in Black, as she’s popularly known, is said to be one of the regular apparitions of the hotel. This ghost is reported to be that of a woman, typically spotted in her Victorian-era mourning attire, pacing anxiously through the hallways, possibly still waiting for the return of a long-lost love. Hotel guests have claimed to see her presence reflected in mirrors and her dark silhouette on the windows at night.

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Another persistent tale that often emerges is that of a mischievous spirit in Room 207. From moved objects, fluctuating room temperatures, to disturbing guests’ sleep with flickering lights and chilling touches – these phenomena are linked to Captain Swayze, a 19th-century soldier who was supposedly stabbed by an enemy before he could return to his lover. His ghost is believed to still haunt this room in an endless search for his betrothed. Another story persists around room 207: 

Molly McGuire was waiting at the window of her home waiting for her husband, a British soldier, to return.

Apparently, an American soldier, unable to see her face, saw a tall figure in the window and believed it to be an enemy British soldier.

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The American swiftly pierced who he believed to be his adversary with his bayonet, and poor Molly fell slain to the floor. Legend has it that Room 207, which would now be the location of her old bedroom and her death, has been haunted ever since.

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Another permanent resident is claimed to be the unfaithful wife of a former hotel chef who lived with her husband on the premises. According to local legend, the chef and his wife disappeared from the hotel one night without notice. The chef reappeared sometime later in British Columbia, alone. Some say that the chef murdered his wife in Room 608 of the Prince of Wales Hotel on the night of his departure. Although he managed to dispose of his wife’s body, the spirit of the murdered woman remained in the room; every once in a while, patrons staying in Room 608 report being tucked into bed by unseen hands. (Would this be their valet service?)

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Although there is no historical basis for the tale of the ghost of the chef’s wife, another hotel ghost story may have some merit to it. The most frequently reported unexplained phenomenon to take place at the Prince of Wales Hotel is the inexplicable aroma of tobacco smoke which occasionally wafts through the Royal Stewart Dining Room. This phantom smell is said to be associated with the ghost of a well-dressed top hat-wearing gentleman who haunts the dining room and the basement, appearing to unsuspecting guests and staff as a reflection in windows and mirrors. Although some writers have attempted to connect this spectre with a construction worker who allegedly fell from some scaffolding to his death during the hotel’s construction, the image of a well-dressed tobacco smoker corresponds quite well with that of Captain Rodden S. Harrison, the hotel’s first manager- a pipe smoker who frequently affected a tweed suit. Captain Harrison is said to have taken great pride in his work, and had his staff furnish the tables in the Royal Stewart Dining Room with freshly picked wildflowers every morning. Perhaps the Captain’s spirit resides in the hotel to this day, enjoying the occasional after-dinner smoke and checking in on his guests from time to time.

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Another of the Prince of Wales’ spirits is said to haunt the lobby, where hotel staff sometimes report hearing the heavy disembodied footsteps of a man in the middle of the night. One former staff member, in an internet chatroom, confessed that he broke into the hotel in the offseason in order to spend the night there. His intrusion apparently offended this invisible resident, who raced down the stairs from the fifth or sixth floor and across the lobby towards him, effectively chasing him from the premises.

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The most famous phantom of the Prince of Wales Hotel is the “Lady in White”, a spectre of a young woman in a white gown said to haunt the Rooms 510 and 516. This feminine phantasm makes her presence known by locking windows left open overnight, running the taps, tapping on doors, turning the lights on, and blowing her icy breath down the necks of hapless guests. Some hotel patrons have reported hearing disembodied footsteps in the hallways or on the balconies. Others claim to have been locked out of their own rooms, finding that someone, or something, had locked the door from the inside in their absence. One guest staying in Room 516 even maintained that the apparition of a young woman slipped into bed with him and his wife in the dead of the night… before vanishing into thin air.