Fort Garry Hotel has been part of Winnipeg Manitoba's skyline for over 90 years and was built in the style of the Park Plaza hotel in New York City.
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway built the Fort Garry Hotel in 1913 as luxury accommodation for its train passengers. The name came from Upper Fort Garry, which was next door to the hotel. Like the Canadian Pacific Hotels built across Canada, the Fort Garry Hotel was built in the chateau style of architecture with steep roofs, turrets and lavish ornamentation.
History of the Fort Garry Hotel
The architects, Ross and MacFarlane of Montreal, used the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa as the model for Fort Garry. This 12-story hotel has 340 guest rooms, each with a private bathroom. On the main floor of the hotel, there was the Musician’s Gallery, which was situated between the Main Dining Room and the Palm Room. It was placed at a distance from both rooms in order to provide background music for guests.
The Crystal Ballroom and the Concert Hall were on the seventh floor joined by a gallery. In the 1990s, these halls were turned into a casino but in the early 2000s, the hotel removed the casino and restored these rooms back to their original purpose of dining, music and dancing.
In the early days, the Fort Garry Hotel was self-sufficient. It had a bakery, butcher shop, heating plant, artesian well and printing press. In addition, the chambermaids lived in the hotel on the top floor.
Famous guests over the years included Liberace, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Harry Belafonte, Louis Armstrong, Arthur Fiedler, Lester Pearson and Gordie Howe. In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth stayed at the Fort Garry Hotel during their tour of Canada.
Today, Hotel Fort Garry is still the symbol of opulence with marble floors, paneled ceilings, bronze railings and crystal chandeliers. The Palm room still has its original domed ceiling.
Ghosts of the Fort Garry Hotel
Many guests have seen figures of ghosts at the foot of the bed. Sometimes it’s a man and other times, it’s a woman dressed in a ball gown representative of the hotel’s early years.
Room 202 is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a woman who hung herself in the closet after she found out her husband was killed in a car accident. Guests have seen a woman dressed in a cloak or robe hovering at the end of the bed. Hotel maids have claimed to see blood seeping through the walls of the room.
A woman politician attended a retreat at the Fort Garry Hotel and requested to stay in room 202 because she had heard about the room being haunted. During the night, she felt someone getting into bed beside her.
The ghost of the same women has been seen crying in the corner of the hotel lounge after asking an employee for a glass of water.
There is an account of two employees who had a ghostly encounter in 1989. They were in the main kitchen doing their overnight cleanup. One worker had gone up the back stairway at 4:00am and heard sounds from the locked dining room. The worker went back to the main kitchen in order to access the dining room. He saw the ghost of a man eating dinner at one of the tables. By the time the worker brought back the front desk staff to witness the male diner, he had disappeared even though the dining room door remained locked.
Like many historic hotels, there are spirits of guests who choose to stay due to grieving for a loved one or wanting to remain in a place where they had a happy experience.
The copyright of the article Haunted Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg in Ghosts & Hauntings is owned by Maureen K. Fleury. Permission to republish Haunted Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
I had stayed in room 202 once and there is a light in that mentioned
closet. The entire night scratches could be heard from the closet and the
motion sensor light kept going off repeatedly. Add to that glasses and
items moving around the room on their own accord, it was the best birthday
present ever. And I will NOT go back to that room because of it!
Jan 15, 2009 2:22 PM
Maureen K. Fleury :
I bet if you knew about room 202 before you stayed there, you would have
asked for a different room. Maybe that explains why the room was
available when you registered.
Thank you for sharing your true
story of your experiences at the Fort Garry Hotel.
Feb 6, 2009 8:21 AM
Guest :
me and my friend stayed in ther too 202 and there was a person in the
washroom and i could hear water running the walls was bleeding , the bed
was shacking and it was awesome but scary
and i when we went
just in jan i was 2 months pregnate i wish i could go back but i cant :(
Feb 11, 2009 4:06 PM
Guest :
thats sounds scary i have a trip with my class to go and stay there it
sounds fun and i think ill crap my pants
Mar 25, 2009 4:22 PM
Guest :
The Fort Garry Hotel sounds scary but at the same time I have the fealing
im gonna crap my pants just thinking about it.
