A collection of ghost stories, eerie encounters, and gruesome tales from one of Canada’s most interesting cities.
Montreal is a city steeped in history and culture, but just beneath the pristine surface of this world-class city lie unsettling tales of uncanny phenomena, dark deeds, haunted buildings, and forgotten graveyards. The dark of night reveals buried secrets, alleyways that echo with the footsteps of ghostly spectres, and memories of ghastly murders and unspeakable acts that will make your blood run cold. Read, if you dare, about the ghost that wanders Griffintown in search of her missing head, top-secret experiments conducted on unwitting subjects at McGill University, and the mysterious gunshot deaths of a mother and son in their mansion, among other terrifying stories.
Mark 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.
This contains stories from various parts of Montreal, both famous (at least for the average tourist) and less so. The stories range from ghost stories to true histories that come down on the weird and mysterious side. There is a complete source listing at the end of the book. The authors not only included stories about both British and French settlers but also about Native Americans/First Nations as well. There is even a disaster timeline.
I do wish that there had been more photos, and at least one of the stories could have a more doubtful or fact checking look to it. (I mean, if he killed the man in secret and was never tried for it, then how do people know that he killed the man?). I was also somewhat surprised that Cooper's book about the slave woman Angelique was not included, though the chapter dealing with that historical event is well done.
The writer's tone is great, a very real storytelling tone, and there are some first hand accounts quoted.