HI-Ottawa Jail Youth Hostel<\/a>. For 110 years, the thick-stoned building on Nicholas Street was known as the Carleton County Gaol, an imposing hell designed to imprison the city\u2019s most notorious offenders. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Built in 1862 as a model British prison, the reality was far less respectable. \u00a0\u00a0Tiny cells crammed with both men and boys (as young as five years old), reeking of excrement, the floor crawling with bugs and rats. \u00a0The Gaol was eventually shut down in 1972 due to inhumane living conditions, and opened the following year as a refurbished youth hostel. The new owners clearly knew the lengths backpackers will go to save a buck.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Budget travellers spend the night bunking in the original cells, drinking beer in the canteen that once fed prisoners slop, and waking up in fear with blood-drained ghosts hovering over their beds.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ottawa-prison-sign.jpg\")
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OK, I made the ghosts part up, but just barely. \u00a0Ghost Walks Ottawa hold nightly prison tours in the old jail, guiding the public and hostel guests to some of the original, unrestored sections of the prison, recounting trials and tales, and revealing why this has been called one of the world\u2019s most haunted buildings. \u00a0After touring the punishment cells, my Ghost Walks guide Adriane leads me to the 8th floor, still in its original state. \u00a0The cells are punishingly small. \u00a0She paints a vivid picture of life for a 19th century prisoner, and explains the sad, short life of Patrick J. Whelan, the man who murdered Thomas D’Arcy McGee, the Father of Canadian Confederation. \u00a0Whelan met his maker at the jail during the last public execution in Canada. \u00a0I\u2019m led to the actual gallows, thoughtfully decorated with a hangman\u2019s rope. \u00a0\u00a0Five thousand people watched Whelan squirm for ten minutes, clearly desperate for wholesome entertainment. \u00a0\u00a0Even though Adriane has been guiding tours in the old jail for over a year, she\u2019s edgy and freaked out as we wander through Death Row. \u00a0She nervously tells me about doors slamming, disembodied voices, guests reporting ghosts at the edge of their bunks\u2026seriously! \u00a0I bid her adieu, retire to my cell, slam the iron bars shut, and make sure it\u2019s locked from the inside. \u00a0<\/em>Lying in my bed, I try not to think about the poor miserable bastards who rotted away in Cell 4. \u00a0It\u2019s deathly quiet, save for the snoring of someone in an adjacent cell. Although the walls are thick, the vaulted ceilings were designed to carry sound so guards could hear even the faintest whispers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I somehow fall asleep, but wake up in a cold sweat at 4am. \u00a0Worse, I need to pee, which means I have to leave the safety of my cell and walk down the long, dark hallway. \u00a0\u00a0At the point of bursting, I muster up the courage to get up and walk to the bathroom, but decide to film the whole thing, just in case I become the first guy to catch a ghost on camera. \u00a0\u00a0Relieved, I return to my cell, toss and turn for hours, and praise God, Jesus, Buddha, Allah and Elvis I\u2019m a free man, condemned to spend but one night in Canada\u2019s only prison hotel.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ottawa-prison-tour.jpg\")
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Note:\u00a0 Due to Covid, the HI-Ottawa Jail Youth Hostel is currently closed. The ghosts must be going crazy (or maybe they’re enjoying a break from budget travellers sleeping in their cells).\u00a0 \u00a0 We look forward to a festive re-opening.\u00a0 In the meantime, this is what you can expect.\u00a0 On a personal list of dubious achievements, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,405,234,89,26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11384"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11392,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11384\/revisions\/11392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.canadianbucketlist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/ottwa-prison-exterior.jpg\")
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