Mar 28, 2009 11:15 AM
Guest :
Whoa that's scary. I also have a trip there with MY class and I don't know
if I'm gonna bring a bat with me or not lol!
Mar 30, 2009 3:19 PM
Guest :
is it still open to public? I would be interested in spending a night
there....maybe not sleeping...but hanging out in the room.. All this ghost
stuff interests me. I always thought spirits hung around because they
wern't ready to die, or they were murdered and don't know they are
dead....if people are seeing the woman(her having hung herself) I wonder
why her spirit is still hanging around.
Apr 15, 2009 9:41 AM
Guest :
Im sooooo staying over night in suite 202 with mike madi and brock and of
course mwa! it seemssss ssoooooo cooollll
Apr 20, 2009 11:33 AM
Guest :
I wanna stay in room 202 for my birthday!
Apr 20, 2009 11:34 AM
Guest :
My name is Shae-lynne de Delley i wanna stay in the Fort Garry with my
class we go to Riverheights school in Brandon...!!!
May 13, 2009 10:46 AM
Guest :
I booked this room for my birthday. Im hoping this is going to be
exciting and not a waste of money.
May 17, 2009 2:59 PM
Guest :
how much does it cost to rent room 202 for a night? i really want to stay
in it. does anyone know? thanks
Jun 22, 2009 5:55 PM
Guest :
one time i drove by there very slowly then i saw a white figure up there
then i looked at my sister then it was gone that face up there i saw was
creppy!
Jul 26, 2009 2:22 PM
Guest :
My girlfriend and I stayed in room 202 last fall. We've felt a strong
presence in the room throughout the night and around 3:00 am, someone or
something sat on the bed between the both of us. That's what actually woke
us up. It was pretty eery. My girlfriend and I remained calm and looked at
each other silently, it was so obvious someone was there. It wasn't just
our imagination. At that moment we were three in that bed. It went a away
after a half hour. I'd go back in this room anytime.
Aug 12, 2009 5:16 PM
Guest :
IM SCARD OF ROOM 202
Aug 13, 2009 12:22 PM
Guest :
what floor can you saty on
Aug 20, 2009 9:34 AM
Guest :
one day me and these other 2 people went for tour by our selves in the
hotel....we went to the room where they had a stage because we heared loud
but a velvety soft humming comeing from there.so we went to check it
out.when we got there there was nobody,my friend then went to look behind
the curtains and all the places that we thought you could exit from the
stage....but they would all lead to a dead end!but before that when we are
on the 7th floor we were the only ones on the floor...aparantly there was
no one staying in the rooms there...so we walked the halls and all of a
sudden we heared lound cracky breathing comeing from further behind us...we
froze in our footsteps....we tried to listen more but then it stopped...it
wasnt scary..more like it was 50 cent trying to do opera....so we where on
the very top floor...where they have the "ten" spa,and we looked
down and we saw 2 blurry figures floors below us....we got really scared so
we took the elevator down...it was scary!!! but really fun
Aug 22, 2009 7:28 PM
Guest :
I worked at the FGH for over a year, had been there every hour the day
could offer, alone on many occasions, even in room 202 briefly but not in
the midst of the night. I never saw nor felt any eerie presence within my
entire stay there. Some room service staff claim to hear static/white noise
coming from 202 occasionally, but as far as my experience has gone I
haven't witnessed any such hauntings. Oh, also the 7th floor HAS no
rooms... just Crystal and Concert Ballrooms, the Loggia, and service area.
There's also a secret greenroom behind the Concert Ballrooms' stage.
Aug 26, 2009 9:44 AM
Guest :
is room 202 realy sarey
Sep 13, 2009 10:24 AM
Guest :
My cousin's wedding reception was at Fort Garry Last night, and my cousin
and I heard about this room so we went up there to check it out. We knocked
on the door of 202 and ran and when we went in the elevator we saw a women
who came out of no where, staring at us as the door closed.
Oct 27, 2008
