What do you think?
Rate this book
Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers
From the Hermitage ruins to Dundurn Castle, from the Customs House to Stoney Creek Battlefield Park, the city of Hamilton, Ontario, is steeped in a rich history and culture. But beneath the surface of the Steel City there dwells a darker heart — from the shadows of yesteryear arise the unexplainable, the bizarre, and the chilling.
Lock the doors and turn on all the lights before you settle down with this book, because once you begin to read about the supernatural elements that lurk within this seemingly normal city in Southern Ontario, strange bumps in the night will take on new, more sinister meanings. Prepare to be thrilled and chilled with this collection of tales compiled from historical documents, first-person accounts, and the files of the paranormal group Haunted Hamilton, which has been investigating and celebrating Hamilton's historic haunted past since 1999.
Lock the doors and turn on all the lights before you settle down with this book, because once you begin to read about the supernatural elements that lurk within this seemingly normal city in Southern Ontario, strange bumps in the night will take on new, more sinister meanings. Prepare to be thrilled and chilled with this collection of tales compiled from historical documents, first-person accounts, and the files of the paranormal group Haunted Hamilton, which has been investigating and celebrating Hamilton's historic haunted past since 1999.
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
3 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Mark Leslie
128 books178 followersMark is a writer, editor and bookseller who was born and grew up in Sudbury, spent many years in Ottawa and Hamilton and currently lives in Waterloo, Ontario.
When he is not writing, he tacks "Lefebvre" back onto his name and works as a book industry consultant, having been a bookseller since the 1992, the same year his first short story was published.
Apart from publishing novels and non-fiction paranormal explorations under the name Mark Leslie, having works occasionally appearing on his mother's refrigerator door under the name Mark Lefebvre, and podcasting and consulting about the book industry under the name Mark Leslie Lefebvre for his Stark Publishing/Stark Reflections brand, Mark is a lover of craft beer.
When he's not enjoying craft beer or playing around with his three given names, he can usually be found wandering, awestruck through bookstores or libraries.
When he is not writing, he tacks "Lefebvre" back onto his name and works as a book industry consultant, having been a bookseller since the 1992, the same year his first short story was published.
Apart from publishing novels and non-fiction paranormal explorations under the name Mark Leslie, having works occasionally appearing on his mother's refrigerator door under the name Mark Lefebvre, and podcasting and consulting about the book industry under the name Mark Leslie Lefebvre for his Stark Publishing/Stark Reflections brand, Mark is a lover of craft beer.
When he's not enjoying craft beer or playing around with his three given names, he can usually be found wandering, awestruck through bookstores or libraries.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 8, 2024
With Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers (2012) local Hamilton, Ontario, Canada author Mark Leslie quite nicely and also not ever too creepily for sensitive and not really into gratuitous violence and horror me presents supposedly true accounts of more than fifty ghosts who (not that but who in my opinion) are supposed to (and in reality) be haunting Hamilton and its environs (both municipal and rural).
And while I have found it kind of difficult to pick a favourite tale from Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers, I guess my personal favourites are the stories surrounding Dundas District Elementary School (since I live in Dundas, the now closed and turned into condominiums school is something like two minutes from our house and that I am kind of keen to check out in particular whether the current condo owners have had any spooky experiences, and which might actually be the case since there are always really many units for sale, so yes, the turn-over for those District Lofts seems pretty high), the Hermitage in Ancaster (because my partner did an oil painting of the building and I swear I can see something weird and uncanny on his canvass, maybe the tragic spectre of the coachman who supposedly hung himself in the rafters of the building because of an unhappy love affair) and of course the ghosts of McMaster University (as I simply adore tales of haunted colleges and universities).
Now Leslie’s writing style for Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers is comfortably and easily readable, and is as such (even if not specifically conceptualised for children) more than suitable for younger readers, for anyone from the age of around eleven or so and onwards, and that happily, Mark Leslie manages to add architectural and historical information to the spooky parts of his chapters without annoying and tedious information dropping, without his text for the stories of Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers ever becoming dragging, always keeping me (and both my adult self and equally so my inner teenaged reader) very nicely and all encompassingly entertained, engaged and at the same time enlightened (and with me of course also appreciating that Leslie acknowledges his sources, that Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers has both notes and a sufficiently detailed bibliography).
