When Ottawa was much, much younger and the trains would arrived right downtown nearly across from Parilament Hill, the Chateau Laurier was built. It was commissioned by Charles Melville Hays who was the General Manager of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway of Canada and he had a dream of building grand hotels in all the major stops of this line.
He watched over every step, every stone of
the Grand Hotel. It was to be named after
Canada’s 7th Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier. This was to be a very grand place, one of the first in the country to have indoor bathrooms. Rooms were very expensive costing $2.00 a night since this was a time when the average person made just over $1,000 a year and a house cost just over $2,000. The Chateau cost $2 Million to build.
Charles Melville Hays never got to see his beautiful Hotel open at least while he was alive. He had gone to France to purchase the most beautiful dining room sets for the grand salon but he didn’t make it back. He and the lovely furnishings were on board the Titanic. He was in a hurry to get back to Ottawa as he was to open the hotel on April 26th 1912 but was drowned when the Titanic sank on April 14th. But his ghost did not stay under the frozen water with all the other lost souls but found his way to the halls of his beloved Chateau. He was there when the hotel was opened by Prime Minister Laurier on June 1, 1912. Everyone attending saw the shadowy form a man who they knew to be Charles Melville Hays. This was his life’s work and he had not gotten to see it open in life, well death would not stop him.
To this day, Charles Melville Hays walks the halls. You can feel his presence as you walk through the grand lobby. Those that work there often arrange furnishings for a party only to return with the flowers moments later and find all the furniture back in it’s original spot. Even though the trains no longer come downtown late at night you can hear the rattling and shaking as if some late night train has arrived. Guests have reported objects being moved around in their rooms. A reporter was accosted by Mr. Hayes in a stairwell.
Sometimes when you walk by the Chateau and look way up in the top towers you see a misty shadow in the window looking down at all the changes that have happened in this city. I wonder how Mr. Hays feels about the trains no longer coming to the downtown core and who is the little girl ghost that has been seen from time to time?
There is no story of who she is and where did she come from and why she is keeping Mr. Hays company?
When visiting Ottawa even if you don't stay there, you just must walk through the lobby and just see if you can see him, just there near the tea room or is he near the stairs.
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Timely telling. At the risk of being carted away to the nearest loony bin, my belief in the afterlife is not often shared with others. It's touching that Mr. Hays found his way home.
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