Finally for me personally and as a resident of Dundas, Ontario (which is now part of Hamilton), Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers has been both a reading treasure and also a nice Halloween season treat, and with my only very mild annoyance being that Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers sometimes feels a bit as though Mark Leslie is doing propaganda and trying to drum up business for the Haunted Hamilton tourist walks. But well, this can easily enough be ignored by me, and so I do rate Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers with a solid four stars and to very warmly recommend Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers for readers interested in and keen on "true" Canadian/Ontario ghost stories.
And while I have found it kind of difficult to pick a favourite tale from Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers, I guess my personal favourites are the stories surrounding Dundas District Elementary School (since I live in Dundas, the now closed and turned into condominiums school is something like two minutes from our house and that I am kind of keen to check out in particular whether the current condo owners have had any spooky experiences, and which might actually be the case since there are always really many units for sale, so yes, the turn-over for those District Lofts seems pretty high), the Hermitage in Ancaster (because my partner did an oil painting of the building and I swear I can see something weird and uncanny on his canvass, maybe the tragic spectre of the coachman who supposedly hung himself in the rafters of the building because of an unhappy love affair) and of course the ghosts of McMaster University (as I simply adore tales of haunted colleges and universities).
Now Leslie’s writing style for Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers is comfortably and easily readable, and is as such (even if not specifically conceptualised for children) more than suitable for younger readers, for anyone from the age of around eleven or so and onwards, and that happily, Mark Leslie manages to add architectural and historical information to the spooky parts of his chapters without annoying and tedious information dropping, without his text for the stories of Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers ever becoming dragging, always keeping me (and both my adult self and equally so my inner teenaged reader) very nicely and all encompassingly entertained, engaged and at the same time enlightened (and with me of course also appreciating that Leslie acknowledges his sources, that Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers has both notes and a sufficiently detailed bibliography).
Finally for me personally and as a resident of Dundas, Ontario (which is now part of Hamilton), Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers has been both a reading treasure and also a nice Halloween season treat, and with my only very mild annoyance being that Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers sometimes feels a bit as though Mark Leslie is doing propaganda and trying to drum up business for the Haunted Hamilton tourist walks. But well, this can easily enough be ignored by me, and so I do rate Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers with a solid four stars and to very warmly recommend Haunted Hamilton: The Ghosts of Dundurn Castle and Other Steeltown Shivers for readers interested in and keen on "true" Canadian/Ontario ghost stories.
September 9, 2018
Today I woke up and it was awfully chilly outside. It felt like fall despite being the beginning of September still and "summer." And I thought to myself, with it comes the perfect ambience to read this book!
Born, bred and currently raising my own kids in "Hammer Town" i'm already pretty accustomed to the tales and ghost and some of the history behind some of our most known landmarks. And despite this I truly enjoyed this book! It was informative and creepy. Intriguing and insightful in respect to other places I had known nothing about!
The perfect "spooky" read for Halloween ;)
Born, bred and currently raising my own kids in "Hammer Town" i'm already pretty accustomed to the tales and ghost and some of the history behind some of our most known landmarks. And despite this I truly enjoyed this book! It was informative and creepy. Intriguing and insightful in respect to other places I had known nothing about!
The perfect "spooky" read for Halloween ;)
November 18, 2012
Mark Leslie’s Haunted Hamilton was clearly inspired by the Haunted Hamilton Ghost Walks run by Daniel Cumerlato and Stephanie Lechniak, who also wrote forewords for the book. But the scope goes beyond a mere companion volume. It is in parts a collection of ghost stories, a history, an architectural guide, and (as Mark inscribed in my autographed copy) a “love letter” to his home city. It chronicles the accounts of more than fifty ghosts (I know that because of a very clever Goodreads posting by Mark called “50 Shades of Hamilton”!), and it’s hard to pick a favourite story or chapter. “Dundas District Elementary School”, “The Tivoli Theatre”, and “The Tombstone Ghost” are a few that stood out for me, and it was fun to read about the city’s “Haunted Pubs”. But I think each reader will come away with a different set of memories.
Leslie’s style is comfortable and always very readable, even when filling in the architectural and historical settings for the spooky stuff, and he obviously got a kick out of researching and writing this project.
For citizens of Hamilton this book should be an essential read. For everyone else, it’s a lot of fun—perfect for blustery winter nights that make you want to pull warm covers up to your neck and imagine things that go bump in the night.
Leslie’s style is comfortable and always very readable, even when filling in the architectural and historical settings for the spooky stuff, and he obviously got a kick out of researching and writing this project.
For citizens of Hamilton this book should be an essential read. For everyone else, it’s a lot of fun—perfect for blustery winter nights that make you want to pull warm covers up to your neck and imagine things that go bump in the night.
March 21, 2024
Entertaining range of ghost stories and history around the Hamilton area. Wished some of the chapters had been more in depth, but they still served as a great introduction to neat haunted locations.
November 24, 2023
I was looking forward to this one because it’s about my hometown and I’ve visited quite a few of these places.
What I was expecting: the history of the places, any interesting happenings in the past, interviews with current residents/owners/caretakers/workers, links between past and present, etc.
What I got: architectural description of the building, brief synopsis of ownership, deaths in the building (if any), and regurgitated stories from the Haunted Hamilton ghost walk (not affiliated with the book) or a version of “some say that…” Some? Who?
Considering how much the author lauds all the extensive research he did for the book, I saw no evidence of it. For example, he quotes another author, in her book about Whitehern’s McQueston family, discussing the gothic elements of the family: “a wicked stepmother, a madwoman in the attic, a tragic heroine, inherited mental disorders, institutionalization, social stigma…” Mr. Leslie himself delves into NONE of these things in his chapter about Whitehern and the McQuestons. Perhaps there’s a link between that madwoman or those mental disorders and the ghostly happenings at Whitehern. But we’ll never know because we wouldn’t even know about these things had Mr. Leslie not quoted another author!
So frustrating.
What I was expecting: the history of the places, any interesting happenings in the past, interviews with current residents/owners/caretakers/workers, links between past and present, etc.
What I got: architectural description of the building, brief synopsis of ownership, deaths in the building (if any), and regurgitated stories from the Haunted Hamilton ghost walk (not affiliated with the book) or a version of “some say that…” Some? Who?
Considering how much the author lauds all the extensive research he did for the book, I saw no evidence of it. For example, he quotes another author, in her book about Whitehern’s McQueston family, discussing the gothic elements of the family: “a wicked stepmother, a madwoman in the attic, a tragic heroine, inherited mental disorders, institutionalization, social stigma…” Mr. Leslie himself delves into NONE of these things in his chapter about Whitehern and the McQuestons. Perhaps there’s a link between that madwoman or those mental disorders and the ghostly happenings at Whitehern. But we’ll never know because we wouldn’t even know about these things had Mr. Leslie not quoted another author!
So frustrating.
October 5, 2025
3.5 ★ (rounded up to 4!) i love learning local history and it was cool to read about places i’ve been and where i didn’t know the paranormal lore! i went on a hamilton ghost walk for my bday last year at the Hermitage ruins and that story was in here which was cool–mostly because I’d actually seen the ghost of Alma among the ruins LOL. It was cool learning more about Hamilton’s paranormal lore + will be visiting these places!
June 14, 2024
i was suprised the old hph hospital was not in there its the one i was looking for the one my son likes on west 5th was love seeing the older buildings are still standing but tours of them would be great
March 19, 2025
It wasn't exactly what I had expected. It was interesting to read about some of Hamilton's history, but I guess I expected more from the word "haunted."
October 17, 2012
Reading this shortly before Halloween was a coincidence. I’m not a horror fan. I read this more for the local history than the ghost stories. Most of the stories are in the form of legends or first-person accounts that might as well have been completely made up -- more like newspaper articles than the properly-sourced writing I’m used to. Although, the stories I enjoyed the most were those that actually had sources other than the Haunted Hamilton website, like articles from the Spectator rather than hearsay from unnamed individuals. Far too many Wikipedia citations! The writing was not bad but the book was poorly edited (“the reporter bemused that …”).
I would have liked to see the author take a bit more of a personal approach to the stories, like describing his conversations with people who had these experiences or told these stories (as he did a bit in the last chapter). It would have been interesting to hear the ghost stories more from the storytellers themselves than from a third party, I guess.
The author made a couple of references to ghost stories as metaphors rather than actual things that happened, and I appreciate the idea that paranormal experiences are representations of the past within the imagination, triggered particularly in places which physically give the impression of previous life and subsequent abandonment and neglect. Of course something terrible happened there; otherwise why does no one live or work in these places anymore? I like this way of thinking about ghost stories. I have no patience for things like orbs and EVP. I have my own irrational fears of dark and unknown places, usually related to insects and wild animals instead of spirits. I have had my own experiences that I know some people would interpret as paranormal. (Just last week I was sitting in a meeting and during a conversation that didn’t involve me I could have sworn someone said my name loudly, almost right in my ear, but when I looked around everyone was carrying on the same and no one had said anything to me. Not like seeing a ghost but.) Our senses can and do deceive us, and as far as I’m concerned the likelihood that these experiences are caused by spirits from another world, rather than by our own brains, are little to none. But I can’t deny the power of ghosts, monsters, aliens, etc. as metaphors for important and meaningful aspects of our lives.
In any case, I appreciate that the author did not commit himself entirely to having paranormal beliefs, but served as the medium for sharing them, and focused so much on the history. In some ways it seems that the deeper interest (as it was for me) was in the strange and fantastic aspects of our city’s history, but it was overpowered by the popular interest in the paranormal. I’m looking forward to taking a closer look at the suggested reading.
I would have liked to see the author take a bit more of a personal approach to the stories, like describing his conversations with people who had these experiences or told these stories (as he did a bit in the last chapter). It would have been interesting to hear the ghost stories more from the storytellers themselves than from a third party, I guess.
The author made a couple of references to ghost stories as metaphors rather than actual things that happened, and I appreciate the idea that paranormal experiences are representations of the past within the imagination, triggered particularly in places which physically give the impression of previous life and subsequent abandonment and neglect. Of course something terrible happened there; otherwise why does no one live or work in these places anymore? I like this way of thinking about ghost stories. I have no patience for things like orbs and EVP. I have my own irrational fears of dark and unknown places, usually related to insects and wild animals instead of spirits. I have had my own experiences that I know some people would interpret as paranormal. (Just last week I was sitting in a meeting and during a conversation that didn’t involve me I could have sworn someone said my name loudly, almost right in my ear, but when I looked around everyone was carrying on the same and no one had said anything to me. Not like seeing a ghost but.) Our senses can and do deceive us, and as far as I’m concerned the likelihood that these experiences are caused by spirits from another world, rather than by our own brains, are little to none. But I can’t deny the power of ghosts, monsters, aliens, etc. as metaphors for important and meaningful aspects of our lives.
In any case, I appreciate that the author did not commit himself entirely to having paranormal beliefs, but served as the medium for sharing them, and focused so much on the history. In some ways it seems that the deeper interest (as it was for me) was in the strange and fantastic aspects of our city’s history, but it was overpowered by the popular interest in the paranormal. I’m looking forward to taking a closer look at the suggested reading.
May 3, 2013
I love ghost stories, and local history, so I had high hopes for this book. I really, really wanted to like it, but overall it seemed to meander and about half of the haunted places didn't have enough detail to satisfy my curiosity. There were some chapters that gave me a chill, for instance "Dundas District Elementary School" and "The Waterdown Ghost." I just wish there had been more meat, and less about the Haunted Hamilton Ghost Walks business.
July 20, 2016
This book is smoothly written, and enjoyable to read. I would have rated it higher, but in spite of the author's repeated references to the large volumes of research he did, the stories themselves felt very light in facts and details. This book could have easily been twice the size, and all the better for it. Still, if you are at all interested in Hamilton and its history, this is a good read.
April 20, 2017
The ghost stories, history, and architectural and other details are both fascinating and well-researched. However, I found the digressions into personal stories and other side jaunts distracting and unncessary. All in all, I'd still recommend it to anyone who's interested in some of the creepier sides of Hamilton.
May 22, 2013
Value of this book: "oh hey, I know that guy/place/story!"
Value of this book if you have never lived in Hamilton/gone on the ghost tours/studies local history: 0.
Value of this book if you have never lived in Hamilton/gone on the ghost tours/studies local history: 0.
January 29, 2015
Cannot wait to read this newly released book of ghost stories set in Hamilton.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews